Monday, February 11, 1963
"Please Please Me" album session #1
For The Beatles
Last updated on February 7, 2016
Monday, February 11, 1963
For The Beatles
Last updated on February 7, 2016
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Previous session Nov 30, 1962 • Mixing "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why"
Concert Feb 08, 1963 • United Kingdom • Carlisle
Concert Feb 09, 1963 • United Kingdom • Sunderland
Session Feb 11, 1963 • "Please Please Me" album session #1
Concert Feb 12, 1963 • United Kingdom • Oldham
Concert Feb 13, 1963 • United Kingdom • Hull
Next session Feb 20, 1963 • "Please Please Me" album session #2
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Please Please Me (Mono)" LP
From Wikipedia:
[…] The norm for British 12″ vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side (American albums usually had five or six songs per side) leaving producer George Martin needing only ten more tracks if he were to include the four sides of the group’s first two singles: “I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and the answer was their stage act” Martin said. He had at first contemplated recording the album live at the Cavern Club in front of the group’s home audience and visited the Liverpool club on 9 December 1962 to consider the technicalities (or, as more recent scholarship indicates, on 12 December 1962.) But when time constraints intervened, he decided to book them at EMI Studios in Abbey Road and record them live there instead. Martin said, “It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire—a broadcast, more or less.”
Initially only a morning and afternoon session were booked; the evening session was added later. Therefore, at 10:00 am on Monday, 11 February 1963, the Beatles began working their way through their live set song by song, the number of takes varying on each, and finished at 10:45 pm—less than 13 hours later— capturing in essence an authentic representation of the band’s Cavern Club-era sound. The day ended with a cover of “Twist and Shout,” which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon’s voice for the day. This 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.” Mark Lewisohn would later write: “There can scarcely have been 585 more productive minutes in the history of recorded music“. Paul McCartney double tracked his vocal on “A Taste of Honey” and Lennon added harmonica onto “There’s A Place” during these sessions. Martin overdubbed piano on “Misery” and celesta on “Baby It’s You” on 20 February during which the Beatles were not present.
The song “Hold Me Tight” was recorded during these sessions, but was “surplus to requirements” and not included on the album. “Hold Me Tight” was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With the Beatles.
The whole day’s session cost around £400 (£10,000 as of 2016). Martin said: “There wasn’t 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 £7 10s (£7.50) session fee for each three-hour session. […]
Recording • Take 1
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 2
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 3
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 4
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 5
AlbumOfficially released on Bootleg Recordings 1963
Recording • Take 6
AlbumOfficially released on Bootleg Recordings 1963
Recording • Take 7
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 8
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 9
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 10
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 1
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 2
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 3
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 4
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 5
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 6
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 7
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 8
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 9
AlbumOfficially released on Free As A Bird
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 1
Unreleased track
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 2
Unreleased track
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 3
Unreleased track
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 4
Unreleased track
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 5
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 1
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 2
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 3
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 4
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 5
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 6
Unreleased track
Recording • Take 7
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 8
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 6
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow
Recording • Take 7
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 11
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 12
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 13
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 10
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 11
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 12
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 1
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 2
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 3
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 4
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 5
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 6
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 7
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 8
AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics
Recording • Take 9
Recording • Take 10
Recording • Take 11
Recording • Take 1
Recording • Take 2
Recording • Take 3
Recording • Take 4
Recording • Take 5
Recording • Take 6
Recording • Take 7
Recording • Take 8
Recording • Take 9
Recording • Take 10
Recording • Take 11
Recording • Take 12
Recording • Take 13
Written by Arthur Alexander
Recording • Take 1
Written by Arthur Alexander
Recording • Take 2
Written by Arthur Alexander
Recording • Take 3
Written by Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell
Recording • Take 1
Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Recording • Take 1
Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Recording • Take 2
Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Recording • Take 3
Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Recording • Take 4
Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams
Recording • Take 1
Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams
Recording • Take 2
Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams
Recording • Take 3
Written by Phil Medley, Bert Russell
Recording • Take 1
Written by Phil Medley, Bert Russell
Recording • Take 2
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 1: My Bonnie through Beatles For Sale (1961-1964)
Nominated for the 2018 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
The first book of the series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 1: My Bonnie through Beatles For Sale (1961-1964)" tracks the evolution of the band from their earliest recordings and initial hits, through "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night", and "Beatles For Sale". From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time.
Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.
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