Post by Amadeus on Jun 1, 2013 0:59:50 GMT
March 22 - 1963
The Beatles - Please Please Me
Oh brother! Give me some melodies! Give me some harmonies! Give me actual music! Anything but this stuff! What is this world coming to?
The Beatles, a new style beat/twist combo from the north of England have just unleashed their debut long-player today and what an insult to people who love 'real' music everywhere. What's wrong with Patty Page, Mantovani, Perry Como and even Helen Shapiro for crying out loud? And if I have to 'rock out' Chubby Checker will do very nicely thank you very much. Rock and roll was the curse of 20th century music until Hollywood got a hold of it and made it suitable for mass consumption. But this?
I will give you a run down on everything that is so bad about this album and save you the trouble of finding out for yourself.
First: What's wrong with nice music. This album could've been a bit more palatable with some nice syrupy strings and professional backing singers. Instead, what we have here is just plain clang, crash and clatter. Just plain in your face drums, bass and guitar. I have never heard the like on polite radio! And the actual performances are pretentiously smug by a bunch of guys who have absolutely no musical knowledge. So the production is raw and virtually unlistenable compared to all their contemporaries. To top it all off, John Lennon (The leader?) had a cold, so as a result, the vocal on the closing track is just screaming. I don't know.
Second: Speaking about no musical knowledge, I understand that these guys managed to get, more or less, complete artistic control over their output. They get to choose their own material!!! Isn't that what producers are for?? I mean it's unheard of that young singers get to choose their own music. The lunatics are running the asylum here it seems. Once you let the artist run his own career, it'll end in tears I tell you.
Third: Not only do they get to choose their own material, but they get to write their own stuff. So 'Love Me Do' was a regional hit and 'Please Please Me' was a flukey number 1, but really, this is a very potentially embarrassing situation for EMI to let these guys run their own show. But I'm certain that saner heads will prevail sooner or later.
Fourth: Alright. Like I said before, the extent of my 'rocking out' goes as far as Chubby Checker and even then only on a Saturday night. But the thing is, if I listen to a Chubby Checker long-player, I know what to expect. An album of twist songs. And that's all! But what the Beatles have done on this album is try to be unpredictable. First, a twist number (that grates by the way) then maybe a couple of slow songs. What is that??? When I looked at the track listing on the back, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice old time show tune. You all remember 'A Taste Of Honey'? I was hoping against hope that my lush strings and professional singers would be in evidence on this one but noooo. It's just the same old clatter that is all over the rest of the album.
I gotta say though, that for fans of this new style beat music, they could very well be disappointed by the sheer variety of musical types that these characters try to pull off and therefore give this album a miss. Although I grudgingly admit a slight liking of the track 'Ask Me Why', actually an original. Very nice chords.
Fifth: On the subject of their originals, for a cretin rock and roll audience, there are too many chords in their songs. Why do you have to have all those relative minors and major 7ths in a music form that traditionally has only 3 chords? It's not becoming to these young fellas to be so clever. They could trip and fall as a result.
Sixth: The visual aspect of the album. Do they even have a say on what goes on the cover? A nice professional and appealing graphic would've been the four of them doing a choreographed pose on the steps of EMI, but then that would've been too simple right? Not in keeping with the renegade sounds held within. And I guess without Mum around to brush their hair before they go out, they feel they can just show up any old way they please for something as important as the album cover photo shoot. Not very professional boys.
All in all, not a very pleasant package. Visually not attractive. Musically it's aggressively played and sparsely produced without any consideration for the qualities dictated by popular taste.
Like I said, give me Perry Como and nice melodies. And give these Beatles a miss. 'Please Please Me'? Not this time boys, not this time.
Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart - Melody Breaker
The Beatles - Please Please Me
Oh brother! Give me some melodies! Give me some harmonies! Give me actual music! Anything but this stuff! What is this world coming to?
The Beatles, a new style beat/twist combo from the north of England have just unleashed their debut long-player today and what an insult to people who love 'real' music everywhere. What's wrong with Patty Page, Mantovani, Perry Como and even Helen Shapiro for crying out loud? And if I have to 'rock out' Chubby Checker will do very nicely thank you very much. Rock and roll was the curse of 20th century music until Hollywood got a hold of it and made it suitable for mass consumption. But this?
I will give you a run down on everything that is so bad about this album and save you the trouble of finding out for yourself.
First: What's wrong with nice music. This album could've been a bit more palatable with some nice syrupy strings and professional backing singers. Instead, what we have here is just plain clang, crash and clatter. Just plain in your face drums, bass and guitar. I have never heard the like on polite radio! And the actual performances are pretentiously smug by a bunch of guys who have absolutely no musical knowledge. So the production is raw and virtually unlistenable compared to all their contemporaries. To top it all off, John Lennon (The leader?) had a cold, so as a result, the vocal on the closing track is just screaming. I don't know.
Second: Speaking about no musical knowledge, I understand that these guys managed to get, more or less, complete artistic control over their output. They get to choose their own material!!! Isn't that what producers are for?? I mean it's unheard of that young singers get to choose their own music. The lunatics are running the asylum here it seems. Once you let the artist run his own career, it'll end in tears I tell you.
Third: Not only do they get to choose their own material, but they get to write their own stuff. So 'Love Me Do' was a regional hit and 'Please Please Me' was a flukey number 1, but really, this is a very potentially embarrassing situation for EMI to let these guys run their own show. But I'm certain that saner heads will prevail sooner or later.
Fourth: Alright. Like I said before, the extent of my 'rocking out' goes as far as Chubby Checker and even then only on a Saturday night. But the thing is, if I listen to a Chubby Checker long-player, I know what to expect. An album of twist songs. And that's all! But what the Beatles have done on this album is try to be unpredictable. First, a twist number (that grates by the way) then maybe a couple of slow songs. What is that??? When I looked at the track listing on the back, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice old time show tune. You all remember 'A Taste Of Honey'? I was hoping against hope that my lush strings and professional singers would be in evidence on this one but noooo. It's just the same old clatter that is all over the rest of the album.
I gotta say though, that for fans of this new style beat music, they could very well be disappointed by the sheer variety of musical types that these characters try to pull off and therefore give this album a miss. Although I grudgingly admit a slight liking of the track 'Ask Me Why', actually an original. Very nice chords.
Fifth: On the subject of their originals, for a cretin rock and roll audience, there are too many chords in their songs. Why do you have to have all those relative minors and major 7ths in a music form that traditionally has only 3 chords? It's not becoming to these young fellas to be so clever. They could trip and fall as a result.
Sixth: The visual aspect of the album. Do they even have a say on what goes on the cover? A nice professional and appealing graphic would've been the four of them doing a choreographed pose on the steps of EMI, but then that would've been too simple right? Not in keeping with the renegade sounds held within. And I guess without Mum around to brush their hair before they go out, they feel they can just show up any old way they please for something as important as the album cover photo shoot. Not very professional boys.
All in all, not a very pleasant package. Visually not attractive. Musically it's aggressively played and sparsely produced without any consideration for the qualities dictated by popular taste.
Like I said, give me Perry Como and nice melodies. And give these Beatles a miss. 'Please Please Me'? Not this time boys, not this time.
Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart - Melody Breaker