Swingin' Pig's 'Ultra Rare Tracks' was one of the first collections to appear in the late 80s that featured mainly unheard studio outtakes in very high sound quality. Yellow Dog's Unsurpassed Masters series and the Backtrack series followed shortly thereafter. While the Ultra Rare Tracks discs sound quite good, they are all fairly short and none of the discs are presented in chronological order. In addition, many of the liner notes contain inaccurate information.

Of all the early sets, I prefer the Backtrack series, which features many takes of the songs back to back and not spread over several discs. All of this material has been released many times on other boots and much of it appeared on the Anthologies. Volume Four is notable for the inclusion of a Blues Jam and a version of 'Yer Blues' from the Rock and Roll Circus. For the rest of this material, you're better off getting it all on the Artifacts box sets, along with a wealth of other rarities not included on these discs.

Volume One
1. I Saw Her Standing There, Take 2
2. One After 909, Take 2
3. She's A Woman, Take 2
4. I'm Looking Through You, Take 1
5. If You've Got Troubles, EMI 2/65
6. How Do You Do It, EMI 9/62
7. Penny Lane, mono mix, with horn ending, poor sound quality
8. Strawberry Fields Forever, take 26
9. From Me To You, EMI 3/4/63, without harmonica
10. Besame Mucho, EMI 6/6/62, with Pete Best on drums
11. Fool On The Hill, Paul's piano demo
12. Paperback Writer, EMI 4/66, without echo