OK, it finally happened. Sadder than the day someone put unleaded gas in your 57 Chevy. Your lps melted, or warped, or something and you finally realized that you HAVE to upgrade: It's time to buy the Beatles CDs. Everything is going fine UNTIL....you can't find "Hey Jude"! What happened to that wonderful album with such hits as Paperback Writer and The Ballad of John and Yoko? You can't even find it on e-Bay! What's a bifocaled, befuddled Beatle fan to do?

Here is your answer. "Hey Jude" was an American compilation, and all the CDs were made off the British masters. But the songs from "Hey Jude" are all here on "Past Masters Vol. 2", with a couple of extras thrown in. Now you can listen to "We Can Work It Out" and wonder if Jane Asher is glad they didn't work it out (as Sir Paul and Heather hog the tabloid headlines); be amazed again at the before-its-time technology of "Rain"; explain to your kids that "Lady Madonna" is not about that other Madonna; mourn Joe-Joe (the man who thought he was a loner -- Linda Eastman's first husband, who died in 1998) ; remember the concert on the roof from "Let It Be" on "Get Back"; and debate whether "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is an exercise in grandiosity or satire.

But wait! There's more! This version of "Across the Universe", which features cricket and meadow noises, is a refreshing change from that on the Specter-produced "Let it Be" lp. And "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" is goofy Brit humor at its best.

What's missing? Well, that cool picture, you know, the one with the boys in Cuban boots & hats, standing in front of huge doors? I'm on a hunt for it. I'm sure I have a copy somewhere among my books and magazines. When I find it, I'll tape it to the jewel case. Voila.

In the sixties, singles were far more important than albums and it was common practice for the best tracks to be released on singles or EP's and not to appear on album until there were enough tracks for a Greatest hits. Album sales were modest compared to singles sales so the idea of using a single to promote an album had not yet been born. When it was decided to release all the original Beatles albums on CD, there were enough of these tracks to fill two CD's of their own. Past masters volumes 1 and 2 contain these tracks. In a few cases, different versions of the songs appeared on original albums. Volume 2 (this one) is the stronger of the two, but both are excellent.

The first two tracks here, Day tripper and We can work it out, made up a double-sided single that topped the international charts. Paperback writer, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Get back, Ballad of John and Yoko and Let it be were the other major international hits on this collection. The version of Across the universe here was produced for use by a wildlife charity and is much better than the version on the original Let it be album.

Since this CD was originally released, all the hits were released on the red album, 1962 to 1966, or the blue album, 1967 to 1970, so if you're just looking for hits, you might be better to buy those or the more recent Beatles 1. But if you are a serious Beatles fan, this album is just as important as the original albums.

As everyone knows the Beatles released thirteen classic studio albums between 1963 and 1970. However, the US and UK versions of the albums did not always contain the same track-lists, and in addition, there were many non-album singles released. When Capital Records went about releasing the entire Beatles catalogue on compact disc in the late 80s, the problem arose of how to take care of all non-album singles. In order to give consumers the Beatles entire recording output, all non-album singles and EP cuts were released on two CDs "Past Masters Volume I" and "Past Masters Volume II." (1988). These two CDs act as companion pieces to the Beatles thirteen studio albums.

"Past Masters Volume II" is undoubtedly the stronger of the two compilations as it mainly focuses on the Beatles prime material, from the mid-to-late 60s. Indeed, all of the songs featured here are easily as good as anything from the proper studio albums. While many of these songs are well known Beatle classics, i.e., "Day Tripper," "We Can Work it Out," "Paperback Writer," Hey Jude," etc, many lesser known, but equally excellent songs are included here as well. Lennon's psychedelic "Rain," and Harrison's eastern-flavored mystical "The Inner Light," stand as two of the band's more underrated songs that fans are sure to love.

As you go about building your Beatles collection, both "Past-Masters" are essential purchases, with the second volume being the stronger of the two.

Rolling Stone magazine said of REM, "Split their career down the middle and you get a musical Roger Clemens. Two hall of famers." That being true (and it is), if you split the Beatle's career down the middle you get the most influential pop band of all time (up to 1964) and the most influential rock band of all-time (1965 - 1970). This focuses on their more superior, mature, album-oriented material from the second half of their career. It does a great job summing some of the greatest singles ever and their excellent b-sides.

Most of the A-Sides "We Can Work It Out," "Hey Jude," "Day Tripper," etc. were never released on albums. And the only reason the last part of the album has songs featured on "Let it Be" is because the Beatles nor their management thought the songs would ever be released in album format. That is until (of course) "Let It Be" was issued after the band broke up. But nothing seems out of place, including the great B-Sides. What kind of a career do you have to have in order to have "Rain" not issued on an album, not issued as a single, but issued as a B-SIDE?! Listen to the song and tell me it doesn't that sums up the greatest band's legacy. And they close the album (and their career) in an unpredictable way; with humor. "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" is perhaps the funniest song in rock history. It's nice to hear that though the Beatles could no longer work together, they could still have a sense of humor about their work. Astounding...

Overall: 9 out of 10.

Surely nowadays nobody discusses the productivity of The Beatles as creators of music. They were more prolific than any contemporary artist, and possibly than any artist *ever*. So at the time of their popularity peak they would not include singles on their albums (the UK Parlophone albums, because those are the real ones - don't listen to what Capitol says), even if they were huge hits, like other artists. That left a huge gap in their discography when it was released on CD; even releasing their 13 albums their official output was still not complete.

Fortunately someone thought about the fans at that time and gathered together a 2 CD-set collection of "the missing link" tracks, and, as the booklet sets, "if you have the 13 CDs, plus these two, you have everything that The Beatles [...] officialy released".

So this CD, spanning through 1966 to 1970 (and its sister volume, covering the later years from 1962 to 1975) isn't really a 'conceptual' album, it's really a collection of non-LP songs, both non album huge hits and more 'obscure' tracks:

"Day Tripper", a "song about drugs", as John Lennon says, is an exquisit exercise in rock'n'roll riffs and vocal harmonies, and a perfect contrast to Paul McCartney's "We Can Work It Out", its original flip side (both songs were promoted as 'A-sides' so that one was a 'double A-sided single'), which is a lovely ode to the chance of finding out a solution for love troubles, a truly great sampler of The Beatles 'unplugged' (acoustic guitar, bass, harmonium, drums, tambourine), and the perfect companion to the Rubber Soul album (1965).

"Paperback Writer" and "Rain" experiment with harder sound on the guitars. The first track, McCartney-penned, features a great story "of a dirty man", and it's one of the finest rockers in their catalogue; whilst "Rain" (my personal favorite Beatles song), is one of those few songs that make you stand up and applaud. Everything works out perfectly here: the sound of the drums is perfectly in synchronizity with the bass guitar, the guitars are intrincated but raspy and 'rainy', the vocal is distorted and the lyrics are a fantastically disguised social comment by John Lennon. This could be considered as a powerful reason to buy this CD.

"Lady Madonna" is another Paul McCartney track in which he delivers a third-part story, this time experimenting with jazzy sounds, with piano, saxophones and great harmony vocals. Its B-side, George Harrison's "The Inner Light" doesn't even seem to appear to be performed by the same band, though. It's a preciously arranged indian track (George's third and final totally indian contribution to the band, after "Love You To" and "Within You Without You") with wise lyrics and a heartbreakingly emotional melody that even Paul McCartney praised many times. Priceless, again.

"Hey Jude" is often regarded as Paul McCartney's best song ever, and very deservingly so, with its empathic lyrics and compelled lead vocal work; backed with this version of "Revolution" (far better than the one appearing in the White Album), they sound dramatically different, but complement eachother perfectly. John Lennon's political anthem works out perfectly in this atmosphere, just like the two tracks lifted from the never-released Get Back album, "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down". The latter, John Lennon composition, is a superior heartfelt, moving and emotional ballad, with a sparkling lead vocal and great guitar work; whislt "Get Back" is a great attempt at rocking by Paul McCartney. The version here is different from the ones included in the Let It Be and Let It Be... Naked album, finishing with the extra spoken verse ("get back, Loretta, your mommy's waiting for you"), which was omitted from those albums even though they were originally meant to be in the song.

The other non-album single from 1969 is also included, and it's another surprise because of its quality: "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" (a tricky and smart way of telling his own story to the world, written by John Lennon and recorded only by himself and Paul McCartney, who played drums on this tune) is backed up by the unfairly forgotten bluesy George Harrison tune "Old Brown Shoe", possibly his most underrated Beatle composition, a brilliant exercise in lyrics about opposites, twisted love relationships and music including a very thoughtful and carefully arranged guitar solo plus a terrific jumping bass guitar played by Harrison himself, as he declared in many interviews.

To complete matters, there's the "Let It Be" single version, a little bit shorter (and notoriously inferior because of the different guitar solo) than the album one; its flip side, the funny "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)", which really has no more lyrics than its title; and another different (and far inferior) version of "Across The Universe" than the one found in the Let It Be CD, this time without the orchestra, in a faster speed, and with two female fans singing backing vocals.

These three songs, included for historical reasons, are here to make a great counterpart to the other smashing performances and unforgettable songs. Again, many people complain about the mono/stereo differences between these mixes and the original ones, found in the singles and albums, and it's true: the whole Beatle catalogue, this CD included, cries desperately for remastering or remixing. But in the meantime, this CD is one of the few cases in music where there's not a single bad track. An essential to any Beatles fan, to complete their collection, and a good addition to anyone's collection, just because for the enormous quality of the often forgotten B-sides. Get it.