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On Please Please Me

Please Please Me was never my favourite Beatles album. I think that if you checked my jukebox, you’ll probably find that this is the album that has the fewest number of average listens per song. I don’t know why that’s the case. I like most of the songs on the album, and there’s nothing quite like the music on this album to be found on all of the other Beatles albums.

I may be compelled to rectify that right now, however. The remaster is quite excellent and particularly revealing. It’s generally said that Please Please Me is an album that exhibits a brilliant raw side to the Beatles’ music, but it’s something that a rawness took on a new dimension for me in the remaster. The visceral intensity that perhaps set them apart from their peers of that era stings on this record. It’s pretty amazing to find myself going through all this again with a new sense of wonder and an appreciation for the clarity of the sound.

And what clarity it is. Unless you have aluminum foil for ears, the difference should be pretty obvious. It’s not as astounding as I would want to believe, I think, but there’s a definite sense of depth can’t be found in the ’87 remasters. The drums sound more fleshed out, the separate tracks don’t seem to muddy each other as much and there’s a three-dimensionality to it all. The voices are certainly much clearer. I could hear separate voices where I used to hear just one. The guitars have more definition and the drums don’t sound so harsh. Things just generally have more oomph to them. From the more nicely-balanced I Saw Her Standing There to the crackling vocals of Twist And Shout, it’s pretty clear that the remasters did a lot of good work. Speaking of which, you can even hear John’s voice cracking in Twist And Shout.

I think the mono version definitely sounds better. I don’t like the stereo separations, a complaint that I imagine I will be making a lot, and the mono version just seems to blend the separate tracks together so much better. Sometimes, the drums just sound removed from the other parts in the stereo version, for instance. It just doesn’t seem to come together in stretches.

That said, I think both versions sound excellent, and it’s a great start to what I’m pretty sure will be a lovely collection.

Wow, I should really think of better ways to round of my impressions.

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© 2009 a modest odyssey.