The Beatles Remastered Past Masters Review

he remastered double CD Past Masters compilation contains every Beatles song that came out from '62 through '70 that were not included on any of their UK album releases. These CDs are designed to make it easy to collect all of The Beatles original 1960s releases and obviously it's very easy to collect them all now with The Remastered Beatles In Stereo Box Set which, of course, includes the Past Masters compilation along with all of their UK albums.

Some people may think that these songs must not have been "good enough" to make it onto their albums but really that's not true at all.

The Beatles thought of their albums and their singles as being entirely separate from each other. They made every effort to not include their singles on their album releases because they believed that would be unfair to their fans who had already purchased the singles. Because of this, many of their biggest hit singles were never included on their albums and likewise many of their albums didn't include any UK singles at all (they only had control of their UK singles at the beginning of their career) such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Rubber Soul and "The White Album."

So The Beatles Past Masters compilation isn't just a bunch of "rarities" or "B-Sides" it's really an essential part of the band's discography. The set contains some of their most famous songs like "Hey Jude," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "Day Tripper," "I Feel Fine," "Paperback Writer," "We Can Work It Out," and the single version of "Revolution" (which is much different than the slow version included on "The White Album.")

Along with those huge hits Past Masters does include some great "rarities" like the German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" as well as some really good B-Sides like "Don't Let Me Down," "Old Brown Shoe" and "Rain." On top of that it includes some excellent alternate versions of songs such as "Let It Be," "Get Back," and "Across The Universe." In fact the versions of "Let It Be" and "Get Back" on this collection are the "single versions" that you are probably more familiar with than the versions that are on the Let It Be album.

I also think the Mono Masters version of the Past Masters collection is vital too. It's basically the mono mix version of the Past Masters compilation as it contains most of the same songs as Past Masters with a few differences because the band stopped mixing their songs in mono towards the end of their career. While the the Past Masters set is available both for individual purchase and as a part of the The Beatles In Stereo Box Set, Mono Masters is only available as a part of The Beatles In Mono Box Set (which is very highly recommended.)

In closing, the remastered Past & Mono Masters sets are excellent (and essential) additions to The Beatles catalog which show beyond any doubt that their singles are just as classic as their albums.

George Kane recommends buying both Beatles Remastered Box Sets -- The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles Mono Box Set .