Over a period of just seven years, the Beatles released as many as 12 UK studio albums, steadily developing their sound as they explored different musical genres, influences and recording techniques. Today, the Beatles still hold the title as the world’s best-selling music act.
In this blog, we chart the progression of the band’s recordings from their first demos to their first album, “Please Please Me”. We look at some of the now legendary stories of those earliest recording sessions, and how a group who cut their teeth performing live eventually stopped touring to become a studio band.
Becoming the Beatles
The Beatles evolved from a skiffle band called The Quarrymen, which started life in the mid-1950s featuring John Lennon and two of his schoolfriends. Different musicians joined and left the band over the next few years, and the group performed under different names as they honed their stagecraft.
By 1959, the band consisted of Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. When Lennon began his studies at art school he met Stuart Sutcliffe, who joined the band to play bass. Shortly after, the group changed their name to the Beatals – a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets – before eventually changing the spelling to the Beatles.
The four recorded some home demos together in early 1960 while rehearsing at McCartney’s house. Three tracks from this session would appear many years later on the Beatles’ compilation “Anthology 1”, which featured rare and alternative recordings of some of their songs.
Akustik Studio recording
In August 1960, the group hired drummer Pete Best before travelling to Hamburg for a residency at the club Kaiserkeller. They were joined on the bill by fellow Liverpool musicians Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, featuring a drummer named Ringo Starr.
During this trip, on 15th October 1960, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison recorded with Starr as the backing for Starr’s bandmate Lu Walters. The session took place at a small private recording studio in central Hamburg, named Akustik. The songs recorded at the session – covers of “Fever”, “Summertime” and “September Song” – were never commercially released, and accounts differ over which of these recordings were cut onto disc, and which featured all four future Beatles. Nevertheless, this marked the first time Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr played together.
Auditioning for Parlophone
In 1961 Sutcliffe left the band to continue his art studies, and McCartney took over his role as bass player. Now a four-piece with Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Best, the group were contracted by German producer Bert Kaempfert to play as Tony Sheridan’s backing band on a series of records. A year later, their new manager Brian Epstein negotiated an early release from their contract in order to secure them a UK record deal.
At first, though, a deal seemed elusive. The band were rejected by multiple labels, with Decca quoted as saying “guitar groups are on the way out”. But on 6th June 1962, the Beatles auditioned for EMI’s label Parlophone at their iconic studios in Abbey Road. The audition, which became the band’s first official recording session for Parlophone, included early takes of their debut single “Love Me Do”.
The group had a tough time at the session. Engineer Norman Smith later spoke of problems with their equipment leading to “a load of noise, hum and goodness-knows-what”. Producer George Martin left after hearing the band’s first song, a cover of the ballad “Besame Mucho”. Luckily, he was brought back to hear them perform “Love Me Do”, and although he remained unconvinced about their musical ability, he was won over by their charisma. The deal was signed.
However, Martin was unhappy with Best’s drumming, feeling that what may have worked in a live setting wasn’t right for the studio. At the same time, it was felt that Best and the rest of the group were not gelling well. As a result, Best was fired from the band, and Ringo Starr was brought in as his replacement.
The first official recording
On 4th September 1962, the men who would become known as the Fab Four had their first official recording session together, recording a new version of “Love Me Do”, which would go on to chart at number 17. Even Starr’s drumming didn’t make the cut on the final version, however, as Martin insisted on bringing in a session drummer.
Two months later, on 22nd November, they recorded the single “Please Please Me”. This was the song that truly launched the band, reaching number 2 in the official chart and shooting to the top of many others, including the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts.
Their debut album of the same name, famously recorded in one session on 11th February 1963, was the first of the Beatles’ albums to top the charts a month later. Beatlemania was about to sweep the nation – and the globe.
Smith recalled changing his approach to recording with the Beatles’ first album. He told Sound on Sound:
“Up until the time when I became a sound engineer …everything was screened off so that the separation was good on each mic, but I didn't like that idea for the Beatles. I wanted to set them up the way that they looked, in line with their attitude and how they approached things, and it seemed to me that they would be far happier if they were set up in the studio as though they were playing a live gig.
“I therefore threw all of the screens away, and the Abbey Road management warned me that I was taking a little bit of a chance, but the Beatles performed as they did on stage, and although the separation on each mic wasn't terribly good, it did contribute to the overall sound. We also got a bit of splashback from the walls and the ambience of the actual studio, and in my view that helped create what the press dubbed the 'Mersey Sound'.”
From Beatlemania to studio band
“Please Please Me” was followed by a steady stream of successful albums, including “With The Beatles”, Beatles For Sale”, and soundtrack albums to two films starring the Fab Four: “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”. At the same time, recording technology was advancing rapidly, and the Beatles were eager to apply these advances in the way they made their records.
The band had so far been known for their ‘jangle pop’ sound. On 1965’s “Rubber Soul”, they had begun to experiment with different sounds, but their next album, “Revolver”, pushed this further. It explored a wide range of musical styles, from the string octet heard on “Eleanor Rigby” to the sitar and tabla used in “Love You To”. Meanwhile “Tomorrow Never Knows” involved the band and studio engineers experimenting with a tape loop and composite recordings.
The songs pushed musical boundaries and were revolutionary in the way they were recorded, but their complexity made them much harder to reproduce in live settings at the time. Having first developed their craft through live performances, touring was beginning to be a challenge for the Beatles, and they struggled to hear themselves over the wall of sound from fans at their shows. In 1966, the band quit touring for good to focus solely on recording.
The decision didn’t impact their popularity: records such as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and the last album they recorded, 1969’s “Abbey Road” are considered to be some of their finest.
In 1970, the group broke up. All four members went on to enjoy solo success, and although Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died from cancer in 2001, McCartney and Starr are still musically active today. More than 50 years after their final record was released, the Beatles’ legacy can still be felt, with their music having influenced countless artists who followed in their wake.
The Beatles’ UK studio albums
Between 1963 and 1970, the Beatles released a total of 12 studio albums in the UK, in addition to live recordings and ‘best of’ compilations. In order, they were:
“Please Please Me”, released on 22nd March 1963
“With The Beatles”, released on 22nd November 1963
“A Hard Day’s Night” film soundtrack, released on 10th July 1964
“Beatles For Sale”, released on 4th December 1964
“Help!” film soundtrack, released on 6th August 1965
“Rubber Soul”, released on 3rd December 1965
“Revolver”, released on 5th August 1966
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, released on 1st June 1967
“The Beatles”, also known as the White Album, released on 22nd November 1968
“Yellow Submarine”, released on 17th January 1969
“Abbey Road”, released on 26th September 1969
“Let It Be”, released on 8th May 1970 (but recorded before “Abbey Road”)
Further reading
Read more about the Beatles’ first Abbey Road recording session at:
Visit Liverpool Museums to discover more about the Beatles’ approach to recording.
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