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118-645: Please Please Me is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles . Produced by George Martin , it was released in the UK on EMI 's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963. The album is 14 songs in length, and contains a mixture of cover songs and original material written by the partnership of band members John Lennon and Paul McCartney . The Beatles had signed with EMI in May 1962 and had been assigned to

236-427: A stereo release following on 26 April. Singles remained the dominant format for pop music, made up mostly of teenage buyers, while more expensive LPs were typically reserved for genres like classical music and jazz, whose listeners could more easily afford the format. Author Barry Miles suggested the album's cover design, promising "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do" and "12 Other Songs", indicated EMI's desire to promote

354-420: A "live" sound. Recordings, including live, may contain editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology , artists can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones ; with each part recorded as a separate track . Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of

472-413: A Secret ", and Lennon and McCartney sang co-lead on " Misery ". During the evening session, the band recorded covers of " Anna (Go to Him) ", " Boys " ( Ringo Starr 's sole vocal), " Chains " and " Baby It's You ". The song " Hold Me Tight " was also recorded during the evening session, but proved "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album. At 10 pm, with the studios set to close soon,

590-580: A bad cold, which he attempted to treat with a steady supply of throat lozenges . They began their morning session at 10 am with " There's a Place " and "Seventeen" (the working title of what became " I Saw Her Standing There "). The band rehearsed during their lunch break and then proceeded with their afternoon session. In that session, Paul McCartney recorded a double-tracked vocal for " A Taste of Honey ", (a standard later covered by renowned soul artists such as The Supremes , Four Tops , and Mel Carter ), George Harrison sang lead on " Do You Want to Know

708-555: A blue Parlophone label and the album was again available only in mono. Due to constant demand, it was finally made available in stereo, first through the World Record Club on their Young World label in both mono and stereo, and finally on the blue Parlophone label. The album was released in Japan in 1969 with a different cover and a significantly shuffled tracklist. EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records had been offered

826-428: A blueprint for "everything the Beatles would ever do". In Ultimate Classic Rock , Michael Gallucci praised Please Please Me as a cohesive debut album that established a rough blueprint in the Beatles' working methods over the next few years, despite finding some tracks did not work as well as others, concluding, " Please Please Me proved that the music that everyone was ignoring was uniformly great." Looking back on

944-620: A brief demo song, or as long as several weeks if an album or film score is being recorded. Musicians' associations and unions often set out the remuneration terms. Some musicians may get the minimum scale rate set out by the union. Heavily in-demand session musicians may earn much more. The union rates may vary based on whether it is a music recording versus a film/television recording. While the film/television rates may be lower, there may also be residual payments to compensate them for reruns, DVD sales, streaming usage, and so on. Session musicians often have to bring their own instruments, such as in

1062-458: A brown heavy paper sleeve with a large hole in the center so the record's label could be seen. The fragile records were stored on their sides. By the mid-1920s, photo album publishers sold collections of empty sleeves of heavier paper in bound volumes with stiff covers slightly larger than the 10" popular records. (Classical records measured 12".) On the paper cover in small type were the words "Record Album". Now records could be stored vertically with

1180-478: A budding songwriting partnership that also contributed material. They returned to Liverpool in late 1961 after a stint in Hamburg backing English singer Tony Sheridan and releasing their first single, " My Bonnie ", on which they had been credited as "The Beat Brothers". Shortly after their return they were approached by Brian Epstein , a music store manager who recognized the group's local popularity and became

1298-454: A century. The presence of several songs written by band members Lennon–McCartney (credited as "McCartney–Lennon" at the time) was unusual and marked the emergence of a "self-contained rock band". On the other hand, the album was not released in the US, where the band sold poorly for most of 1963; after the stateside emergence of Beatlemania , Vee-Jay Records released a mild abridgment of

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1416-412: A collection of pieces or songs on a single record was called an "album"; the word was extended to other recording media such as compact disc, MiniDisc , compact audio cassette, 8-track tape and digital albums as they were introduced. An album (Latin albus , white), in ancient Rome, was a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts, and other public notices were inscribed in black. It

1534-403: A compilation of songs created by any average listener of music. The songs on a mixtape generally relate to one another in some way, whether it be a conceptual theme or an overall sound. After the introduction of Compact discs, the term "Mixtape" began to apply to any personal compilation of songs on any given format. The sales of Compact Cassettes eventually began to decline in the 1990s, after

1652-424: A current or former member of a musical group which is released under that artist's name only, even though some or all other band members may be involved. The solo album appeared as early as the late 1940s. A 1947 Billboard magazine article heralded " Margaret Whiting huddling with Capitol execs over her first solo album on which she will be backed by Frank De Vol ". There is no formal definition setting forth

1770-509: A customer buys a whole album rather than just one or two songs from the artist. The song is not necessarily free nor is it available as a stand-alone download, adding also to the incentive to buy the complete album. In contrast to hidden tracks , bonus tracks are included on track listings and usually do not have a gap of silence between other album tracks. Bonus tracks on CD or vinyl albums are common in Japan for releases by European and North American artists; since importing international copies of

1888-578: A documentary about the re-recording of the Beatles' debut album was broadcast on BBC Television. All songs written by McCartney–Lennon , except where noted. Track lengths per Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin and lead vocals per Ian MacDonald . According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn : The Beatles Additional musicians and production Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. BPI certification awarded only for sales since 1994. Studio album An album

2006-461: A few hours to several years. This process usually requires several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or " mixed " together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation , to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", have reverberation, which creates

2124-510: A lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000." This budget had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster. Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union , each Beatle collected a session fee of £7 10s ( £ 7.50; equivalent to £198 in 2023) for each three-hour session (10:00 am – 1:00 pm / 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm / 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm). Before deciding on the title Please Please Me , Martin considered calling

2242-532: A nuanced sense of the playing styles and idioms used in different genres. For example, a sax player who mainly plays jazz needs to know the R&;B style if they are asked to improvise a solo in an R&B song. Similarly, a bass player asked to improvise a walking bassline in a rockabilly song needs to know the stock lines and cliches used in this genre. Regardless of the styles of music session musicians play, some qualities are universal: punctuality in arriving at

2360-519: A part to fill a last-minute time slot. In the 1960s, Los Angeles was considered the top recording destination in the United States — consequently studios were constantly booked around the clock, and session time was highly sought after and expensive. Songs had to be recorded quickly in the fewest possible takes. In this environment, Los Angeles producers and record executives had little patience for needless expense or wasted time and depended on

2478-476: A showcase for the group, and it was tremendously important for us that it sounded bang on the button. As it happened, we were pleased. If not, sore throats or not, we'd have done it all over again. That was the mood we were in. It was break or bust for us. —Paul McCartney Parlophone released Please Please Me in the UK on 22 March 1963. As was typical for the time, the LP was initially released only in mono , with

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2596-504: A single artist, genre or period, a single artist covering the songs of various artists or a single artist, genre or period, or any variation of an album of cover songs which is marketed as a "tribute". Session musician Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar , piano , bass , or drums . Others are specialists, and play brass , woodwinds , and strings . Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in

2714-522: A single case, or a triple album containing three LPs or compact discs. Recording artists who have an extensive back catalogue may re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design, often containing one or more albums (in this scenario, these releases can sometimes be referred to as a "two (or three)-fer"), or a compilation of previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets . Some musical artists have also released more than three compact discs or LP records of new recordings at once, in

2832-433: A solo album for several reasons. A solo performer working with other members will typically have full creative control of the band, be able to hire and fire accompanists, and get the majority of the proceeds. The performer may be able to produce songs that differ widely from the sound of the band with which the performer has been associated, or that the group as a whole chose not to include in its own albums. Graham Nash of

2950-414: A studio. However, the common understanding of a "live album" is one that was recorded at a concert with a public audience, even when the recording is overdubbed or multi-tracked. Concert or stage performances are recorded using remote recording techniques. Albums may be recorded at a single concert , or combine recordings made at multiple concerts. They may include applause, laughter and other noise from

3068-405: A sub-specialization within trumpet session players is "high note specialist." The working schedule for session musicians often depends on the terms set out by musicians' unions or associations, as these organizations typically set out rules on performance schedules (e.g., regarding the length of sessions and breaks). The length of employment may be as short as a single day, in the case of recording

3186-406: A theme such as the "greatest hits" from one artist, B-sides and rarities by one artist, or selections from a record label , a musical genre , a certain time period, or a regional music scene. Promotional sampler albums are compilations. A tribute or cover album is a compilation of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may involve various artists covering the songs of

3304-453: A trend of shifting sales in the music industry , some observers feel that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album . An album may contain any number of tracks. In the United States, The Recording Academy 's rules for Grammy Awards state that an album must comprise a minimum total playing time of 15 minutes with at least five distinct tracks or a minimum total playing time of 30 minutes with no minimum track requirement. In

3422-430: A way of promoting the album. Albums have been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished " demo " recordings. Double albums during the seventies were sometimes sequenced for record changers . In the case of a two-record set, for example, sides 1 and 4 would be stamped on one record, and sides 2 and 3 on

3540-536: A wider range of musical situations, genres, and styles. Examples of "doubling" include double bass and electric bass , acoustic guitar and mandolin , piano and accordion , and saxophone and other woodwind instruments. Session musicians are used when musical skills are needed on a short-term basis. Typically, session musicians are used by recording studios to provide backing tracks for other musicians for recording sessions and live performances, recording music for advertising , film, television, and theatre . In

3658-469: Is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music ) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette ), or digital . Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records (78s) collected in a bound book resembling a photo album ; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33 + 1 ⁄ 3   rpm . The album

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3776-580: Is any vocal content. A track that has the same name as the album is called the title track. A bonus track (also known as a bonus cut or bonus) is a piece of music which has been included as an extra. This may be done as a marketing promotion, or for other reasons. It is not uncommon to include singles, B-sides , live recordings , and demo recordings as bonus tracks on re-issues of old albums, where those tracks were not originally included. Online music stores allow buyers to create their own albums by selecting songs themselves; bonus tracks may be included if

3894-479: Is astonishing to behold." Alex Young described the album as a dance masterpiece in Consequence of Sound , finding the remaster an improvement over the original mix. Writing for BBC Music in 2010, Mike Diver contended that although not regarded as their most critically acclaimed release, Please Please Me stands as a "vital moment" in the band's history, as it "set in motion the wheels that would carry them to

4012-555: Is not necessarily just in MP3 file format, in which higher quality formats such as FLAC and WAV can be used on storage media that MP3 albums reside on, such as CD-R-ROMs , hard drives , flash memory (e.g. thumbdrives , MP3 players , SD cards ), etc. The contents of the album are usually recorded in a studio or live in concert, though may be recorded in other locations, such as at home (as with JJ Cale's Okie , Beck's Odelay , David Gray's White Ladder , and others), in

4130-402: Is recorded on both the "A" and "B" side of the tape, with cassette being "turned" to play the other side of the album. Compact Cassettes were also a popular way for musicians to record " Demos " or "Demo Tapes" of their music to distribute to various record labels, in the hopes of acquiring a recording contract . Compact cassettes also saw the creation of mixtapes , which are tapes containing

4248-658: The Cavern Club , in December. Martin planned to attend the Beatles' 18 November Cavern concert to gauge its suitability for recording, though he postponed this visit until 12 December. Upon his visit to the Cavern, Martin decided the acoustics would be unsuitable and decided to record a traditional studio album in February 1963; as the Beatles had already recorded four songs for release, they would record another ten to complete

4366-520: The iPod , US album sales dropped 54.6% from 2001 to 2009. The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and play-back the recorded music. Most recently, the MP3 audio format has matured, revolutionizing the concept of digital storage. Early MP3 albums were essentially CD-rips created by early CD- ripping software, and sometimes real-time rips from cassettes and vinyl. The so-called "MP3 album"

4484-524: The 1970s. Appraising the concept in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said most "are profit-taking recaps marred by sound and format inappropriate to phonographic reproduction (you can't put sights, smells, or fellowship on audio tape). But for Joe Cocker and Bette Midler and Bob-Dylan -in-the-arena, the form makes a compelling kind of sense." Among

4602-498: The 1987 remasters. A remastered mono CD was also available as part of The Beatles in Mono box set. In a 1987 review coinciding with the album's CD reissue, Rolling Stone magazine's Steve Pond recommended Please Please Me "for the Beatles' unfettered joy at making music". Senior AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine summarised, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh", serving as an effective encapsulation of

4720-450: The 2000s, the terms "session musician" and "studio musician" were synonymous, though in past decades, "studio musician" meant a musician associated with a single record company , recording studio or entertainment agency . Session musicians rarely achieve mainstream fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders . However, top session musicians are well-known within the music industry . Some have become publicly recognized, such as

4838-443: The 25-minute mark. The album Dopesmoker by Sleep contains only a single track, but the composition is over 63 minutes long. There are no formal rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as "albums". If an album becomes too long to fit onto a single vinyl record or CD, it may be released as a double album where two vinyl LPs or compact discs are packaged together in

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4956-415: The Beatles could write hits, Martin met the Beatles on 16 November and made two suggestions for their upcoming work. First, he suggested that they re-record "Please Please Me" and issue it as the Beatles' second single. Next, he proposed that they record a full album—a recommendation Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn deemed "genuinely mind-boggling" because the Beatles were so new to the music scene and because

5074-404: The Beatles' catalogue was standardised and issued on compact disc in 1987, starting with the first four UK albums being issued in their mono versions. However, when Capitol Records issued the second volume of American Beatles albums on compact disc ( The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 ) in 2006, the same mock stereo versions that appeared on The Early Beatles were included. When the entire catalogue

5192-419: The Beatles' eighth best album and included it in their list of the top 100 rock albums from the 1960s. In 2013, the album's 50th anniversary was celebrated by modern artists re-recording the album in just one day, as the Beatles recorded it 50 years earlier. Stereophonics recorded a cover of the album's opening track, "I Saw Her Standing There". This and the other recordings were broadcast on BBC Radio 2 , and

5310-496: The Hollies described his experience in developing a solo album as follows: "The thing that I go through that results in a solo album is an interesting process of collecting songs that can't be done, for whatever reason, by a lot of people". A solo album may also represent the departure of the performer from the group. A compilation album is a collection of material from various recording projects or various artists, assembled with

5428-597: The Parlophone label run by Martin. They released their debut single " Love Me Do " in October, which surprised Martin by reaching number 17 on what would become the official UK singles chart . Impressed with the band, Martin suggested they record a live album and helped arrange their next single, " Please Please Me ", which topped multiple unofficial charts. Finding the Cavern Club , the band's home venue in their native Liverpool , unsuitable for recording, Martin changed

5546-591: The United Kingdom, the criteria for the UK Albums Chart is that a recording counts as an "album" if it either has more than four tracks or lasts more than 25 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs . Albums such as Tubular Bells , Amarok , and Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield , and Yes's Close to the Edge , include fewer than four tracks, but still surpass

5664-587: The Wrecking Crew , the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and The Funk Brothers who worked with Motown Records . Session musicians may play in a wide range of genres or specialize in a specific genre (e.g., country music or jazz ). Some session musicians with a classical music background may focus on film score recordings. Even within a specific genre specialization, there may be even more focused sub-specializations. For example,

5782-509: The album Off the Beatle Track , a title he would later use for his own orchestral album of Beatles songs. The album was recorded on a two-track BTR tape machine with most of the instruments on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing Martin to better balance the two in the final mono mix . A stereo mix was also made with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, as well as an added layer of reverb to better blend

5900-429: The album as Introducing... The Beatles in early 1964, while EMI's American label Capitol Records divided the material from Please Please Me across multiple albums. Other countries also received different versions of the album, which continued until 1987, when the entirety of the Beatles catalogue was brought to CD and internationally standardised to the UK albums. Please Please Me remains critically acclaimed; it

6018-419: The album as "a raw, high-energy run-through of their early live set" that acts as "the sound of rock'n'roll finding a suddenly large, new audience." He praised the album's cohesiveness, where the "evening with the band" mood sets it apart from the band's other cover-heavy works, creating a non-filler track experience with great covers and originals and, above all, great vocal performances. The same year, Mark Kemp

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6136-413: The album can be cheaper than buying a domestically released version, Japanese releases often feature bonus tracks to incentivize domestic purchase. Commercial sheet music is published in conjunction with the release of a new album (studio, compilation, soundtrack, etc.). A matching folio songbook is a compilation of the music notation of all the songs included in that particular album. It typically has

6254-491: The album in 2016, the NME 's Hamish MacBain found it imperfect, but commended the ensemble for creating a record of excellent covers and originals that displayed "flashes of brilliance". MacBain acknowledged the band would make better records, but concluded that "the resulting, snapshot nature" of their debut outing "is exactly what makes it so great". Please Please Me has made appearances on several best-of lists. In 2012, it

6372-476: The album in depth, providing track-by-track reviews for the ten songs that had not been previously released. He concludes that, for a debut, the LP is "surprisingly good and up to standard", and contained many tracks that could have been released as singles, such as "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Misery". Jopling further highlighted the LP's packaging, writing that its cover image and sleeve notes provided extra value. Author Jonathan Gould suggests in retrospect that

6490-524: The album market was dominated by adult buyers, not teenagers. On 26 November, the Beatles held another session for "Please Please Me" (to be backed with " Ask Me Why "), after which Martin predicted that they had just made their first number one record. As the Beatles had extensive stage experience and a large following of local fans in Liverpool, Martin proposed the band could record a live album , primarily of Lennon–McCartney songs at their resident venue,

6608-414: The album towards "die-hard supporters" excited by the two earlier singles. Please Please Me hit the top of the UK album charts in May 1963 and remained there for 30 weeks before being replaced by With the Beatles . This was an unprecedented achievement for a pop album at that time. At the time, the UK album charts tended to be dominated by film soundtracks and easy listening vocalists. Please Please Me

6726-526: The album's artwork on its cover and, in addition to sheet music, it includes photos of the artist. Most pop and rock releases come in standard Piano/Vocal/Guitar notation format (and occasionally Easy Piano / E-Z Play Today). Rock-oriented releases may also come in Guitar Recorded Versions edition, which are note-for-note transcriptions written directly from artist recordings. Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one-half of

6844-519: The album's packaging majorly contributed to its success, promising fans "glossy cover art" and a greater companion to the music than the plain paper packaging then offered by singles. In addition to the UK, Please Please Me was released, un- or lightly-modified, in India, continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In New Zealand, the album first appeared only in mono on the black Parlophone label. The following year (1964) EMI (NZ) changed from black to

6962-488: The album. However, the society turned down Martin's request, and instead, Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square . Martin was to write later: "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

7080-463: The album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles , they were conventionally placed in particular positions on the album. During the sixties, particularly in the UK, singles were generally released separately from albums. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as

7198-507: The album. In the meantime, Martin also solicited the Beatles' input for album names; McCartney suggested Off the Beatle Track . The single "Please Please Me" was released on 11 January 1963 and reached number one on the NME , Melody Maker , and Disc charts. In early February, the group undertook their first national tour , and they planned to record their album during a break in the tour on 11 February. According to Martin, "I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and

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7316-424: The amount of participation a band member can solicit from other members of their band, and still have the album referred to as a solo album. One reviewer wrote that Ringo Starr 's third venture, Ringo , "[t]echnically... wasn't a solo album because all four Beatles appeared on it". Three of the four members of the Beatles released solo albums while the group was officially still together. A performer may record

7434-480: The answer was their stage act"; (the norm for British 12" vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side whereas American albums usually had five or six songs per side). Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire – a broadcast, more or less." Initially, a morning and afternoon session only were booked; the evening session was added later. Mark Lewisohn later wrote: "There can scarcely have been 585 more productive minutes in

7552-510: The audience, comments by the performers between pieces, improvisation, and so on. They may use multitrack recording direct from the stage sound system (rather than microphones placed among the audience), and can employ additional manipulation and effects during post-production to enhance the quality of the recording. Notable early live albums include the double album of Benny Goodman , The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert , released in 1950. Live double albums later became popular during

7670-581: The band re-recorded "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White and recorded " P.S. I Love You ", which became the B-side to "Love Me Do". They also recorded a sped-up version of "Please Please Me", which Martin believed had hit potential but required more work. Martin doubted the commercial appeal of "Love Me Do" and was surprised when it reached No. 17 on the British charts in November. Now convinced that

7788-437: The band's early influences, further finding the covers "impressive" and the originals "astonishing". Rolling Stone magazine cited Lennon–McCartney's original compositions as early evidence of the Beatles' "[invention of] the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments". The album's 2009 remaster attracted a number of reviewers. Pitchfork 's Tom Ewing described

7906-406: The best selling live albums are Eric Clapton 's Unplugged (1992), selling over 26 million copies, Garth Brooks ' Double Live (1998), over 21 million copies, and Peter Frampton 's Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), over 11 million copies. In Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 18 albums were live albums. A solo album , in popular music , is an album recorded by

8024-431: The case of guitar, bass, woodwinds, and brass. It is expected that studio musicians will have well-maintained professional-tier instruments. In some cases, larger or heavier instruments may be provided by the recording studio, such as a grand piano or Hammond organ and Leslie speaker . In certain cases, a session musicians may bring some instruments or musical gear and use them with larger instruments that are provided by

8142-446: The cassette tape throughout the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s before sharply declining during the 1990s. The cassette had largely disappeared by the first decade of the 2000s. Most albums are recorded in a studio , although they may also be recorded in a concert venue , at home, in the field, or a mix of places. The time frame for completely recording an album varies between

8260-431: The day ended with a cover of " Twist and Shout ". The song was picked after a discussion in the studio canteen in which numerous songs were suggested before "Twist and Shout" was chosen. The performance, caught on the first take, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get." Lennon later remarked, "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't

8378-678: The era, the two groups of musicians in Memphis, both the Memphis Boys and the musicians who backed Stax/Volt recordings, and the Funk Brothers in Detroit, who played on many Motown recordings. At the time, multi-tracking equipment, though common, was less elaborate, and instrumental backing tracks were often recorded "hot" with an ensemble playing live in the studio. Musicians had to be available "on call" when producers needed

8496-624: The field – as with early blues recordings, in prison, or with a mobile recording unit such as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio . Most albums are studio albums —that is, they are recorded in a recording studio with equipment meant to give those overseeing the recording as much control as possible over the sound of the album. They minimize external noises and reverberations and have highly sensitive microphones and sound mixing equipment. Band members may record their parts in separate rooms or at separate times, listening to

8614-500: The form of a prototype. Compact Cassettes became especially popular during the 1980s after the advent of the Sony Walkman , which allowed the person to control what they listened to. The Walkman was convenient because of its size, the device could fit in most pockets and often came equipped with a clip for belts or pants. The compact cassette used double-sided magnetic tape to distribute music for commercial sale. The music

8732-480: The form of boxed sets, although in that case the work is still usually considered to be an album. Material (music or sounds) is stored on an album in sections termed tracks. A music track (often simply referred to as a track) is an individual song or instrumental recording. The term is particularly associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks; the term is also used for other formats such as EPs and singles . When vinyl records were

8850-546: The group's new manager. After a failed audition at Decca Records at the beginning of 1962, Epstein was eventually able to sign the group to EMI that May. EMI offered the Beatles a recording contract on its Parlophone label run by George Martin . Though Martin was drawn to the Beatles' personalities and charisma, he was initially unconvinced that they could write hit songs. Their first session, on 6 June, with Best on drums, resulted in no recordings suitable for release. Martin reacted negatively to Best's presence and insisted on

8968-465: The history of recorded music". Martin oversaw each session on the day, with Norman Smith as first engineer and Richard Langham as second engineer. We didn't rehearse our first album. In my head, it was done "live". We did the songs through first, so they could get some sort of sound on each one; then we had to just run, run them down. —Ringo Starr Recording took place on 11   February 1963. The Beatles arrived with John Lennon suffering from

9086-588: The later '30s, record companies began releasing albums of previously released recordings of popular music in albums organized by performer, singers or bands, or by type of music, boogie-woogie , for example. When Columbia introduced the Long Playing record format in 1948, it was natural the term album would continue. Columbia expected that the record size distinction in 78s would continue, with classical music on 12" records and popular music on 10" records, and singles on 78s. Columbia's first popular 10" LP in fact

9204-492: The longer 12-inch 78s, playing around 4–5 minutes per side. For example, in 1924, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of his new seventeen-minute composition Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The recording was issued on both sides of a single record, Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. By 1910, though some European record companies had issued albums of complete operas and other works,

9322-483: The mid-1930s, record companies had adopted the album format for classical music selections that were longer than the roughly eight minutes that fit on both sides of a classical 12" 78 rpm record. Initially the covers were plain, with the name of the selection and performer in small type. In 1938, Columbia Records hired the first graphic designer in the business to design covers, others soon followed and colorful album covers cover became an important selling feature. By

9440-487: The mid-1960s to the late 1970s when the Compact Cassette format took over. The format is regarded as an obsolete technology, and was relatively unknown outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Stereo 8 was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation , along with Ampex , Ford Motor Company , General Motors , Motorola , and RCA Victor Records . It

9558-405: The music. Thereafter, though, the Beatles' own creativity came bursting to the fore." In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although the 1969 photograph was originally intended for the then-planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be . Instead, the 1969 photograph, along with an unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot,

9676-463: The opportunity to release Beatles material since the 1962 release of "Love Me Do", but turned it down. Vee-Jay Records , a smaller label unaffiliated with EMI, took the initiative of bringing the Beatles to the United States, releasing the "Please Please Me" single on 25 February 1963. Despite its success in Britain, "Please Please Me" failed to chart in the US, and the May release of " From Me to You "

9794-443: The other parts of the track with headphones to keep the timing right. In the 2000s, with the advent of digital recording , it became possible for musicians to record their part of a song in another studio in another part of the world, and send their contribution over digital channels to be included in the final product. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing or multi-tracking are termed "live", even when done in

9912-414: The other. The user would stack the two records onto the spindle of an automatic record changer, with side 1 on the bottom and side 2 (on the other record) on top. Side 1 would automatically drop onto the turntable and be played. When finished, the tone arm's position would trigger a mechanism which moved the arm out of the way, dropped the record with side 2, and played it. When both records had been played,

10030-451: The plan to a simple studio album. Other than the material already present in their singles, the Beatles recorded Please Please Me in one day at EMI Studios on 11 February 1963, with Martin adding overdubs to " Misery " and " Baby It's You " nine days later. The album was well-received in Britain, where it remained in the Top 10 for over a year, a record for a debut album that stood for half

10148-464: The practice of issuing albums was not widely taken up by American record companies until the 1920s. By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than

10266-406: The primary medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves and many album covers or sleeves included numbers for the tracks on each side. On a compact disc the track number is indexed so that a player can jump straight to the start of any track. On digital music stores such as iTunes the term song is often used interchangeably with track regardless of whether there

10384-404: The record industry as a standard format for the "album". Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums. The term "album" was extended to other recording media such as 8-track tape , cassette tape , compact disc , MiniDisc , and digital albums, as they were introduced. As part of

10502-623: The record not touching the shelf, and the term was applied to the collection. In the early nineteenth century, "album" was occasionally used in the titles of some classical music sets, such as Robert Schumann 's Album for the Young Opus 68, a set of 43 short pieces. With the advent of 78 rpm records in the early 1900s, the typical 10-inch disc could only hold about three minutes of sound per side, so almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. Classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on

10620-451: The recording, and lyrics or librettos . Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage, the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78s were bundled in book-like albums (one side of a 78 rpm record could hold only about 3.5 minutes of sound). When LP records were introduced,

10738-497: The records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78s by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight compositions per album. By

10856-452: The release and distribution Compact Discs . The 2010s saw a revival of Compact Cassettes by independent record labels and DIY musicians who preferred the format because of its difficulty to share over the internet . The compact disc format replaced both the vinyl record and the cassette as the standard for the commercial mass-market distribution of physical music albums. After the introduction of music downloading and MP3 players such as

10974-485: The resultant Beatlemania and aware of their previous rejection of the Beatles, Capitol released a modified version of the group's second album With the Beatles , coming out with Meet the Beatles! shortly after Vee-Jay had released Introducing... The Beatles . Meet the Beatles! contains "I Saw Her Standing There", which Capitol released as the American B-side of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Finally acquiring

11092-634: The rights to early Beatles recordings back from Vee-Jay in late 1964, Capitol released most of the other tracks from Please Please Me on The Early Beatles in March 1965, although "Misery" and "There's a Place" remained unreleased by Capitol until 1980's Rarities . In Canada, the majority of the album's songs were included upon the Canadian-exclusive release Twist and Shout , which featured " From Me to You " and " She Loves You " in place of "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Misery". The album

11210-615: The same for a long time after; every time I swallowed, it was like sandpaper." At the end of the evening session at 10:30 pm, the Beatles attended a full tape playback in the studio control room. Lennon reflected, "Waiting to hear that LP played back was one of our most worrying experiences. ... As it happens, we were very happy with the result. The Beatles were not present during an overdub session on 20 February, during which Martin overdubbed piano on "Misery" and celesta on "Baby It's You". The day of recording cost approximately £400 (equivalent to £10,600 in 2023). Martin said: "There wasn't

11328-427: The service of reliable standby musicians who could be counted on to record in a variety of styles with minimal practice or takes, and deliver hits on short order. A studio band is a musical ensemble that is in the employ of a recording studio for the purpose of accompanying recording artists who are customers of the studio. The use of studio bands was more common during the 1960s with groups such Booker T. &

11446-683: The session; rhythmic and intonation precision; ability to play with good ensemble and excellent blending with the other performers; willingness to take direction from bandleaders , music directors , and music producers ; and having good musical taste in regards to choices with musical ornaments and musical phrasing . During the 1950s and 1960s, session players were usually active in local recording scenes concentrated in places such as Los Angeles , New York City , Nashville , Memphis , Detroit , and Muscle Shoals . Each local scene had its circle of "A-list" session musicians, such as The Nashville A-Team that played on numerous country and rock hits of

11564-452: The stereo version of the album, during the mixing sessions on 25 February 1963, Martin created "mock stereo" versions by emphasising low frequencies on one side and high frequencies on the other. These versions would continue to be made available via compilation albums (such as 1962–1966 ), and on Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs ' half-speed mastered vinyl releases (catalogue number MFSL-1-101) sourced from EMI's original stereo master tapes, until

11682-428: The studio, such as a synthesizer player, who might bring rack-mounted synth modules and connect them to the studio's MIDI controller stage piano . Similarly, if the studio has a selection of well-known bass amplifiers , and speaker cabinets, a bass player may only have to bring basses and effect units . The requirement to read different types of music notation, improvise and/or " play by ear " varies according to

11800-484: The third edition of his book All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). Rolling Stone also placed two songs from the album on its 2004 edition of the " 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ": " I Saw Her Standing There " at number 140, and "Please Please Me" at number 186. Several publications, including NME , have named Please Please Me one of the best debut albums of all time, with Rolling Stone and Uncut both ranking it number 17. In 2015, Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it

11918-415: The two tracks together. The two tracks generally divided the instrumental track from the vocals, with the exception of "Boys", in which the close proximity of Ringo's drums to his vocal microphone placed the drums (but not the other instruments) on the vocal channel. Two tracks, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", were only mixed for mono for the single's release and no stereo versions were ever made, so, for

12036-570: The type of recording session and the genres of music being performed. Classical musicians and many jazz and popular music musicians are expected to read music notation and do sight-reading . In jazz, rock, and many popular music genres, performers may be expected to read chord charts and improvise accompaniment and solos. In country music, performers may be expected to read Nashville Number System charts and improvise accompaniment and solos. In many traditional and folk music styles, performers are expected to be able to play by ear. Session musicians need

12154-469: The use of a session drummer in his stead; although this was standard procedure at the time, the band took this as a cue to drop Best in favour of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes drummer Ringo Starr . Their second session, on 4 September and now with Starr on drums, produced " Love Me Do ", which became their first single several weeks later, and an early version of " Please Please Me ". On 11 September,

12272-416: The user would pick up the stack, turn it over, and put them back on the spindle—sides 3 and 4 would then play in sequence. Record changers were used for many years of the LP era, but eventually fell out of use. 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8: commonly known as the eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, or simply eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology popular in the United States from

12390-523: The very peak of public recognition, and subsequently into realms of sonic experimentation that would create a template for so much rock and pop music since." Diver further argued that the album's long reign at the top of the UK charts provided a rebuttal to Decca Records ' stance that guitar groups were "on the way out". The writers of Rolling Stone agreed in The Rolling Stone Album Guide , writing that Please Please Me acted as

12508-592: Was Frank Sinatra's first album, the four-record eight-song The Voice of Frank Sinatra , originally issued in 1946. RCA's introduction of the smaller 45 rpm format later in 1948 disrupted Columbia's expectations. By the mid-1950s, 45s dominated the singles market and 12" LPs dominated the album market and both 78s and 10" LPs were discontinued. In the 1950s albums of popular music were also issued on 45s, sold in small heavy paper-covered "gate-fold" albums with multiple discs in sleeves or in sleeves in small boxes. This format disappeared around 1960. Sinatra's "The Voice"

12626-548: Was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge created by Earl "Madman" Muntz . A later quadraphonic version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and first known as Quad-8, then later changed to just Q8. The Compact Cassette was a popular medium for distributing pre-recorded music from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. The first "Compact Cassette" was introduced by Philips in August 1963 in

12744-414: Was from this that in medieval and modern times, album came to denote a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item. The first audio albums were actually published by the publishers of photograph albums. Single 78 rpm records were sold in

12862-399: Was issued in 1952 on two extended play 45s, with two songs on each side, in both packagings. The 10-inch and 12-inch LP record (long play), or 33 + 1 ⁄ 3   rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. A single LP record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and it was adopted by

12980-511: Was positive reviewing the band's entire remastered catalogue for Paste , commending the band for infusing African American musical styles with "chirpy harmonies" from girl groups like the Shirelles to create "a sound the pop world had never heard". The Telegraph writer Neil McCormick praised the band's performances throughout the record, contending that "the sheer accomplishment of their tight, syncopated playing and perfect harmony singing

13098-481: Was released on CD on 26 February 1987, in mono, as were their three subsequent albums, With the Beatles , A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale . It was not released on vinyl or tape in the US until five months later when it was issued for the first time in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987. Please Please Me was remastered and re-released on CD in stereo, along with all the other original UK studio albums, on 9 September 2009. The 2009 remasters replaced

13216-490: Was remastered for release in 2009, the mono mixes were chosen for inclusion on the stereo reissues, and appear on all releases since, including newer compilations and variations. George Martin was an honorary fellow of the Zoological Society of London , which owns London Zoo , and he thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have the Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover photography of

13334-680: Was similarly lacklustre, leading Vee-Jay to lose interest in the Beatles. Originally planning on releasing the Please Please Me album unaltered in July, it ended up trimming "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" to fit the standard American album length and releasing it as Introducing... The Beatles in January 1964. Capitol remained unimpressed with the group until the rapid success of " I Want to Hold Your Hand " in Christmas 1963. Buoyed by

13452-411: Was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era . Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983, being gradually supplanted by

13570-483: Was the first non-soundtrack album to spend more than one year consecutively inside the top ten of what became the Official UK Albums Chart (with 62 weeks). This record run of consecutive weeks in the top ten for a debut album stood until April 2013, when Emeli Sandé 's Our Version of Events achieved a 63rd consecutive week. In the 30 March 1963 issue of Record Mirror , Norman Jopling reviewed

13688-493: Was used in 1973 for the Beatles' retrospective albums 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 . Another unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot was used for The Beatles (No. 1) (EP released 1 November 1963). The Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow wrote extensive sleeve notes , which included a brief mention of their early 1960s rivals the Shadows . This album was one of the main ambitions in our lives. We felt that it would be

13806-566: Was voted 39th on Rolling Stone ' s list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time " in 2012, and number 622 in the third edition of Colin Larkin 's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000. The Beatles originated in the skiffle scene of Liverpool in the late 1950s, and by 1961 had solidified their lineup with John Lennon on rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, George Harrison on lead guitar, and Pete Best on drums. The band mostly played cover songs , although Lennon and McCartney had

13924-418: Was voted 39th on Rolling Stone 's list of the 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 (also known as "The White Album") and Abbey Road ranked higher. English writer Colin Larkin listed Please Please Me at number 622 in

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