Between 1.1 and 1.2 billion of records: this is the amount of the worldwide sales of the Beatles in the last 40 years, an impressive number considering that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr worked together as a group for barely seven years.
Last year the long awaited reissues of the entire catalogue of the four golden boys reached the stores and it was, once again, a great success: both the stereo and the mono boxset went straight to the top of the biggest internet music retailers, even though the prices weren’t really popular – especially in a period like this.
The first ever record of Beatles, called Please Please Me, could raise more of an eyebrow if listen today. In fact, at a first sight it is nothing more than a good record of straight rock’n roll perfectly translated from their greatest american rockstar such as Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. In reality it was the beginning of probably the greatest rock band ever lived.
During the first years of the sixties the music market was literally exploding, with sales steadily increasing. Nevertheless were especially film scores and easy listening singers who topped the chart rather than rock bands.
The Beatles totally changed this trend releasing an album full of raw energy and teenage hormons which immediately captivated that younger audience that was frustrated by their parent’s music and were just waiting for this moment.
I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me, Love Me Do are nothing less than three rock classics: the first for its incredible rhythm who would push on the dancefloor even your grandma, the second and the third for their astonishing two voice melodies.
Another highlight is Twist and Shout; originally a song written by Phil Medley and Burt Russell, it became famous when it was covered by The Isley Brothers. John Lennon decided to record his own version with him on the lead vocals, but the problem was that during the registration of the album his throat was affected by a strong cold.
With only 15 minutes available to record it John delivered what is considered a masterclass performance in only one take. You can clearly hear his throat self destroying during the whole song, but is this particular and the straightforward rock and roll arrangement that made this rendition such a classic and a perfect ending to one of the greatest debut album ever recorded.