Farting in church. Making an illegal lane change in front of a
funeral. Giving the finger to a police officer while you’re
speeding. Declaring your candidacy for the governor’s race in
California. Walking into an AA meeting holding a Mai Tai. Admitting
that you actually liked
Gigli.
All of these, apparently, are far more acceptable than making
any form of negative comment about the Beatles. Even after 30-plus
years since they went their separate ways, the Fab Four are held in
high regard among the music intellegentsia and the unwashed masses
alike.
So I know I’m risking the chance of having to hire someone else
to start my car in the morning when I make a few comments about
Please Please Me, the debut effort from The Beatles (at
least as far as their history on Capitol was concerned – many
people forget that The Beatles were first signed to Vee-Jay
Records). Yes, there’s plenty on this disc to celebrate, even 40
years after it first hit the airwaves. But this first effort also
shows a band which was desparately trying to find where they
belonged genre-wise.
Now, I’m no fool. I wouldn’t dare to slam such time-honored
favorites as “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do,” “Please
Please Me” or “Twist And Shout”. As overplayed as some of these may
seem from time to time, they have held up extraordinarily well over
time, and still are enjoyable to listen to, especially with the
harmony vocals that The Beatles knew how to execute to
perfection.
If anything, I’ve found over the years that the real gems on
Please Please Me lie not in the time-honored songs but in
the tracks which seem to have fallen through the cracks. Take their
version of “A Taste Of Honey,” for example. Two years before Herb
Alpert would record the definitive version of this track (at least
in my mind), Paul McCartney delivered a heartfelt rendition of the
vocal lines while the whole band created a truly wonderful vibe
behind it. In a sense, it almost seems like a slow shuffle rather
than a rock song, and as such would never be touched by any
self-respecting classic rock radio station. Too bad – it’s one of
the best tracks on the disc.
The same argument could be made for “P.S., I Love You” – which
switches the shuffle out for an almost Latin backbeat which is
nailed perfectly by McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and
Ringo Starr. Yes, I recognize that sometimes this track gets dusted
off and played… good, ’cause it deserves more than to be
relegated to the back of the vast Beatles discography.
Yet
Please Please Me has more than its share of uncertain
moments, showing a band which was still very much gelling together
just before they exploded in popularity. Such tracks as “Chains,”
“Boys,” “Misery” and “Ask Me Why” just don’t have the kind of snap
that the casual fan has all but come to expect from anything
bearing the Beatles brand name. I recognize that one can’t forget
this was a first effort, and to try and compare this 40 years down
the road with their later masterpieces is like comparing a Picasso
to something he drew when he was a toddler. On their own merits,
though, these particular tracks – indeed, nearly the first half of
the album – don’t have the power to light the firecracker that
would become Beatlemania.
Still, it’s not that the first half of the disc is a failure by
any means. A track like “Anna (Go To Him)” – a song which will
forever be linked in my mind to an episode of
Married… With Children – or “I Saw Her Standing
There” demonstrates that The Beatles went into the studio ready to
swing, even if they didn’t necessarily hit home run after home run
with each subsequent track.
The fact that the second half of
Please Please Me contains the strongest music without a weak
song in the bunch should also speak volumes about where The Beatles
were headed. In retrospect, this turns out to be a fairly decent
first effort, even if it does take a little time for the wheels to
get rolling. But while many of the classic tracks can be found on
any number of the posthumous compilations,
Please Please Me should best be remembered for the tracks
that didn’t make it to the top of the charts – or to the charts at
all.
