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Please Please Me
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Please Please Me | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Beatles | |||||
| Released | 22 March 1963 (mono) 26 April 1963 (stereo) |
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| Recorded | Abbey Road 11 September 1962, 26 November 1962, and 11 February 1963 |
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| Genre | Rock and Roll | ||||
| Length | 32:45 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone PMC 1202 (mono) PCS 3042 (stereo) CDP 7 46435 2 |
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| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| The Beatles chronology | |||||
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Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles, rush-released on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of singles "Please Please Me" (#1)[1] and "Love Me Do" (#17). Of the album's fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon/McCartney, early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called "[their invention of] the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments."[2] In 2003, the magazine ranked the album number 39 on its list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[3] It was ranked first among the Beatles' early albums, and sixth of all of the Beatles' albums, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Rubber Soul, The Beatles (The White Album) and Abbey Road ranked higher.
Rolling Stone also placed two songs from the album on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: #139, "I Saw Her Standing There", and #184, "Please Please Me".
According to the All Music Guide, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh," the covers are "impressive" and the originals "astonishing."[4]
Contents |
In order for the album to contain fourteen songs (the norm for twelve inch vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side) ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first two singles recorded and released previously. Therefore, at 10.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 February, at Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes)[5]. In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the band's Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits.[6] George Martin initially contemplated recording the "Please Please Me" LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience[7] and visited the Liverpool club to experience the Beatles phenomenon for himself.[8][9] But when time constraints intervened he decided to book them into Abbey Road Studios instead, and simply record them virtually live. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire - a broadcast, more or less."[10] The day ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout", which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon's voice for the day. This performance, generally regarded as a classic, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get."[6]
The song "Hold Me Tight" was recorded during the session, but was "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album.[6] "Hold Me Tight" was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With the Beatles.[11]
The whole day's session cost around £400 [12]. George Martin said: "There wasn’t a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000."[13]. This, however, had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster.
Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle was entitled to collect seven pounds and ten shillings (£7.50) session fee, for each three hour session, which they duly did [14]. Martin considered calling the album Off the Beatle Track before Please Please Me was released on Parlophone PCS 3042.[15]
Please Please Me was recorded on a two-track tape recording machine, with most of the instrumentation on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing for a better balance between the two on the final half-inch tape mix-down in mono.[16] A stereo mix was made later, with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, and a layer of reverb was added to better blend the two tracks together. Unfortunately, the stereo versions of the songs on this album do not sound very balanced because of this.[citation needed]
Please Please Me was officially released on CD on 26 February 1987, along with three other Beatles' albums (With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles for Sale), all in mono only.
George Martin, a Fellow of London Zoo, thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have the Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover photography of the album. However, the Zoological Society of London turned down Martin's offer, and instead, Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters.[15] Martin was to write later: “We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music. Thereafter, though, the Beatles’ own creativity came bursting to the fore”.[17] In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot which was used for the Beatles retrospective albums "The Beatles 1962 - 1966" and “The Beatles 1967 - 1970” He was also to take the “zebra crossing” shot used on the cover of Abbey Road.
The first editions of the LP are the only Beatles LPs that have the gold and black Parlophone label (gold writing on a black background). The mono version is highly sought after by collectors and the stereo version is even more so. The next Please Please Me LP label had a yellow and black Parlophone LP label (black with yellow writing). Later labels are usually black with silver writing. Some of the newest versions (primarily from the 1970s and on) have the Apple Records label.
All songs by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, credited as McCartney/Lennon, except where noted. The songwriting credit was changed to the more familiar "Lennon/McCartney" for their second album, With the Beatles.
- "I Saw Her Standing There" – 2:55
- "Misery" – 1:50
- "Anna (Go to Him)" (Arthur Alexander) – 2:57
- "Chains" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) – 2:26
- "Boys" (Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell) – 2:27
- "Ask Me Why" – 2:27
- "Please Please Me" – 2:03
- "Love Me Do" – 2:22
- "P.S. I Love You" – 2:05
- "Baby It's You" (Mack David, Barney Williams, Burt Bacharach) – 2:38
- "Do You Want to Know a Secret" – 1:59
- "A Taste of Honey" (Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow) – 2:05
- "There's a Place" – 1:52
- "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell) – 2:33
- John Lennon – rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, vocals
- George Harrison – lead guitar, vocals
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, lead vocals on "Boys"
- George Martin – producer, piano
- Andy White – drums on "Love Me Do"
| Year | Song | Chart | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | "Do You Want to Know a Secret" | Pop Singles | 2 |
| 1964 | "I Saw Her Standing There" | Pop Singles | 14 |
| 1964 | "Love Me Do" | Pop Singles | 1 |
| 1964 | "P.S. I Love You" | Pop Singles | 10 |
| 1964 | "Please Please Me" | Pop Singles | 3 |
| 1964 | "There's a Place" | Pop Singles | 74 |
| 1964 | "Twist and Shout" | Pop Singles | 2 |
| 1986 | "Twist and Shout" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
| Chart | Rank |
|---|---|
| Disc Weekly | 1 |
| Melody Maker | 1 |
| NME | 1 |
| Record Retailer | 1 |
It stayed on top for 30 weeks (from 11th May 1963). Weeks in chart: 74 (seventy weeks from 6th April 1963, and four weeks from 7th March 1987)
- ^ Ian MacDonald (1994). Revolution in the Head: the Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 46. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7. (#1 on 4 charts: Melody Maker, New Musical Express, Disc, and BBC's Pick of the Pops)
- ^ Rolling Stone's The Beatles Biography. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
- ^ AMG Please Please Me Review. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions P.24
- ^ a b c Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 24, 26. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (1998). Revolution in the Head. London: Pimlico, 59. ISBN 0-7126-6697-4.
- ^ Chris Salewicz (1986). McCartney-The Biography. London: Queen Anne Press, 129. ISBN 0-356-124541-1.
- ^ Q Collectors Limited Edition. London: Maddy Ballantyne, 36.
- ^ George Martin with William Pearson (1994). With a Little Help From My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Boston: Little, Brown, 77. ISBN 0-316-54783-2.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 36.
- ^ Bill Harry The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia P.528
- ^ "Q" Magazine The Beatles Collectors Limited Edition P.38
- ^ Mark Lewisohn The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions P.21
- ^ a b Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 32.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 28.
- ^ Martin, George (1994). Summer Of Love. The Making Of Sgt Pepper, 121.