The Beatles Album Covers – Please Please Me

The Beatles Album Covers – Please Please Me   

The title of the album was taken from the Number One Beatles song at the time, Please, Please Me, capitalizing on its popularity as a chart-topper in early 1963.   

This was the group’s second hit following Love Me, Do and their debut album. To add to its sales, Love Me , Do was even printed on the cover to pump up interest.   

The vision for this cover came from producer George Martin. Originally, he wanted to take a photograph of the four Beatles at the London Zoo, outside the Insect House (a play on the insect-like name Beatles) to help with the overall publicity campaign, but the Zoological Society turned him down, even though he was member!   

Moving on, he hired Angus McBean, a legendary photographer of the theatre world. The photo shoot took place in Manchester Square at the London headquarters of EMI Music. Using the stairwell, McBean posed the four young men looking down at him in the stairwell, which made for a very distinctive and captivating colour photograph. The photo shoot was done quickly, as was the music for the album, to ride on the wave of popularity that was besieging the young band.   

A few years later, 1969, the Beatles wanted the shot recreated and called on McBean again. It became the cover of the retrospective two-album set covering years 1962-1966, and years 1967-1970. For The Beatles No.1 another photo taken from this re-creation was later used.   

When EMI moved its London headquarters from Manchester Square in 1995, they actually took this famous balcony with them to their new location in West London! A sad twist to the tale: in 2007 it was discovered that seven of the original colour negatives were accidentally disposed of from the EMI headquarters offices.   

Album Designer   

Angus McBean was a very notable photographer in the 1960s, mostly taking photographs of theatre actors and actresses, most notably iconic images of Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. He began his career as a prop and mask designer in the West End London theatre community, and became known as a talented surrealist. Post war, he focused on a more conventional style of portraiture and was commissioned by the Stratford memorial Theatre and then the Royal Opera House, and the Old Vic. His work for the Beatles made him one of Britain most influential photographers.