Keno's Classic Rock n Roll Web Site

ALBUM REVIEW

THE BEATLES

Please Please Me

Released - March 22, 1963, in the UK,  on Parlophone Records. Produced by George Martin.

John Lennon - Lead Vocals, Vocal Harmony, Backing Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Hand Claps
Paul McCartney - Lead Vocals, Vocal Harmony, Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar, Hand Claps
George Harrison - Backing Vocals, Vocal Harmony, Lead Vocals on "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret", Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Hand Claps 
Ringo Starr - Drums, Tambourine, Maracas, Hand Claps, Lead Vocals on "Boys"

Additional musicians:

Andy White – Drums on "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You"
George Martin – Piano on "Misery" and "P.S. I Love You", Celesta on "Baby It's You"

All songs written by Lennon & McCartney except where noted below.

REVIEW

Please Please Me is the debut studio album put out by the Beatles, released on March 22, 1963 in the UK, and it would go all the way to number one on the UK charts. So this was the album that really started every for the Beatles, and with its release, they were now on their way to becoming the greatest Rock 'n Roll band ever. But it would take at least some time for word to spread about them, too, and their first U.S. release was still almost a year away from happening.

This album goes down as one of the most popular and most important debut album to be put out by any Rock band. The thing about this new pop group of 4 lads, was that they were very different than other groups before them. One of the things different, was that on this album, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote 8 of the 14 songs, something unheard of in 1963. Before the Beatles, Rock groups and pop singers never wrote the songs that they sang and played. Plus these Lennon/McCartney songs were great songs, along with two excellent sounding lead singers who couldn't be beat as far as any other singers of the time went. On top of that, they were a great little band, too, and that shows on the tunes found on this LP.

"Twist and Shout", a cover, is the best song on Please Please Me, thanks to a great lead vocal by Lennon. Just scorching rock n roll singing and music - this one was no pop song, but a pure and very early hard rock number, before any hard rock was really being made yet. But most of the rest of the LP was pure rock and pop songs, with the first two Lennon/McCartney singles released by the band, that being the album's title track, and  "Love Me Do", as good as any pop songs put out before them, and the second and third best songs found on the album.

"I Saw Her Standing There" is the album's kick off song and a great choice for that spot, as it's pure rock n roll. "Do You Want to Know A Secret" is yet another of the best songs found on here, and while it's a Lennon/McCartney number, on this one George Harrison sings the lead and does a dandy job in the role.

Even Ringo Starr was given a lead vocal spot, with a very gay sounding song, "Boys", which wasn't actually such a song at all. It was written for a female singer, and the Beatles did change a line or 2 when they sang it, but I always wondered why they didn't change "Boys" to "Girls" in the lyrics? Anyway, this was the one song that drummer Peter Best used to sing live when he was in the band, and when Ringo took his spot, he started to sing it live too. It was a fan favorite at their shows and included on their first LP for that reason.

Then on here we also fine McCartney's all time hate song, the cover of "A Taste of Honey", a song he sang lead on and which he started to dislike after it was released. While it's no great song, I always liked it myself.

Overall a great Beatles album that those of us living in the U.S. at the time, never got to hear, not until it was finally released here in 1987. But then again, we Americans had two debut Beatle studio albums to play and enjoy, as Vee-Jay Records first released Introducing... The Beatles on Jan 10, 1964, and then just 10 days later we also had Meet the Beatles! out on the record shelves, released on Capitol Records. Yet nobody knew in early '64  when these first albums came out in America, just what was about to take place in the entire world of music - and not just in music, but in the lifestyles of the young Baby Boomers, thanks to the Beatles, as all young people fell in love with this band and their great music..... and it all started out with this first LP, and things just got better and better (music wise) as time moved on!

- Keno 2017

To listen to some soundclips from Please Please Me  or to purchase it, click on this link: Please Please Me

Return to Rock Album Reviews | Return to Beatles Bio