PLEASE PLEASE ME

The Beatles debut album can be considered one of their strongest from their early period of simple pop and R&B songs. While it doesn't even deserve to be described as progressive, there's still a nice overall atmopshere and a catchy sense amongst the group, who still hadn't really found their edge quite yet. You won't find epic side long pieces, you won't find thought provoking lyrics, you won't find extended solo sections or even virtuostic musicianship. What you'll find here is well crafted and well conceived pop songs that don't stray out the the classic three chord love song. A little more than half the album is original material from the Lennon/McCartney team and the rest is covers that range from old R&B standards to unrequited songs about love. What is apparent, though, is that the world wouldn't be the same once the Beatles came into the speakers and airwaves.

Rather than talk about every track on the album (which is what I usually do with my reviews), I will talk about the big songs on the album and some of my lesser known favorites. I Want to Hold Your Hand is a simple tune with some interesting chord progressions and some nice harmony vocals as well as a good lead from Lennon. Please Please Me is a bit of an ambiguous song title, but none the less the song has some a great melody and is exceedingly catchy. Love Me Do would be the band's first single, and although at first it didn't really succeed, in the long run it would be massively popular. It has an infectious harmonica rhythm and a nice beat from Ringo and some heartfelt vocals from Paul McCartney. P.S. I Love You is another Paul McCartney led ballad that has a nice chorus and some great harmonies. Do You Want to Know a Secret has some great quasi-scat harmony vocals (the doo dah doos) and a sincere vocal performance from McCartney, but overly simplistic musicianship. There's a Place is my favorite song of the album, a hearfelt ballad of sorts with a very somber mood and some very lush harmony vocals (this must be where Yes got their harmony influence). Finally, Twist and Shout is a rollicking rendition of the classic oldie with some great vocals from Lennon and some out of the normal drumming from Ringo. An underrated piece on the album is Boys, which is the first song Ringo sang with the Beatles, funny how they sang a song called Boys, though, since it was a song by the Motwon group The Shirelles. The rest of the album is ok, but I wouldn't call it memorable.

In the end, the arrival of the Beatles would mark the arrival of arguably the most important band in rock music. Their roots and influences were pretty clear with this album (and the following few albums). Although this album is overly simple and isn't even remotely progressive, it laid the groundwork for the future Beatles albums and eventually they would get a bit of a progressive streak going. In the end, if you're looking into the roots of arguably the great rock band ever, then look no further. Me? It's a good album, but by no means essential to a progressive rock fan. 3/5.