With the Beatles

[The Big Guy]

Released November 22, 1963.

[Kylenz]

On this album, the covers outshine the originals - Money, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Roll Over Beethoven, Til There Was You, Please Mr Postman - all these covers are stronger than the versions recorded by the original artists in my opinion, by a long shot.

Having said that, the Lennon-McCartney songs are still good - It Won't Be Long is a rousing opener, All My Loving is a classic, Little Child, Hold Me Tight and All I've Got To Do are all strong songs. I Wanna Be Your Man is superior to the Stones cover. George's Don't Bother Me is a great song too. Overall, it's not quite as strong as their debut album, but still of a high standard. So many great songs on it, like all Beatle albums! 

[mervap]

Living in the US, this collection was only available to me in two ways: as an expensive import or as the backbone of two albums, "Meet the Beatles" and "The Beatles Second Album". I bought "Meet" and asked for the other as a birthday present...and got it!

Mr. K, I'm in total agreement with you on your point that the covers on "With" outshine the original versions of those songs...that's not a slam on those artists, just a fact. However, I feel the Beatles' own compositions on "With" are generally more interesting than their counterparts on "Please Please Me", and more indicative of the direction the Lads would be following on the next couple of albums.

What I miss on "With" is the immediacy that was achieved on "Please" by the recording of that album in a single day...this was their big chance and you can hear them going for it. On "With", perhaps they felt more at ease in the studio, and with the studiocraft they now had the time to employ. This album saw more extensive use of double-tracked vocals than on "Please", which lead to a fuller sound. However, I feel the overall sound on "Please was cleaner, so that's kind of a wash.

It's been said that the reason so many bands suffer from the 'sophomore jinx' on their second album is that you have your whole life to write your first album, but 6 months to write your second. That may be true, but our boys had less than four months between the release of "Please" and the commencement of sessions for this album, with no discernable drop in quality. Talent indeed!

[Kylenz]

There's still a fair share of cover versions on here, so that would perhaps explain the lessened pressure to write the second album (compared to say, artists today that barely ever do cover versions at all, and if they do, it's a one-off for a film soundtrack or something like that). I have soft spots for Til There Was You and All My Loving, almost like dress rehearsals for And I Love Her on A Hard Day's Night.  The rockers are great too.