Tuesday, November 27, 2012

LP of the Week: the Beatles, "Please Please Me"

LP of the Week
The Beatles: Please Please Me
(EMI)
In 2009, EMI finally released the remastered Beatles albums on CD, both in mono and in stereo. The differences in sound quality to the original 1987 discs were monumental, and sales went through the roof. So it’s no surprise that EMI looks to squeeze even more blood from a stone by pressing brand new vinyl records—remember those?—of those remasters of the original British albums, along with the two-disc Past Masters compilation of non-album singles and B-sides.

Of those re-releases, I’ve heard the Fab Four’s phenomenal debut, Please Please Me, originally released in 1963, and if the songs are not as immortal as those on everything from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road, the sheer delight and excitement of their first forays in the recording studio—which yielded such gems as the title song and “I Saw Her Standing There” alongside scintillating covers of “Chains” and “Twist and Shout”—leaps off the turntable and points them in a direction that would change music forever.

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