The Beatles - Please Please Me

The Beatles - Please Please Me 1963

Please Please Me is the debut album by the English rock band The Beatles. Parlophone rush-released the album on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of singles "Please Please Me" (number one on most lists but only number two on Record Retailer)[1] and "Love Me Do" (number 17).

Of the album's fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon/McCartney, early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called "[their invention of] the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments.

In order for the album to contain fourteen songs (the norm for British 12" vinyl pop albums at that time was to have seven songs on each side, while American albums usually had only five or six songs per side) ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first two singles recorded and released previously. Therefore, at 10:00 am on Monday, 11 February 1963, The Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes).[3] In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the band's Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits. Optimistically, only two sessions were originally booked by Martin—the evening session was added later.[4] George Martin initially contemplated recording the album live at the Cavern in front of the group's home audience[5][6] and visited the Liverpool club on 9 December 1962 to consider the technicalities.[7][8][9] But when time constraints intervened, he decided to book them at EMI Studios in Abbey Road instead and record them virtually live. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire — a broadcast, more or less."[10]

The day ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout", which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon's voice for the day. This performance, captured first take, and generally regarded as a classic, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get."[4]

The song "Hold Me Tight" was recorded during these sessions, but was "surplus to requirements" and not included on the album.[4] "Hold Me Tight" was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With The Beatles.[11]

The whole day's session cost around £400.[12] George Martin said: "There wasn't a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000."[9] This budget had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster.

Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle collected a seven pounds and ten shillings (£7.50) session fee for each three hour session.[13]

Martin considered calling the album Off the Beatle Track before Please Please Me was released on Parlophone PCS 3042.[14]

Please Please Me was recorded on a two-track BTR tape recording machine, with most of the instrumentation on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing for a better balance between the two on the final quarter-inch tape mix-down in mono.[15] A stereo mix was made at the same time as the mono mix, with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, as well as an added layer of reverb to better blend the two tracks together. This was common practice for playback on stereo consoles.

Please Please Me was released as an LP album on Parlophone in the UK on 22 March 1963, and has remained on UK catalogue continuously from 1963 until present.

In other news, I have added the lyrics to this song so you can sing along, or perhaps learn the song! This is how I learned my first Beatles song! Enjoy :)