Please Please Me (1963)

Buy Please Please Me on CD, on stereo vinyl, or on mono vinyl

Listen to Please Please Me on Apple Music or on Spotify

After completing their Star Club engagements in Germany, the Beatles entered Studio 2 at Abbey Road and, with session drummer Andy White on drums and Ringo on maracas, recorded their first single, Love Me Do. Encouraged by its modest chart success (it reached #17), they recorded Please Please Me. After doing so, producer George Martin told the band, “Gentlemen, you’ve just made your first number one,” and decided to immediately record an album, which Martin considered calling Off The Beatle Track before the success of Please Please Me. The album was recorded on February 11, 1963 in its entirety in 585 minutes for £400 while John was suffering from a cold and had a sore throat. Please Please Me hung atop the British charts for 30 weeks. The enormous success of the album in Britain landed them their own radio program and numerous TV appearances. The initial 1987 CD release was mono only, and the 2009 remastered edition was issued in stereo while the mono mix was included in the Beatles In Mono box set.

The iconic cover photo

Producer George Martin, a member of the Zoological Society of London, suggested the cover photo for Please Please Me be taken at the insect exhibit at the London Zoo. However, the request to shoot there was denied and photographer Angus McBean recommended capturing the band on the stairwell, giving the image a more spontaneous and lively feel. The unconventional choice proved to be a stroke of genius, creating an iconic album cover that is widely recognized and celebrated.

Quotes

“We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music. Thereafter, though, the Beatles’ own creativity came bursting to the fore.” — George Martin

“As I went into the door I was in the staircase well. Someone looked over the banister — I asked if the boys were in the building and the answer was yes. ‘Well’, I said, ‘get them to look over, and I will take them from here.’ I only had my ordinary portrait lens, so to get the picture I had to lie flat on my back in the entrance. I took some shots and I said, ‘That’ll do.’” — Angus McBean

Track list

Side A

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Misery
3. Anna (Go To Him)
4. Chains
5. Boys
6. Ask Me Why
7. Please Please Me

Side B

1. Love Me Do
2. P. S. I Love You
3. Baby It’s You
4. Do You Want To Know A Secret
5. A Taste Of Honey
6. There’s A Place
7. Twist And Shout

Release history

• Parlophone PMC 1202 (mono), released March 22, 1963
• Parlophone PCS 3042 (stereo), released March 22, 1963
• Odeon OSX 225, January 7, 1964 (France as titled ‘Les Beatles No. 1’)
• Hörzu Electrola HZE 117 (mono), released February 6, 1964 (Germany as titled ‘Die Beatles’)
• Hörzu Electrola SHZE 117 (stereo), February 6, 1964 (Germany as titled ‘Die Beatles’)
• Odeon OP-7548, released May 1966 (Japan)
• Parlophone CDP 7 46435 2 (mono CD), released February 26, 1987
• Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-101 (vinyl), released January 1987
• Capitol CLJ 46435 (vinyl), released July 21, 1987
• Apple 0946 3 82416 2 1 (remastered stereo CD), released September 9, 2009
• Parlophone PMC 1202 (remastered mono CD), released September 9, 2009 in The Beatles In Mono box set

Mono cover

Back cover, stereo vinyl

Netherlands/Sweden ‘100 years of Recorded Music’ cover

MFSL cover

Back cover, original CD

Les Beatles No. 1 (France, 1964), front cover

Les Beatles No. 1 (France, 1964), back cover