WITH THE BEATLES

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.

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