We seem to disagree on almost every point on this one.

It's just a matter of taste, after all ... but I was trying to find some facts ... or common points ... or objective statements ... or whatever! in order to see if we can agree in something (anything!) about this one ... or just see something about it in the same way ... but it seems we can't   ...

"We can agree to differ."

You have to remember what sort of music was around in 1963 - With The Beatles was a breath of fresh air. And don't forget, most of these tracks broke The Beatles in America. Even the Times' music correspondent raved about the album on its release, so it is extremely unfair to look back on this LP in hindsight and rip it to shreds!!!!

Nothing special?

True, it was just the start of something amazing but they entered the game on top!

I've never understood how Beatles fans can disregard any one LP (especially their first 3 or 4) - yes, we can have favourites, but i would think a fan of the group would at least have an appreciation of all of their releases. To just say that you don't think this album is any good or is weak is just crazy.

This album was already an almighty leap from Please Please Me - just 3 years later they began recording Strawberry Fields Forever!!!

Quoted from The_End

You have to remember what sort of music was around in 1963 - With The Beatles was a breath of fresh air. And don't forget, most of these tracks broke The Beatles in America. Even the Times' music correspondent raved about the album on its release, so it is extremely unfair to look back on this LP in hindsight and rip it to shreds!!!!

Nothing special?

True, it was just the start of something amazing but they entered the game on top!

I've never understood how Beatles fans can disregard any one LP (especially their first 3 or 4) - yes, we can have favourites, but i would think a fan of the group would at least have an appreciation of all of their releases. To just say that you don't think this album is any good or is weak is just crazy.

This album was already an almighty leap from Please Please Me - just 3 years later they began recording Strawberry Fields Forever!!!

I like it ... but one of all those has to be down in my ranking, OK? ... and this one is the weak-east of all in my opinion ... their originals were not as good as most of the ones on Please Please Me and of course A Hard Day's Night ...

I was trying to say that there were 2-3 originals that were not as good as some of the songs they rejected by that time (One After 909, You Know What To Do some months later ...) and I think the albums includes some of the worst covers they ever made ... but that's only a comparasion with the rest of their work ... nothing else!

About the America thing: ... for them this (well, the re-make Meet The Guys) was "the album" 'cos they couldn't find any other material ... but the songs that socked them were: Twist And Shout, I Want To Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love, Please Please Me, I Saw Her Standing There and many more that are not included on With The Guys (but on -the different and quite better- Meet The Guys) ... you can say All My Loving and some covers like Roll Over Beethoven, Money ... and maybe Till There Was You and Please Mr Postman ... but that's all ... so it was all their 1963 stuff that made it ... not only this album ...

... for me there's not a big step forward looking at Please Please Me ... their originals are more or less at the same level on both albums and the covers too ... A Hard Day's Night and Guys For Sale are a different thing ...

We have to agree to wildly differ on this as it's one of my favourite albums and favourite sons!!

MAN, I LIKE IT!!! ... but it's not one of my favourite ones ... I like Please Please Me more for example: its production too ... but I admit it's good for that period ... and it includes the first Harrisonsong and the first this-tune-is-for-Ringo ... that was an improvement!!!      

My objection is to people saying it is a weak album, that's all.

Good little debate there.

For me it's only the weak-east by them ... but you can easilly imagine that that's a great cumpliment, after all ... if you know what I mean ... Don't Bother Me and Not A Second Time are among the best songs they produced during Guymania in my opinion ... and they were tasting things that early ... good point for them there ...

I miss more piano and keyboards parts on it ... they were shy (insecure) till Guys For Sale and Help! (A Hard Day's Night was more about acoustic guitars and all that) ...

... at least they began to build different vocal arrangements (it was Yeah-yeah-yeah- time, after all)

screw that the best tune is all my loving followed by till there was you....all i got to do is a stand out but for the money this is a paul stand out album...i think till there was you and all my loving are classic paul ballads....hes quite a balladeer....i can say that here right????

Yep, I think Till There Was You and specially All My Loving were beloved and hit over there ...

... if we forget the covers (Money and specially Roll Over Beethoven) the rest of the originals (except I Wanna Be Your Man and maybe It Won't Be Long) are not exactly made for stage (Not A Second Time, Don't Bother Me, All I've Got To Do, Little Child and Hold Me Tight are quite rare in their faces on stage... d'you know what I mean?) ...

... at least they didn't play them a lot ... they used more of their early stuff and all-time covers for their tours ...

Broadly speaking, The Beatles mainly played their hit singles - remember they only played for 30 minutes and people expected to hear their hits.

Remember I said "broadly speaking" - I am aware of Yesterday, All My Loving, Things We Said Today, Nowhere Man, etc, but mainly they concentrated on their hits.

In my humble opinion, a classic song is a song that has stand up against the time. If I take a look at the covers on With The Beatles... There's Money, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Please Mr Postman, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven and Devil In Her Heart. I think that these songs, with the exception of Devil In Her Heart, are classics in the way The Beatles played them. Comparing to Beatles For Sale (for that's how the album's called): Rock And Roll Music, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, Mr Moonlight, Honey Don't, Words Of Love and Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby. From this album there's only two songs that can be called classic: Rock And Roll Music and Kansas City. The other covers are not as strong as the ones on With The Beatles.
The End spoke about the time in which With The Beatles appeared. I heard Cliff Richard's Bachelor Boy on the radio today. It's from 1963 as well. Compare that to what The Beatles did the same year... If I were Cliff, I had ended my carreer immediately.

Quoted from Bobber

The End spoke about the time in which With The Beatles appeared. I heard Cliff Richard's Bachelor Boy on the radio today. It's from 1963 as well. Compare that to what The Beatles did the same year... If I were Cliff, I had ended my carreer immediately.

Absolutely - that was my point exactly!

Pop artists were manufactured back in those days too and Tin Pan Alley supplied most of the hits for those artists... until the Beatles blew all of that out of the water in 1963!