Twist and Shout (July, 1963, Plato Platters)
< file under Beatles In Atlantis >
~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~
1963 was a good year. After what could most generously be described as a lull in democracy, Atlanteans elected their youngest leadership to date— a leadership dedicated — so they said, and so they seemed to demonstrate — to the nation’s highest ideals. It was an ancient realm yet a young nation anew, as the Land Pox which had afflicted those in early middle age and beyond, decimating the older generations, left a population principally under 33. This population enjoyed an unprecedented warming of relations with the surface world, across which they had an unparalleled access to both the Eastern Bloc and the West. Into this milieu, British transnational conglomerate EMI wanted to sell some records. But, they couldn't— not directly.
Owing to a parliamentary declaration dating back to when surface media companies were first allowed, decades earlier, to enter the Atlantis market, any initial release from a new artist originating on an outside record label had to first be offered to a local company before that parent label could move the artist to EMI's own Atlantis subsidiary. Shortly after passage of that requirement, in response, or some would say retaliation, EMI declared essential to any licensee agreement was the forbidding of export from Atlantis of EMI licensed products. In an escalating diplomatic row expected to be of little consequence, Atlantis' parliament insisted this restriction must be applied not just to materials licensed to local labels, but releases issued by EMI's own local affiliates. And so it is that no copies of Atlantis Beatles records are known to have ever landed on surface world soil. In the years since the parliamentary edict, record buyers and record labels in Atlantis had abandoned singles, hence the first offering from this foursome was not merely a pair of songs but instead their full-length debut. A local independent label specializing in classical and jazz, Plato Records, more commonly known as Plato Platters, was approached by EMI for the Beatles' first underwater release. Some may cynically suggest EMI deliberately went to the classical / jazz label, assuming they’d be ill-suited to handle a pop rock release in this new genre. But there was no reason for EMI to wish this release to underperform, as they were guaranteed - if they so wished - the opportunity to offer any subsequent material to their own subsidiary. Indeed it would be beneficial to EMI for Plato to have a hit with its first fab platter, and that’s exactly what happened thanks to some luck, fortunate timing, and the good taste and marketing savvy of a newcomer to Plato, a recently hired young producer and A&R man who would come to figure greatly in The Beatles' Atlantean success, Tivowr Dorna.
The suits at Plato recognized the moptops possessed "an efficacy for melody… [and]… somewhat surprising breadth of material" per an internal memo. So they seized the opportunity to present this new EMI act on their label. Beyond that, they left the task of preparing the release to young Mr. Dorna. The only instruction they gave him was that, back when EMI instituted the export restriction, the company had also stipulated any album released on an independent label had to differ significantly, and to EMI's approval, from its original EMI source. This was presumably in the hopes that local interest would lead to some importing of actual EMI product. Dorna was initially reluctant to change anything about Please Please Me, which he found captivating, but, obliged to do so, he sought to change the content as little as possible. He was so taken with the climactic closing cover of the Medley/Berns gem, he chose to rechristen the Beatles' debut album in its honor. Can't blame him — this take inspired by the Isley Brothers rendition remained throughout their storied career the most essential cover The Beatles ever recorded. Other than that title change, differing cover art, and a slight rearranging of the album's song sequence — for the better, in this journal's opinion — the result is a faithful representation of the band's UK debut LP. It's also one of only two instances before 1966 that an Atlantis release would contain all the same numbers as its UK counterpart.
The little banner on the front cover proclaims, quite simply, that the album features love, which turned out to be predominant sentiment throughout the band's songwriting. Canada would take this layout, which uses the photo from a UK EP of the same name, and slightly repurpose it for the second Beatles LP there.
Sending a proof of the new art, and his revised running order for the songs, to the band's producer George Martin in hopes of acquiring EMI's approval of the changes as sufficient, Dorna explained his reasoning for the rearranging as being rooted in his belief in the importance of an album's "side perimeters"— that is, the opening and closing of each side. He stressed the least critical perimeter was the closing of the first side, and therefore he moved the contents of the band's first single to the end of the side one, shifting their second single — which he felt was much stronger — to open the second side. Martin wrote back, thanking Tivowr for his thoughtfulness— and agreeing with his conclusion! Knowing this would be the band's only release on Plato, as any subsequent recordings that might materialize would move over to EMI, it is likely neither man anticipated this to be the start of a long-lasting, little-known, professional correspondence.
Despite minimal budget for promotion, which was mostly limited to ads featuring Dorna's slogan "These Air-Breathers Take Our Breath Away!" and propelled by the popularity of the closing trio of tracks which radio programmers soon dubbed "The Three Ts" — A Taste of Honey, There's A Place, and the title track — on Atlantis' youth-focused land-based pirate radio stations such as SAND, the album rose to the fourth spot on the Pop chart. This was the highest any surface act had climbed since Serge Gainsbourg's N° 2 had reached number three in late 1959 on the main Wet 100 chart, and the first top ten placing for an American act on any Atlantean chart since Anita O'Day's Anita Sings The Most and Sun Ra's Super-Sonic Jazz held the number one and number two spots, respectively, on the Jazz & Classical chart in early 1957.
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| The Beatles' Atlantis debut, Twist and Shout; art from EMI archive of approval print sent to George Martin, which he ran by Brian Epstein |
Side one
1. I Saw Her Standing There *2. Misery °3. Anna (Go to Him) †4. Chains †5. Boys †6. Love Me Do [mono] ^7. P.S. I Love You [fake stereo] ∞
1. Please Please Me †2. Ask Me Why †3. Baby It's You †4. Do You Want to Know a Secret †5. A Taste of Honey †6. There's A Place °7. Twist and Shout †
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