The Beatles - Past Masters, Vol. 1
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Free Music Notes for Past Masters, Vol. 1
Free Music Review: I love this, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Hit: 5 Stars
OK, so apart from the official British studio albums, what other way was there to take all the non-album singles and their B-sides but put them into a single disk? Hence Past Masters Volume I, which gathers eighteen songs from 1963 to 1965. Here are the highlights.I'm flummoxed if I can tell the difference between the version of "Love Me Do" here from the one on Please Please Me. I still love the song, though.
With the harmonica and harmony vocals, the sweet, good-natured and upbeat "From Me To You" is another well-loved single: "Just call on me and I'll send it along, with love from me to you." It's B-side, the equally vivacious "Thank You Girl" also uses the harmonica in parts.
Then comes the raucous "She Loves You", the song that popularized the "yeah-yeah-yeah!" chorus for better or worse. This has the air of a guy's best friend giving him some good advice on the girl he's hurt. Despite what he's down, "she loves you/and you know that can't be bad/yeah she loves you/and you know you should be glad. "With a love like that, you know you should be glad." "Pride can hurt you too/apologize to her."
Aww yeah, "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the song that broke them into the U.S., was the spearhead for the British Invasion, and was their first 4-track recording, is one of my favourite Beatles song. There is an interesting story behind this. Bob Dylan heard the lyrics "I can't hide" in "It's such a feeling that my love, I can't hide" as "I get high" and when they came over to the States, gave them pot at the Del Monico Hotel in Manhattan, and the rest is history (q.v. Revolver, Sgt Peppers). Well, when I hear this song, I can't hide AND I get high, so there!
Along with "She Loves You", there are the only German language versions of any songs, "Sie Liebt Dich" and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand," which given the difficulty of coming up with alternate language versions of their songs.
Their cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" outdoes the original in sheer energy. Little Richard was one of Paul McCartney's idols, and he pays more than ample tribute to his influence, down to the raucous screams and piano. This was done in one take! Perfect! Another song here with the same energy and 1950's style R&B and also done by Paul in homage to Little Richard is "I'm Down." I also mention this in the same breath because Heart does a live medley of both songs on their first greatest hits album.
Another #1 hit is "I Feel Fine," as in "I'm in love with her and I feel fine" sung in harmony by all four. And what can be more joyous than "I'm so glad that's she's my little girl/she's so glad, she's telling all the world." It's B-side, the McCartney- sung"She's A Woman," also received a lot of attention. The guitar riffs have some noticeable chord changes. The girl in this song "is no peasant," "will never make me jealous" and is "a woman who understands" Anyone like that out there?
Speaking of influences, they do two Larry Williams songs here, the classic 50's rock of "Slow Down" and "Bad Boy." The latter about a delinquent who'd rather play rock and roll instead of going to school- "puts tacks in the teacher's chair"- seems to mirror John's own bad behaviour at school. Ringo sings Carl Perkins's rockabilly "Matchbox" which is one of the better songs here.
As well as filling in some much needed gaps for those who have all the studio albums, Past Masters Volume I illustrates their early period, when they were still dipping into their early influences, as well as demonstrating their three essential early singles, "From Me To You", "She Loves You", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." And you know that can't be bad, yeah yeah yeah!
Free Music Review: A great, and well made CD
Hit: 4 Stars
When I first put this CD into my CD player, it was like WOW. I cn't believe how good the songs were in this CD. Most of the songs had really good lyrics with the exception of "That Boy" and "Matchbox," which had horrible lyrics. Another good thing about the songs, was that just about all of them had a great melody that went along perfectly with the lyrics. I had never heard most of the songs, and when I heard them, I liked them a lot. Even if you haven't heard any Beatles songs, this is still the CD for you. Buy this CD!!1. Love Me Do-8/10
2. From Me To You-9/10
3. Thank You Girl-9/10
4. She Loves You-10/10
5. I'll Get You-7/10
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand-9/10
7. That Boy-3/10
8. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand- -9/10
9. She Liebt Dich-10/10
10. Long Tall Sally-6/10
11. I Call Your Name-8/10
12. Slow Down-9/10
13. Matchbox-1/10
14. I Feel Fine- 7/10
15. She's A Woman-6/10
16. Bad Boy-5/10
17. Yes It Is-7/10
18. I'm Down-9/10
Free Music Review: Classic desert island rock
Hit: 5 Stars
This features rare Beatles classics, mostly pre 1965. I remember this was released in the UK and called Rarities, because most of the songs are not on any other Beatles albums, and were either B sides or EP tracks.
This is early Beatles at their rocking best. Almost all these songs are uptempo, with the exception of Yes It is and This Boy which are slower and feature excellent harmonies.
I can listen to this album without even thinking about pressing the skip button.
There are too many highlights on this album to number, but here goes:
1. Paul McCartney doing his Little Richard impersonation on Long Tall Sally.
2. The German versions of She Loves You and I want to hold your hand.
3. Lennon and the beautiful 12/8 rhythm on This Boy.
4. Lennon on I Call Your Name
5. McCartney singin She's A Woman.
6. The cover version of Bad Boy
7. The Little Richard style screamer I'm Down
8. Those B side rockers Thank you girl, I'll get You
9. From Me To You.
If I couldn't take the White Album to a desert island this would be a good second choice.
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Free Music Review: As Essential as "Hard Day's Night" or "With the Beatles"
Hit: 5 Stars
Others have described how the two-volume Past Masters series was put together. I'm here only to advocate that you get this album because it has some of the most essential performances of the Beatlemania era of 1963-64, including "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand," two singles that could not be more important to rock music history. It also includes the classic "I Feel Fine," which was probably one of the first singles they did that shows a sense of innovation in the studio, with the feedback guitar and Spector-like chorus. It also includes a relatively obscure number that I love, "Yes It Is," which is one of the few, but most wonderful, examples of the Beatles executing three-part vocal harmony (a better-known example, "This Boy," is also on this album.) But, to me, the tastiest treat on Vol. I is the inclusion of a famous four-song EP, with three classic rock and roll covers and one original: "Long Tall Sally," sung in an outrageous imitation of Little Richard by Paul, "I Call Your Name," an original sung by Lennon, "Slow Down," with great drumming by Ringo behind a showy vocal by Lennon, and "Matchbox" a boogeying rocker sung by Ringo. These are simply four of the greatest performances the Beatles ever put on wax. They show why the Beatles ascended to the heights they did--they could play rock music better than anybody.
Free Music Review: Great collection of singles and b-sides from early years
Hit: 5 Stars
The Beatles Past Masters series from 1988 features two volumes, with the first covering from 1962-1965. This disk captures many songs that were released as singles, such as the classics "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The version of "Love Me Do" here is different than the Please Please Me release, and features Ringo on drums rather than a session sit-in.There is great clarity in these tracks, and you can also catch an idea of the recording technique of the era, as some parts of tracks are modified mid-song, like Ringo's drums in "She Loves You."
"This Boy" features an early example of Beatles three-part harmony, along with dual guitar parts, a gentle acoustic strum combined with a more rapid electric part. A great performance by John Lennon on the lead vocal part.
Two novelty tracks included are the German versions of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand) and "She Loves You" (Sie Liebt Dich) recorded as a tribute to the Fab's Hamburg days.
One of the sleepers is "I Call Your Name" with John Lennon on lead vocals. The lyrics have an interesting circular twist, and there are some tricky tempo changes that are unusual for an early Beatles R&B tune.
"Slow Down" is just good fun, a danceable fave with boogie woogie piano, stop/start instrumentation and another fine vocal performance by John Lennon.
"Matchbox" is a Carl Perkin's tune with Ringo on vocals and is another fun rockabilly roadhouse song. "If you don't want my peaches honey, please don't shake my tree." Check out George's twangy solo.
"I Feel Fine" has the famous distortion intro, excellent guitar melody, and soaring harmonies, "I'm so glad that she's my little girl..." Nice bouncy drum/bass rhythm as well.
"She's a Woman" has never been a favorite of mine. The choppy guitar is kind of irritating and Paul's vocals are strained to near hernia level.
"Bad Boy" is yet another fun Lennon number with great rocking guitar.
"Yes It Is" is a slow ballad with three-part harmonies. To get a true appreciation of this song, check out the version from the Anthology series, which takes John's rough cut and melds with the more perfected version. Impressive.
"I'm Down" closes out with a Paul rave-up, a fun R&B tinged tune with Bad Beach Boys meet Little Richard vocals and some wild organ.