Post by henryj on Sept 2, 2014 1:08:38 GMT
Please Please Me, on Parlophone
Every Beatle album was an improvement over the previous release, in some way. Well, this is their first album, that which was improved upon. Having said that, this still pretty good, which means that subsequent releases were to be really good.
Interestingly, the songwriting credits on the back of the album say “McCartney-Lennon” instead of “Lennon-McCartney.”
I think I would have liked this album even better if I had heard it first and not Meet the Beatles on Capitol.
Really creative album-cover photo, the Beatles looking over a stairwell. They would re-create this shot 6 years later for the Get Back album, which stayed in the can and released as Let It Be with a different cover.
“[i]I Saw Her Standing There”
[/i]How cool – starting the album off with a countoff. Up-tempo rocker, sung by Paul. This was before Paul developed his rock-screamer voice such he used on “She’s a Woman,” “Kansas City,” and others. George’s guitar solo builds nicely. Harmonies by John.
“Misery”
Lennon-McCartney song. Lead vocal by John. His head cold is evident. Piano octaves by George Martin.
“Anna (Go to Him)”
Cover of an Arthur Alexander song, sung by John. John and Paul had colds on the day most of this album was recorded. John’s head cold lends a certain poignancy to this recording. Nice “ahh” background vocals by Paul and George.
Actually, I would have preferred Alexander’s “You Better Move On,” but that’s just me, and this recording is fine enough.
“Chains”
The first appearance of George’s voice.( Or first sound. Do voices “appear”? ) Also, the first of three girl-group covers, which is pretty imaginative for an all-male rock group. This was by the Cookies.
I might have mentioned this on anther thread, but I can remember when this song came out by the Cookies. It was the”Pick of the week” by the AM radio station I listened to. Either a week later, or a week earlier, the pick hit was “He’s So Fine,” by the Chiffons. I used to confuse the Cookies with the Chiffons because of the concurrence of their debut singles, and the fact that both groups were African-American females.
Interestingly, the publisher of Chiffon’s song won a plaigiarism lawsuit against the lead singer of the Cookies cover. But we won’t go into that here.
The Beatles sing good harmonies on this song, especially considering that they were more than likely recorded all on the same track. When Crosby, Stills and Nash recorded their first album on 16 tracks, each voice had its own track to balance and blend in with the others.
I believe this is the only Goffin-King song the Beatles ever recorded.
“Boys”
Well, if George can sing a solo, then why not Ringo? This is a pretty good rocker. Good backup vocals also. Guitar solo sounds almost Beach Boyish. I wonder how it would sounded played on a Fender Jaguar instead of a Gretch Duo-jet. Shirelles cover, but they did not change the lyrics. Somehow, it does not come off as awkwardly as one might have imagined.
It is said that Pete Best did the vocal on this song when he was in the band.
“Ask Me Why”
A somewhat jazzy John song. Maybe it’s the major 7th chords.
“Please Please Me”
Title cut. The story goes that it was meant to be a Roy Orbison- like slow tune, but George Martin suggested they pick up the tempo. After recording it at that tempo, Martin and the boys recognized that the tune would be a hit. This theme was replicated in the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, wherein the Wonders get a new drummer who forces a much faster tempo, and the song becomes a hit.
“Love Me Do”
First official release.
To my ears, it sounds John and Paui’s two-part harmony sounds much like that of the Everly Brothers. “Love Me Do” takes on a somewhat forlorn tone if you are thinking of the Everlys’ “When Will I Be Loved” when you hear it. There are two versions of this song, one with Ringo on drums, the other with Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine. Producer George Martin was not sure about Ringo just yet. The one on the album here has a somewhat sloppy vocal by Paul just after the harmonica break; the word “do” smears downward.
Oh, and if you play the harmonica part, you’ll need a chromatic harmonica. The solo has an F#, where the intro has F natural. Can’t do that on an off the rack Hohner Marine band harmonica.
And if you do get a chromatic harmonica, please don’t shoplift it.
“P.S. I Love You”
My favorite tune on the album. The story about this one goes that someone at Parlophone didn’t like the fact that there were several other songs with this title, so it was not released as a single. I think that’s too bad. This is a good song and a good arrangement. The first word of each line is harmonized three ways, but the rest of the line is Paul solo, except on the last verse, where they sing all the words of the line, hanging on a note in the chord rather than going in parallel with the melody. Very effective.
Sometimes I wonder what the Beatles thought of and what George Martin suggested.
“Baby It’s You”
The second Shirelles cover and the third of three girl-group covers. Again, John’s stopped-up nose adds poignancy to his vocal performance. This song was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s brother Mack. A few years later, Bacharach would confess that he had asked to Beatles if they would record more of his songs, to no avail. This was the only Bacharach song the Beatles would cover.
Celeste in octaves with the guitar solo in the middle.
Sometimes I wonder what John thought of the 1969 cover of this song by Smith (not the Smiths). The femaie Smith lead singer sang it more like it was primal scream therapy.
“Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
The second George vocal. Lennon-McCartney song. More pop that rock, showcasing the Beatles eclecticsm.
“A Taste of Honey”
Another cover. More straight pop. Either Paul singly with John re-wrote the lyrics. Paul lead vocal. Of course, this was a much bigger hit as in instrumental for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
For some reason, the first time I heard this on CD, I thought the player had gone into auto-repeat and we were again hearing “Do You Want to Know a Secret.”
"There’s a Place"
Interesting John song. His lyrics sing of escaping to his mind. This, from the same person who would, nine years later, write a song called “Imagine.” This song predates Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys ballad, “In My Room,” which is where Brian sings of escaping to, but it is doubtful whether Wilson had heard Lennon’s song before writing his. Two troubled geniuses on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
One thing that artists do early in their careers is find what works, what doesn’t, and discard things that don’t work. This was the only time John sang a “turn” or “mordent” or whatever you call that 16th note figure on the word “place.” This figure appears only in John’s harmony line, not it Paul’s upper line. It might have worked better had John not had a cold. As it is, it sounds as if he is struggling to find his pitch. Either that or bad vibrato. So no more mordents or turns after that. Or whatever they are called.
"Twist and Shout"
Only thing I can add to what has already been written about this performance by the Beatles in general and John in particular, is “proto-primal scream.’ It is as if he was singing “shake it up baby, twist and shout” while thinking “Mother you had me but I never had you. Father, you let me but I never left you.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Introducing the Beatles, on VeeJay
“I Saw Her Standing There”
This version has the “one, two,three’ part of the countoff omitted, and begins with “four.” I wonder if this edit is available commercially anywhere.
“Misery”
“Anna (Go to Him)”
“Chains”
“Boys”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Baby It’s You”
“Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
“A Taste of Honey”
“There’s a Place”
“Twist and Shout”
Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles – Same album, same label, new packaging
Vee-Jay was in legal trouble, so to stay ahead of litigation, they kept releasing Introducing… in different formats with different titles. Songs, Pictures was simply a repackaging of the album with additional hard-copy documentation.
The Beatles vs the Four Seasons
Two record set, with Introducing the Beatles on one disk and a collection of 4 Seasons hits from their VeeJay years on the other.
There was also Beatles vs. Frank Ifield, a two record set with Introducing on one and a Frank Ifield set on the other.
Vee-Jay records went out of business.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Early Beatles, on Capitol
“Love Me Do”
“Twist and Shout”
“Anna (Go to Him)”
“Chains”
“Boys”
“Ask Me Why”
“Please Please Me”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Baby It’s You”
“A Taste of Honey”
“Do You Want to Know a Secret”
“I Saw Her Standing There’ was omitted because it had appeared on the Capitol Meet the Beatles album. “Misery” and “There’s a Place” were also omitted.
Every Beatle album was an improvement over the previous release, in some way. Well, this is their first album, that which was improved upon. Having said that, this still pretty good, which means that subsequent releases were to be really good.
Interestingly, the songwriting credits on the back of the album say “McCartney-Lennon” instead of “Lennon-McCartney.”
I think I would have liked this album even better if I had heard it first and not Meet the Beatles on Capitol.
Really creative album-cover photo, the Beatles looking over a stairwell. They would re-create this shot 6 years later for the Get Back album, which stayed in the can and released as Let It Be with a different cover.
“[i]I Saw Her Standing There”
[/i]How cool – starting the album off with a countoff. Up-tempo rocker, sung by Paul. This was before Paul developed his rock-screamer voice such he used on “She’s a Woman,” “Kansas City,” and others. George’s guitar solo builds nicely. Harmonies by John.
“Misery”
Lennon-McCartney song. Lead vocal by John. His head cold is evident. Piano octaves by George Martin.
“Anna (Go to Him)”
Cover of an Arthur Alexander song, sung by John. John and Paul had colds on the day most of this album was recorded. John’s head cold lends a certain poignancy to this recording. Nice “ahh” background vocals by Paul and George.
Actually, I would have preferred Alexander’s “You Better Move On,” but that’s just me, and this recording is fine enough.
“Chains”
The first appearance of George’s voice.( Or first sound. Do voices “appear”? ) Also, the first of three girl-group covers, which is pretty imaginative for an all-male rock group. This was by the Cookies.
I might have mentioned this on anther thread, but I can remember when this song came out by the Cookies. It was the”Pick of the week” by the AM radio station I listened to. Either a week later, or a week earlier, the pick hit was “He’s So Fine,” by the Chiffons. I used to confuse the Cookies with the Chiffons because of the concurrence of their debut singles, and the fact that both groups were African-American females.
Interestingly, the publisher of Chiffon’s song won a plaigiarism lawsuit against the lead singer of the Cookies cover. But we won’t go into that here.
The Beatles sing good harmonies on this song, especially considering that they were more than likely recorded all on the same track. When Crosby, Stills and Nash recorded their first album on 16 tracks, each voice had its own track to balance and blend in with the others.
I believe this is the only Goffin-King song the Beatles ever recorded.
“Boys”
Well, if George can sing a solo, then why not Ringo? This is a pretty good rocker. Good backup vocals also. Guitar solo sounds almost Beach Boyish. I wonder how it would sounded played on a Fender Jaguar instead of a Gretch Duo-jet. Shirelles cover, but they did not change the lyrics. Somehow, it does not come off as awkwardly as one might have imagined.
It is said that Pete Best did the vocal on this song when he was in the band.
“Ask Me Why”
A somewhat jazzy John song. Maybe it’s the major 7th chords.
“Please Please Me”
Title cut. The story goes that it was meant to be a Roy Orbison- like slow tune, but George Martin suggested they pick up the tempo. After recording it at that tempo, Martin and the boys recognized that the tune would be a hit. This theme was replicated in the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, wherein the Wonders get a new drummer who forces a much faster tempo, and the song becomes a hit.
“Love Me Do”
First official release.
To my ears, it sounds John and Paui’s two-part harmony sounds much like that of the Everly Brothers. “Love Me Do” takes on a somewhat forlorn tone if you are thinking of the Everlys’ “When Will I Be Loved” when you hear it. There are two versions of this song, one with Ringo on drums, the other with Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine. Producer George Martin was not sure about Ringo just yet. The one on the album here has a somewhat sloppy vocal by Paul just after the harmonica break; the word “do” smears downward.
Oh, and if you play the harmonica part, you’ll need a chromatic harmonica. The solo has an F#, where the intro has F natural. Can’t do that on an off the rack Hohner Marine band harmonica.
And if you do get a chromatic harmonica, please don’t shoplift it.
“P.S. I Love You”
My favorite tune on the album. The story about this one goes that someone at Parlophone didn’t like the fact that there were several other songs with this title, so it was not released as a single. I think that’s too bad. This is a good song and a good arrangement. The first word of each line is harmonized three ways, but the rest of the line is Paul solo, except on the last verse, where they sing all the words of the line, hanging on a note in the chord rather than going in parallel with the melody. Very effective.
Sometimes I wonder what the Beatles thought of and what George Martin suggested.
“Baby It’s You”
The second Shirelles cover and the third of three girl-group covers. Again, John’s stopped-up nose adds poignancy to his vocal performance. This song was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s brother Mack. A few years later, Bacharach would confess that he had asked to Beatles if they would record more of his songs, to no avail. This was the only Bacharach song the Beatles would cover.
Celeste in octaves with the guitar solo in the middle.
Sometimes I wonder what John thought of the 1969 cover of this song by Smith (not the Smiths). The femaie Smith lead singer sang it more like it was primal scream therapy.
“Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
The second George vocal. Lennon-McCartney song. More pop that rock, showcasing the Beatles eclecticsm.
“A Taste of Honey”
Another cover. More straight pop. Either Paul singly with John re-wrote the lyrics. Paul lead vocal. Of course, this was a much bigger hit as in instrumental for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
For some reason, the first time I heard this on CD, I thought the player had gone into auto-repeat and we were again hearing “Do You Want to Know a Secret.”
"There’s a Place"
Interesting John song. His lyrics sing of escaping to his mind. This, from the same person who would, nine years later, write a song called “Imagine.” This song predates Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys ballad, “In My Room,” which is where Brian sings of escaping to, but it is doubtful whether Wilson had heard Lennon’s song before writing his. Two troubled geniuses on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
One thing that artists do early in their careers is find what works, what doesn’t, and discard things that don’t work. This was the only time John sang a “turn” or “mordent” or whatever you call that 16th note figure on the word “place.” This figure appears only in John’s harmony line, not it Paul’s upper line. It might have worked better had John not had a cold. As it is, it sounds as if he is struggling to find his pitch. Either that or bad vibrato. So no more mordents or turns after that. Or whatever they are called.
"Twist and Shout"
Only thing I can add to what has already been written about this performance by the Beatles in general and John in particular, is “proto-primal scream.’ It is as if he was singing “shake it up baby, twist and shout” while thinking “Mother you had me but I never had you. Father, you let me but I never left you.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Introducing the Beatles, on VeeJay
“I Saw Her Standing There”
This version has the “one, two,three’ part of the countoff omitted, and begins with “four.” I wonder if this edit is available commercially anywhere.
“Misery”
“Anna (Go to Him)”
“Chains”
“Boys”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Baby It’s You”
“Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
“A Taste of Honey”
“There’s a Place”
“Twist and Shout”
Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles – Same album, same label, new packaging
Vee-Jay was in legal trouble, so to stay ahead of litigation, they kept releasing Introducing… in different formats with different titles. Songs, Pictures was simply a repackaging of the album with additional hard-copy documentation.
The Beatles vs the Four Seasons
Two record set, with Introducing the Beatles on one disk and a collection of 4 Seasons hits from their VeeJay years on the other.
There was also Beatles vs. Frank Ifield, a two record set with Introducing on one and a Frank Ifield set on the other.
Vee-Jay records went out of business.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Early Beatles, on Capitol
“Love Me Do”
“Twist and Shout”
“Anna (Go to Him)”
“Chains”
“Boys”
“Ask Me Why”
“Please Please Me”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Baby It’s You”
“A Taste of Honey”
“Do You Want to Know a Secret”
“I Saw Her Standing There’ was omitted because it had appeared on the Capitol Meet the Beatles album. “Misery” and “There’s a Place” were also omitted.