Please Please Me | ||||
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Studio album by the Beatles | ||||
Released | 22 March 1963 | |||
Recorded | 4 September 1962 | - 11 February 1963|||
Studio | EMI Studios, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 32:45 | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Producer | George Martin | |||
The Beatles chronology | ||||
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Singles from Please Please Me | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | A |
Consequence of Sound | A– |
The Daily Telegraph | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
MusicHound | |
Paste | 92/100 |
Pitchfork Media | 9.5/10 |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Sputnikmusic | 4/5 |
Please Please Me is the debut studio album by English rock band the Beatles. Parlophone rush-released the album on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of their singles "Please Please Me" (No. 1 on most lists though only No. 2 on Record Retailer) and "Love Me Do" (No. 17).
Of the album's 14 songs, eight were written by Lennon–McCartney (originally credited "McCartney–Lennon"), early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called "[their invention of] the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments." In 2012, Please Please Me was voted 39th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."
The norm for British 12" vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side (American albums usually had five or six songs per side) leaving producer George Martin needing ten more tracks if he were to include the four sides ("Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me" / "Ask Me Why") of the group's first two singles: “I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and the answer was their stage act” Martin said. He had at first contemplated recording the album live at the Cavern Club in front of the group's home audience and visited the Liverpool club on 9 December 1962 (or 12 December 1962, indicated by more recent scholarship) to consider the technicalities. But when time constraints intervened, he decided to book them at EMI Studios in Abbey Road and record them live there instead. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire—a broadcast, more or less."