The Beatles Albums – Please Please Me

The Beatles Albums – Please Please Me   

No one ever thought that the destiny of Rock n Roll and all things good could spawn from the ashes of a Northern English city called Liverpool. It started rather innocuously with four boys hankering around Hamburg and the Cavern with guitars on their back, playing exhaustive sets and injecting a little love back into a barren musical landscape. The fat cats in London showbiz blinkered a blind eye to Mersey beat as pop producers Decca turned down the fab four and Parlaphone swooped in for the kill.   

You could say the release of the band’s debut album was rushed to cash in on the number one success from the title single released only a month earlier. With George Martin behind the desk, scrimping on a measly 400 pound budget and with only three days to spare, it didn’t take long to piece together what was essentially an amalgamation of the bands live set.   

Please Please Me hit the charts and started the screams that would follow the Beatles for the rest of the 60’s. It seemed Beatle mania was just what the world wanted and needed as Please Please Me skyrocketed to success, remaining at number one position for no less than 30 weeks.   

The album manages to capture that spark of personality, significance and repertoire that gave the fab 4 their name. From the fast paced pop exuberance of ‘I Saw HerStanding There’ to the more raucous, up the wall screech of ‘Twist and Shout’, it’s an album that you can get sweaty too. It’s the Beatles before they had to carry that weight, when they were four young ‘uns in the prime, wanting to get everyone dancing. It wasn’t what some ‘all too serious’ fanatics would call ‘a musical revolution’ but it was certainly the start of something good!   

There are a few cover songs slotted nicely in, but by no means could you call any of the tracks ‘fluff filler’. The balance is the right strike; we get to hear the musical influences of John, Paul, George and Ringo alongside their own musical inventions. Although the main bulk is R&B, pop ditties and charismatic charm you can still get a glimpse into the more complex nature of the Beatles musical style. A close listen to ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ will bowl you over when you pay close attention to those rising, otherworldly harmonies. This is an album that is, in no sense of the word perfect, but spirited, managing to capture the urgency and energy of the times. The sixties were upon us and we had no idea what was waiting around the corner!   

The wheels were in motion and there was no getting of the fast rolling ride that would become Beatle Mania as we are about to find out on our journey through the magical, mystery tour which is The Beatles.