Beatles album of the week - Past Masters Volume Two

[AKA]

When the Beatles' entire UK catalogue was released on CD in 1987, the powers that be were left with a dilemma: many of the Beatles' biggest hits were singles and b-sides that weren't included on any of their proper albums (a common practice in the '60s). Where would those songs fit on the new CDs?

Their solution was Past Masters Volume One and Past Masters Volume Two, two essential additions to the Beatles' catalogue. Both compilations were released on March 7, 1988. The albums included every officially-released Beatles track that didn't have a home on any of the original thirteen UK albums.

Past Masters Volume Two included fifteen "stray" tracks from 1965-1970, in chronological order of release:

1. Day Tripper (Lennon/McCartney)
2. We Can Work It Out (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Paperback Writer (Lennon/McCartney)
4. Rain (Lennon/McCartney)
5. Lady Madonna (Lennon/McCartney)
6. The Inner Light (Harrison)
7. Hey Jude (Lennon/McCartney)
8. Revolution (Lennon/McCartney)
9. Get Back (Lennon/McCartney)
10. Don't Let Me Down (Lennon/McCartney)
11. The Ballad Of John And Yoko (Lennon/McCartney)
12. Old Brown Shoe (Harrison)
13. Across The Universe (Lennon/McCartney)
14. Let It Be (Lennon/McCartney)
15. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) (Lennon/McCartney)

Steven Thomas Erlewine of the All Music Guide says:

Picking up in 1965 where Past Masters Volume One left off, Past Masters Volume Two collects the 15 non-LP tracks that the Beatles released in the last five years of their career (not counting the singles that were released on Magical Mystery Tour). If Vol. 2 is more eclectic than its predecessor, it isn't quite as thematically consistent, but it does hit greater highs with a greater frequency. Indeed, some of the greatest singles in pop history are here: "Day Tripper," "We Can Work It Out," "Paperback Writer," "Rain," "Lady Madonna," "Hey Jude," "Revolution," "Don't Let Me Down," and "The Ballad of John and Yoko." All of the aforementioned are staples in the Lennon/McCartney canon and while George Harrison's two contributions aren't as familiar, "The Inner Light" is arguably his best Indian excursion and "Old Brown Shoe" is a charmingly jaunty tune that points toward his solo career. In the middle of all this, single versions of "Get Back" and "Let It Be" appear (the former is stiffer than the LP version, the latter is better than its counterpart), along with the alternate (and superior) "Across the Universe" and the silly yet strangely irresistible "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)." Overall, the compilation feels a little disjointed, mainly because it covers so much ground so quickly, but that takes nothing away from the quality of the music, since many of these songs rank among the best, most inventive recordings of the pop-rock era.

Previous albums:
Please Please Me (1963)
With The Beatles (1963)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Beatles For Sale (1964)
Help! (1965)
Past Masters Volume One (1988)
Rubber Soul (1965)
Revolver (1966)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Yellow Submarine (1969)
The Beatles (1968)
Let It Be (1970)

See also:
Abbey Road (1969)

Beatle Facts

[AKA]

Alternate versions of songs from Past Masters Volume Two:

Beatles:
"Lady Madonna"
-Edit of takes 3 and 4, 1968 - The Beatles Anthology 2

"Hey Jude"
-Take 2, 1968 - The Beatles Anthology 2

"Revolution"
-Original, slower album version (billed as "Revolution 1"), 1968 - The Beatles

"Get Back"
-Album version (same recording as version presented here, but without added coda at the end and with added rooftop chatter), 1969 - Let It Be
-January 30, 1969 (on the rooftop) - The Beatles Anthology 3
-2003 remix (same recording as version presented here, but without coda at the end), 1969 - Let It Be... Naked

"Don't Let Me Down"
-Edit of two rooftop takes, 1969 - Let It Be... Naked

"Old Brown Shoe"
-Edit of takes 1 and 2, 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Across The Universe"
-Same recording as version presented here, but slowed down slightly and with added Phil Spector overdubs and without bird sound effects, 1968 - Let It Be
-Take 2, 1968 - The Beatles Anthology 2
-Same recording as version presented here, but presented at correct speed and without bird sound effects, 1968 - Let It Be... Naked

"Let It Be"
-Album version with Spector tinkering on hi-hat and with different guitar solo, 1969 - Let It Be
-January 25, 1969 (G.B.No. 25.44) - The Beatles Anthology 3
-2003 remix - Let It Be... Naked

"You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"
-Extended stereo remix, 1967; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

Solo:
"We Can Work It Out"
-Live; Limehouse Studios in London, 1991 - Paul McCartney - Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
-Live; New York City, 1993 - Paul McCartney - Paul Is Live
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

"Paperback Writer"
-Live; Charlotte, NC, 1993 - Paul McCartney - Paul Is Live

"Lady Madonna"
-Live; venue unknown, 1976 - Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America
-Live; Atlanta, 1993 - Paul McCartney - Paul Is Live
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

"Hey Jude"
-Live; Cincinnati, 1990 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic
-Live; London, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Party at the Palace: The Queen's Jubilee Concert
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

"Get Back"
-Live; Tokyo, 1990 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic

"Old Brown Shoe"
-Live; Japan, 1991 - George Harrison - Live In Japan

"Let It Be"
-Live; Miami, 1989 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic
-Live; New York City, 2001 - Paul McCartney - The Concert For New York City
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

[Nighthawk76]

I actually do not own this album, because I have all of the songs from Past Masters Volume Two on other Beatles albums. Of the songs here though, my favorite is "Hey Jude".

[Steve M.]

"Revolution!" It rocks!

[Steve M.]

Various Past Masters, Volume Two covers:

Day Tripper - Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66

We Can Work It Out - Stevie Wonder

Lady Madonna - Fats Domino

Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett

Revolution - the Thompson Twins, the Stone Temple Pilots

Down Let Me Down - Phoebe Snow

Across the Universe - David Bowie

Let It Be - Aretha Franklin

Oh yeah, Dan Fogelberg - I think it was him - quoted "Rain" in his cover of the Cascades's "Listen To the Rhythm of the Falling Rain." UGGGHHH!

[AKA]

Originally posted by Steve M.
Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett

This is one of my favorite Beatle covers of all time.

[Steve M.]

I love Stevie Wonder's cover of "We Can Work It Out."

[AKA]

Originally posted by Steve M.
I love Stevie Wonder's cover of "We Can Work It Out."

That's a good one, too. But I love just about everything he did through the mid-'70s.

But yeah, I love his arrangement of "We Can Work It Out."

[AKA]

Don't miss our final installment. That's coming next week.

Hey, don't be sad! The threads will stay intact and fully votable/repliable until the world ends, or until TJ pulls the plug on this place (whichever comes first).

"It's only a rock group that's splitting up, you have all the old records there if you want to reminisce."—John Lennon

[dandelion wine]

"Revolution"

[AKA]

Day Tripper
JOHN: “Day Tripper” was [written] under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it. 1969 It wasn’t a serious message song. It was a drug song. In a way, it was a day tripper – I just liked the word. 1970

We Can Work It Out
JOHN: Paul wrote that chorus, I wrote the middle bit. You’ve got Paul writing “we can work it out,” real optimistic and me, impatient: “Life is very short and there’s no time or fussing…” 1980

[AKA]

Paperback Writer
PAUL: I remember showing up at [John’s] house with the idea for “Paperback Writer.” Because I had a long drive to get there, I would often start thinking and writing on my way out, and I developed the whole idea in the car. I came in, had my bowl of cornflakes, and said, “How’s about if we write a letter: ‘Dear Sir or Madam,’ next line, next paragraph, etc?” I wrote it all out and John said, “Yeah, that’s good.” It flowed.

JOHN: “Peperback Writer” is son of “Day Tripper” – meaning a rock ‘n’ roll song with a guitar lick on a fuzzy, loud guitar – but it is Paul’s song. 1980

GEORGE MARTIN: “Paperback Writer” had a heavier sound than some earlier work – and very good vocal work, too. I think that was just the way it worked out, that the rhythm was the most important part of their make-up by this time.

Rain
PAUL: I don’t think “Rain” was just John’s. We sat down and wrote it together. It was John’s vocal and John’s feel on the song, but what gave it its character was the collaboration. I think it’s all too easily said: “It’s a John song. It’s a Paul song. Paul does ballads – John does rockers. John’s the hard one – Paul’s the soft one.” That’s a fallacy.

There were certain songs that were very much mine and others that were definite collaborations with John, where we’d actually sit down and spend three hours. Then there were the ones that were very much John’s. I think it roughly splits somewhere down the middle.

On “Rain,” I remember we couldn’t get a backing track and we decided to play it fast and slow it down, which is why it’s so “goo goo goo” and ploddy. We had to play it fast and accurately, but I don’t think that was John’s idea. I don’t remember whose it was, but it was very collaborative.

I suppose the way things did go was that each of us would say, “Mine’s ‘Strawberry Fields,’ yours is ‘Penny Lane.’” That did start to happen, but before then, on things like “Rain,” it was that we all wanted to do it. It wasn’t only John who wanted to make that kind of record. It was probably just that we’d all get an excuse to do it on his track.

RINGO: The drumming on “Rain” stands out for me because I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!

.sdaeh reiht edih dna nur yeht ,semoc nair eht fI

[Steve M.]

Past Masters Volume One and Past Masters Volume Two were issued as separate albums both on CD and vinyl. They were issued as a double album on cassette, with two cassettes packaged together.

Side one of Past Masters Volume Two ended with "Revolution" and side two began with "Get Back."

[Steve M.]

Where's the link for the first past masters collection on this thread, AKA?

[AKA]

Originally posted by Steve M.
Where's the link for the first past masters collection on this thread, AKA?

Good eye. Fixed.