The Beatles, Album by Album--With the Beatles

The Beatles' second album, With the Beatles, was also their second LP released in '63. It came out at the height of Beatlemania in England, as their third single, "She Loves You," which basically is Beatlemania in concise song form, pushed them to unprecedented heights of popularity in their home country. They had not, however, broken into the American shores yet. Their fourth single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and their subsequent appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and stadium tour in the States, would break down the Atlantic wall in '64, but this time had not yet come to pass when With the Beatles was released at the end of 1963. This seems almost like a time of purity for the Beatles--they were bestsellers and beloved musical figures, but not yet the Christ-like icons that they would become in the coming years. Things were still about the music, the girls, and the fun back then.

Following a practice which they would sometimes use on later albums, the Beatles released no singles from this album. This was rather unusual, and displays a band full of confidence, not only that their current singles would sell, but that their LP could stand up on the strength of its songs. And it is indeed a songs album. Though it lacks the boundless energy and zest of the first album, it has a more consistent lineup than its predecessor. Though I've heard claims that this has a darker, more bitter feel than Please Please Me (mostly here), I can't say I really agree. Perhaps these claims are influenced by that iconic cover of the four lads half-covered in dark. I can see why someone would make this statement, though, because With the Beatles is much more R&B/soul-influenced than Please Please Me. We see a lot more John Lennon on this album, and less of the quirky covers that made the first album unique. This isn't a bad thing, though, because the Beatles, with songs like "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "All I've Got to Do," proved they were an adept and soulful R&B band. One of the most underrated aspects of the Beatles for me is their strength as a straightforward, rocking ensemble back when they started. Although their songwriting was not always up to the standards they would set for all of rock music later on in their careers, they had a unique and thrilling power and energy especially in their rhythm section early on that set them apart from their peers.

Note the awesome rhythm guitar in "All My Loving." This is the most Beatlesmania-esque song on the album, but that guitar really takes it to another level. Paul didn't do as much of the writing on this album as John, but he delivered a classic with this. Their album opener is another killer, slamming itself out of those speakers even harder than "I Saw Her Standing There." "It Won't Be Long" rides itself to victory on the call-and-response chorus and Ringo's clashing cymbals. However, the second song, "All I've Got to Do," really sets the tone of the album for me. It's slightly stuttering rhythm and John's passionate vocal tells us that this will be a John-dominated R&B album.

John displays his love for American Motown proudly on here. "Please Mr. Postman" somehow comes near to toppling the great original by the Marvelletes (one could say I'm perhaps a bit biased towards girl groups, and even more biased that the original was used in Mean Streets in the best fight scene ever involving Harvey Keitel and a young, spry Bob DeNiro) through John's incredibly passionate, sometimes hilarious vocal performance ("Deliva da lettah, da soona da betta!"). Smokey Robinson (America's greatest living poet, according to Bob Dylan [!!]) also gets similar treatment from John with the awesome cover of "You Really Got a Hold on Me," featuring great harmony vocals from George and Paul. The only cover that I feel doesn't really stand up is their version of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven." George's opening is a pretty weak version of the classic Chuck Berry double-stop opening (how many songs exactly did he write that have this intro?), and the whole thing just sounds like a purile version of a classic Berry song. But John's love for Berry is noble, considering just how much of an influence he had on rock and roll (I would say he is the #2 influence on early rock after Elvis). This is what John had to say on the subject: ""If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.'"

George puts out his first song on this album, called appropriately "Don't Bother Me," which might as well be his motto. It's not a great song, but I like it, partly because I love that whole fuck-you vibe of George around this time period. At a later date, it could get somewhat tiresome and annoying as he got more and more preachy, but at this point he just seemed like an angry young man. This is made even more interesting by the fact that he was in the biggest rock and roll band in the history of the world, so it's nice to think about someone who liked privacy and yet probably had absolutely none at this point. Lord knows he was getting laid a lot, though. From my memory, he won't have another song on an album for a good while, which is a shame, because even at this stage I think he showed some promise (others could probably debate that this isn't a great song, but oh well). I love the minor chords in here that go along with the lyrics.

"Till There Was You" is pure schmaltz, but no one in the entire world could pull off schmaltz like Paul, and he does so perfectly on it. Listen to that crisp guitar solo! There are some lesser songs on here ("Little Child," "Hold Me Tight"), but there is nothing that really stands out as terrible (I guess that is the Beatles for you). All of these early albums get better as you listen to them more. I would suspect that they are not nearly as tolerable to modern ears as the later Beatles albums, which sound incredibly modern (not surprising given how influential these albums were), but you have to realize that an album like Abbey Road was just not possible at this early date. The Beatles changed popular music itself as they advanced. They were at the top of their--and therefore everyone else's--game as each album came out. You have to try to keep that in mind listening to the early Beatles albums. But I personally love all of their early stuff. It's refreshing, when you are so used to hearing "Come Together" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on the radio or on TV every day of your entire life. This is yet another reason to dig into their albums, because they have so many great songs that you never, ever hear on the radio (for unknown reasons).

--Edward