A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

The Beatles put their preparation in rock and roll, Motown soul, vocal complexes, and churn out their original Mersey Beat songs, which are inspired but are an original synthesis of their 50s influences. The Lp starts with a nice piece of Lennon (A Hard Day's Night, vote 8), fast, percussive, exuberant, in perfect Mersey beat style but with some original instrumental interventions, including the initial guitar chord by Harrison that then inspired the sound of the Byrds. Voice in the foreground, cheerful tone, refined guitar ending: good composition. Second song by Lennon again, in a country-rock style (I Should Have Known Better, vote 7), with refrain of harmonica (the only one of the album) characterizing, from the '50s taste for the singing still in the foreground and the bare accompaniment of the guitar: it could have been present too in the previous albums. Rudimentary solo of electric and harmonic guitar.

Third song by Lennon but with an important contribution of McCartney (If I Fell, vote 8). Romantic slow, with the vocal harmonies of John and Paul always in the foreground, to make beautiful melodic passages. Minimal drums, bass and acoustic accompaniment. The lack of an instrumental break is felt. 50s style vocal song very sweet and refined harmonically.

"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" (vote 6,5/7) is a song by Lennon left to sing to Harrison, as it often happened in the early years. A minor song, with a good rhythm, good rhythm guitar, but it remains one of the most anonymous of the album. The album masterpiece arrives. A slow Spanish acoustic song by Macca, with the contribution of Lennon (And I Love Her, vote 8,5) in the excellent bridge. Great work by Harrison on acoustic guitar, Ringo gives up the battery for bongo. Perfect.

"Tell Me Why" (vote 7+) is a typical Mersey Beat song, a mix of rock and roll, pop, vocal harmonies; frantic rhythm, Lennon first voice, choirs. Nice. The first side ends with the album hit: "Can't Buy Me Love" (vote 8) by McCartney. Rock and roll rhythm, very fast, nice determination; unfortunately there is no electric accompaniment of the rhythm guitar, but there is a good Harrison solo.

The second side, unlike the previous two album, is made up of only six songs, not seven, and so the album has a total of 13 songs. As in "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles", it is inferior to the first side (but here are all original songs, while the second sides of the first two discs were full of covers), in fact does not contain any Beatles classic, but almost all minor pieces by Lennon, undisputed ruler of the album (in total there are 10 tracks by John against the 3 by Paul), but Macca everywhere puts his hand makes great pieces come out (the three of his more the help to John for "If I Fell").

"Any Time At All" (vote 7,5) may be associated with "It Wont Be Long". It's a rock and roll song with a frenetic refrain, a good piano solo, very lively. "I'll Cry Instead" (vote 6,5/7) is another Lennon beat song from country performance, with a good rhythm but too short and with the sound disturbed by the tambourine too much in evidence. "Things We Said Today" is an acoustic ballad by Paul (vote 7,5/8), but with the drums in the background and the voice in the foreground, which has changes in beautiful tones, and creates a more relaxed and adult music that is a new for the Beatles.

"When I Get Home" (vote 7,5) is the rock and roll song with soul inflexions with a harder sound and intonation of the Lp. It is played and sung with great power and conviction, and the hardness of the sounds only fades in the choirs. "You Can not Do That" (vote 7+), conceived as a single, is another good rock and roll with percussion in the foreground, sung with conviction is: but a little repetitive in the arrangement. In most of the album, compared to the previous two Lp, there is no electric, metallic (especially guitar) sound in rock songs.

The album ends with a ballad by Lennon (I'll Be Back, vote 7,5), who could remember "If I Fell" for the searching in vocal harmonies. Here the voice of Lennon is at times lonely, and the acoustic guitar accompaniment is more present, with Spanish inflections.

Overall, this is a very homogeneous album, the first really "album of author", with beautiful ballads and beautiful rock and roll with a rhythmic guitar accompaniment mostly acoustic (sometimes you miss the electric); it has four peaks and few falls; highlights a leader, Lennon, author and singer of most of the songs, and a second leader, McCartney, who only writes for high-quality pieces. The sound of the group is now well defined, and therefore "A Hard Day's Night" represents a point of arrival in a sense: from now on, or the Beatles will begin to repeat themselves, or will begin to evolve into a more refined pop rock.

Medium quality of the songs: 7,52. Vote album: 7,5. Three stars

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