What's so great about the Beatles' musical output is it's so diverse that people are bound to disagree over what their greatest musical achievment is.
I must admit, their earlier R'n'B influenced albums are among my favourites. With The Beatles IS the Beatles playing their favourite R'n'B songs... with the exception of Till There Was You of course (which I always skip - sorry Paul!).
Don't forget, this was their 2nd album in a year, PLUS they'd released From Me To You/Thank You Girl and She Loves You/I'll Get You - and these were ALL original tracks, plus none of them appeared on this album or Please Please Me their previous LP! This was totally unprecidented and probably not matched by any artist to this day!
There were actually only 6 cover versions on here, which means there were 7 new original numbers penned by Lennon McCartney and Georges first proper songwriting credit for the very fine Don't Bother Me.
I really do find this LP so uplifting and stimulating with its energy; I can almost imagine what these tracks would have sounded like in a dimly-lit cellar in Liverpool (even though I know they didn't play most of these tracks in the Cavern, it's just my imagination running riot!).
The album opens with It Wont Be Long, featuring the tried and tested "Yeahs", and again it works a treat! It's strange to think that this was recorded and never played again! Ooooh - I just might have to re-check that fact!!
We slow down for John's self-penned Arthur Alexander tribute (and one of my all-time favourite tracks), All I've Got To Do. Too many people dismiss this track - but just listen to John's pleading vocal "you just gotta call on me" - his voice hitting some amazing top notes. Awesome!
Next is a little-known song called All My Loving! Listen to John's brilliant rhythm guitar on this track - not many people discuss HIS playing, which is a shame. A great Carl Perkins influenced solo from George here too! This STILL sounds great when Paul plays it live!
George gets that first ever songwriting credit with Don't Bother Me (excluding Cry For A Shadow and In Spite Of All The Danger of course) and it's a great first effort! There are some wicked chord changes here and great rhythmic experimentation too... played on a loose-skinned Arabian bongo apparently!
I love Little Child! It's a shame this never got played live - can you just imagine how the crowd would have reacted to this rocker! Shame about the rather obvious edit before the harp solo though. Apparently it took them quite a few tries to get this right - it was well worth it!
Till There Was You was an audience favourite apparently - skip!
From the opening smack on Ringo's hi-hat, Please Mr Postman had me hooked! I first heard this song by the Carpenters would you believe!!! Then my Dad told me The Beatles recorded it too and I just HAD hear it! I ended up stealing my Aunts LP!! Anyway, just listen to Paul's pounding bass-line throughout this number and John's brilliantly raw vocal! "You gotta wait a minute, wait a minute..."
Totally exhausted you flip over to side two... and you're met with George's rocking rendition of Roll Over Beethoven. Play this at a party and guage the reaction! What a great guitar solo by George... it's so good it sounds speeded up!
I've never been sure about Hold Me Tight - rumour has it that Paul sings some duff notes on this... I'm not too sure, it all sounds very deliberate to me. This is another stonking great R'n'B number which had earlier been attempted for possible inclusion on Please Please Me - those takes no longer exist. Stupid EMI!
You Really Got A Hold On Me... The Beatles make this sound easy - this is a highly complex arrangement but they had no trouble playing this live. It's another tribute to one of their R'n'B heros - Smokey Robinson. Listen for Paul and George doing some brilliant backing vocals.
Ringo lets rip on the next number - I Wanna Be Your Man. Already given to the Rolling Stones and released as a single by them, the Beatles take the song back, and rock through this speeded up version. A very good vocal by Ringo too.
Devil In Her Heart... a second vocal for George on this song originally recorded by the Donays. Some really great harmonies by the three guys on this track!
Not A Second Time... what a great track that is! Even notable musicologists were starting to listen - the Times music critic (William Mann) wrote about the "Aeolian cadence reminiscent of Mahler's 'Song Of The Earth'"... whatever that means!
Then the album closes with Money (That's What I Want) - what can I say about THIS track! In the early Sixties every band had a go at recording this, but the Beatles' version remains the definitive one - eclipsing even Barratt Strong's original! Another classic vocal from John with Paul and George backing. This song was a combination of two 2-track versions - leading many to mistakenly believe that this was their first 4-track recording.
Seven days after this LP was released, the Beatles issued I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy! Can you believe how prolific they were?!!!
PLEASE, give this album a decent blast and liste to the sheer raw, fresh energy!
Most of this post was taken from the old forum - I had to rescue it because it took me ages to write!!
