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The Beatles, 11 February 1963 11 February 09

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Categories: Mention

[George] Martin [said]:

“I don’t know how they do it. We’ve been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get.”

Please Please Me, 1963 wikipedia entry

Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles, rush-released on March 22, 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of singles “Please Please Me” and “Love Me Do”. Of the album’s fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon/McCartney, early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called “[their invention of] the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments.” In 2003, the magazine ranked the album number 39 on its list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was ranked first among The Beatles’ early albums, and sixth of all of The Beatles’ albums, with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Rubber Soul, The Beatles (The White Album) and Abbey Road ranked higher.

[...]

10.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 February

In order for the album to contain fourteen songs (the norm for British twelve inch vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side, while American albums usually had only five or six songs per side) ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first two singles recorded and released previously. Therefore, at 10.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 February, at Abbey Road Studios, The Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes). In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the band’s Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits. Optimistically, only two sessions were originally booked by Martin – the evening session was added later. George Martin initially contemplated recording the Please Please Me LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience and visited the Liverpool club to experience The Beatles phenomenon for himself. But when time constraints intervened he decided to book them into Abbey Road Studios instead, and simply record them virtually live. Martin said, “It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire – a broadcast, more or less.”

  • Title: The Beatles, 11 February 1963