The Beatles: Please Please Me - 1963
"I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and the answer was their stage act" - George Martin
This was it, then, The Beatles' very first album, and, while very much of its time, there is still some superb stuff on it.
There are five cover versions alongside the eight Lennon-McCartney originals but that was pretty par for the course in 1963. What was not par for the course, however, were self-penned songs. Only The Beatles were writing their own songs. No other artists or groups did it, certainly not in the UK and only Bob Dylan did it in the US. It immediately set them apart from pop music conventions. A few self-composed songs might not sound much now but considered in context it was actually hugely ground-breaking, especially for ones so young as well.
Last night I said these words to my girl....
Led by a comparatively monotone-sounding Lennon, Misery was a lively rock 'n' roll-ish ballad but now sounds very much of its early sixties time. That said, it still has a nice sound to it and it carries with it bucketfuls of nostalgia for a time long gone by. Even tracks that the group considered as a bit throwaway such as this one have a real quality to them. There are throwaways and there are Beatles throwaways.
The cover of relatively little-known US soul singer Arthur Alexander's Anna (Go To Him) has John Lennon on lead for the first time on album, expressing his soon to be familiar relationship problems. He was probably far more sensitive and caring on the song than he actually was in real life. The song would seem to have been made for him, wouldn't it? Incidentally, The Rolling Stones also dipped into Alexander's songbook with You Better Move On and Go Home Girl.
Gerry Goffin/Carole King's Chains features George Harrison on lead vocals for the second time (Do You Want To Know A Secret was the first) on this country-ish rocker. For something from 1963, the sound quality on this is impressive. Nice bass reproduction. Even though Harrison wasn't rated as a singer, his vocal is lively, strident and enthusiastic enough, sounding a bit Billy Fury-ish. Once more, it is very much of its time, but a time it was.
Even on this first album, there was a "Ringo song" and he takes vocal duties on Boys - a quirky rock 'n' roll number, previously recorded by girl group The Shirelles. Despite the gender problem, it still has a naive appeal to it. It does sound awfully dated, though. Ringo delivers it with a pleasant joie de vivre, as you would expect, given his one chance to step up to the mike (it was recorded in one take). It has a catchy rockabilly appeal that was a staple in the group's live set. I can't help but like it - "Good old Ringo" sentiments abound already.
Ask Me Why is a melodic, lovelorn song from the already melancholic Lennon. It has a catchy but sad refrain, inspired very much by Smokey Robinson, a big favourite of both Lennon and McCartney. He was setting his lyrical stall out early on this type of song. Girls were already annoying him. I say "girls", the cynical young Lennon was already married to Cynthia, something people often forget, imaging him to be a carefree bachelor. Back to the song - I love the deep bass sound on this too and something about Lennon's vocal manage to appeal, even if he was sneeringly tongue-in-cheek as he sang it. When he sings "I say I love you" something in his sad, almost tearful cadence just sounds to impossibly nostalgic to me. Lovely.
Then there is the wonderful Please Please Me, composed largely by Lennon at his Aunt Mimi's house, with McCartney and Lennon in perfect harmony on vocals (after a few arguments, it is said) and that marvellous, spine-tingling iconic harmonica riff. Bloody marvellous. Even now, all these years later. The group's second single (and what a barnstormer it was), there has long been debate as to whether it got to Number One or not. It certainly did so on the charts published by various music papers but not, it seems on what was considered the official chart, therefore it doesn't appear on the 1 compilation, somewhat unfairly. For me, it the absolute best of the early Beatles singles. Love those descending guitar riffy bits.
With regard to Love Me Do I have never been a huge fan of The Beatles' first single, finding it lyrically twee and totally unthreatening. I don't even feel it had any of the vitality of rock 'n' roll. In a matter of a year or so it would sound hopelessly dated and by now it sounds exactly what it is - a song from several generations ago. Its infectious harmonica is its redeeming feature, though, as I guess is its instantly singable chorus. It just doesn't do it for me, I much prefer Please Please Me or I Saw Her Standing There from the same period. Incidentally, the version on the Past Masters compilation features Ringo on drums, whereas the one on the Please Please Me album had Andy White behind the kit and a sulking Ringo tapping out a rhythm on the tambourine.
With Please Please Me's 45 rpm 'b' side, P.S. I Love You, McCartney's already typically sentimental and lovelorn song was very much early sixties fare, similar to the sort of stuff Elvis was putting out at the same time. There is also a lot of Buddy Holly about its rhythm and also in his vocal. Its message of innocent, heartfelt young love was lapped up by the group's teenage girl fans, no doubt.
The group's cover of The Shirelles' Baby It's You is very fetching with a convincing Buddy Holly-esque vocal this time from Lennon. His Liverpudlian accent comes across on the slightly spat out "cheat, cheat" parts, with that strong Scouse "t" enunciation. While McCartney was probably the better early sixties-style rock 'n' roll singer, the unconventional, abrasive tones of Lennon had a unique quality to them.
Sung by Harrison (his first Beatles vocal) Do You Want To Know A Secret was a subsequent huge chart hit for Billy J. Kramer & Dakotas. It has a sublime, deep, warm bass line. Lennon thought the comparatively easy to sing number would be ideal for Harrison who he said was "not the best singer in the world". Always hurtfully honest, that Lennon. Actually, George does ok, sounding a lot like McCartney.
The harmonica that introduces There's A Place, an energetic, enthusiastic offering, is great but, as appealing as it is, it all sounds so very long ago now. It was another track that Lennon wrote very much with contemporary Motown sounds in mind. Lyrically it expresses a young man's craving for independence, a sentiment McCartney never expressed lyrically. This was Lennon's territory. Already, it was clear just how polarised their personalities were. For a pop singer like Lennon to be singing of such things was quite adventurous for the time, a young man wanting a place to go off and be oneself, far from the madding crowd as opposed to being with all his mates at the milk bar - or maybe in Lennon's case, his wife and domestic responsibility. Some fifteen to twenty years later, a young Paul Weller would explore similar themes, also unexpectedly, given that he was expected to be a rebellious punk.
The album ends with Lennon's throaty (apparently suffering from a heavy cold) vocal on this infectious rocker - when The Beatles make The Top Notes/The Isley Brothers' Twist And Shout their own and get the girls screaming....
Overall, this was a mightily impressive debut album especially as it functions as a proper album, not merely as a vehicle for singles and their 'b' sides, a fair few of which were not included here anyway.
