PLEASE PLEASE ME AT 50

March 22,2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of  the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me.

Released in 1963,the album was noted to have been recorded on a 12 hour period lasting from 10 in the morning and finishing off at 10 in the evening.The Beatles were well rehearsed and of the 14 tracks from the album,eight of them were original compositions written by the band's songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney which was then noted on the album credits as McCartney-Lennon.

Recorded a month earlier on February 11,several artists marked the 50th anniversary of its recording by emulating the 12-hour recording period made by the band during that chilly month of  February 1963 .Artists include Joss Stone and Mick Hucknall who praised the Beatles' debut as a beautiful album.

John with the famous harmonica,Please Please Me sessions

The album was preceded with a single Love Me Do,released a year earlier in 1962,it was known to be the first Beatles song to gain international success.With its famous harmonica riff made by none other than John Lennon himself,Lennon usually call this wind instrument as a "mouth organ" back in the early sixties.

The 1962 single somewhat differ from the one included in the album-anyone can point it out on Paul's vocal and the drumming pattern made by Ringo Starr.The album version,however,is the most famous version that is usually heard up to this day on both classic rock and AM radios across the United States.

George Martin was reputedly unhappy with Ringo's drumming  on the 1962 single that he decided to re-record the song and hire session musician Andy White to play drums on the track.Ringo,looking a little sheepish,played tambourine as he let expert ears prevail.The result was an instant success.The single version,was included later on in the Past Masters singles compilation album together with other singles that were neither on the original 13 albums conceived by EMI in 1988.

McCartney and Lennon,Please Please Me sessions

The album's famous cover photo was taken by Welsh photographer Angus McBean at the stairwell of EMI's  London headquarters.In 1969,the Beatles' had asked McBean to recreate the photoshoot at the same venue for a supposed to be cover of the Beatles' Get Back album.Having the album retitled as Let It Be and with all the commotions going  in the band,the supposed to be cover photo was shelved and was used instead on the compilation album The Beatles 1967-1970 released in 1973.

Please Please Me went to number one in the UK charts and highlighted the rise of Beatlemania not only in the British Isles but in other parts of the world.It was unfortunate,however,that the album wasn't released in the United States where the American distributor Capitol Records failed to recognize the brilliance of the album.As to how or why Capitol altered the first seven Beatles LPs remains unclear up to this day.With several stories citing the record company maximizing its profits, hence,creating more Beatles albums will mean more sales.Sensible enough,Capitol was lambasted by the fab four themselves with the controversial cover photo of the compilation album Yesterday And Today with the band in butcher suits with decapitated dolls and chunks of meat as a protest,hereby having the nickname "Butcher cover".

The Beatles,Please Please Me sessions 1963

It wasn't until 1987 when EMI unified the catalogue and Please Please Me was finally released domestically in the US with the band's American LPs deleted and got only available in bootlegs and box sets.

[To see the story of the Beatles' original albums and how they were altered by Capitol click here ]

Please Please Me  spawned hit single after hit single including its title track.The album featured these early Beatles signature songs that defined the era of how the fab four changed the course of rock music forever: "I Saw Her Standing There","Twist And Shout" and "Boys" were not only catchy,danceable tunes but they define of how rock music was taken to another level that succeeding bands up to this day would follow in the Beatles' footsteps.

TRACK LISTING:

1.I Saw Her Standing There (McCartney-Lennon)
2.Misery (McCartney-Lennon)
3.Anna(Go To Him) (Alexander)
4.Chains (Goffin-King)
5.Boys  (Dixon-Farrell)
6.Ask Me Why (McCartney-Lennon)
7.Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon)
8.Love Me Do (McCartney-Lennon)
9.P.S. I Love You (McCartney-Lennon)
10.Baby It's You (David-Williams-Bacharach)
11.Do You Want To Know A Secret (McCartney-Lennon)
12. A Taste Of Honey (Scott-Marlow)
13.There's A Place (McCartney-Lennon)
14.Twist And Shout (Medley-Russell)

Fifty years have passed and the album still sounds fresh as if it was recorded yesterday.The band's enduring appeal and the trend they have set for rock music has never gone obsolete. With the fab four setting up the standard for a modern day rock band,the legacy of the Beatles will continue to inspire kids and generations ahead of us.