PLEASE PLEASE ME

I once had a serious discussion with my brother who taught me prog. It was in 1980 when I was so intense with prog rock and at that time Genesis just released Duke album (oh .. I remember that vividly). The argument was simple: I disagreed with him that The Beatles influenced everything not only rock music but also prog as well. How could it be? Most of The Beatles songs were straight forward pop rock music and there were no indications that the music had some sort of curved lines in their compositions. The discussion came out with a deadlock. Time went by and finally I recognized that he was right. Yes, the more I knew The Beatles and also prog rock music, the more I realize the sheer influence of their music to bands that follow later on. In fact, legendary bands like Yes started their career by playing cover of The Beatles ("Every Little Thing"). The early albums of Pink Floyd also had some psychedelic elements that remind me to The Beatles. In fact, there were later I knew that many modern prog music that still adopted the music of The Beatles - although partly.

"Please Please Me" is the Beatles debut album which I think as debut it did serve well musically. The vintage pop rock and rock'n'roll style is quite obvious. Looking at the songs that this album contains, it amazes me how the band successfully composed wonderful song like "I Saw Her Standing There" with a straight forward lyrics and catchy notes. "Anna" also demonstrates the vintage rock music. It's clear that the Beatles laid very strong foundations that determined the future of rock music which evolved as well with what later known as prog rock music. Neal Morse (ex Spock's Beard) and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) adore the music of The Beatles very much. In fact, in Dream Theater's "Octavarium" album there were two tracks: "Sacrificed Sons" and "Cotavarium" which have segments similar with The Beatles.

So, even though this album is not that stand out, however this has laid a strong foundation for further development of rock and prog rock music. You might say nothing so special, musically, about this album but it has historically become a critical phase of rock music. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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