Today, October 9, 2010, John Lennon would have turned seventy years.
To remember (to me, to you at all) I have not found better than listening to invite " Please Please Me", the first Beatles album .
The 33giri came out in England on March 22, 1963, preceded a few months earlier by two 45giri: Love Me Do / PS I Love You, October 5, 1962 and Please Please Me / Ask Me Why, January 11, 1963.
In Italy for the first out of the "Fab Four" had to wait until November 1963. On the 12th of that month came two 45giri simultaneously: Please Please Me/Ask Me Why e She Loves You/I'll Get You e il 26 dello stesso mese, finalmente, il primo 33giri, chiamato semplicemente " The Beatles ". La copertina, però, era diversa dall'originale e curiosamente quasi uguale a quella del secondo album del gruppo, uscito pochi giorni prima in Inghilterra. Forse per dare agli italiani l'idea o l'illusione di comprare un prodotto di straordinaria attualità di un gruppo che cominciava a essere famoso ben oltre i confini dell'Inghilterra (e dell'Europa).
L'album contiene ben 14 canzoni e già questo costituisce un caso particolare: nei vinili dell'epoca c'era posto per dieci-dodici canzoni. Altra particolarità è che, contrariamente alle customs of the time, the disc was a collection of songs already published in a single, but contained ten "unknown" in addition to the four songs mentioned above, on two individual outputs.
The songs are short, according to the custom of those years, not to exceed three minutes in length, rarely come to the two and a half minutes. Eight of the couple Lennon / McCartney , plus some classics of the repertoire of other singers and fashionable at the time (Arthur Alexander, Cookies, Shirelles, etc. ...). The last track is the song that made the girls go crazy at their shows: "Twist And Shout ", a sort of manifesto of the generation of "60".
For listening today, overcoming the sense of tenderness and nostalgia from those who have lived through those formidable years, it seems rather naive instrumentally, but the voices, especially that of John, already have the mark "THE BEATLES " written in large letters.
Happy Birthday to John, wherever he is and good listening to you.
