First released: 1963, March 22

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Original Vinyl Recording Remastered (2012)

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Songs recording date and information:

1. Please Please Me - 11th February 1963 in 12 takes. Final mix - takes 9 and 12
2. Misery - 11th February 1963 in 11 takes. Overdubs 20th February 1963 creating takes 12-16. Final mix - take 16
3. Anna (Go to Him) - 11th February 1963 in 3 takes. Final mix - take 3
4. Chains - 11th February 1963 in 4 takes. Final mix - take 1
5. Boys - 11th February 1963 in just 1 take. Final mix - take 1
6. Ask Me Why - 26th November 1962 in 6 takes. Final mix - take 6
7. Please Please Me - 26th November 1962 in 18 takes (A slower version was recorded 11th September 1962, but erased). Final mix - mono was one single take, whereas stereo was takes 16/17/18 edited
8. Love Me Do - 11th September 1962 in 18 takes, with Andy White on drums (The version with Ringo was 1 week earlier on the 4th). Final mix - take 18
9. P.S. I Love You - 11th September 1962 in 10 takes, with Andy White on drums, and Ringo on Maracas. Final mix - take 10
10. Baby It's You - 11th February 1963 in 3 takes. Overdubs 20th February 1963 creating takes 4-6. Final mix - take 5
11. Do You Want to Know a Secret - 11th February 1963 in 8 takes. Final mix - take 8
12. A Taste of Honey - 11th February 1963 in 7 takes. Final mix - take 7
13. There's a Place - 11th February 1963 in 13 takes. Final mix - take 13
14. Twist and Shout - 11th February 1963 in 2 takes (A second take was attempted, but it is Take 1, raw and complete, on record). Final mix - take 1

It wasn't always going to be called Please Please Me . George Martin thought of naming it Off the Beatle Track , and Paul even doodled a few cover ideas before the idea was dropped. (George clearly retained a liking for it however, for on 10 July 1964 he released an orchestral LP of Beatles tracks with that title.)

The cover of the LP probed to be a problem, as George Martin recalls. "I was a fellow of London Zoo and, rather stupidly, thought that it would be great to have the Beatles photographed outside the insect house. But the zoo people were very stuffy indeed, premises, quite out of keeping with the good taste of down. I bet they regret it now..."

There were other ideas too, as illustrated on these pages. One was to show the Beatles on the spiral stairwell outside EMI's building in Manchester Square. Another was to show them on the steps of Abbey Road studios, kicking their legs in unison. "Those were the sort of dreadful stock ideas every photographer went in for then," says Martin.

Finally George Martin brought in Angus McBeam, a distinguished photographer whom he had used for comedy LP covers and who has since worked with the royal family. McBean had the Beatles peer down at him over the entrance stairwell inside the Manchester Square building. It was the first of several fresh eye-catching Beatles LP covers.

- Mark Lewishon "The Beatles Recording Sessions"