Beatles One

Barnes & Noble

Beatles 1 is the first single-disc collection that spans every facet of the Fab Four's career, from Merseybeat mavens to punchy rockers to masters of nuanced pop-craft. The 27 chart-topping hits presented herein leave little doubt about why Beatlemania gripped the world in the '60s, beginning with the band's first stateside hit, "Love Me Do," and carrying on through scream-inducing hits such as "Can't Buy Me Love" and "A Hard Day's Night." As the '60s wore on, Lennon and McCartney grew more interested in expanding their methods of expression, as evidenced by timeless ballads such as "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" as well as edgier rockers such as "Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Come Together." (To hear the Beatles' artistic apex, you'll still need Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and The Beatles (White Album), neither of which generated any proper singles and therefore are not represented on Beatles 1.) Longtime Beatles fans won't find anything new here, but anyone looking to spread the gospel according to John, Paul, George, and Ringo couldn't find a more powerful dose of ammo than this. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Apparently, there was a gap in the Beatles' catalog, after all -- all the big hits weren't on one tidy, single-disc compilation. It's not the kind of gap you'd necessarily notice -- it's kind of like realizing you don't have a pair of navy blue dress socks -- but it was a gap all the same, so the group released The Beatles 1 late in 2000, coinciding with the publication of their official autobiography, the puzzlingly titled Anthology. The idea behind this compilation is to have all the number one singles the Beatles had, either in the U.K. or U.S., on one disc, and that's pretty much what this generous 27-track collection is. It's easy, nay, necessary, to quibble with a couple of the judgment calls -- look, "Please Please Me" should be here instead of "From Me to You," and it's unforgivable to bypass "Strawberry Fields Forever" (kick out "Yellow Submarine" or "Eleanor Rigby") -- but there's still no question that this is all great music, and there is a bit of a rush hearing all these dazzling songs follow one after another. If there's any complaint, it's that even if it's nice to have something like this, it's not really essential. There's really no reason for anyone who owns all the records to get this too -- if you've lived happily without the red or blue albums, you'll live without this. But, if you give this to any six or seven year old, they'll be a pop fan, even fanatic, for life. And that's reason enough for it to exist. Stephen Thomas Erlewine