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Please Please Me

  1. I Saw Her Standing There (2:54)

  2. Misery (1:49)

  3. Anna (Go To Him) (2:57)

  4. Chains (2:25)

  5. Boys (2:26)

  6. Ask Me Why (2:27)

  7. Please Please Me (2:01)

​UK Release: March 22, 1963

Parlophone Records PMC 1202

Produced by: George Martin

  1. Love Me Do (2:22)

  1. P.S. I Love You (2:04)

  2. Baby It's You (2:40)

  3. Do You Want To Know A Secret (1:57)

  4. A Taste Of Honey (2:03)

  5. There's A Place (1:50)

  6. Twist And Shout (2:35)

PLEASE PLEASE ME  is the official album debut of The Beatles and hit #1 in the UK in May of 1963, remaineing there for an astonishing 30 weeks. The album didn't see an official U.S. release until 1987 when reissued on CD. Once the CDs were released, the original U.K. releases became the standard Beatles albums.

The songs on Please Please Me  were released in varied forms by Vee-Jay Records, minus "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", which didn't see a U.S. album release until March of '65 on The Early Beatles. "I Saw Her Standing There" will be released on Meet The Beatles in January 1964, "Thank You Girl will be on The Beatles' Second Album in April of 1964, "From Me To You" won't see a U.S. album until 1973 and the final two songs, "Misery" and "There's A Place" will go on the Rarities album in 1980. 

Introducing... The Beatles

PLEASE PLEASE ME  will be reissued seven more times, most notably in the form of INTRODUCING... THE BEATLES on January 10, 1964 in the U.S. on Vee-Jay Records. Originally pressed identically as Please Please Me, Vee-Jay had not obtained the rights to the singles,  "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", resulting in Capitol Records forcing the recall of that first January release. After pressing 80,000 copies, the album was recalled and reissued the following February with the new track order:

 

SIDE ONE

 

  1. I Saw Her Standing There (2:54)

  2. Misery (1:49)

  3. Anna (Go To Him) (2:57)

  4. Chains (2:25)

  5. Boys (2:26)

  6. Ask Me Why (2:27)

SIDE TWO

 

  1. Please Please Me (2:01)

  2. Baby It's You (2:40)

  3. Do You Want To Know A Secret (1:57)

  4. A Taste Of Honey (2:03)

  5. There's A Place (1:50)

  6. Twist And Shout (2:35)

Vee-Jay maintained their licensing in the U.S. of these songs until October 15, 1964 and re-packaged the album an additional 4 more times in the form of:

US Release: January 10, 1964  |  February 10, 1964

Vee-Jay Records VJLP 1062

Produced by: George Martin

Jolly What!

England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage

Released February 26, 1964 to capitalize on the new phenomenon, BEATLEMANIA. Frank Ifield, poorly depicted on the cover artwork, was a U.K. Vee-Jay artist. The album falsely indicated that either (or both) Ifield and The Beatles performed these songs "on stage". However, that was not the case. All songs are studio recordings - naturally utilizing the licenses obtained by Vee-Jay Records.

 

Side 1

 

  1. Please Please Me (The Beatles)

  2. Anytime (Frank Ifield)

  3. Lovesick Blues (Frank Ifield)

  4. I'm Smiling Now (Frank Ifield)

  5. Nobody's Darling (Frank Ifield)

  6. From Me to You (The Beatles)

Side 2

 

  1. I Remember You (Frank Ifield)

  2. Ask Me Why (The Beatles)

  3. Thank You Girl (The Beatles)

  4. The Wayward Wind (Frank Ifield)

  5. Unchained Melody (Frank Ifield)

  6. I Listen to My Heart (Frank Ifield)

Despite being commonly known as a rip-off by most music and Beatles' fans alike, Vee-Jay had the nerve to reissue this exact same album a second time in October 1964. It contained the same track listing but with a cheaply produced cartoon cover and re-titled:

The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage

US Release: February 26, 1964

Vee-Jay VJLP 1085

Beatles Produced by: George Martin

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Probably less than one hundred copies were pressed, making it one of the rarest Beatles albums. Three sealed stereo copies were discovered in 1976, selling for $600, $900 and $1,800. One of the three was re-sold in 1995 for $22,000.

 

Like many of the albums rushed out to cash in on the Beatles success, Jolly What! has been called a "rip-off", due to its intentional misleading of buyers. The album consisted entirely of studio recordings (not live, and thus not "on stage"), and all the Beatles material had been previously released.

 

The album is also known for a mistake in the liner notes: "It is with a good deal of pride and pleasure that this copulation has been presented"—presumably "copulation" should have been "compilation". (In confirming the matter, Snopes.com noted that "copulation" was appropriate, since the makers of the album were "trying to screw the fans out of their money.")

 

The album, however, was significant in that, until the release of the Beatles' 1973 compilation album, The Beatles/1962-1966, Jolly What! was the only American Beatles album to include "From Me to You".

The Beatles vs the Four Seasons

Released this time as a 2-Disc set, the Beatles' track order is identical to the second Introducing... The Beatles, with a second disc of The Four Seasons songs, also licensed by Vee-Jay Records.

 

One interesting note: The engineer at Vee-Jay believed Paul McCartney's opening "1-2-3-4" at the intro of "I Saw Her Standing There" was as a leader for editing, not knowing it was included on the track on purpose. All Vee-Jay releases of the song omit Paul's count.

 

Side 1

 

  1. Sherry 

  2. I've Cried Before 

  3. Marlena 

  4. Soon (I'll Be Home Again) 

  5. Ain’t That a Shame 

  6. Walk Like a Man

Side 2

 

  1. Connie-O 

  2. Big Girls Don't Cry 

  3. Starmaker 

  4. Candy Girl 

  5. Silver Wings 

  6. Peanuts

The Four Seasons portion of this album was a rehash of their previously released album titled,  Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons

Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles

Vee-Jay released this set with the idea of Beatlemania in mind, producing this as a three quarters gatefold with cards and stats about the Beatles on October 12, 1964. The song list and the label were identical to the second version of Introducing... The Beatles - even erroneously printing the title on the label.

 

With Vee-Jay's license nearing the end (October 15, 1964) this would be the final Vee-Jay release - totalling 6 in all. After October the licensing for the songs belonged to Capitol Records and now it was up to Capitol to finally release their rendition of the debut Beatles album, Please Please Me. And they did so in the form of:

US Release: July, 1964

Vee-Jay VJLP 1092; SR 1092

Produced by: George Martin

The Early Beatles

Capitol Records claimed that they were not looking for another Beatles album, especially since Capitol has already released 6 Beatles albums just since January of 1964, in addition to Vee-Jay Records' 6 releases of the same songs, Capitol wanted to just release the songs in their catalogs. The tracks on this album release were:

Side One:

 

  1. Love Me Do (2:23)

  2. Twist And Shout (2:36)

  3. Anna (Go To Him) (2:58)

  4. Chains (2:27)

  5. Boys (2:27)

  6. Ask Me Why (2:28)

Side Two:

 

  1. Please Please Me (2:02)

  2. P.S. I Love You  (2:05)

  3. Baby It's You (2:42)

  4. A Taste Of Honey (2:05)

  5. Do You Want To Know A Secret (1:57)

The songs previously licensed by Vee-Jay that got a Capitol release are: "I Saw Her Standing There" on Meet The Beatles, "Thank You Girl" on The Beatles' Second Album, "From Me To You" released in 1973 on the compilation, The Beatles 1963-1966 (The Red Album) and finally "Misery" and "There's A Place", both released in 1980 on the Rarities album.

 

US Release: March 22, 1965

Capitol Records (S)T 2309

Produced by: George Martin

Twist and Shout

One final note of release is the February 3, 1964 Canadian album, Twist and Shout by Capitol Canada Records. And seeing how the January 1964 issue of Introducing... The Beatles was recalled and then reissued on February 10, 1964, this edition can legitimately be seen as the first reissue edition of Please Please Me. The track listing varies slightly, adding the singles "She Loves You" and "From Me To You" in lieu of "I Saw Her Standing There" and "There's A Place" (which will be on Canada's follow up album, Long Tall Sally ).

Side One

 

Anna (Go to Him)

Chains

Boys

Ask Me Why

Please Please Me

Love Me Do

From Me to You

Side Two

 

P.S. I Love You

Baby It's You

Do You Want to Know a Secret

A Taste of Honey

There's a Place

Twist and Shout

She Loves You

This album was originally issued in Mono until the 1970's. Despite the Stereo reissue, "She Loves You" remains in Mono - the original stereo acetape remains lost to this day.

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