Past Masters
The 2009 Past Masters album cover
Compilation album by The Beatles
Released	7 March 1988
Recorded	4 September 1962 – 4 January 1970, EMI, Trident, Olympic and Apple studios, London; Pathé Marconi Studio, Paris; EMI Studios, Bombay
Genre	Rock
Length	93:29
Language	English, German ("Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and "Sie Liebt Dich")
Label	Parlophone, Capitol, Apple
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles chronology
20 Greatest Hits (1982) Past Masters (1988) The Beatles Box Set (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1] Volume One
Allmusic	[2] Volume Two
Allmusic	[3] Volumes One & Two
BBC	(Positive) [4]
Consequence of Sound	[5]
The Daily Telegraph	[6]
One Thirty BPM	(100%) [7]
Pitchfork Media	(9.2/10.0) [8]

Past Masters is a two-volume compilation album set by The Beatles which was released in 1988 as part of the issue of the band’s entire back catalogue on CD.^[9] Compiled by the noted Beatles authority Mark Lewisohn, this collection of many of the band's biggest hits as well as rarities includes every song released commercially by the band that was not available on The Beatles’ twelve original UK albums or the Magical Mystery Tour LP.^[9][10]

The majority of the Past Masters set consists of A and B-sides from the band's singles, including single versions of songs that appeared in a different form on the band's albums. Also included are the full contents of the UK-only Long Tall Sally EP, two German language tracks, a song recorded for the American market and a track released on a charity compilation album.^[9]

The "Past Masters" name had previously been used by EMI for a series of three unrelated reissue singles.^[11]

Release history[link]

Past Masters was first released as the separate CDs Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two on 7 March 1988, which were included in the The Beatles Box Set.

The double LP set Past Masters, Volumes One & Two was subsequently released in the United States on 24 October 1988 and in the United Kingdom on 10 November 1988 and was the final Beatles album released as a vinyl record before the recording industry stopped manufacturing them in large quantities in favour of the compact disc format of prerecorded music by 1989.^[12] Subsequent new Beatles albums were released in the vinyl record format as limited editions.^[13]

A two CD set, Past Masters, which contained both volumes was released on 9 September 2009, as part of the remastering of the original Beatles' catalogue, and was included in The Beatles Stereo Box Set.^[14] This release includes stereo mixes of both "From Me to You" and "Thank You Girl". In The Beatles in Mono box set, the album Mono Masters took the place of Past Masters, containing a similar track list of dedicated mono mixes.

[edit] Past Masters track listings

Tracks are in stereo unless indicated as mono. Dates provided are the dates when the tracks were originally released, not recorded.

All songs written and composed by Lennon–McCartney except where noted.

[edit] Past Masters, Volume One

Contains recordings originally released between 1962 and 1965:

• Eleven tracks from British singles (including B-sides)
• Both tracks from the German single, "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"/"Sie Liebt Dich"
• All four tracks from the Long Tall Sally EP
• The US-only track, "Bad Boy", from the album Beatles VI

[edit] Past Masters, Volume Two

Contains recordings originally released between 1965 and 1970:

• Fourteen tracks from British singles (including B-sides)
• The "Wildlife" version of "Across the Universe" from the charity album No One's Gonna Change Our World

[edit] Past Masters, Volumes One & Two

Disc one

Disc two

Mono Masters[link]

An all-mono compilation titled Mono Masters was included as part of The Beatles in Mono box set.^[16] The premise of this box set was to compile only Beatles material which was released or prepared for release with a dedicated mono mix (the set excludes later material mixed and released only in stereo, and material whose mono version was simply created as an equal mix of the two channels of the stereo version). As a result, the tracklisting for Mono Masters differs from Past Masters on the second half of disc two, omitting some later songs that never had a mono mix ("Old Brown Shoe", "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Let It Be"), and adding several songs released on stereo-only albums that had unreleased mono mixes. Tracks 9–12 and 15 were prepared in March 1969 for release as a 7" mono Yellow Submarine EP, but due to poor reception of the full album, the project was abandoned. Subsequently, the tracks were only released in stereo (and in an electronically-produced mono mixdown, or "fold-down", of the stereo mix), while the true mono mixes remained unreleased. "Get Back" (with B-side "Don't Let Me Down") was the final Beatles single mixed for mono format. It was released in the UK in mono, though the US release was in stereo. Thus, the stereo singles included on Past Masters are omitted on this release.

[edit] Mono Masters track listing

All songs written and composed by Lennon/McCartney except where noted.

Disc one

Disc two

References[link]