The Beatles – With The Beatles (1963)

The Beatles had, at this point, merely just begun. After the success of their first album Please Please Me, they gave themselves more time to give a better recording than that album. The result? We are here With The Beatles, which is surprisingly a consistent and decent listen, even today. Although they had not become very confident in their songwriting skills, or even very experimental, the whole album does stand the test of time.

Let’s explore this great album, track by track.

We launch into this album with It Won’t Be Long. This song is basically a proto-version of A Hard Days Night, but it is classic work by The Beatles. They were still making sonic limited songs, but amazingly consistently so. The Beatles did everything they could to become a proper musical success, and this song is merely an example of that. A good start to a fine album.

Next is All I’ve Got To Do which is a classic John Lennon tale of desire and lust. It’s a great pop song and sits perfectly well in this album. A beautiful and really good listen every time. Hard to imagine this sort of wonderful work being made today, pop/rock brilliance is right here.

All My Loving shows Paul McCartney doing very well in another classic song by the group. The frenetic guitar playing by George Harrison is fantastic here, a lovely and upbeat song by The Beatles. Essential listening.

Don’t Bother Me is a fairly straightforward message for a lover who has broken one’s heart. It’s a great statement, and a topic rarely covered in pop/rock music to this day. A good and energetic sounding listen. The Beatles do well here.

The next song, Little Child is a sort of high school sweetheart’s song. Indeed, it is a classic song and a very enjoyable listen. The Beatles had many great not-so-famous numbers on their albums. This is one of many of them. Consistency is what The Beatles had. A good effort.

The absolutely beautiful ‘Till There Was You is a wonderfully arranged and written Paul McCartney song. It’s an ode to love, music, and all the lovely things one can think of in such an experience in a short pop/rock song. Another excellent listen, and very underrated.

Please Mister Postman is more John Lennon brilliance of frustrated love. He does really well in describing the situation of waiting for a love letter. Great stuff, and likely never to be touched on again in the history of popular music. Awesome all the same. Another good effort.

Roll Over Beethoven is an acknowledgement of the history of music but trashes it in an intelligent way. Yet another quick and upbeat number comparing different forms of music of the day, and telling us that pop/rock music is the best. Until the 21st century, the majority of the western world agreed with this statement. A humourous, tongue-in-cheek message.

Next is Hold Me Tight, a very 1960’s message and a great song for young lovers. It’s more love than sex, yet is still brilliantly delivered and played by The Beatles. Paul McCartney sounds totally assured of his love with his lady. Quality listening.

The slow ballad You Really Got A Hold On Me is a great song by The Beatles. Obviously, at the time, the group were 100% romanticists, at least in this music. It blows a lot of the music away nowadays in pure quality. Many bands and artists today could not match these wonderful songs. Another decent listen.

I Wanna Be Your Man is swinging sixties material and more romantic talk at hand. Undoubtedly life was completely different in the 1960s, and very much a simpler time in terms of relationships. It is a repetitive listen, but a good one.

Devil In Her Heart is a classy song about going after said devilish woman. It’s a great and yet another somewhat humourous song lyrically. It’s a very good effort by the group, and the music perfectly fits with the lyrics here. Brilliant.

Next is the cheerful breakup song Not A Second Time. It is a good song telling a former lover, to back off, basically. A great piano solo is here, which makes the song interesting to listen to. Another good addition to this record, and The Beatles musical journey.

The last song is the unusual Money (That’s What I Want) which nearly ditches the conceptual romanticism of The Beatles of the time, and asks for money instead. It’s a debatable topic that this song should be here, but it still rocks well. A nice end to this album.

Most people nowadays would not have heard this album or early music by The Beatles. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen. Although this is no means their best effort, it is very good. Worth your time and good popular rock music of the 1960s.

8/10