Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #22 - THE BEATLES - PLEASE PLEASE ME (1963)


**all songs written by Lennon/McCartney unless otherwise noted


Side One:


1. I Saw Her Standing There

2. Misery

3. Anna (Go To Him) (Arthur Alexander)

4. Chains (Gerry Goffin/Carole King)

5. Boys (Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell)

6. Ask Me Why

7. Please Please Me


Side Two:


1. Love Me Do

2. P.S. I Love You

3. Baby It's You (Hal David/Barney Williams/Burt Bacharach)

4. Do You Want To Know A Secret

5. A Taste Of Honey (Bobby Scott/Ric Marlow)

6. There's A Place

7. Twist And Shout (Phil Medley/Burt Russell)


This week I decided to post an album that, although it's 47 years old, is new to me. So the following comments will be from a fresh perspective, not from somebody who thinks The Beatles hung the moon.
Please Please Me is The Beatles debut LP, released in 1963. Of course,
it's very confusing because of the U.K. release dates not corresponding
to the U.S. release dates, but for our purposes, this is the debut. I
did notice the mention in Wikipedia of this album beginning the idea of a
self contained band, where members wrote the songs on the album. That
may be, but 6 of the 14 songs are covers. And that's not a criticism,
just a statement of fact.


The first thing I'm looking at would be the hit singles that I'm familiar with. I Saw Her Standing There is a very good song. It may be bubble gum rock to some, but I like it. The same goes for Love Me Do.
The harmonica sounds great here. I also like Do You Want To Know A
Secret. The big hit I'm not that familiar with is the title track,
Please Please Me. I don't ever remember hearing it until I listened to
this album, but I do think it's a good song. Of course, all of those are
Lennon/McCartney compositions.


For the most part, I think all of the other songs are okay. Not great to me, but I can certainly handle listening to them. It's nothing that I want to hear over and over again though. One exception is the song
Boys. I don't like this. He talks about kissing a girl, then keeps
singing about boys. Maybe I'm just not hearing something, but like I
said, I don't like it. The other thing I'll mention is the song Ask Me
Why. The beginning is a little "jingle" that I constantly hear on the
radio. Just that part, nothing else. I had no idea it was from a Beatles
song. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? And I did forget to
mention that after listening to the whole album, I do recognize P.S. I
Love You as a song I have heard before, I just didn't recognize it by
title. But that's a pattern with me and The Beatles. A good example is
the song Norwegian Wood. I read that it's a great song but I have no
idea what it sounds like, until I hear it and realize that I've heard it
quite a few times. I just don't know it by title.


So there you have my first Beatles review. Although I'm not mesmerized by them, I have much appreciation for what they've done. That's the reason I bought the 200 dollar box set last year.



***As always, please click the following link if you'd like to hear Please Please Me by The Beatles***

Views: 61

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I LOVE The Beatles. This is not among my top 5 over Beatles albums, but it's nevertheless one of the best debut-albums of all time. I allways get a "Beatles-kick" around december, where I listen to the music and see my DVD's and look in all my books. "I saw her standing there" is a great Paul-number!!
It's true, there's a lot of covers, but I think they were playing these numbers live, at the time, so this is practicly their live-set on record. The first album with only numbers by Lennon/McCartney was "A hard days night" around a year later, and the first real masterpiece they did!!
You know this is probably a bit older than the Beatles I really get into, but it was a very cool opportunity to go back and listen to what I believe started the really rock and roll revolution!

Enjoyed this post!
I was just listening to BBC versions of these songs today. I do prefer their work from 65-69 but this is a very enjoyable album to listen to with some great songs. They are still finding their footing but they do it with skill.
Part of the beauty of the album Please, Please Me is the time that it was released. While it has held up well, it is even more amazing to think of what it must have been like listening to this one for the first time back in 1962 in England when and where it was first released. While not directed at this album in particular, it is mind blowing that the distance from this album to Abbey Road is a mere 7 years...I cannot think of any other band that has grown that much in that amount of time.
YES! Thats the way I tried to listen it. Though I must admit it does get lost to me from time to time the time difference between this and Abbey Road! Absolutely stunning the road the Beatles traveled and what they accomplished is far outweighed by the quality of the work!

Nice perspective Dave!

RSS

Question Of The Week

CRB Features (Click photo to visit)

Birthdays

There are no birthdays today

CRB Staff Members

 

In Memory Of

Norma Jean Fox
(11/30/1945-9/7/2010)

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by RJhog (Admin).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service