A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

A major step forward for the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night was their first album consisting entirely of their own material. The most important advance here is in the clean break between the Four and their influences; all of the tracks feel rooted in the 60s rather than harking back to earlier eras of rock and roll. The title track and Can't Buy Me Love are the best of the straight-ahead rockers, whilst Things We Said Today, I'm Happy Just to Dance With Her and others show a far greater emotional and musical range than their first two albums display.

Tracks such as You Can't Do That show a harder edge that may be inspired by the emergence of the Rolling Stones and other rivals; certainly, the boys are not content to produce a third iteration of Please Please Me here. What they do produce is probably the best album of their early Merseybeat years. Particularly of note is George Harrison's use of 12-string and Spanish guitar, introducing a new sound into a rock context, a simple innovation with profound consequences.