Though it remains the only outtakes collection album ever to be officially released, is one of those albums that has been slighted by almost everyone who has touched it, a problem that lies in its genesis. While both and former manager agreed that some form of archive release was necessary, if only to stem the then-ongoing flow of bootlegs, they could not agree how to present it. Of the two, the band's own version of the album, compiled by , probably came closest to the fan's ideal, cherrypicking the vaults for some of the more legendary outtakes and oddities for a bird's-eye view of the entire band's creative brilliance. , on the other hand, chose to approach the issue from the songwriting point-of-view, focusing on the wealth of demos for songs that / gave away (usually to artists being produced by ) and which, therefore, frequently featured more session men than . Both approaches had their virtues, but when 's version of the album became the one that got the green light, of course fans and collectors bemoaned the non-availability of the other. The fact is, if 's selection had been released, then everyone would have been crying out for 's. Sometimes, you just can't win. So, rather than wring your hands over what you don't receive, you should celebrate what you do. A heavily orchestrated version of with accompanying the backing track that would later give a U.K. number one hit, opens the show; a loose-limbed recorded with , closes it. No complaints there, then. The real meat, however, lies in between times. During 1964-1965, and headed a session team that also included the likes of arrangers , guitarist , pianist , bassist , and many more, convened to cut demos for the plethora of songs then being churned out by . Some would subsequently be redone by themselves; others, however, would be used as backing tracks for other artist's versions of the songs. pulls a number of tracks from this latter grouping, and while (covered by ), ( ), and ) may not be performances per se, they are certainly songs and, for the most part, as strong as any of the band originals included on the group's first four or five LPs. Elsewhere, the 1964 studio outtake is as fine a cover as ever mustered, while the rocking 's and a delightfully lackadaisical version of are outtakes from two of ' finest-ever albums, . All of which adds up to an impressive pedigree, whatever the circumstances behind the album, and whatever else could have been included on it. Indeed, if there are any criticisms to be made, it is that the album sleeve itself is singularly uninformative, and the contents are seriously jumbled. But those are its only sins. Everything else you've heard about it is simply wishful (or otherwise) thinking. ~ Dave Thompson