Getting started rambling about the greatness of perhaps the greatest band of all time is not unlike trying to explain quantum physics to a layman: Tedious and takes a long ass time.
The Beatles were a force of nature. They came out of the Merseybeat scene and left the music world with an impressively discography whose influence is so large it could still even be heard in the works of modern artists, such as Radiohead or Kanye West.
With the tremendous help from the engineers at Abbey Road Studios (especially George Martin and Geoff Emerick, god bless their souls), the Fab Four conquered the cultural as well as the musical world with thirteen studio albums in the span of seven years, with sounds ranging from Buddy Holly-esque lovey dovey catchy tunes to psychedelic rock to something reminiscent of proto-doom metal.
The boys chillin’ in 1963
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the White Album, it’s high time I did the reviews of every single album that came out of the seven years they were together and I’m gonna do it the way it should be done: Listen thoroughly to an album a week chronologically trying to really soak myself in each one, while trying to put together a review that could probably amount to anything any worth like the obsessive fanboy I am. For one, I could once again be any other fan from the 1960s seeing the growth of the band. There’s also the anticipation and excitement that comes with waiting impatiently for the next album to listen to. I am no critic. All of my reviews are mostly genuine opinion as a Beatle fanboy with a healthy dose of spontaneous facts coming from a Beatles nerd.
On a second thought, I’m now thinking that everybody should do this when approaching the Beatles’ music to really get the most out of their discography. It’s all in the context when we talk about how great the Beatles were, how their sounds varied so much and changed so drastically as each year passed.
So here we go, the very first studio album which took the Beatles a mere 13 hours to record: Please Please Me.
Many praise the Beatles for their later works with good reasons, and in turn makes their earlier stuff even more underappreciated. The experience of listening to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is as memorable as the Summer of Love itself, but listening to the Beatles’ earliest album is also memorable, as you could hear four young men from Liverpool forming what would become their unique sounds, fueled by the energy and ambitions of their Cavern Club years. It was before they came to the United States and still strung out on amphetamine rather than marijuana or LSD.
The opening track “I Saw Her Standing There” perfectly captures the energy of their early years: It’s a classic Lennon-McCartney tune, It’s loud, and you could dance to it. As a matter of fact, Please Please Me as a record is meant for nightclubs. Even “Anna (Go With Him)” or “Do You Want To Know A Secret?” are danceable tunes. The second track “Misery” is a great composition that could be something coming from the Everly Brothers. It’s also the very first Beatles song to be covered by another artist, Kenny Lynch, who later on appeared on the cover of Paul McCartney’s solo LP Band on the Run.
The album is also not filled with all joyful tunes. The cover of “Anna (Go With Him)”, for instance, touches the theme of being heartbroken, done in a sentimental vocal work by Lennon and there’s also a sense of bitterness on “Anna (Go With Him)” that couldn’t even touch that of Lennon’s own on Rubber Soul “Run For Your Life”, but of course far more “mature” than something like “Boys”, with Ringo’s voice being the only feature that carries an otherwise rather bland cover of the song, in my humble opinion. George, only nineteen years old at the time, already shines here with “Chains”. Though not my personal favorite on the LP, “Chains” is the only song where George takes the lead vocal, and already does it show the range of emotions that George’s voice is capable of doing, with prime examples being Beatles’ later songs, “Something” and “Long, Long, Long”, for instance.
George was NINETEEN when this album was recorded! NINETEEN!
What I’m probably gonna miss the most about the early Beatles is the use of harmonica. When it works, it’s eargasm. Being used throughout the album, but absolutely plays a crucial role on Love Me Do, the first hit single by the Beatles, as well as the title track Please Please Me; both melancholy tracks respectively about the love from a man to a woman and ahem, implied oral sex occuring between them. The accompanying B-side tracks to either songs, “Ask Me Why” and “P.S. I Love You”, alongside with “Do You Want To Know A Secret?” and “Baby, It’s You” are proofs that the Beatles could do light-hearted love songs as well as they did rock ‘n rollers. The now-oh-so-quaint lyrics are simple yet straight to the heart, hearing back could make anyone feel a sense of nostalgia running through each note.
“I love you, ’cause you tell me things I want to know.”
“Treasure these few words till we’re together…Keep all my love forever…P.S. I Love You…”
“A Taste of Honey” is an underrated piece of cover song that is overshadowed by the highly praised next track on the album, “There’s A Place”, which lasts a mere one minute and fifty-two seconds; also a great early composition by Lennon and McCartney, and that’s telling something. It’s everything as catchy as “Love Me Do”, and already showcasing the unusual chord changes exotic to mainstream pop scene at the time.
The album concludes with John destroying his own throat with the cover of Twist and Shout by Phil Medley and Bert Berns. It’s all done all in one take at the tail end of a very busy day of recording. Legend has that, a take two of song was recorded. But by that point John’s voice had already given up and George Martin didn’t think it was the best idea to use it so we’re left with a raw, completely passionate take of the song. It’s way different from the original version; arguably astoundingly better improvement, sung with such passion and joy sans the self-aware cheekiness that is typical of their works post-1963. Twist and Shout went on to become a staple of pop culture (the dance scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off comes to mind), a Beatles most well-known rock ‘n roller second only to I Want To Hold Your Hand. And as it usually goes, most don’t even realize that it was a cover.
Personal track ranking: (Best to worst):
Misery
Twist and Shout
There’s A Place
Do You Want To Know A Secret?
A Taste of Honey
Please Please Me
Ask Me Why
I Saw Her Standing There
P.S. I Love You
Anna (Go With Him)
Baby It’s You
Love Me Do
Chains
Boys
9/10
A solid album throughout, The Beatles had already proved themselves to be more than just another rock ‘n roll band at the time with this LP. The album really thrives on rawness, and the album’s high points are the high points of their early career, with such passion and joy coming from this little band from Liverpool whose only thing that matters at the time is playing music and for their music to be heard.
Little did they just know…
mê tú linh. 