35. The Beatles - With The Beatles (1963)

1. It Won't Be Long
2. All I've Got To Do
3. All My Loving
4. Don't Bother Me
5. Little Child
6. Till There Was You
7. Please Mr Postman
8. Roll Over Beethoven
9. Hold Me Tight
10. You've Really Got A Hold On Me
11. I Wanna Be Your Man
12. Devil In Her Heart
13. Not A Second Time
14. Money


Heraldic trumpet fanfares and a choir of heavenly cherubim sing, it's the Beatles! Although we're not quite at the threshold of musical awesomeness, we've taken a bold, purposeful step towards it. I've been looking forward to this album, it's kind of like the snowball thrown down a mountain that turns into a giant ball, crushing all those foolish enough to stand in its path. But enough about my blog, let's focus on the matter at hand, shall we?

So, the Beatles. So much has been said and written about them and their music that this review is almost certainly superfluous. They're perceived as musical demigods y the general public, and for six years they may as well have been. Even now, things like Across The Universe and the Rock Band game prove that they can transcend generational gaps (gee, what a concept!). And, on a more personal note, these guys not only got me into music, but by doing so they totally changed my entire life around. So expect a big heaping pile of bias.

Despite all of that hype, this album isn't really that great. Although the Beatles get credited with inventing or pioneering countless achievements, technical or otherwise, they really didn't invent shit. Almost everything that gets attributed to them was done by a less popular band first. Their achievement was taking all these technical innovations and popularizing them for an extremely large audience, and thus legitimizing them. Sgt. Pepper wasn't the first 'serious' rock album or the greatest by any means, but it was the first album to make people realize that rock music was a legitimate art form. These guys pick up some backlash from music critics nowadays for not being as innovative as everyone thinks they are, but what they did for music is probably just as important, if not even more so, in the long run.

...So, the album. As I've already said, it's not particularly groundbreaking or bowel-shattering. It sounds like most other rock albums in 1963. In fact, now that I've had 7 years of music history preceding this album, it's a lot easier to perceive that the Beatles are just a slightly more raw Everly Brothers with a more pronounced R&B influence. You've got the usual mixture of original songs and covers, generally of girl groups and Motown. Oh, and a song from a musical. I'm pretty sure the only reason 'Till There Was You' is on here is to pander to older, more square audiences since it represents what was viewed as an 'acceptable' pop song before Tin Pan Alley got completely wiped off the map. Once you get past the incredibly corny lyrics, it's not all that bad, featuring probably the best solo on the record (George Harrison's solos were never his strong point, especially not in this period.

The Motown covers are done surprisingly well for a bunch of white Brits. Lennon really sinks his teeth into 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' and 'Money'. The former is one of the best songs on the album, actually. They both share a comparatively darker tone with the rest of the songs, displaying a good deal of anguish and greed that you just don't get with the albums I've reviewed so far. Same with 'Please Mr. Postman', now that I think about it. They're all just covers, sure, but the Beatles certainly knew how to choose their covers. John sounds like he's gonna kick that postman's ass! After listening to these songs, I am filled with a renewed sorrow that '60s classic Motown isn't as covered on this list as it should be.

But it's the originals that are the real meat and potatoes here-The Beatles make sure to stick 5 of them at the beginning as to leave no doubt about their songwriting ability. 'It Won't Be Long' practically explodes off the record. And let's not leave Paul out: 'All My Loving' is definitely the classic of the record, combining an engaging vocal melody and a spiffy rhythm guitar part. Unfortunately, Paul didn't do so well for the rest of the album, because 'Hold Me Tight' is the worst song, let's face it.

George Harrison takes a big step on this album, writing his first song, 'Don't Bother Me'. Fitting title, isn't it? It's the awkward downbeat song amongst the chipper Lennon-McCartney numbers, setting him apart from the get-go. Ringo is thrown 'I Wanna Be Your Man' from the songwriting scraps, a song whose lyrical complexity can not be adequately described here.

Overall, this album was pretty much as good as rock music got in 1963. Not very complicated at all, but catchy and engaging enough to warrant listening. 7/10