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ALBUM REVIEW

Please Please Me - The Beatles
by All4one
RATING - 9/10

(Standout tracks - "I Saw Her Standing There", "Anna (Go to Him)", "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do", "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "Twist and Shout")

Anybody who knows the slightest thing about rock music will be familiar with how the Beatles made it big in 1964 and became an international phenomenon, selling out shows on every corner of the globe, having their music washed out by seemingly thousands of screaming young fans.

But, let's go back to a simpler time, when they were just four simple young men in Liverpool, trying to pay bills with their guitars, and instead of being the biggest band in the world, they had to settle for being one of the biggest bands in their hometown.

Around this time, they had released two irresistibly catchy pop singles ("Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me"), both of which had cemented their popularity on the Merseyside, and the latter actually reaching number one on the UK Charts.

Their humble manager, George Martin, was so proud of his boys that he decided to award them with the greatest gift any band could ask for - a chance to record an album.

On February 11, 1963, the Beatles came down to EMI Studios and recorded an entire record inside a mere 10 hours, playing the most popular songs from their live repertoire. The rest of the track listing was filled out with their two hugely popular singles.

Considering virtually the entire record was done in one day, you might think that in the end, it might sound a bit like a rush job. But, quite surprisingly, it never comes out that way. In fact, it sounds as if in those 10 hours, the Beatles put the most time and effort as they could into each little track.

"Please Please Me" is a bit different from their other early releases - it's less polished, it's rawer, and all in all, it's a more partying rock and roll record.

This album encapsulates all the reasons why the Beatles were the most popular band around the block - on the covers, they give the songs a life and soul of their own, they capture the emotion that the original artist intended and give a bit of their own sentimental flair. And the originals are absolutely brilliant pieces of British popcraft that, even if they weren't down to perfection (yet), were more than successful on getting a listener up on their feet, or having them feel exactly what the singer is going through.

But perhaps most surprisingly, the album has actually stood the test of time unusually well. For a record that's seen nearly 50 years since its release, it rarely ever sounds dated. Maybe it was the fact that Lennon-McCartney could write excellent songs that could appeal to anybody, no matter what time period. Besides being outright catchy, the lyrics are universal - anybody can listen to the words and be taken to a certain emotion, whether it be turmoil or downright glee.

Off the popularity of their singles, "Please Please Me" was a large success in Britain, and they would become one of the biggest stars in the country. For most bands, this would be considered the peak of their success, but little did the Beatles know that in just a year from now, they would be taking the world by storm.