WITH THE BEATLES

The track "It won't be long" is one of my favourites by the Beatles. No intro or any complexity. Thirteen seconds of playing time and they have already delivered the entire refrain. Isn't that quite odd? Just listen to the energy!!! They never did another track with that intensity, ever! Compared to their debut this album has more attitude, and the weak tracks are better. I rarely listen to early Beatles, since I find the slow tracks too cute. But "With the Beatles" is an album with strong identity, and that makes it interesting.

Before The Beatles recorded with Parlophone Records (which was directed by George Martin), this label, which belongs to EMI Records, was mostly known as a little label which released Comedy albums by Peter Sellers and others. With the success of The Beatles` "Please Please Me" album, EMI gave more budget and more studio time for the recording of this, The Beatles`second album. Maybe, without being The Beatles in Parlophone, this label could have disappeared, but The Beatles, IMO, helped "survive" this little label, which became an "historical" label being part of the history of The Beatles as a band.

Their second album is better in songs and it is more "poilished" as they had more days to record it. Some of the lyrics are very good (particularly in "All I`ve Got to Do" and "Not a Second Time"). "All My Loving" is one of the best songs of the album, with a very good bass part by played by McCartney. "Don`t Bother Me" is a very good song composed by Harrison, apparently the first song that he wrote and the first of his songs to appear on record."Little Child", another good song, with harmonica and good vocal arrangements."Hold Me Tight", one of the weak songs, which it is good, but sounds more as a filler."I Want to Be Your Man", composed by Lennon/McCartney and given to Ringo Starr to sing, is a good Rocker. My favourite song in this album is "Not a Second Time", with a piano solo played by George Martin, and very good double-tracked lead vocals by Lennon.

There are also some covers ("Till There Was You", with a very good acoustic guitar solo by Harrison;"Please Mr. Postman", composed by Carole King;"Roll Over Beethoven", a very good Rocker composed by Chuck Berry and sung by Harrison; "You Really Got a Hold on Me",a very good song composed by Smokey Robinson;"Devil in Her Heart", with a good guitar and lead vocals by Harrison; and "Money", a Rocker with good lyrics and sung by Lennon).

This is a more enjoyable album than their first, IMO.

No, it's not prog in any way, shape or form. But it's here because the Beatles belong here so it deserves a review by someone who was there when it happened. Please, Please me might be their first album but this is the one that introduced the USA to what England already knew. I can only hope that someday another generation will have their own Fab Four that revolutionizes music as we know it. Even the picture on the cover indicated that these guys were a quartet of individuals that weren't fooling around. They were out to change everything we thought we knew about popular music and they did just that. While the songs included here are basically a further extension of their performance repertoire, they did include 8 original compositions that were better than anything else on the charts at the time. We all got caught up in the initial media-fed excitement but none of us could possibly envision where they were eventually going to take us. Try to listen with virgin ears and perhaps you will understand why this music was so radical to an audience that was fed up and bored of tired Elvis tunes and songs about hot rod cars.

Now, here we are on to something. This album was where the Beatles' signature sound was defined. They don't sound remotely like anyone else on any of the tracks. There are still several covers, but they have been given the complete Beatle treatment. There is an energy, and excitement that carries through to the present. The guys were playing with more confidence, and the songwriting is better. They were also getting more creative in their instrumentation, and harmonies. It always amazes me to think about how quickly they grew as musicians, and a band.

Even at this early stage, they weren't comfortable to sit still. Staring out with a the rocker "It Won't Be Long," and going right into the melancholy love song "All I've Got to Do." They tackle Motown with "Devil in Her Heart," and Broadway with a great rendition of "Till There Was You," from "The Music Man." Then it wraps up with the down and dirty "Money." Once again, the Beatles proved to be innovators. The world was heating up, as Beatlemania was about to explode.

Needless to say, I love this album. On any other site, I would give it five stars. It gets three here, due to it's lack of proggitude. However, as I said in my review of "Please Please Me," there is historical value here (along with the great music of course). These four upstarts were pushing the boundaries of popular music. It's fun to observe the "progression."

H.T. Riekels

Until the advent of the CD, those of us in America didn't get a chance to appreciate the early Beatles albums as they were meant to be... in the early 60's, British albums typically had 3 or 4 more songs on an album than the standard 10 American albums came with. Thank God, when the CD format came around, someone at EMI/Capitol decided to do it right and only brought out the albums in the correct UK format. About half of the British "With the Beatles" was put onto the American Capitol Debut "Meet the Beatles." The rest was saved for the next American album. I don't have a copy of this CD, but I have heard ALL the songs(who hasn't ?) so I feel confident in rating this one.

The Good: "It Won't Be Long", "All My Loving", "Money"... all catchy tunes.

The Bad: "Don't Bother Me" George Harrison's songwriting debut (aside from an instrumental he wrote in the Hamburg days). Harrison would go on to be as good a songwriter as Lennon/McCartney by Abbey Road. Here, he shows he still has much to learn about the craft of writing songs.

The Ugly: "Till there was you" is practically elevator music. It is a Meredith Wilson cover song... I personally would rather listen to Don Meredith sing "The party's over..." than hear this one. What were they thinking when they gave " I Wanna Be Your Man"for Ringo to sing ? You can just imagine the look of pain on his face when he tries to reach the higher notes.

How to rate the early Beatles albums ? I have no problem rating some of their later works highly on a prog site. The Beatles early works were very good- even in the early 60's, the Beatles were more than just another Pop band. But they weren't Prog or even Proto-Prog even as liberal as it is defined on this site. So this album is certainly good... even very good. But not essential.

The Beatles second album, titled With the Beatles, was released shortly after the release of Please Please Me. This time they had a little success riding on their backs so they were able to do some more extravagent things for this record. Unfortunately, though, this record just doesn't really have that kick and that spark that the first album had. There are some very good pop tracks and some budding creativity to go along with it, but for the most part, this album isn't very memorable and it doesn't really hold up against their early albums like Help!, Please Please Me, and A Hard Day's Night. This album would also mark the album debut of George Harrison's first solo penned track in Don't Bother Me. Although the song itself isn't terribly great, it marks the beginning of a great songwriting career for Harrison. Once again like the first album, With the Beatles is about half and half with original compositions and covers.

Anyway, like I did with my review for Please Please Me, I'll review the tracks that really stand out from the bunch. All My Loving has some great chord work from Lennon and Harrison and some heartfelt vocals from McCartney during the chorus. Roll Over Beethoven is a rollicking cover of the Chuck Berry song of the same name, with some great riffing and leads from Harrison as well as a nice vocal performance from him. The Beatles always did good covers of Chuck Berry songs for some reason. Till There Was You is a soft spoken acoustic ballad with some majestic guitar work as well as a spectacular vocal performance from McCartney who really shines on this track brighter than any other on the album. I Wanna Be Your Man was originally a song Lennon and McCartney wrote for the Rolling Stones and Ringo gets a shot at it on this track with a nice vocal performance from him as well. Money ends the album with another top notch cover and some great vocals from Lennon (the same can be said about Please Mr. Postman).

Overall, With the Beatles would be the "sophomore slump" of the group. Although, like Please Please Me, this is in no way shape or form a progressive rock album, you can see the overall progression of the group, as well as the start of a great songwriting career in George Harrison (read the opening paragraph for more). The main problem I believe lies with this album is that it isn't very memorable and despite it being of such a short length (the early Beatles albums were reall really short) it is a bit boring. Fortunately, A Hard Day's Night would rectify the problems that this album was wrought with, and while that album isn't progressive either, it's another step towards what the Beatles would become. As for With the Beatles, fans of the Beatles probably own this, and unless you like non-progressive oldies, you probably won't need this. 2.5/5.

Why this album is an excellent addition? First of all, if you are looking for prog, try another way, but if you are getting into The Beatles, this is an excellent example of their first period.

The album starts with a great beginning, "It won't Be Long", a very good song, maybe the best of the album. After a couple of seconds, when you have retrieve the sanity (it starts with a discharge of power and rock and roll), you find out that the voice is only in the right channel, and the band only in the left one. And the whole album keeps this characteristic (except for Money, at the ending). That's funny.

In this second album, they still included several covers, just like in "Please Please Me". And some of my favourite songs from here are part of this covers: Please Mr. Postman, Devil in Her Heart and Money. Here you also find the first Harrison composition, Don't Bother Me.

At the end, you have a solid album, very balanced, without fillings. 33 minutes of great music and history.

Better than the debut, the second UK album of the Fab Four still contains many covers of classic soul and r'n'b music of American "black" scene, but this is already a competent, developed musicianship of the revolutionary rockers. Again, it is too early for prog rock, but this album deserves to be heard, even by those who do not like THE BEATLES (are there any such people out there?), if nothing then for the amazing vocal harmonies.

Needless to say that the second album of Fab Four will top the British charts. For twenty-one weeks.It is also their first number one in the States (with a different album title as well as track list as it will the standard).

What to say while you listen to "All My Loving". Nothing I guess. Just sit, listen and potentially cry. Sure that shivers will be present as well. At least it is my case. So simple, so straight-forward but so beautiful. It is said that this song (written by McCartney) was aired at the Roosevelt New-York hospital when John was brought after having been shot on that sad December day of 1980.

The recipe is pretty much similar to their debut album (released eight months before). It is a mix of own and cover songs. Even if "Till There Was You" is less known, it holds all the magnificence of the light and profound melodic mood that is so "Beatles". They were the first to write so many beautiful melodies and will probably remain the best ones ever. To be sure, just listen to "Mr. Postman". One of my fave on this album (but there will be at least five of them here).

The version of "Roll Over Beethoven" from the great Chuck Berry has of course nothing to do with the absolutely crazy and fantastic "ELO" interpretation. This one is just a nice and truthful rendition of this rock'n' roll anthem.

But even the Fab Four are not perfect. "Hold Me Tight" sounds pretty weak. A kind of filler, I guess.It was rejected form the "Please, Please Me" sessions for obvious reasons.It was already written in 1961 by McCartney.

My favourite cover from this album is "You Really Got a Hold on Me". A hit from the Motown label written by Smokey Robinson.

Would you believe that "I Wanna Be Your Man" (a daring title for the Fab Four) will be covered by the "Stones" (for whom it is a more appropriate title, right?). The "Stones" being able to release it BEFORE ! Bad guys, I tell you (just kidding...).

The travel back in time continues with this album. Some timeless songs again of which "Not A Second Time" fully belongs. Even if some covers are probably not well chosen nor greatly played, the Fab Four just confirmed their skilled song writing and their care for vocal arrangements. But of course, they will do far much better later on. No question of prog here, of course.

Three stars for this pre-historical rock album.

As my brother convinced me that The Beatles contributed a lot to the development - in fact it was a revolution - of rock music, I started to collect the individual album of the band. Previously I had only some favorite albums like "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Magical Mystery Tour" and a tribute compilation "All That World War II" (simply because Peter Gabriel sung "Strawberry Field Forever") and "White Album". I traced back the early albums of The Betales. Yes, the music is somewhat raw but I could see it had tremendous impact to rock music, overall.

This second album has nothing different with its predecessor. It has the band's hits and singles like "All My Loving", "Please Mr Postman". This second album reconfirmed The Beatles standing in their music direction. Through this album John Lennon and Paul McCartney demonstrated their talents in songwriting and music making even though the rest of the members did contribute as well. Some songs are enjoyable and uplifting including "It Won't Be Long", "All My Loving", "Roll Over Beethoven" which has become favorites of other bands to cover, "Hold Me Tight".

The unique thing enjoying the music of The Beatles in its inception days is its vintage recording quality and simplicity of its composition. This sounds strange if we compare with prog music which tend to be complex and challenging. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Yeh, yeh, yeh... oh, sorry, this album, the first released in Brazil, with the astonishing name of Beatlemania, included 'She loves you' and 'I want to hold you hands', the Beatles first two huge worldwide hits. Of course that Odeon (EMI representative here) got additional coins issuing the mentioned songs and many more from this album via those small saucers named singles.

With The Beatles is more mature and well-crafted when compared with their debut album but it's still far from the progressive gate (not yet founded) or even the proto-prog status, but otherwise songs are fine, we may feel a certain evolution in their music, in spite the permanent hand-in-hand scheme abiding in the lyrics and the inclusion of a couple of songs from the times they were still poor.

Otherwise and unlike their first album where we can hear all tracks en suite, here I need to do some skippig action cause tracks like 'Little child' and 'Till there was you' are really weak. But here, this weakness is compensated by some strong pieces like 'It won't belong' and 'Don't bother me'. I also like 'Hold me tight' and their cover for the classic 'You've really got a hold on me' - not counting the band's visiting to Berry's 'Roll over Beethoven', one of my favorites early/classic rocks.

The issue of applying a rating here follows the same principle of Please Please Me and in balance, if we consider those weak and strong tracks, the rating stair is the same. Good.

This is probably the weakest album by The Beatles ever. Their debut PLEASE PLEASE ME was released shortly before, and even that was better than WITH THE BEATLES. This is not prog at all, but even as a rock n' roll album, it's not great either. The main problem here is the covers. The Lennon/McCartney songs are all great early rock songs, but the covers are all of pretty lousy 50's songs. The best songs are IT WON'T BE LONG, ALL MY LOVING, and all the other Lennon/McCartney songs. The best overall song is the first IT WON'T BE LONG, which is a really great rock song that I listen to more than anything else on the album.

Basically, I skip a fair amount of the songs, and after my own cuts to this album, it's only like 18-20 minutes. Some hidden gems are in this mediocre album, but nothing really makes it worth a purchase for a prog fan.

3/5 for rock. 2/5 for prog.

"With the Beatles" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK pop/rock act The Beatles. The album was released through Parlophone Records in November 1963. The material for "With the Beatles" was recorded only four months after The Beatles debut album "Please Please Me (1963)" (released in March 1963). Most of the tracks saw an American release on the US only album "Meet The Beatles!" on the 20th of January 1964 and the rest appeared on the US only release "The Beatles' Second Album" on the 25th of April 1964.

The tracks on "With the Beatles" are in a similar style to the tracks featured on the debut album by the band. It´s simple, melodic, and vocal oriented pop/rock tracks. The vocals are a real treat and definitely the greatest asset here. Well arranged and inventive vocal harmonies and strong lead vocals too. "With the Beatles" features eight original compositions while the remaining 6 tracks are covers of 50s/early 60s rhythm´n´blues and rock´n´roll songs like "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry.

The musicianship and sound quality on the album have increased a bit since the debut but this is still an early 60s production and it´s audible. Raw and authentic sounding, and each track was probably recorded in very few takes, although the material were recorded over seven sessions across three months. If you enjoyed the debut album this is more of the same. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.

THE BEATLES is a very contradictory band, capable of sublime albums as "Abbey Road" but with a simply horrendous early career, to the point of being fathers of what we know today as POP.

Except for Roll Over Beethoven (which is by Chuck Berry), there's are very few decent moments in "With The Beatles", an album full of non transcendental songs, anodyne tunes and harmless music without teeth. to complete the scenario tracks that are not remotely close to the three minutes mark, just all we criticize of mainstream, but because this songs were written by THE BEATLES, people seem to forgive everything.

Even though I agree with the policy of the site to add all the complete discography of an artist, in cases like this one, I wonder if there could be a solution, because this album should be in POP Archives not here, as a fact I believe everything before "Rubber Soul" should be avoided.

Won't even try to review track by track as I usually do, because I believe there's nothing worthy to be analyzed, but as a complete work, the album must be one of the cheesiest and simplest moments in the history of Rock & Roll.

Plus it would be a futile attempt, being that the songs end almost as son as they start, with such similar length that seem manufactured in an assembly line, the shortest lasts 1:47 minutes and the longest 2:47, so there's very little to talk about a catchy chorus and a verse that have aged terribly as most POP releases, created to reach the peak in a short period of time but also to vanish even faster after selling some millions of albums, this ones have survived longer because of the name BEATLES, but not for the quality.

As I said before, the only memorable moments I find are "Roll Over Beethoven" and Ringo Starr's vocal performance on "I Wanna Be Your Man", which has always surprised me, the rest is pretty forgettable.

Two stars because I don't want to start WW III, but was tempted to give one.

The rock 'n' roll album ?

Their second studio album is a far more edgy album than both Please Me and Beatles For Sale, the only other The Beatles albums I have so far heard from their pre-prog era. Ahhh... This album has some rhythm and blues covers in addition to their pretty OK version of the Chuck Berry anthem Roll Over Beethoven. But The Beatles is more edgy on this album.

More edgy and more naive too. Some of the songs are almost like children lullabies or even nursery rhymes. Children like pop songs, in other words. Teenybopper music, in other words. Only All My Loving is the song I will remember from this album. This is an excellent song with some good guitars and excellent drumming. The vocal harmonies are the best one on All My Loving. A true classic The Beatles song. The rest of the material here is not good at all and I rank it even worse than Beatles For Sale. This is collectors only, I am afraid.

2 stars (barely)

Sophmore slump---but it won't be long

If I were forced to rank the Beatles albums in order of perceived quality, this one would likely hold the bottom slot. While not a bad album it is certainly a slide from the excellent debut, despite the iconic black and white album cover showing part of their faces hidden. Released just 8 months after the first album and recorded in nearly as little time, it would be the final fab four album to utilize twin track technology.

The problem here is simply the lack of memorable material which is a problem few Beatles albums have. The first two albums were likely culled from a large pool of songs representing their live repertoire of the years late 1962-1963, and it would only be natural that the best tracks they had would be selected for the first. Over the summer of 1963 they probably combined some of the new songs with the tracks passed over for recording on the debut. This would explain the mediocrity. Even the one-two leadoff punch of "It won't be long" and "All I've got to do" are as weak an album start as they would ever manage, without much oomph or charisma. But there are a few gems here that are of interest to fans. "All my loving" is a classic with the interesting guitar and bass parts, and "Till there was you" is another absolutely endearing McCartney vocal. It also features a nice acoustic solo. Lennon has a few rocking covers here that almost get the blood pumping with his sneering attitude and gritty guitar, "Please Mister Postman" and "Money." Aside from those much of the second album just doesn't live up to the debut. I also note those who say that this album sounds better than the debut---to me the first album sounds more alive and defined, this one seems duller somehow in its sound presentation.

While not awful "With the Beatles" is probably one of only two albums I would recommend for fans only. As good as they were, the pace of recordings and shows in this period was intense, though this problem would soon be overcome by their growing studio skills and songwriting abilities.

This one is, to my taste, the best of early and more naive Beatles' records. It rock more often and harder than the previous one. This is the case of It Won't Be Long, and absolutely exciting music that catches you by the ear from the very start. Very few people won't feel the energy and vibes this song transmit.

The album follows in great fashion with the ballads All I've Got to Do and All My Loving, the first one a slower by John, the second a faster by Paul. It continues with the very first George Harrison composition, quite naive but a pretty enjoyable tune. Rumour has it that he wrote while sick in a hotel bed, that's maybe the reason of the cranky and lonely message (though in a light way, obvious). Little Child is a faster number with John's harmonica, not one of my favorites, but decent. Till There Was You is another slower ballad, with a nice hawaiian-style guitar solo.

Many more rockers follow with cover songs Please Mr. Postman (faster and harder - and better - than the better-known Carpenters version) and Chuck Berry's Roll over Beethoven, a great version sung by George. The pace is kept fast with an excellent Lennon-McCartney original, Hold Me Tight, sung by Paul, with an explicit reference to sex, long before the Stones or The Who were even composing, let alone recording. Of course it is a "light" reference ("making love to only you", says the lyrics), but still it goes to refute the idea that The Beatles were merely a naive, well-behaved band that couldn't go any further than claiming that "I Want to Hold Your Hand". (They were clever, though, and saved their more audacious songs to the records, issuing singles - the most popular vehicle for promoting music at the time - with lighter lyrics more palatable to the conservative ears and minds of early sixties Britain.)

The following is the slower soul-like You Really Got a Hold on Me, another excellent cover version sung by John. I Wanna Be Your Man, a Lennon-McCartney original sung by Ringo (and later covered by the Rolling Stones) follows. It's not a particularly good song, but has the distinction of featuring Hammond piano, I don't know if this was the first time it happened on a pop album (probably not), but still uncommon at the time.

Devil in Her Heart is a good cover song, followed by the last Lennon-McCartney original, Not a Second a Time, good tune screamed by John, and, for the sake of curiosity a typical jealous-guy theme song so particular of him. Almost every album of The Beatles would feature a John composition around the theme of jealousy. He was himself a jealous guy and admitted it latter in his solo 1971 album, Imagine, with a very well know song with that confession in the title.

The closing song doesn't work that well to me. Money was to emulate the artifice of Twist and Shout - a screaming cover song. Not quite memorable, though word has it that was quite popular in the Cavern Club times.

In sum, apart from very few weaker moments, this one does very good as an introduction and summary for The Beatles' early sound. If you were to acquire only ONE Beatles record from this early period, I would strongly recommend this one. Like we'll see later, though, I do not count Help and Rubber Soul as a part of this early sound. So you would be sparing yourself from only three records, actually.

Tough to point out highlights in such a well-balanced album, but if I was requested to do so, I would mention the first three tracks (It Won't Be Long, All I've Got to Do, All My Loving), plus Hold Me Tight and You Really Got a Hold on Me (the only cover among the highlights, what testifies for the growing maturity and sharpness of the Lennon-McCartney partnership).

A 3-star record in its own merit, only because this is a prog-rock website. In the context of rock and roll regardless of genre, or even popular music in general, this one would easily deserve 4 stars.

The Beatles' second album, 'With the Beatles' picks up where the first album, 'Please Please Me', left off; rock 'n' roll, enthusiastic vocal group / guitar pop, girl-group/Brill building covers, etc.

It begins with 'It wont be long', a rocking song that is actually very heavy for 1963, almost sounds like hair-metal. Otherwise it is not all that good, but still a good, energetic song. It is followed by 'All I've got to do', a ballad which has such a beautiful melody, and is sung so passionately. It's followed by the exuberant 'All my loving', with gorgeous vocal harmonies and perfect melody, though similar to the Cliff Richard song 'Easily fall in love with you'. This is followed by George Harrison's first composition on an album 'Don't bother me', which is quite 'different' for 1963. Very downbeat and intriguing melody, semi-Eastern drum-beat.

The problem with this album, however, is that after the first four wonderful songs the quality takes a real nose-dive. 'Little Child' might feature a mouth-organ but it's an awful song, 'Please Mr. Postman' is a Motown cover that tries to be enthusiastic, but feels tired and obligatory. The same could be said for the Smokey Robinson cover on here, 'You've really got a hold on me'. John tries to put in the passion, but it's not there. The cover of 'Roll over Beethoven' feels flat. Towards the end, however, things pick up a bit, with a tender vocal from George, on 'Devil in her heart', and he adds some beautiful lead guitar to that one. That is followed by a fairly good original, 'Not a second time', and a smokin' hot rock 'n' roll cover, 'Money'. The best of the rest is probably the energetic 'Hold Me Tight'.

So, it basically follows in the footsteps of the first album, not quite as enthusiastic, but a couple of the songs push the boundaries a bit further.

The Beatles second album is a fair singles album with enough catchy radio friendly songs to appease any Beatles addict. For me the highlights are the less known songs that have not been played to death such as It Won't Be Long, Don't Bother Me, and Money. There are some throwaways (gasp) such as Little Child and Till There Was You, but overall this has essential Beatles that appear on near every compilation of the fab Four such as Please Mr Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, and Hold Me Tight.

This is worth a listen for nostalgia and of course there is not a sceric of prog on it. 2 1/2 stars only.

It was still early days but the band already had some unusual ideas up their sleeves. The opening "It Won't Be Long" is an upbeat number but was very different in its day. I agree with the last reviewer who mentioned that The Beatles pushed typical musical boundaries slightly further here. Harrison's "Don't Bother Me" also has some subtle Eastern flavour, including some bongo work. These songs are highlights for me and there are plenty more!

Lennon's vocals are wonderful again, especially on "All I've Got To Do", which is a great song. McCartney's "All My Loving" is a classic too and "Til There Was You" is very sweet and romantic. Ringo gets the bongos out again on this track. "Roll Over Beethoven" is a good rock'n'roller which helped give the optimistic adolescent bounce similar to the previous release. You can feel the excitement in their performance as they were still not too far removed from their Cavern Club and Hamburg days.

There are some motown covers on the record too, of which "You've really Got A Hold On Me" and "Money" are the best. I also love the song "Devil In Her Heart" with Harrioson on lead vocals. I personally don't find this album quite as fresh and soulful as Please Please Me. In many ways, this was all part of giving the boys the exposure they needed. It's not essential Beatles but it's interesting to listen to this early stuff and work through the following albums to hear how they developed many musical ideas. Overall, this is a good album. You should be able to appreciate the energy here. It was all this that helped start the "mania" after all! And as a result, girls weren't only chasing after them in Europe but in America as well! Three solid stars.

Following the success of their first album, it was only natural that the band would release a second album eight months later. In my opinion however, this one doesn't quite stand up to the first!

On the plus side, you have the wonderful All My Loving, the infectiously pretty Till There Was You and another rocking Ringo track I Wanna Be Your Man, which actually sounds quite hard to sing and drum to at the same time! There are some lesser gems like Please Mr Postman and Roll Over Beethoven as well. However, the rest of this album is mainly forgettable! It's interesting to note the innocence of the early '60s: Little Child could simply not have been written today, with the lyrics 'Little child won't you dance with me? I'm so sad and lonely, baby take a chance with me.'

This album really fails to make a great impact on me, and although some of the tracks are really good, there aren't enough of them to make this a must-buy. The decision to exclude She Loves You from this album is an intriguing one, as I can imagine this would have boosted the sales dramatically. However, history tells us that even without this track, 'With The Beatles' managed to do considerably well, which launched the band into super-stardom. In my opinion however, this is not one of the great Beatles' albums, even from their early period.

With The Beatles offers stagnation and progress in equal portions. The Beatles are able to diversify their sound a little - check out the easy listening ballad You've Really Got a Hold On Me or the acoustic Till There Was You - but these dabblings, whilst outside their comfort zone, weren't exactly innovative. In the rock sphere, however, the delivery is noticably improved. All My Loving and Hold Me Tight are highlights of the album, and the more relaxed recording sessions and superior studio equipment improve the sound quality appreciably. If anything, the weakest point on this album is the lyrics, which remain mired in cliche, though Not A Second Time does take things in a darker than usual direction.

Rating: 7.5/10

Beatles' second release continues in the line of their debut in terms of number of songs (14, like most of the Beatles' first albums), separated in 6 covers and 8 self compositions.

In terms of musical quality, regarding songs, perhaps it doesn't fully reach the level of their previous release, but it isn't so far.

So, we find some of the most brilliant material of their earlier efforts here too.

"It won't be long" is simply brilliant;

"All I've got to do" is kinda sorrowed but still lovely;

"All my loving" is one of the greatest Beatles' pop songs ever featuring one of Mc Cartney's most achieved vocal chorus;

"Don't bother me" is a little bit souse but starts Harrison's songwriting performance,

"'Till there was you" shows Mc Cartney had definitively the most versatile and strong, powerful voice of the band, going from sweet and naive to strong, passionate and wholly deep either in ballads or rocky acts (in this case this is a ballad);

the covers are strictly average;

"Hold me tight" is another great, incredible tune for a pop song unfortunately mostly forgotten but that ranks as one of band's greatest;

and "I wanna be your man" shows The Beatles had such an amount of talent and songwriting inspiration that they could write a song for their nemesis at the time, the very Rolling Stones, let them do it at their own way and then perform it flawless with a completely different style for their own album.

It is unfair that people are giving particularly low scores to the first four Beatles albums just because they aren't progressive; unfair because they are, in actual fact, very innovative, but also unfair because prog rock didn't exist in the early Sixties, so how can a band be criticised for not doing it? It's all to easy to say that With The Beatles isn't as good as Dark Side of the Moon, and therefore that it's a crappy album, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and I wonder: how boring and derivative would all of those Seventies albums be if this very band not taken those brave first few steps?

Rant over.

I like this album slightly more than The Beatles debut, Please Please Me. Even though there is one particular song on here that I hate more than any other Beatles tune ([%*!#]ing "Please Mr Postman") the rest are really very good. 'It Won't Be Long' is almost a rock song, with some great chords and a shouty hook from Lennon. Then 'All I've Got To Do' takes things down a notch, but we get one of the best and most emotional melodies on the album, and Ringo creates a marvellous R&B beat here. A good start. On side one, I would also like to highlight the first song George Harrison ever wrote, 'Don't Bother Me', which is just as decent as the Lennon/McCartney compositions, and the beautiful 'Till There Was You', a Broadway song that features some of Paul's best ever singing and a great Spanish guitar solo.

The second side has less to offer but there are two excellent songs. Chuck Berry's famous 'Roll Over Beethoven' (and tell Tchaikovsky the news) is a great rock and roll cover, probably quite controversial among lovers of classical music. Also, the album's closer 'Money (That's what I want)' provides a memorable and bluesy ending to this underrated album. I still prefer The Flying Lizards version of that song, however!

With The Beatles is not an essential release from the band, but it is one of their better early records, better still if it had had the coinciding singles on it; 'She Loves You' and 'From Me to You'. The main thing is that there are far fewer 'throwaway' tracks than on Please Please Me and Hard Days Night.

'With The Beatles' - The Beatles (4/10)

The influence of 50's rock n' roll is very evident on The Beatles with their second album.While this band is mostly known for their excellent art pop material from 'Help!' onwards, this group started off as a fairly typical group of British youngsters attempting to claim some of the glory pioneered by the American rock n' roll movement of the past decade. The quality of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo is not in question, but as it stands, this band was at a fairly adolescent and simplistic stage with this album.

As with every album that The Beatles ever did, there are a handful of songs that stand out, regardless of the quality of the overall album. Here, 'All My Loving' is the big winner, a beautiful tune with great melody and lyrical rhymes. The more rock based songs 'Hold Me Tight' and 'It Won't Be Long' are also memorable, although they cling onto the bluesy American format. 'With The Beatles' is a very simple album, and musically speaking, The Beatles were little more than a typical boyband. The potential of the band is heard here, without it being tapped into. The only strong thing about the band at this point were their melodies, which are straightforward and predictable, but effective. The vocal harmonies that the band would be so famous for later in their careers are pretty rough this time around.

While the band's songwriting is very American R&B influenced, there are actual covers from that scene, particularly a Chuck Berry track, 'Rock n' Roll Beethoven'. Here, they pay decent homage to some greats of early rock music, but as one might expect, there is not anything here that these adolescent Brits are doing that makes it better than the originals. For fans of The Beatles, this is naturally a worthy album to check out, as it features some early examples of Lennon/McCartney songwriting. However, there is a reason that this is one of the less recognized albums by the band.

The Beatles continue their influence on the US and UK public with their sugary vocal harmonies and keen melodic pop sensibilities. So far they are doing without prog very well musically and commercially. The songs are bouncier and more vivid than those on their debut, which are just the characteristics of a catchy dance song. We don't see much of a change in their songwriting approach. For some reason they did drop the harmonica in the instrumentation, though. If you asked me whether I had any personal biggest favorites, there would be only one ? 'Hold Me Tight', which has those resonant high voices and sweet-and-sour melodies.

It looks like the arithmetic average of all the ratings on the list below is about three. My intuition tells me that I should focus on the present potential of the album, not the lack of thereof on certain numbers. There are, actually, plenty of strong moments on here. I was reasoning a bit and came to the conclusion that this puppy deserves 3.5 stars, but if I had to round it up, I would go in the favor of three stars since I have to take critical evaluation very seriously. It's not as good as their previous effort, but it's still good. Don't miss out on the strong songs here.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'It Won't Be Long' - ****

1. 'All I've Got to Do' - ****

1. 'All My Loving' - ****

1. 'Don't Bother Me' - ****

1. 'Little Child' - ****

1. 'Till There Was You' - *

1. 'Please Mr. Postman' - * (It's noisy and not very melodic.)

1. 'Roll Over Beethoven' - * (So, it's a Chuck Berry number. What's in it for me, though, besides his classic opening trick?)

1. 'Hold Me Tight' - *****

1. 'You've Really Got a Hold on Me' - ****

1. 'I Wanna Be Your Man' - **

1. 'Devil in Her Heart' - **

1. 'Not a Second Time' - ****

1. 'Money' - *

Stamp: "I like it."

Still slowly making my way reviewing the Beatles regular album releases WITH THE BEATLES is a long way from being a bad album many hits are here: "Love Me Do", "All My Loving", Money", "Please Mr Postman", "Roll Over Beethovan",. All are classics of rock and roll. But are they prog? Nope. Not in the least. It would be a few years before The Beatles shed their bebop pop sound and began to experiment more. Also there is much less filler songs than on some of their other early albums. How to rate it? As a pure rock album an easy 4 stars. But on a prog website I will have to give a simple deduction of 1 star. Still a great album, though, proggy or not! 3 solid stars.

With the Beatles is basically a second version of their debut album. Almost nothing in their style and sound has changed, and cover songs still litter half their album. Of the songs they did write there still isn't anything that really sticks out. Some of them are catchy and obviously well sung, like 'Hold Me Tight' and 'All My Loving,' but pretty much everything is just pseudo-romantic rock drool when taken out of the nostalgic context. This is probably even weak than their debut, but there isn't anything annoying about it. That in itself deserves a single (out of 10) star bump from me.

2/10

The problem is not to like The Beatles, but be another Beatles fanboy. Since it is a simple yeah yeah yeah rock and roll album, the use of right chords to break the sameness and create catchy phrases are very important. Well, this is not good, but The Beatles really grew up with this second release. This album starts with It Won't Be Long. The choice of chords are good, but nothing special at all. A simple and slow improve. All I've Got To Do is forgettable and uncatchy. You know All My Loving, is a classic hit, and it can't go wrong. Don't Bother Me bother me. This second album is an incredible effort, and of course the overall enjoyment is rather than the previous one, but they're still following the sameness. Well, they are The Beatles and this is the Beatles sound that moves the masses around them, but obviously not the Beatles favorite stage of anyone who's looking for the artistic, or even the psychedelic side of the band. Little Child, Not A Second Time, Hold Me Tight, Roll Over Beethoven, Devil In Her Heart... This album is full of short skippable tracks. From the second half of the album, You Really Got A Hold On Me and I Wanna Be Your Man are the highlights. Beatles were, and maybe, still are the worldwide hype. They had awesome moments, but they have a list of overrated and poor albums at their catalogue.

Quickly following up a successor to their chart busting debut, WITH THE BEATLES was released only eight months later and succeeded in knocking their own "Please Please Me" off the number one position on the charts. The Fab Four were on fire and the world was eating it up big time. Unlike the debut which was recorded in one day, this album had the luxury of taking three months to record although the music is very similar to the previous one that being mostly based on late 50s / early 60s pop. This album boasts 8 originals and 6 covers. There are a few firsts here for THE BEATLES. George Harrison makes his debut as a contributing member as singer and songwriter on "Don't Bother Me." The track "All My Loving" was the first song ever heard by Americans when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show which launched Beatlemania in the USA. Also it was their first album to sell a million copies in the UK. The second album ever to do so.

For me I like this second release better than the first simply because I like most of the songs on here unlike the debut. The originals are catchy and show how THE BEATLES were masters of their game in the simplified days before they got all freaky and creative on the world. The harmonies are sublime and the music is marvelous. The covers are good choices that add to their sound and an air of confidence is taking root. This is not the band reinventing their sound just quite yet but simply a slightly improved take on what they had been doing throughout the early 60s, namely pumping out some of the best pop rock music of that era. The band was still a few albums away from their best output but as with the debut I find this a mandatory piece in my collection for it is beautifully crafted and charmingly catchy hooks and was a minor step up in THE BEATLES' decade long career. 3.5 rounded down

Fantastic Rock Classic.

This album, with an average score of only high 2s here on PA, is clearly not getting the respect it deserves. On this album the Beatles really rock, and introduce some really compelling early songs, showing why they quickly became adored throughout the Anglo world. It starts off with the excellent "It Wont Be Long", which easily could have been a hit single (they didn't put their singles on the UK albums, as the practice at the time was to release singles and albums separate from one another on the assumption that people would buy both and would not want to buy the same song twice. This assumption held in the UK, but not in the US where people had more disposable income and did not mind buying the same song in both the single and lp formats). "All My Loving", and "Hold Me Tight" are also classic Lennon-McCartney tunes (with the former getting significant radio airplay in its own right). "I Wanna Be Your Man" is a song the Beatles gave to the Rolling Stones for one of their singles, but the version is the much better version. This album, like the previous one, also contains a number of cover tunes, with notables including George singing "Roll Over Beethoven", "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Money". Many people now only know the Beatles versions. Chuck Berry earned a lot of money from having the Beatles cover selected songs like "Roll Over.." All in all, a classic rocking and fun album. In the US the album "Meet the Beatles" was released with the hit single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" added at the beginning, and a number of the other tunes (including "Money") kept off the album, breaking up the flow. The original UK version works better. I give this album 7.9 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which is the lowest score for squeeking into the 4 PA Star rating.

The second album of the Baetles traces the same structure of the first, so as to seem the bad copy, if it were not that the songs of the first side are of the same quality (while the second side holds less), and there is less rock and roll and more Mersey beat. Certainly the opening song and the ending are not comparable to those of Please Please Me (in both cases, the incipit is an original, the ending is a successful cover), but With The Beatles places inside it a typically beat masterpiece, "All My Loving", who emancipated from the rock and roll of the 50s of the masterpiece of the previous album, "I Saw Her Standing There", being much more original and in step with the times. For the rest, the album is even more linked than the previous to the soul of Motown (Smokey Robinson in particular) and has, on average, songs with a greater speed: the Beatlemania had begun.

The first piece, "It Won't Be Long", is a perpetual vocal piece in the musical style of Lennon, the typical piece with the contagious exuberance of the Beatles, which here mix the best rock and roll, beat, and 50s vocal ensembles. It is a song that could have been a single, with the usual yeh yeh in the foreground (like "She Loves You"). "All I've Got to Do" is a new ballad written and sung by Lennon (which is the first voice in 7 songs), which tries to imitate the sound of Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, succeeding in part. Arrangement thin, good the sung, especially in the refrain. Third track: here is the masterpiece of McCartney, sung only by him, with excellent lyrics, good rhythm, contagious guitar accompaniment, which determines the sound, good solo; the soul refrain, little developed, in the hands of black gospel singers would become a pleasure. Fourth song: first and excellent song by Harrison, who sings a very personal text and that does not go for the subtle, avoids romanticism and expresses his own feelings without embarrassment. Nice song and very original, has an excellent progression in the bridge and in the solo. One of the best original pieces.

"Little Child" is a song with a frenzied rhythm of Lennon, guided by his song and his harmonica, an instrument that is much less present in this album than in the previous one (it could be associated with There's a Place of LP Please Please Me). "Till There Was You" is the second song sung by Paul (who sings in three pieces, in total, like George), and it is a slow, Spanish cover, with voice and acoustic guitar in the foreground. The melody and the arrangement are very good: it is an almost masterpiece. In the next album Paul will write a slow with Spanish guitar that will outclass this cover: "And I Lover Her". "Please Mr. Postman" is a rock and roll cover that closes the first side raising the volume and the rhythm, good but too repetitive in the final.

Side A: 1) It Wont Be Long 8; 2) All I've Got To Do 7; 3) All My Loving 8+; 4) Dont Bother Me 7,5; 5) Little Child 7; 6) Till There Was You* 7,5/8; 7) Please Mr Postman* 7; * = covers.

The second side quality is much lower than the first, no song goes beyond 7+. Start George, singing a very famous cover of Chuck Berry: the performance is scholastic, and considering the goodness of the song, the Beatles version is pleasant but flows away without leaving a mark. "Hold Me Tight", by McCartney, brings up the rhythm, remembering for speed and beat and vocal response "It Will not Be" Long by Lennon: unfortunately the monotonous arrangement, very percussive, and the almost unsuspected singing lead soon to make the exuberance of the rather unpleasant song. "You Really Got ..." is a soul cover of S. Robinson, a ballad, sung well by Lennon, but which does not reach great pathos because it lacks the proper arrangement; good the piano phrase. "I Wanna Be Your Man", a light song written on a par with Paul and John, is sung by Ringo, and it's a bit of chorus and rhythm, with a good George guitar solo and George Martin organ backing: this time the arrangement elevates the quality of a compositional piece easy and weak. "Devil in Her Heart" is another sliding soul cover (almost unknown), pleasant but rather "flat", sung by George, who in the second side sings 2 songs, against one of Paul. "Not a Second Time", written and sung entirely by Lennon alone, is a quite strange beat-soul, with an unclear but well arranged melody, thanks again to George Martin's piano. Finally, the cover "Money", at the time a great hit Motown, as sung with frenzy by Lennon, and arranged in a savage way, can not close with a bang, because the song over time appears more and more shouted, repetitive, forced. The comparison with "Twist and Shout" is clearly lost.

Side B. 8) Roll Over Beethoven* 7+; 9) Hold Me Tight 6,5; 10) You Really Got a Hold on Me* 7; 11) I Wanna Be Your Man 7; 12) Devil in Her Heart* 6,5/7; 13) Not a Second Time 6,5/7; 14) Money* 7+.

Overall, "With the Beatles" is an LP that follows the structure of the first album, is faster, has less country harmonica and a more soulful sound, less rock and roll and more Beatles style: mix between pop, rock and vocal harmony; has a good first side, up to the previous album, and a modest second side, slightly lower than the (already modest) side of the debut album both for the quality of the covers and the originals.

Medium quality: 7,23. Rating: 7. Two (and a half) stars.

The Beatles recorded plenty of cover songs, but I think of With the Beatles as their "covers album." In terms of original compositions, it's one of their weakest; John Lennon's "It Won't Be Long" and Paul McCartney's "All My Loving" are OK, but there was nothing like a "She Loves You" or "I Want to Hold Your Hand" here. But what is here is pretty great, including some superb Motown re-makes sung by Lennon: the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman," Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)," and the Miracles' "You Really Got a Hold on Me," on which he duets with George Harrison. Among the three other cover songs, Harrison turns in a nice performance of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven."

In terms of performance, With the Beatles is one of Lennon's strongest outings, and as much as any LP, this one could have been billed as "John & the Beatles." This is also true of the group's original compositions; it's clear that by the end of 1963, John Lennon was doing most of the proverbial heavy lifting in the songwriting department. It's true that at this early date, both he and McCartney were still contributing to many songs credited to "Lennon-McCartney;" for example, Lennon was apparently not the sole writer of "It Won't Be Long." It's also true that Harrison wrote "Don't Bother Me," meaning that just seven of the fourteen tunes here were written by Lennon and/or McCartney. Nonetheless we can hear the dynamic shifting in Lennon's favor on With the Beatles.

Compared to Please Please Me, With the Beatles also represents an upgrade in sound quality. Although the two LPs were recorded during the same year (the former on February 11, the latter between July and October), With the Beatles has better sound separation (for what it's worth, I'm listening to the 2009 EMI remaster of Please Please Me and the original (1987) CD issue of With the Beatles). There are also more overdubs (e.g., Lennon's harmonica on "Little Child"), signaling a departure, however slight, from the "live" sound of their prior LP.

The group's second album, With the Beatles was released just six months after their promising debut. It's a better album in many respects, but the Beatles' songwriting here fails to match that of Please Please Me. Nonetheless, another good LP.

The earliest Beatles recordings, released on their first album, Please Please Me, show a promising, but not entirely mature band (see my review of that album). Between that album and their second, With the Beatles, the band had gone through quite a change, even though they were still playing simple dance pop and rock'n roll. Lennon and McCartney had revealed their true force as pop songwriters with the singles "From Me To You" and especially "She Loves You", and the band now found themselves in the centre of a mass hysteria (known as Beatlemania).

Listening to With the Beatles, I sense a much more self-assured band, and it is clear that they have improved as instrumentalists too. This may however be due, in parts, to the fact that the album was not recorded in the same rush as Please Please Me (which was recorded literarily in one day, except for the A and B sides). The recording was spread over several sessions, so clearly there must have been more time to correct fluffs and work with the arrangements, vocal performances etc. At least it sounds that way.

With the Beatles contains no singles; a practice that would go for many of their subsequent studio albums, and which was fairly common in Britain in the 60's. Apart from that, the album follows the pattern of Please Please Me by containing a mix of original compositions and cover versions of mostly (black) American music. The cover versions on With the Beatles are generally stronger than those on Please Please Me. "Money (That's What I Want)" is a truly electrifying performance, and it is clearly on par with - probably even better than - their rendition of "Twist And Shout". I would even go as far as to say that it is much better, and more homogeneous that Barrett Strong's original Motown recording. Two other Motown covers appear on the album; they are both infective and well performed even though they may not really add something new to the original songs. Other cover versions include Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" (Harrison's vocal performance is a bit dull) and - as quite a contrast - the sentimental ballad "Till There Was You" which only Paul McCartney could have sung.

As for the original compositions, there are two songs that really stand out: Lennon's "It Won't Be Long" and McCartney's "All My Loving". The first one is typical of Lennon with an irregular number of bars in the verse and a harmonic structure in the chorus that isn't entirely straight forward. The song is in a major key, but the chorus (which comes first) starts with the tonic parallel and then goes directly to the tonic rather than through a subdominant and a dominant, and then back to the parallel. There is also the nicely dissonant "dim chord" on "till I beLONG to you". In contrast, "All My Loving" is much more straight forward and has hit single written all over it. But also that song begins with another chord than its tonic (in this case the subdominant parallel).

The other original songs are more anonymous. "I Wanna Be Your Man" is rather monotonous, both melodically and lyrically, "Hold Me Tight" was a leftover from Please Please Me which had been brought back for some reason, and "Not a Second Time" sounds like it doesn't entirely knows where it is going (it was famously praised for its Aeolian cadenzes). Then there is "Don't Bother Me" which is Harrison's first contribution as a songwriter and which somehow contains a darker tone than Lennon's and McCartney's songs. It is absolutely not uninteresting (its privacy topic probably suited Harrison's public image well at that time), and there is something a bit resigning about the music - the verse starts with the dominant chord and then continues with what is normally the final four bars in a standard 12 bar blues phrase (with a lower III step chord added between the IV and the I in the 3rd bar), thus possibly signalling a sense of disorder or unease. Moreover, the odd drum that appears on all the downbeats makes the song sound rather heavy. Harrison would make much stronger songs later, but it is clear that there is something else going on here.

Overall, With the Beatles is the sound of a much more self-assured band, and despite some less interesting songs, several key tracks make for quite an engaging listening. I wish I could give it 3,5 stars which is what I think it really deserves. The first truly great Beatles album comes next....

What have Beatles improved in comparison with their first album? 1. Lennon's voice has grown in power and energy. He sweeps other vocals away with his high-octane delivery. 2. Harrison improved his guitar playing and compositional skills. "Don't bother me" is his first decent song. 3. Overall instrumental playing improved.

Has overall songwriting improved? Arguably not as the songs are somewhat less catchy, in fact, only "All my loving" was a hit of the first "calibre". After repeated listening, you'll find another beauty in other original songs such as "It won't be long" or "Little child". Starr sung "I wanna be your man" is so infectious thanks to the joined vocals, it's easy to imagine all four fabs being at stage. Covers are hits and misses and their strongest common denominator is fantastic Lennon's voice. "Please Mr. postman" is a bit static (already by its nature) and "Roll over Beethoven" doesn't stand out among dozens of other covers of this song. Beatles here were still miles away from lasting a long-standing impact albeit they executed their job nicely.