Best of 1963:The Beatles "Please Please Me" (1963)

Please Please Me [debut]
release date: Mar. 22, 1963
format: cd
[album rate: 5 / 5]

Track highlights: A) 1. "I Saw Her Standing There" - 5. "Boys" - 6. "Ask Me Why" - 7. "Please Please Me" - - B) 1. "Love Me Do" - 2. "P.S. I Love You" - 4. "Do You Want to Know a Secret" - 6. "There's a Place" - 7. "Twist and Shout"

Studio album debut by The Beatles released on Parlophone Records and produced by George Martin. This was where the legend took off, and in my mind, the Beatles were best in the early years. The orginal album contains 14 tracks of which Lennon / McCartney wrote 8. Some point to the fact that The Fab Four was nothing but a copy or covers band as many of their hits were written by others. Well, that was much more common back then, as most major pop standards and rock & roll artists did the exact same thing. The only cover song on the album, which most people connect with The Beatles is "Twist and Shout". Besides that it is their own songs that really positions the album at the top of that years list.
I believe, I first listened to this album around 1975-76, when a classmate played his parents' copy of the album. I already knew most of the songs from the radio and from other albums, but I really understood their strength via this very album.

1963 Favourite releases: 1. The Beatles Please Please Me - 2. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave

Not this particular album as such, but The Beatles play a big part of my earliest music memories that wasn't purely children's songs.

👉 Another one from that earliest stage.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Kåre Mörkestöl og Egil Syvertsen "Til gitar, Hammondorgel og trommer" (1964) (ep)

Til gitar, Hammondorgel og trommer, 7'' ep

release date: 1964

format: vinyl (HEP 206)

[album rate: 2 / 5] [1,88]

producer: ?

label: Harmoni - Norsk Grammofonkompani a/s - nationality: Norway

Tracklist: A) 1. "Herligheten ventar" - 2. "Du spør om min lykke" - - B) 1. "Jobs gud er trofast" - 2. "Min store gud"

Ep release by Norwegian Christian hymns duo, guitarist Kåre Mörkestol & pianist Egil Syvertsen - on the front cover with Mörkestöl on the left. All four songs are all strongly Christian-founded folk and gospel songs with the addition of some country style to it.

This is one of two eps by the duo from my parents' record collection - the other being even stronger folklore and hymn-like. I knew of this from age 6-10 but I never really enjoyed it that much, but still found it slightly bettering the '63 release by the duo - there's simply to much religious content to it but also of little interest as it's styled as hymns, folklore, and gospel.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Kåre Mörkestöl og Egil Syvertsen "Synger til gitarer og Hammondorgel" (1963) (ep)

Synger til gitarer og Hammondorgel, 7'' ep

release date: 1963?

format: vinyl (HEP 198)

[album rate: 1,5 / 5] [1,35]

producer: ?

label: Harmoni - Norsk Grammofonkompani a/s - nationality: Norway

Tracklist: A) 1. "Når Jesus kommer" - 2. "Lengselsfullt skuer jeg opp mot det høye" - - B) 1. "Velg ham din frelser" - 2. "Han er min"

Ep release by Norwegian Christian performer-duo guitarist Kåre Mörkestol & pianist Egil Syvertsen - sometimes credited with reversed names as on this release, perhaps simple because Syvertsen is on the left. All four songs are all strongly Christian-founded folk and gospel hymns.

This single was part of my parents' record collection, and it's a single I knew of at age 6-10 but never really enjoyed - both because of the strong religious theme and by the fact that it's styled as hymns, folklore, and gospel. There's no indication of year release but gven the fact that I own another release by the duo, released in '64 and with higher issue number on the same label, it's likely that this item was released at some point earlier. It could be earlier in the same year, though. However, the other issue by the duo is in a more folk-shaped style of the same religious hymns but with a stronger country style to it, which could suggest that this release is from a somewhat earlier stage, which also is stressed by the cover photos. And speaking of photographs, as a kid, I found that the photo of Syvertsen (here at the far left) very much ressembles early photos of my father - or, at least the same hair style.

Another curiosity about this item, is the blue pen strokes in the top right corner indicating '13' on the front cover. I admit that was me at say 8-10 years old. Sitting in our basement with a friend of mine, we played some of my parents' 7'' vinyl releases on a travel turntable model and then we would rank what we had listened to and I put our common verdict on the sleeve - this ending in 13th spot. I don't know if that was the highest number but close to 'cause it never was one of our favourites, although we did hear it to the end.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Charles Mingus "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
release date: Jul. 1963
format: cd (1995 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Bob Thiele
label: Impulse! - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

Studio album by Charles Mingus originally released on Impulse!
This is a great album of highly original jazz by one of the most significant composers of the genre. The style here is avant-garde jazz with big band elements. The original vinyl version contains three tracks on the vinyl A-side and one track (in three parts) with the title(s): "Trio and Group Dancers (Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!) / Single Solos and Group Dance (Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on Battle Front) / Group and Solo Dance (Of Love, Pain, and Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, 'Til It's Freedom Day)" on the B-side.
The album is the only Mingus album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

1963 Favourite releases: 1. The Beatles Please Please Me - 2. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave

John Coltrane "Ballads" (1963)

Ballads
release date: 1963
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Studio album by John Coltrane Quartet released on Impulse! Records and produced by Bob Thiele. This is a fine melancholic cool jazz album by one of jazz' biggest icons.