The Beatles - The Early Beatles

The Early Beatles is where Capitol finally caught up with the band's beginnings, collecting the songs that first introduced the Fab Four to Britain onto a single 1965 American LP.

When the Beatles' debut UK album came out in 1963, those recordings were tied up with another label in the United States, so Capitol did not get to release them until Beatlemania was already in full swing. The result gathers eleven songs from Please Please Me, all produced by George Martin, into a punchy, wide-eyed snapshot of a band still playing like it was on stage in a Liverpool club.

"Love Me Do" opens things with its harmonica wail and skiffle bounce, while "Twist and Shout" famously captures John Lennon's voice shredding itself raw at the end of a long session. "Please Please Me" is a burst of tight harmonies and urgent energy, and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" lets George Harrison take a sweet, shy turn at lead vocal.

Elsewhere, covers of girl-group favorites reveal just how much the band absorbed from American radio, with Ringo getting his own moment at the mic.

For collectors of the American albums, it is a fascinating piece of the puzzle. For everyone else, it is simply joyful early rock and roll from four young men on the brink.