Please Please Me


  1. I Saw Her Standing There (25)
  2. Baby It's You (27)
  3. Twist and Shout (55)
  4. Anna (Go to Him) (56)
  5. Love Me Do (76)
  6. Please Please Me (78)
  7. Boys (80)
  8. Chains (81)
  9. Misery (84)
  10. Do You Want to Know a Secret (85)
  11. There's a Place (95)
  12. Ask Me Why (107)
  13. P.S. I Love You (170)
  14. A Taste of Honey (211)
When I first heard this album in full I was already a huge fan, but wasn't really familiar with any of the songs other than the two singles that you hear at every wedding reception (Twist and Shout, I Saw Her Standing There).  I assumed it wouldn't be that good considering it was their first, and they would still be finding their groove.  I was pleasantly surprised.  

Nothing here will blow you away, that much is certain.  What there is however, is a bunch of really easy songs to listen to.  Most are very laid-back (Anna) or make you tap your feet (I Saw Her Standing There).  None jump out at you as "weird" or "in your face" as some of their latter works will. It is true that half of these songs are covers, (which was really common in that era) but they totally own them as their own.  I would wager that most people don't even know Twist and Shout is a cover song.   

The album as a whole came in at fourth place, which isn't that impressive, that is until you remember we are talking about the Beatles and the amount of great stuff they produced (and in an extremely short amount of time) is probably double any other band in the history of music.  And for that reason I consider the top 40(ish) songs as what I consider great ones.  Even though the top song on Please Please Me is number 25, it still boasts two songs in the top 40.  Conversely it only has one song in the bottom 40. A Taste of Honey is absolute trash and is a bottom three song FYI.

Without question my most controversial ranking is Baby It's You at 27-not just for this album, but for any of them I would wager.  I've seen other Beatles lists that had it much closer to the bottom-than at almost top 25 like I did.  I don't know what it is, but I like the easy-going nature of the song, even more so than something like their classic Twist and Shout.  

It's pretty remarkable that 11 of the 14 songs even made the top 100.  No other album can make that claim-which I find completely insane. Seriously think about that.   

THE SINGLES
       

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