'62/'63 Beatles.


The first two Beatles hits.


Love Me Do (1962)...// Please Please Me (1962).


These were wonderful, innovative singles, and by the weekend of the week they were released we were rehearsed and ready to inflict our covers on the unsuspecting public around the Portsmouth area...and they were HARD to cover, trust me.  'Please Please Me' has killer high harmonies which climb ever higher !  We were all knocked flat by The Beatles - they swept everything before them with apparent ease - the 'world was their lobster' as Del-boy would have said.  But they were mostly still 'sweet', 'romantic', and within a tradition that favoured pretty Melodies above everything else - and why not ?  So they are on this blog as part of the Backdrop against which ThePirates seemed so shockingly SAVAGE...even scary.  The Beatles got heavier, sure, and they got more psychedelic, stranger, what ever term seems apposite - but so far as i know, they were never 'upsetting' in the was that the angry seam deep in British rock became, exploding with the Punk styles of the mid-'70s that really did outrage wide swathes of 'normal' societies far and wide.  ( Apart from John saying they were 'more famous than Jesus'. ) Not absolutely sure, but i can't recall an anecdote about McCartney spitting at the audience (as if) - but John (rip) might have dreamed of doing it now and then...no, not even the MrAngry of the fab-four would have gone that far.   


Love Me Do


Please Please Me




And something quite a lot grittier and more 'rock' than 'pop' maybe, just because it is a nice genuinely LIVE performance - not mimed !  Wish they'd filmed more of Ringo on the famous Ludwig kit which we envied, with that unusual style - sat so high (almost standing sometimes ) and swinging across the hi-hat with those huge swipes that i always expected to lag behind the beat but never did!  Watching and imagining being J.Lennon - in fantasy-world, what would you give to look across a stage and see McCartney and Harrison belting out those amazing backing harmony vocals behind you ?  An 'arm and a leg' ?  More.>


You Can't Do That



3 comments:

  1. Magali VazDecember 22, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    The Beatles were AWESOME, enough said!! <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 25, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    Well - just seen a long prog. on tv about how huge the Beatles were when they went to Moscow - a lot of Russians worshipped them - still do - and they even had some affect on peoples' ideas about 'freedom' in the USSR. 'Pop' can help change lives.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 28, 2011 at 7:11 PM

    Lennon was a great singer - and its a very strong song

    ReplyDelete

Now, this is the whole point of this blog - unlock that well-hidden secret, your 'MyLastTrack', and name it Here ! But more than that - pen a few lines about what the track means to you, maybe when and where it hit you as 'the' track in your life - and don't even think about some concept of THE cool music. No negativity is welcome here - really not interested in anyone jumping on other peoples' serious choices. One person's heart & soul is their's alone, and the music that moves them is absolutely authentic for them. Obviously, i love The Pirates, but i have been floored by so many performers that are completely different to them and to each other - how about Mahalia Jackson, Frank Sinatra, and Eva Cassidy to name just three. Fear no-one, conform to no 'taste' - tell the world about your absolute number one ( last ) track - pls ! Thanks, paul.

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