First released: 1965, March 22

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Basically this is the Veejay release "Introducing the Beatles", both the original version of Jan '64 and the revised version released one moth later...14 tracks) minus "There's a Place", "Misery", and "I Saw Her Standing There" (all released earlier on both versions of Introducing...)

This is basically Please Please Me lite. Only 11 songs out of the 14 were included. I Saw Her Standing There had already been released on the Meet the Beatles, and thus was not on here. However, There's a Place and Misery would not be put out on any U.S. album, only as B-sides of Twist and Shout and Roll Over Beethoven, respectively. There are only five originals, plus Twist and Shout and 5 unnecessary covers, like Baby, It's You. Interestingly, the voices and instruments are split into different speakers on most songs, creating a karaoke effect, but with a nasty echo. Good for a first album, only it wasn't the first album when it was issued in '65. PPM is the better album, by far, though.

With a rearranged tracking order and both Please Please Me and Love Me Do, this album is much better than Introducing the Beatles, but three of PPM's best songs (I Saw Her Standing There, Misery and There's A Place) aren't here, so points docked for that. I'd give PPM an eight, while this butchered version would receive a 6.5/10.

Capitol acquired the rights to the Beatles material on which it had passed in 1963, and so issued this album, which consists of 11 of the 14 tracks from Please Please Me. — William Ruhlmann