The Beatles - Please Please me

1963

Track Listing                                                                            

1. I saw her standing there             8. Love me do                                           

2. Misery                                         9. P.S. I love you

3. Anna (Go to him)                        10. Baby it's you                        

4. Chains                                        11. Do you want to know a secret

5. Boys                                           12. A taste of honey

6. Ask me why                                13. There's a place

7. Please please me                      14. Twist and shout

Band Members:        

John Lennon - Vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, hand claps

Paul McCartney - Vocals, bass, hand claps                            George Harrison - Vocals, lead guitar, hand claps

Ringo Starr - Vocals, drums, percussion, hand claps             Andy White - Drums on tracks 7 & 8   

George Martin - Piano on track 2, celesta on track 10           Produced By:  George Martin

Notes

Please Please me was the debut album for The Beatles.  The band recorded ten of the fourteen tracks in one day.  It was broken down into three recording sessions totaling less than ten hours.  George Martin originally just wanted to record the band live at The Cavern Club, then decided to stick with the same concept, but just record them live in the record studio.  John Lennon had a cold the day of the recording which can slightly be noticed on some of the tracks.  Due to Lennon's cold George Martin wanted to record "Twist and shout" last because he knew the track would shred John's voice.  The boys did record another track that day that was not used for the album, this track was 'Hold me tight" which would be recorded again for their next album.  There are 6 cover tracks on this album including two of my favorite Beatles cover songs "Anna (go with him)" and "Baby it's you."  The album also features all 4 members singing lead on at least one track.  The album cover was taken inside of London's EMI headquarters.  The same image is used on The Beatles greatest hits album (1962-1966) and was recreated in a 1969 photograph used for another greatest hits album (1967-1970)  This album was never released in the United States until it was converted to CD.  In America their first album was titled Introducing...The Beatles, which included all of these tracks in two different versions.  In the U.K. this album peaked at number 1 for 30 weeks and spent 74 weeks on the charts.  Rolling Stone magazine named Please Please me number 39th of the greatest albums of all-time, ranked 6th highest of their albums, and ranked the highest of their early albums.  The album includes their first two hits "Love me do" and "Please Please me"  other notable tracks are "I saw her standing there", "Ask me why" "P.S. I love you" and their cover version of "Twist and shout."

Recommendations

Must own.  All original releases and the two Past Masters volumes should be owned by anyone who owns a CD. 

If you plan on purchasing Please Please me

Sadly the only version available is the 1987 CD release.  I'm hoping someday that The Beatles catalog will be remastered, but until then this is what we have to settle with.  You can find this at any store that has a decent CD collection, and of course on-line at Cdnow.com.

If you don't plan on purchasing Please Please me but want to hear some tracks from it

Buy the album.  Every single track by The Beatles is worth owning, besides you can't purchase their music on-line, you have to buy the albums.  If for some awful reason you do not own or want to own this, then please at least buy a greatest hits album of theirs.  1, Greatest hits (1962-1966), and Greatest Hits (1967-1970) would be a good place to start.  Want to see my ideal compilation for The Beatles?  You can view it at my Beatles Home Page. 

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