If you’ve known me for any extended amount of time, then you know that my all time favorite band is The Beatles. One of my blogging goals for 2015 is to have a regular feature and because I’m completely random, I will be featuring a Beatles album monthly. This is exciting because it gives me a chance to relisten to these albums again. I’m not exactly reviewing it (as I am not a music reviewer) but instead enjoying it as a fan.

Please Please Me was the first full studio album released by The Beatles in March 1963 under the Parlophone label with George Martin as the producer. They recorded this album in less than 13 hours on a single day. Can you imagine how insane that is compared to what people do today? There are 6 covers on here and the rest are Lennon/McCartney originals.

• I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – Paul
• Misery (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – John/Paul
• Anna (Go to Him) (Arthur Alexander) – Lead singer – John
• Chains (Goffin/King) – Lead singer – George
• Boys (Dixon/Farrell) – Lead singer – Ringo
• Ask Me Why (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – John
• Please Please Me (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – John/Paul
• Love Me Do (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – John/Paul
• P.S. I Love You (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – Paul
• Baby It’s You (David/Williams/Bacharach) – Lead singer – John
• Do You Want to Know a Secret (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – George
• A Taste of Honey (Scott/Marlow) – Lead singer – Paul
• There’s a Place (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead singer – John/Paul
• Twist and Shout (Medley/Russell) – Lead singer – John

Standout song: Twist and Shout

Personal favorite songs: Twist and Shout, Anna (Go to Him), Baby It’s You, Please Please Me

Least memorable: Boys, Chains

While the Beatles had recorded songs before, this was the first album they recorded together as a group. I know that bands, groups, and singers these days have albums coming out when they are young teens but almost all the time they never write their own songs. A lot of those songs also have four or more writers credited. So for a bunch of guys that are 23 or younger (!!), this is pretty incredible.

Most of the songs are very light about love. There’s nothing too deep lyrically in these songs plus the guitar chords sound quite simple and not as complex as they will become later on. This album sounds very oldies like. I also find it interesting that everyone in the band gets to sing. These days it almost feels like a lot of popular bands really consist of the band backing up the lead singer (who usually doesn’t play an instrument either). Here George gets two and even Ringo joins in on the fun. Unfortunately for them, the selections chosen for them aren’t very outstanding. Two of these songs were originally done by girl groups so it’s a curious selection. Then again so was “Baby It’s You” but I just adore that song in general so maybe it’s in the way it’s sung.

Twist and Shout is the best song on this album. It was also the last song recorded during that 12+ hour session and you can absolutely tell that in John’s voice as it’s basically ripped to shreds.

All in all a decent first album. While, it’s not my favorite and other than “Twist and Shout” there’s nothing really jumping out, it’s a darn good start.

Next month: With the Beatles