Past Masters (1988)

Buy Past Masters on CD, or on Vinyl

Listen to Past Masters on Apple Music or on Spotify

When the Beatles’ entire catalog was released on compact disc in 1987 and 1988 it was decided that the band’s British releases would be used as canon. This presented a minor problem, as most of their singles were not lifted form album releases, and an EP consisting of still more songs not found on other releases existed as well. The solution was to create two new albums of material that included those songs that were not included on any of the original British releases. The albums were dubbed “Past Masters”. The first volume features tracks from 1962 through 1965, including two German recordings, and the second volume features tracks from 1966 through 1970.

The double disc edition of Past Masters contains the two volumes combined into one release; the track lists are identical. Past Masters went out of print shortly after its initial release in favor of two separate discs but was reintroduced for the 2009 remastered releases, once again superseding the two individual releases.

Track list

Disc 1

1. Love Me Do
2. From Me To You
3. Thank You Girl
4. She Loves You
5. I’ll Get You
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. This Boy
8. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
9. Sie Liebt Dich
10. Long Tall Sally
11. I Call Your Name
12. Slow Down
13. Matchbox
14. I Feel Fine
15. She’s A Woman
16. Bad Boy
17. Yes It Is
18. I’m Down

Disc 2

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

Release history

• Capitol/Parlophone C1 91135 (as Past Masters Volumes One & Two, vinyl)
• Parlophone BPM 1 (as Past Masters Volumes One & Two, vinyl), released October 26, 1988
• Parlophone CDP 7 90043 2 (as Past Masters Volume One, CD), released March 8, 1988
• Parlophone CDP 7 90044 2 (as Past Masters Volume Two, CD), released March 8, 1988
• Apple 50999 2 43807 2 0 (as Past Masters; remastered CD), released September 9, 2009

Past Masters Volumes One & Two cover

Past Masters Volume One cover

Past Masters Volume Two cover

Past Masters Volumes One & Two vinyl back cover