The story of the Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, in one day...
Содержание
"Please Please Me" was the title of The Beatles' debut studio album. At the time of recording the album, the band had already existed for several years: the Beatles had managed to give a number of concerts in various clubs and halls, which provided them with enough material... It should be emphasised that some of this material is covers of famous hits: the rest of the tracks were written by Lennon and McCartney.
The most successful hit was the title track of the same name: it also brought The Beatles their first number one in their homeland... The song "Twist and Shout" also deserves attention: during its recording Lennon literally tore his voice off! This track required strong vocal data, and John was up to the task... The musician later said:
"We always left 'Twist and Shout' for the final part of the concert. I just couldn't sing the damn song because I'd tear my voice out every time..."
Today we're going to look back at the history of the legendary Please Please Me album in one day... Let's get started!
A little about the record...
Shortly before 10am on Monday morning, 11 February 1963, the Beatles arrived at Abbey Road Studios in North London to work on their debut album, Please Please Me. Ten hours later it was almost finished... Two days later George Martin did some overdubs before the final mono and stereo mastering was completed the following Monday.
The monumental work of The Beatles produced ten of the 14 tracks for 'Please Please Me'. This is an amazing achievement considering they were in the middle of a tour with Helen Shapiro, playing two gigs every night, travelling from gig to gig all over the country! In truth, when they arrived at Abbey Road, they were so exhausted that producer George Martin had doubts whether they could last the same two sessions... But they ended up doing three. Ringo Starr later said: "It was all a bit of a blur for me... I don't remember the events of those days very well...".
On this debut album, only eight tracks were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The rest of the songs were covers that the band regularly played at their concerts...
The atmosphere in the studio...
During the morning session the band recorded two songs by John and Paul, 'There A Place' and 'I Saw Her Standing There', which at the time they called 'Seventeen'. After lunch - or rather, after George Martin and the engineers had eaten lunch and the four Liverpudlians had stayed in the studio drinking milk and sweets - they set about rehearsing the first of the covers. It was Bobby Scott and Rick Marlowe's 'A Taste of Honey', a song originally written for the Broadway play of the same name and recorded by Lenny Welch the year before....
George then took lead vocals on "Do You Want to Know A Secret", another John and Paul song. After some more work on "There A Place" and "I Saw Her Standing There", they recorded another Lennon and McCartney song, "Misery", which they had originally written with Helen Shapiro in mind... Unfortunately or fortunately, she turned it down... This time Paul and John shared the vocals.
Remarkably, the first song they took to work was "Hold Me Tight", which Paul wrote. This version was never heard because it was rejected for the debut album and the tape erased... Instead, The Beatles later recorded this track again, only for their second album. Arthur Alexander's composition "Anna (Go to Him)" was recorded in three takes. This was followed by "Boys", written by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell, with Ringo on lead vocals. They then recorded the Goffin & King song, "Chains", which became an American hit for Cookies. What The Beatles almost certainly didn't know was that Gerry Goffin, at home in New York, was celebrating his 24th birthday on the same day... it was clearly a good present!
The next song was Mac David's "Baby It's You"... Shortly before 10pm The Beatles played another song and in one take recorded "Twist and Shout". The song by Phil Medley and Bert Burns (although it is credited to Bert Russell) was a hit for the Isley Brothers! However, it was originally recorded by Top Notes as "Shake It Up Baby"... The Beatles had to do their version in one take, because John's voice was on the edge... However - it was worth it: it was a defining number at the beginning of The Beatles' career, and Lennon himself remains one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time to this day... As John later said:
"The last song nearly killed me... My voice wasn't the same for a long time: every time I swallowed something, my throat felt like sandpaper..."
That's it: ten songs in ten hours! Add to that their first single "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You" and the follow-ups "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" and you have The Beatles' debut album! Quite a fruitful day in the studio.....
Conclusion...
Please Please Me" was a quick success upon its release! It stayed at the top of the UK chart for 30 consecutive weeks from 11 May 1967... The day after recording the 10 tracks, The Beatles were in Sheffield, performing at the Azena Ballroom. Later that night they performed at the Astoria Ballroom in Oldham, Lancashire... Between the recording of the debut album and 22 March when it was released, they had no days off! Except for two days in the studio... All the other days were spent on the road - as was much of the rest of their first year of fame....
