The "Red" and "Blue" Beatles CDs are testament to the genius of the band's music and are an excellent overview and a great place to start for those uninitiated (if there are such people) with the greatest band in history.

1962-1966 ("Red") covers the Beatles' Merseybeat era, a time when the Beatles were considered a singles "teenybopper" band. Among the best cuts on the first CD are "Please Please Me", "She Loves You", "Eight Days a Week", and "Ticket to Ride".

Their progression from teenyboppers to "serious band" begins to show in the songs from 1965's Rubber Soul, including "Norwegian Wood", featuring George Harrison on the sitar, and John Lennon's introspective "In My Life", which hints at the band's glorious and more complex studio work that was to follow.

The Red CD collection ends with two songs from 1966's Revolver, a record that placed the band on even higher creative ground: Paul McCartney's masterpiece "Eleanor Rigby" is the first time a string quartet accompanied a rock and roll record, and "Yellow Submarine" was one in a line of catchy, childlike songs written for resident jester and drummer extrodinaire Ringo Starr.

The first disc of 1967-1970 ("Blue") has the far more unenviable task of selecting four representative tracks from 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, still considered to be the most ground-breaking and influential album in the history of rock. "A Day in the Life" is the standout -- Sgt. Pepper's closer and emotional peak.

The CD closes with the two songs that best demonstrate the eventual clash in Lennon and McCartney's songwriting styles: McCartney's "Hey Jude" and Lennon's "Revolution" were sides A and B respectively of the Beatles' greatest-selling (and perhaps just "greatest") single. Where Lennon's song is a snarling, self-righteous rocker, McCartney's is a sing-song orchestral ballad. The one you like best probably depends on whether you're a "John" or "Paul" person -- truth is they're both great.

The final CD spans from 1968's The Beatles ("The White Album") to the end of the band's career. McCartney's best moments "Let it Be", "Get Back", and "The Long and Winding Road" (Despite that over-the-top Phil Spector production) are here, as are Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down" and "Come Together". The closer is "Long and Winding Road", though it's perhaps a weaker conclusion than "Two of Us" might have been.

The Red and Blue collections are awesome reminders of the Beatles' past accomplishments and their continued vitality even today.

No matter how much music I've listened to over the years, I always come back to the "blue" album, in my opinion the best greatest hits package of all time. From Sgt. Pepper, to Magical Mystery Tour, to the White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be, it captures the best of the Beatles' later more creative period. This was my introduction to A Day In the Life, I Am The Walrus, Don't Let Me Down, and other songs which I didn't know at the time. Many years later I have bought all the records, heard all the songs a million times, but there's something about playing this at the right time that makes this the one I would take to a desert island with me. (if I could choose only one)

Any collection which has Hey Jude, Let It Be, Get Back, Strawberry Fields Forever and While My Guitar Gently Weeps on the same album is pretty damn great no matter how you look at it, and there's much more of course. Over the years there have been other much hyped collections, but the red and blue albums are absolutely definitive.

Nicknamed the Blue Album, this continues where the 1962-66 Red Album leaves off. Compiling a proper overview of the later Beatles poses an even more exacting challenge than an overview of the early Beatles. The later Beatle albums were carefully sequenced and segued and need to be heard from start to finish; they are not easily cannibalized for greatest hits treatment. But in the end the Blue Album accomplishes its mission.

Disc 1 captures the Beatles at their creative peak. "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "A Day in the Life," and "Hey Jude" are the crown jewels in the Beatle legacy. "Hello Goodbye," "I Am the Walrus," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Lady Madonna," "Revolution" and the rest are not exactly duds either. Hearing them is always like listening to them for the first time, which is the test of a great song.

Disc 2 has occasioned the most criticism -- some legitimate, some petty. Yes, it would have been nice to have had more than three WHITE ALBUM tracks ("Birthday" and "Julia" would have been logical additions when this was released on CD). Yes, we can debate if "Old Brown Shoe," a pretty obscure George Harrison B side, really belongs here. But come on: It's ridiculous to lambaste a CD that includes "Get Back," "Here Comes the Sun," "Come Together," "Something" (hailed by Frank Sinatra as the greatest love song that he ever heard) and "Let It Be."

The version of "Let It Be" included here is the single version that was produced by George Martin, not the album version that was smothered beneath Phil Spector's bombastic overdubs. In fairness to Spector, he did a decent job salvaging "Across the Universe." The violins and female choruses mesh well with the mood of John Lennon's lyrics, which are some of the best that he ever wrote. Paul McCartney publicly rebuked Spector's use of female choruses on "The Long and Winding Road" -- an ironic complaint coming from someone who would spend the next fifteen years inflicting his wife on our ears. (Sorry for the cheap shot; McCartney is correct to say that the ANTHOLOGY 3 version, lacking Spector's overdubs, is superior.)

The Blue Album, like its Red companion, has complete lyrics as well as rare photos not included in the 1973 vinyl release. The remastered sound is good, although "All You Need Is Love" still sounds rather thin. But in stark contrast to the Red Album, this has just enough music to justify packaging it as a two disc set.

SGT. PEPPER, THE WHITE ALBUM and ABBEY ROAD are essential listening and will become more so when they are finally remastered. The Blue Album cannot give you a full sense of them. What the Red and Blue albums do best is demonstrate why the popularity of the Beatles continues to flow so wide and deep. Extremely versatile and eclectic, it's amazing that the same band that made "I Want to Hold Your Hand" also made "Revolution," that the same band that made "Drive My Car" also made "The Long and Winding Road." Say what you will about the Beatles, but you could never accuse them of standing pat.

"1967-1970" (or the "Blue" album) compiles singles, Number One hits, and key album cuts from the "Sgt. Pepper," "The Beatles," "Abbey Road," and "Let it Be" albums. Unlike "1," which excludes important tracks that didn't top the chart, the Blue album is a more comprehensive survey of the group's later work. There's the deliciously trippy "Strawberry Fields Forever," the impossibly catchy "Revolution," George Harrison's masterpiece "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and a personal favorite of mine, the bluesy b-side "Don't Let Me Down." Another gem is John Lennon's strikingly beautiful "Across the Universe" pulled from the "Let it Be" album. Haunting and surreal, it's a nice segueway into the closing track, the Number One hit "The Long and Winding Road." Arguably one of the most vital greatest hits albums on the market, "1967-1970" is required listening.

I'd strongly suggest picking up all of their (major) albums instead, from "Rubber Soul" through "Let It Be". This is only a taste of what The Beatles have to offer, and it's impossible to cram it all onto a few measely compact discs. Every one of their albums is a greatest hits compilation onto itself. I also hate to see some of their songs ripped out of their context. If you remove any song from its context on an album from "Sgt. Pepper" on, you're committing a crime.

In any case, a perfect introduction for those new to the Fab Four (how many of you still exist?).