Please Please Me is the debut album by The Beatles. Parlophone rush-released the album on 22 March 1963 in the UK to capitalize on the success of singles “Please Please Me” (#1 on most lists but only #2 on Record Retailer) and “Love Me Do” (#17).
Only the mono version was issued on this date – its catalogue number was PMC 1201. A stereo version – PCS 3042 – followed on Friday 26 April. Both were released on EMI’s Parlophone subsidiary. Producer George Martin originally wanted to call the album Off The Beatle Track, but later dropped the idea.
Of the album’s fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon–McCartney (originally credited “McCartney–Lennon”), 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). 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. Martin initially contemplated recording the album live at the Cavern in front of the group’s home audience and visited the Liverpool club on 9 December 1962 to consider the technicalities. 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.”
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.”
TRACKS:
All songs Lennon/McCartney unless noted.
Side one
I Saw Her Standing There – 2:55
Misery – 1:50
Anna (Go To Him) (Arthur Alexander) – 2:57
Chains (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) – 2:26
Boys (Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell) – 2:27
Ask Me Why – 2:27
Please Please Me – 2:03
Side two
Love Me Do” – 2:22
P.S. I Love You – 2:05
Baby It’s You (Mack David/Barney Williams/Burt Bacharach) – 2:38
Do You Want To Know A Secret – 1:59
A Taste Of Honey (Bobby Scott/Ric Marlow) – 2:05
There’s A Place – 1:52
Twist And Shout (Phil Medley/Bert Russell) – 2:33
