A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

This album was released in Brazil with the fascinating title of Os Reis do Ié-Ié-Ié (The Kings Of Yeah-Yeah-Yeah... duh!) which was the same title of the movie seen at the theaters. Ié-Ié-Ié (Yeah-Yeah-Yeah) was the name used here to define the kind of rock beat we had around 1964 and lasted for one year, nothing more than that... well, maybe it's a synonym for proto-prog and we didn't know.

All 13 songs here are signed by the duo John Lennon & Paul McCartney although George Harrison is allowed to sing one of them, just to tie 6x6 between the pair. A Hard Day's Night is the only Beatles official release where all tracks bear the signatures of either famous composers and it per se says very much, at least for fans and collectors.

The 7 songs that form the soundtrack for the namesake movie are so much known that became wasted with time, being the title track aligned with some of the band's major classics. From these I prefer more that one sung by George Harrison, 'I'm so happy just to dance with you' and the interesting 'Tell me why', avoiding the cheesy ones that go by the name of 'If I fell' and 'And I love her' together with the almost unbearable 'Can't buy me love'.

However, the original LP side B contains some forgotten gems, specially 'Things we said today', a love song with a tempo faster than the usual for ballads, 'I'll be back', also cheesy but provided with fine vocals and catchy chords progression, 'When I get home', a bit weird but with some innovative time changing and 'You can't do that', a fair tune provided with a peculiar swing.

This album certainly took a hike among the world hysteria that was happening then and served well the purpose of the movie, but it's not the last wonder. Side A deserves a mere 2 stars, being a territory to be prospected only by fans, while the side B is far superior, reaching the excellence peak (in terms of pop- rock, I mean). Average: 3 stars.