The Beatles: Past Masters Vol. 1
The two Past Masters releases are made up of non-album singles and their 'b' sides, plus a few rarities/curios. The quality is pretty high, high enough for them to function as a most playable album in their own right.
With regard to Love Me Do I have never been a huge fan of The Beatles' first single, finding it lyrically twee and totally unthreatening. I don't even feel it had any of the vitality of rock 'n' roll. In a matter of a year or so it would sound hopelessly dated and by now it sounds exactly what it is - a song from several generations ago. Its infectious harmonica is its redeeming feature, though, as I guess is its instantly singable chorus. It just doesn't do it for me, I much prefer Please Please Me or I Saw Her Standing There from the same period. This is the "Ringo" version of the song, by the way. The version here features Ringo on drums, whereas the one on the Please Please Me album and the previous Red Album had Andy White behind the kit and a sulking Ringo tapping out a rhythm on the tambourine. This newly remastered version (2023 Red Album) has the best sound I have ever heard on the song, making me appreciate it more. It is still lyrically lacking, though.
The group's third single, this From Me To You is extremely (and almost impossibly) catchy, rhythmic and even bluesy in places. I guess Lennon's harmonica helped in that respect. It is just so atmospheric, early sixties. Such a period piece. The sound on this, once again, is just the best the song has ever had. Again, the vocal harmonies are peerless.
Thank You Girl was the From Me to You single's original 'b' side. It is a vibrant song supposedly written by Lennon and McCartney as a "thank you" to the group's teenage girl fans. McCartney said of it "We knew that if we wrote a song called, 'Thank You Girl', that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine 'thank you'. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans." It was written “eyeball to eyeball", a phrase Lennon and McCartney would later use to describe their early formulaic writing sessions, and it demonstrates how they were able to produce a song from scratch by working in total partnership. In those early days they wrote together so much more than in subsequent years. Lennon actually said that it was intended to be the 'a' side, thinking it was better than From Me To You. He may have had a point. His rasping vocal on it is excellent too. The stereo remastering included here is outstanding as well.
She Loves You's infantile chorus was ideal for me to sing as a little kid and really annoy my parents, who hated me saying "yeah". I have never been a huge fan of the song, finding it too simplistic but even I cannot deny its fresh-faced, energetic appeal. It hits you between the ears, however simple it may be. It is another one totally transformed by the remaster, from Ringo's first iconic rolling drum intro.
I'll Get You - grammar/pronunciation purists, like my parents, who hated She Loves You for its "yeahs" will have been appalled to hear this song begin with several "oh yeahs". As Lennon said - "ever heard anyone from Liverpool singing 'yes'? It’s yeah!". That doesn't hide the fact that it isn't the greatest of songs, lyrically uninventive and musically dull too. It just doesn't grab you by the body parts. Not mine anyway. Lennon tells his girl he will get her in the end, in his ever-so-slightly threatening manner.
The non-album singles just keep on a-coming. Such a wealth of material. I Want To Hold Your Hand was another simple song whose simplicity belied its intoxicating, intrinsic rhythm. All these songs had hooks to die for, let's be honest. Check out the clarity of those handclaps and that bass (once more).
I Want To Hold Your Hand's 'b' side, This Boy was a quite dated-sounding Lennon song in which he tried to write in the style of the early Smokey Robinson & The Miracles hits from Motown circa 1961-62. It sounds like a song that would be played on a milk bar jukebox in 1960. It is very retro, in contrast to much of The Beatles' ground-breaking output at the time.
Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand/Sie Liebt Dich - I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You sung in German. They are as odd to hear as The Rolling Stones and David Bowie singing in Italian and even ABBA singing in their native Swedish. Curio value only, really.
On Long Tall Sally McCartney takes on Little Richard's classic rocker concerning a transexual prostitute. He does it considerable justice, but, for me, as a Little Richard fan, it doesn't come close to the sheer energy and instinctive joie de vivre of the original. McCartney proves that he could cut it as a rock 'n' roller though. It is undeniably a credible cover.
I Call Your Name was not really a rocker and it was initially a somewhat unremarkable number that Lennon gave to Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas. However, he didn't like their version and The Beatles recorded it. It almost made it on to the Hard Day's Night soundtrack. It is ok actually - robust and possessing a strong Lennon vocal and some powerful cowbell, inserted on the song's second recording. The mid-song guitar solo was, apparently, an attempt by the Beatles to play ska and it was not particularly authentic-sounding.
A much underrated rock 'n roller was Larry Williams. Slow Down is a copper-bottomed killer of a track that dated from 1957. Incidentally, it's 'b' side was Dizzy Miss Lizzy, which was also covered by The Beatles. Lennon does a fine job vocally, but, apparently, like their cover of Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven, the recording is full of mistakes. Listening to it, they are evident (to a perfectionist, I guess), but the song still has an ebullience that is hard to resist. I can't help but like it, always smiling at Lennon's impromptu "brrrrr" vocal bit. The Jam also covered it on their 1977 In The City debut album, no doubt due to Paul Weller being a huge Beatles fan.
The Beatles were big Carl Perkins fans and Matchbox is one of his, also from 1957. When they first performed it, drummer Pete Best took the vocals. Appropriately, then, it is Ringo Starr on vocals here. I have to say that Lennon's rasping voice would have been far better than Starr's monotone, dull delivery. He did his best though did poor old Ringo, because two days after recording this, he was hospitalised with tonsillitis and pharyngitis. I'll let him off then! Overall, however, it is a bit of a leaden-footed cover, not up to the original. Again, I have to say that I still always enjoy it.
I Feel Fine is one of my absolute favourite non-album singles from the period. Vocally, the harmonies are top notch and it just overflows with irrepressible, romantic enthusiasm. Up there in my Beatles "best of" list. I just love Ringo's surprisingly rhythmic, rolling drum sound (he almost steals the whole song, even having a micro-solo at one point)) as well as the unusual single note intro. The bits where they sing "I'm so glad that she's my little girl" in joyous harmony is just glorious. Love it to death. Always have done.
She's A Woman was the 'b' side to I Feel Fine and featured Paul McCartney on vocal. The song was largely written by him. It is an upbeat, sort of bluesy rocker. I like it - it's one the best of the crop of 'b' sides coming up here. in fact it is the best. Lyrically, McCartney praises his woman for turning him on - the first vague drug reference in a Beatles song, apparently. "My love don't give me presents, I know that she's no peasant", sings McCartney - maybe not his best line.
Another Larry Williams cover here, Bad Boy finds Lennon on magnificent, unbridled rocking style on the vocal. although I am never really convinced by the Beatles as credible rock 'n' rollers, this one kicks serious ass. One of their best of the type.
Yes It Is was the 'b' side of Ticket To Ride. It is a bit of a dirge-like folky number featuring a Lennon vocal that veers from dull at the beginning of the verses to harshly grating at the end. It doesn't really do it for me and it sounds like a typical 'b' side, not a Beatles 'b' side, which were usually much better. It was said to be an attempt at a This Boy re-write.
I'm Down - this raucous, rollicking rocker was Paul McCartney's attempt to write a Little Richard-style number. It was the 'b' side to Help! McCartney tried to sound like Little Richard in his vocal, but ended up over-screaming, to be honest. In some ways, from 1965, it sounds a bit like a bit of a piss-take, not to be taken seriously. McCartney just whoops it up too much. It is much the inferior of much of the group's material from this period, but that said, I have to concede that it rocks like fuckery.
