Past Masters

Past Masters is a two disc compilation album set by the Beatles which was released in 1988 as part of the first issue of the band's entire catalogue on compact disc. Compiled by the noted Beatles historian 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.

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.

Release history
Past Masters was originally issued as two separate CDs Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two, on 7 March 1988. The two volumes were included in The Beatles Box Set.

A 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.

A two-CD set, Past Masters, containing both volumes, was issued on 9 September 2009, as part of the remastering of the original Beatles' catalogue, and was included in The Beatles: Stereo Box. This release includes stereo mixes of both "From Me to You" and "Thank You Girl". The original 1988 issue contained mono versions of these two tracks. 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.

The remastered-for-vinyl version of the Past Masters double LP set was released on 12 November 2012.

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.

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 (although the song was also on the late 1966 "oldies" album released by Parlophone)

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

Mono Masters
An all-mono compilation titled Mono Masters was included as part of the Beatles in Mono box set. The premise of this box set was to compile only Beatles material that was released or prepared for release with a dedicated mono mix (the set excludes later material mixed and issued 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 three songs that never had a true mono mix ("Old Brown Shoe", "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Let It Be"), and adding five songs which had previously unreleased true mono mixes. "Only a Northern Song, "All Together Now", "Hey Bulldog", "It's All Too Much" and "Across the Universe" were prepared in March 1969 for release as a 7" mono Yellow Submarine EP, but due to mixed reception of the full album, the project was scrapped, though the EP had been mastered. 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, although the US release was in stereo. Thus, the songs that were originally released on stereo singles in the UK are omitted on this release.

Mono Masters track listing
All songs written and composed by Lennon/McCartney except where noted.


 * Disc one


 * Disc two