auto

You knew it was coming...

Well, I think it's the perfect time to work our way through another "Album by Album" thread since quite a few of us will be enjoying the newly remastered albums starting this week. Also, this will be a good place to discuss our reactions to the remasters themselves, mono and stereo.

The way it works is I will post the featured artists albums in chronological order and we will discuss each one over a short period of time. As the discussion begins to die down I will post the next album and discussion will gear up again. Make sense? Try to keep your comments focused on the album at hand.

Past Threads:

The Smashing Pumpkins
U2

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Original Release Date: March 22, 1963

Tracklisting:

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
8. Love Me Do
9. P.S. I Love You
10. Baby It's You
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste Of Honey
13. There's A Place
14. Twist And Shout

Original Credits:

Spiderbite

I think this is a great idea but I would give it until the end of the week for many of us to get our sets in and be able to listen the new remasters to post comments...especially if you want to keep the "comments focused on the album at hand."

Mine are ordered thru B&N and since it is releasing on Weds, I may not see them until Friday or Saturday if I am lucky.

Rocketdog2000

Agreed. Even though I'll be getting my pre-ordered copy on Wednesday, I likely won't even really have a chance to start listening to it until Friday.

Supermallet

Are you guys saying you've never heard all of The Beatles' albums? Granted, you haven't heard them remastered, but I highly doubt the remastering is going to change your overall opinion of the albums (although I will admit I'm finding Sgt. Pepper's to be more impressive in mono).

Applejack

This may be my least favorite beatles album, definitely bottom 2 or 3, if not beatles for sale.

The problem for me is that while I love the popular songs, the B-sides do nothing for me.

Some bonafide classics on there though, but what more can you say about Love Me Do, Please Please me, etc. I really only listen to the 4 classic songs though... the others aren't bad by any means, but compared to the future albums, they are not very good IMO

jmu878

Agreed. I actually consider this to be their weakest album. I happen to love Beatles for Sale though.

Ginwen

I'm not sure I've ever listened to the first 2 or 3 straight through, I've always been a lot less interested in that period (so now I end up really looking forward to the early albums).

Supermallet

The genesis of this album is pretty incredible. Lennon and McCartney had been writing songs for a few years at this point, but when George Martin told them he wanted to perform a cover because he was certain it would be a #1, Lennon pulled an incomplete version of "Please Please Me" out of his hat, finished it up, and presented it, convincing Martin it would be a #1 (which, in the UK, it was). Most of the album was recorded in one day, with Lennon singing through a cold.

As far as debut albums go, it's rare to find one that starts out better than Please Please Me, with "I Saw Her Standing There" encapsulating everything about The Beatles and their sound at that point. "Misery" would be forgettable if it weren't for Lennon's spectacular lead vocal, but "Anna (Go To Him)" and "Chains" are just filler. "Boys" could have fallen to the same fate, but is played with such verve that it works. After that, the album is pretty much a series of classics all in a row, with the title track, "P.S. I Love You," "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "Twist and Shout" being the standouts for me.

I don't think The Beatles really made any 5-star albums until A Hard Day's Night, but this is a solid 4-star offering and a really stellar debut, proving that the group had the energy and the talent needed to take them straight to the top.

redhenry

It's one of the albums I listen to least today but nice to revisit. As a kid (yeah I know - "What do kids know?") - I was a fan of The Beatles but was more into the well known tracks. The first time I heard this album (a long time ago - back in the 80s and still a kid, really) I was amazed at how well the album flowed and how consistant it was. The vocals were the selling point for me as the musicianship wasn't their best, but their energy and passion made up for it.

Then I learned that the whole thing was recorded in about eight hours. Wow!

auto

Yeah, I didn't really think we would need to listen to the remasters to comment on the albums.

However, I would expect the discussion to grow as the new releases are digested. As the thread will take several weeks to complete, I thought it best to get started just a bit before release date.

Spiderbite

Yeah, that exactly what we are saying.

If this is going to be comprehensive in thoughts on the albums, it just seems logical to wait until we have heard the newly remastered stereo and/or mono versions so they can be discussed at the same time as our thoughts on the songs and albums as a whole.

But if no one gives a shit where and what is posted, then have at it. The original poster was the one who mentioned trying to keep the discussion on the album at hand.

wendersfan

Please Please Me is certainly one of my favorite Beatles albums. Great originals and a fantastic selection of covers. "Baby It's You" and "P.S. I Love You" are among my favorite songs the fab four recorded.

auto

Well, I expect to leave each album up for a week or so giving everyone plenty of time to comment on the first album and each thereafter.

Spiderbite

Sounds good. I want to try to listen to every album thru headphones and do a comparison between the stereo and the mono and possibly the original 87 cd releases.

I just hope they ship soon. Got my shipping notice from Amazon for TB:RB but have yet to get any shipping notice from B&N for the remaster sets.

wendersfan

As someone who has an original vinyl release of Please Please Me in mono, I can tell you it sounds glorious.

Supermallet

I haven't gotten shipping notices on either.

As someone with the remastered album in mono, I agree!

Hokeyboy

Please Please Me is just one of those albums that is SO hard to judge critically. Not because the songs are particularly great or singularly awful, but because the seeds of The Beatles' greatness are firmly planted on this disc. There's some fun stuff, some clunkers, a quick blast of pop, rock, balladry, covers, folky/country, you name it.

The "big name songs" on the album are LOVE ME DO, PLEASE PLEASE ME, TWIST & SHOUT, and I SAW HER STANDING THERE. But I have a particular love of their cover of "Anna (Go To Him)", and it's NOT because of "Married, With Children". Just a great doo-woppy sort of ballad, with real emotion and heartbreak behind it. John was firing on all cylinders, as he was on another favorite on the album, "Baby It's You". "P.S. I Love You" is a charming little love song, catchy and light and enjoyable. Nothing great, but a cute little tune.

I can go the rest of my life without hearing Misery, Chains, Boys, Ask Me Why, Do You Want To Know A Secret (not a fan, sorry), There's A Place, and A Taste Of Honey.

So that's four great songs, 2 very good ones, 1 OK one, and 7 forgettable ones. Sort of a 50/50 split. On a 1 to 5 Beatles scale (measuring Beatles albums against each other, not in terms of the Entire History of Rock Music) Please Please Me gets * * * out of * * * * *.

And if anyone's preparing to butcher Beatles For Sale when it comes up, I'm gunning for bear...

brokenhanger

Personally I'm in the camp of "not a huge fan of their early work". The material on 'Past Masters Volume 1' was always enough for me - I never bothered upgrading to the CDs for the early albums. 'Rubber Soul' is when it gets interesting for me so I'll hop back in then.

That said, I'm kind of excited that the mono box will allow me to revisit them and see if my opinion has changed. Halfway through 'Please Please Me' I can say...not really.

wendersfan

I'm completely the opposite. There's not a single Beatles album post-Revolver I like as well as any of their earlier albums.

brokenhanger

Then we can agree on 'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver' then agree to disagree on the rest.

JAA

You and I are cut from the same cloth, wendersfan.

Matthew Chmiel

Please Please Me is a good album. Their covers are fantastic, but the original songs are a complete mix bag. We start to see some resemblance of brilliance (Please Please Me, P.S. I Love You, and Love Me Do) during a few of their original songs, but most of the others are just non-memorable.

The band doesn't start to get great until With the Beatles and starts knocking it out of the park with A Hard Day's Night.

Rocketdog2000

Nope, just that I haven't listened to some of them in quite awhile, and since I likely wasn't going to be again until I got the new re-masters, I might as well have waited until I did. Sure, I know what the songs are and sound like, but wanted to give them a fair re-listen before dissecting and discussing.

That said, I'd give the album 3 to 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

On the one hand, the original material definitely showed that there was a new force to be reckoned with - while on the other hand, almost half the album is covers. Granted, this was par for the course back in those times, and most of the covers are solid (with "Twist And Shout", being one of, if not the best, versions of that song) - but this is what, to me, keeps it from rising any higher than the 3 star mark. And along that line of reasoning, I also agree with Suprmallet's comment that The Beatles didn't really make any 5-star albums until A Hard Day's Night.

The originals, however, really do shine, particularly the more well know ones. "I Saw Her Standing There" has to be one of the best album openers, ever, as well as one of my all-time favorite songs by the band. Overall, I find it's a much stronger record than it's follow up, but more on that when we get to it.

deluis

I just started hearing all the albums in order and when this song came up, Married With Children was the first thing I remembered. Especially when he does his little dance after finding the record.