Off The Beatle Track

I’m kicking off an occasional series looking at each of The Beatles’ 13 albums and deciding who’s the album’s Most Valuable Beatle (MVB).

I’ll start off by examining the songwriting, singing, and playing on each album, but not in any real depth or with any actual “expertise.” (I’m just a fan with no musical background or talent.) I may also change or add to those categories as I get deeper into the catalog. Then I’ll name the MVB.

But enough of my yappin’. Let’s get right to

Please Please Me (1963)

Songwriting:

Please Please Me features eight original tracks: I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Ask Me Why, Please Please Me, Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, Do You Want to Know a Secret, and There’s a Place. I’ll call three of those as primarily written by Paul: I Saw Her Standing There and both sides of the first single, Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. John is mainly responsible for writing the other five original songs.

Verdict: John gets the edge here. Please Please Me is the best original song on the album,* though I Saw Her Standing There gives it a run for its money. After those two standouts, I’d rate all of the remaining four John tracks ahead of any of the remaining Paul tracks, in this order: There’s a Place, Do You Want to Know a Secret, Misery, Ask Me Why, P.S. I Love You, and Love Me Do.

Singing:

John’s vocal on Twist and Shout is a highlight not just of this album but of the entire catalog. John’s Anna vocal is also moving–especially on the bridge.

Paul’s “One-two-three-fah!” count-in to I Saw Her Standing There is another classic Beatles’ moment. Paul has only three lead vocals, and one of those, their cover A Taste of Honey, fails to register.**

George has two leads, Chains and Do You Want to Know a Secret, which he handles well if unspectacularly. Ringo’s frantic Boys vocal might be the second-best on the album after John’s throat-ripping lead on the album closer, especially since John didn’t have to play drums while singing.

Verdict: Nothing can compete with John’s Twist and Shout. Another John win.

Playing:

John plays harmonica on the title track, Love Me Do, Chains, and There’s a Place. I was surprised that the instrument appeared on only four of the album’s songs; I guess a little harmonica goes a long way.

George famously struggled with the guitar solo on I Saw Her Standing There; when you listen to the song’s multiple takes in succession, you understand why Paul’s count-in sounds angry.

Verdict: If you’ve heard the first version of Love Me Do, with Pete Best on drums (and which appears on Anthology 1), you’ll understand why Ringo wins this category. And his fills on Please Please Me are great.

MVB:

It’s John, and it’s not especially close. Paul provides some nice bass work and his customary engaging vocals, but John just wanted this one more.***

So our MVB Scorecard looks like this: John 1.

*In my opinion. But if I stop to add IMO every time I make a value judgment in this series, both of us will become very bored very quickly.

**Gotta love rock-critic talk like “fails to register.” It means that the song sucks.

***Get used to it; I may resort to many sports-announcing cliches in this series.