PLEASE PLEASE ME

Oh dear, what is 'Please Please Me' doing on ProgArchives? I fully understand The Beatles' relevance to progressive rock, but albums like this just don't belong here. To put it bluntly, there is nothing remotely progressive about this album.

The Beatles' debut is an important album indeed, simply because it's a Beatles album. At the time it was released, The Beatles were starting to become popular with singles like Love Me Do and Please Please Me. The LP itself is simply a collection of songs written by Lennon/McCartney, including the singles already released, as well as some cover versions. The 10 songs recorded for the album were famously all recorded in one day!

I was extremely surprised with the quality of the material here! In addition to classic songs like I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me, Love Me Do and the timeless cover of Twist And Shout featuring John's raw sounding vocals (since they played this track last on the day), this album contains some top notch lesser-known tracks. Such tracks include the cover of Boys which, despite having homosexual connotations, remains one of my favourite Ringo tracks. It's impossible not to like the incredibly sweet Baby It's You, and A Taste Of Honey is another great tune. The rest of the material has it's moments too! This incredibly poppy album is an intriguing snapshot into early 60s popular music.

Ah, this is interesting. I've noticed that for the proto-prog albums, the ratings guide has been slightly altered to delete the word 'progressive' so it now only reads 'Excellent addition to any rock music collection' for four stars. This perfectly describes 'Please Please Me' and hence I shall give it this rating.