PLEASE PLEASE ME

The first Beatles album surprises by the maturity of the band despite using a lot of covers. Their own material is often equal if not better than the covers with the exception of "Twist and shout". Playing is OK if not distinguishable from other bands at the time and the biggest magnet are their vocals and harmonies. Let's forget the sheer joy that is typical for their first 4 albums. McCartney has a great range and passion while Lennon shows dexterity on songs like "Twist and shout". The three classics are "I saw her standing there", "Love me do" and "Please please me". Harrison does a decent job on the guitar; his vocals are pretty restrained but have interesting colour as heard on "Do you want to know a secret". "Boys" is a perfect song for matching Ringo's weak vocal especially in the beginning of the verse with a very simple melody. There's nothing particular for a progger to enjoy, so two stars, although it's a four-star pop/rock album.