PAST MASTERS VOLUME 2

As previous reviewers said, this C.D. contains the singles and their B-sides released between 1965 and 1970. The only song which wasn`t released as a single is the version included here of "Across the Universe", which is not the same version included in the "Let It Be" album, because it lacks the orchestral arrangements, but it is the same take of the song. It was speeded-up for release in a various artists album called "No One`s Gonna Change Our World", a charity album released in December 1969 by the World Wildlife Fun (on the Regal Zonophone Starline label, owned by EMI). This version also includes backing vocals by two female Beatles`fans who were chosen among a lot of fans who were everday outside Abbey Road Studios! This version also has added wildlife sound effects.

All songs were mixed in Stereo, except "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", the B-side of the "Let It Be" single (which in this version has a different lead guitar played by Harrison in comparison to the version which was included in the "Let It Be" album). This is a very funny song, full of The Beatles`humour. It was originally recorded in mid 1967, with the late Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones playing sax! This song has the "atmosphere" of a "bad reputation Night Club", with Lennon & McCartney singing funny vocals (which were recorded in mid 1969). This version was the edited version of the song (edited and mixed in Mono by Lennon in late 1969 because he wanted to release it as a Plastic Ono Band single, but he wasn`t allowed to do that).The long lenght version was released in Stereo in the "Anthology 2" 2 C.D. set. I first listened to this B-side of the "Let It Be" single when I was 5-6 years old with my brothers. My father bought this single, and we were all laughing loudly while listening to this song! (I still smile while listening to it!). Maybe with this song The Beatles were trying to re-create the "atmosphere" of some of the Night Clubs in which they played at the start of their career (they even backed some strip-tease "artists" then!).

"Get Back" and its B-side "Don`t Let Me Down" were originally released with a credit on the label which said "The Beatles (with Billy Preston)".They maybe admired Preston so much to give him this credit to him!

This C.D. is a very good representation of how The Beatles` style became more elaborated, showing, IMO, how they influenced the development of the Prog Rock style in later years.

Some of the songs in this C.D. were originally released in the U.S. in 1970 in a L.P. compilation called "Hey Jude" (or "The Beatles Again", as the first edition of that L.P. was originally called): "Paperback Writer", "Rain", "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude", "Revolution", "Don`t Let Me Down", "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Old Brown Shoe", plus the first Stereo releases in the U.S. of "Can`t Buy Me love" and "I Should Have Known Better".