Please Please Me - The Beatles
It’s difficult not to hear Paul McCartney’s opening “One – Two – Three – Four!” as a count off to the greatest rock and roll band of all time. “I Saw Here Standing There,” the first cut off the Beatles first album – Please Please Me – serves as a mission statement for the album and the band (though they would go on to slightly rework the statement). McCartney’s bass line bounces builds and bounces again. His voice blows the top of his head off. John Lennon’s subtle harmonies and not so subtle whoops and hollers don’t let you forget he’s no sideman. Ringo effectively ends any debate over the quality of his drumming. And when Harrison’s solo hits, there shouldn’t be any doubt that he’s one of the greatest lead guitar players of all time. This is a band playing road-tested tunes for the first time on your home stereo. You cannot ignore what you’re hearing.
The mood carries throughout Please Please Me, mixing Lennon – McCartney originals with a variety of covers including Arthur Alexander’s “Anna.” Here, Lennon steps forward with the voice and self-consciousness that will haunt nearly every song he goes on to perform. The heartbreak, the passion, and the edginess for which everyone loves Lennon are introduced on “Anna.” They reoccur in “Ask Me Why,” “Baby It’s You,” and of course “Please Please Me.”
It’s no wonder the Beatles would build an album around “Please Please Me.” As the cover reads, there’s “Please Please Me,” “Love Me Do,” and twelve “other” songs. While today the infamous version of “Twist and Shout” far overshadows “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me” remains one of the greatest songs the Beatles ever composed. Capturing an urgency that manifests in most of their greatest songs, they rush through “Please Please Me” as if Lennon absolutely needs to be pleased. As if every note of his voice and harmonica are dependent on the pleasure of his “love.” This girl is driving him nuts – and it’s pushing the Beatles to a speed and passion that says: “Hey, we mean this.” Here, the Beatles give one of the finest examples of ensemble playing. All four move together as one unit, longing to be pleased.
George and Ringo get their turns on lead vocal. George taking the Goffin- King (as in Carole King) penned tune “Chains,” and “Do You Want to Know a Secret.” And Ringo goofs around on Dixon- Farrell’s “Boys,” a rollicking number that could have been recorded in the Cavern. He’s talkin’ bout boys, and what a bottle of joy. Here, again, Harrison’s solo sounds something from the Gospel or Chuck Berry.
McCartney leads the band on “A Taste of Honey”, a song particularly well- served by the re-masters. What once sounded like a seed from the McCartney tree of cheese ends up a stand-out track. Harrison’s melancholy guitar and the reverb-drenched vocals lend a haunting quality that had before been lost.
Like its bookend “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Twist and Shout” proves these cats bleed rock and roll. Lennon, in perhaps his finest vocal performance, looses his mind and shreds his vocal chords. George Martin waited until all the other songs were recorded before allowing Lennon take a stab at “Twist and Shout.” They recorded it twice, took the first take, and made history. Even today, his scream is unparalleled. The harmonies, the suspense, the sheer power build into a nerve-bending ruckus. A yelp into the vortex of pop music, informing everyone that no one has - nor ever will - play rock and roll like the Beatles.
Recorded in twenty-five hours and composed of songs culled from their live sets, Please Please Me is confirmation that the Beatles began as a live band. They were writing together. They were roaming Europe in vans together. They were together. While manager Brian Epstein had the boys in matching grey suits and on their best behavior, Please Please Me proves the Beatles’ leather jackets and rowdy rock and roll stage antics were not long forgotten.
