The Beatles "1" Compilation. Why So Successful when Past Masters Wasn't?

Rated as the 4th best selling album of the 2000's in the US, and the number one seller world wide in the 2000's, why so successful? I believe it got a big boast from the interest in the Anthology Series released in the mid 1990's. The album was even remixed in 2015 by Giles Martin. Also, does anyone have opinions the the remix?


1 Love Me Do
2 From Me to You
3 She Loves You
4 I Want to Hold Your Hand
5 Can't Buy Me Love
6 A Hard Day's Night
7 I Feel Fine
8 Eight Days a Week
9 Ticket to Ride
10 Help!
11 Yesterday
12 Day Tripper
13 We Can Work It Out
14 Paperback Writer
15 Yellow Submarine
16 Eleanor Rigby
17 Penny Lane
18 All You Need Is Love
19 Hello Goodbye
20 Lady Madonna
21 Hey Jude
22 Get Back
23 The Ballad of John & Yoko
24 Something
25 Come Together
26 Let It Be
27 The Long and Winding Road

 

Single disc of all hits, while Past Masters is two discs with some obscure material (relatively speaking) and lacking some big hits (Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, A Day In The Life, etc.).

The 1973 compilation albums 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 would be a better comparison.

 

I haven't heard the album but I have heard the remix of Day Tripper. I was unaware that I was listening to a remix but instantly knew that something was different. The verses sounded pretty good, more spacey, but the remix totally destroyed the solo section and took all of the pep and excitement out of it. As a result I have no interest in hearing any more Beatles remixes as it was too annoying to have my emotional responses to the music altered. Very different to listening to alternative takes or live versions for the first time where you don't have any expectation of a particular response.

 

It's a single disc containing only their most popular songs. As a single disc it's less expensive than a double, so it had a leg up on Past Masters right there. Also Past Masters had a couple of more obscure cuts, while 1 was nothing but their most popular songs. That made it a reasonably-priced no-brainer for the average consumer, where Past Masters was a little more expensive and geared towards people who already had some familiarity with the wider catalog.

 

"1" is a "Best Of ..." compilation. Those usually sell well. "Past Masters" was aimed at more ardent fans where "1" was aimed at casual fans. There's more of the latter.

The timing of those releases also makes a difference.

 

Wasn't 1 given a pretty good marketing campaign, both times it was released? Past Masters seemed at the time to be clean-up after the original albums were released, but everyone knew about 1. Even the title "Past Masters" seems like a for-collectors-only type of thing.

 

I think it was more of a draw for the casual fans, whereas Past Masters was a dedicated fan item.

 

the remix drives me mostly batty because the tambourines aren't blended nicely, jumping out and slapping me in the side of the head... in some of the songs I'd really never noticed the tambourines in the original mixes but the remix made sure I knew they were there! And not in a good way, mind you...

 

The omission of Please Please Me is a crime against humanity. Oh the horror.

 

never bothered with either compilation, adopted Past Masters as part of my mono CD box-set

 

It was a single, but didn't hit number 1? That's wild.

 

It all creates a new audience that may some day discover there was a White Album, won't that be fun to listen to for the first time

 

The mid-way between Past Masters and 1 would be a double-CD singles collection featuring all UK A-sides and B-sides (including the original mono mixes). I wonder how it would have sold in comparison to Past Masters and 1, since I think it would have captured the attention of both casual fans and dedicated collectors.

CD1

Love Me Do
P.S. I Love You
Please Please Me
Ask Me Why
From Me To You
Thank You Girl
She Loves You
I'll Get You
I Want To Hold Your Hand
This Boy
Can't Buy Me Love
You Can't Do That
A Hard Day's Night
Things We Said Today
I Feel Fine
She's A Woman
Ticket To Ride
Yes It Is
Help!
I'm Down
We Can Work It Out
Day Tripper
Paperback Writer
Rain
Yellow Submarine
Eleanor Rigby

CD2

Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
All You Need Is Love
Baby You're A Rich Man
Hello, Goodbye
I Am The Walrus
Lady Madonna
The Inner Light
Hey Jude
Revolution
Get Back (single version)
Don't Let Me Down
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
Old Brown Shoe
Something
Come Together
Let It Be (single version)
You Know My Name

 

No superfluous, foreign language songs?

 

1 was aimed at the casual fan or younger folks who weren’t wholly aware of the Beatles. I was in college at the time and I remember hearing 1 blaring from CD players a handful of times.

Past Masters was/is a catalog release, serving as the album placement for non-album (primarily singles and EP) tracks. Even while it has some big hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Hey Jude”, it’s a must for the diehard fan who wants to collect the entire recorded catalog via album.

Two different sort functions and purposes, though each taken on their own still provide a fantastic abbreviated career history for the Beatles’ evolution.

 

Unfortunately no. And no Strawberry Fields. Oh the humanities!

 

Most people just want the hits and never venture into album tracks. The end. One stop shopping for the masses. Not bad, not good, just is.

 

Regardless of the act, there is always a market for an album of just the biggest hits. To make 1, Apple combined the US and UK 20 Greatest Hits albums (which were still available on cassette at the time) and added "Something". Voila! A single CD of the biggest hits.

Past Masters was a house cleaning release, not a greatest hits album. It was a collection of single, EP, and rarity tracks that weren't on the other CDs. Half of the songs on 1 had been on albums. Some may have bought 1 as a complimentary supplement to Past Masters.

At the time, the Red and Blue albums were still unreasonably expensive. In the US, you could get the Red and Blue albums for about $50 (and the two fatboy cases took up a lot of space), the two Past Masters for $35, or a single disc of hits for $17 or less. I'm sure those price considerations were comparable in the rest of the world. For the casual fan, that became a no-brainer.

At one point, you could buy 1 and Rubber Soul for less than what the Red Album cost. You got 15 extra songs in exchange for the four that you wouldn't get from the Red Album.

Finally, 1 was heavily promoted. Past Masters was released with little promotion.

 

As well as it sold, it unfortunately missed the peak of the CD era. If they had released this in the late 80s or early 90s, it might be the best selling album of all time by now. It’s a testament to their significance and enduring popularity that it put up those numbers post-Napster.

 

1 would have been better with "Please Please Me" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" instead of the US #1 hits "Eight Days A Week" and "The Long And Winding Road"; but it would have had to be promoted as a collection of UK A-sides rather than a collection of #1 hits ("Yesterday" could have stayed as a bonus since it was released as a single in UK in 1976).

 

The remixing (or was it just remastering? I can’t recall!) was a big sell for this at the time, too. Despite it being a straightforward one-stop hits collection, it had that aura of being something of an upgrade.

And back then, mp3s from Napster were often low-res enough to easily tell the difference, with artifacts scattered throughout a track. But 1 was all about having the cleanest-sounding Beatles up to that point.

 

To completely different kind of compilations.

 

Because there was a need for a $16.98 compilation CD and the US/UK number ones fit the bill.

By the way, the best sounding CD is the one in the digipack filled with the 09/09/09 remasters.