24. With The Beatles - The Beatles.

  We are back with the Fab Four again. Get used to it, it is a recurring theme. This is their second album released in the UK. It has well known originals and several covers, and was certainly instrumental in building this little band from Liverpool into the rock and roll icons they are today. I was listening to Howard Stern interview Paul McCartney a little while back and he described the progression of the songwriting of the Beatles, claiming that at first they were singing simple songs directly to the listener and then realized that they could broaden the scope and depth of the songs by encompassing a variety of topics. This album falls into the early stages, but damn, those songs are well written. Here is a link to that interview. I found it fascinating.





 When I was beginning to play the guitar, I found a book of my father's, that contained the chords to several Beatles songs. Many of the tracks on this album were my favourites, as they were  not so complex as the tunes that were to follow, and that suited my limited ability to play the instrument. However, there was usually a gorgeous seventh chord included somewhere, showing increasing maturity in their chord progressions. This was pretty much lost on me at the time, but made me sound like I knew how to play. So I liked it a lot.

 Enough about me, lets discuss what is happening on this album, shall we? Okay then. 

 The album kicks off with three tracks with the signature Beatles sound. The guitars jangle along, and there are nice harmonies. I think "All My Loving" might be my favourite song on this album. I just love the fast strum of the guitars meeting headlong with a straight Johnny Cash style walk in to the country sounding solo. It illustrates the depth of the music. "Don't Bother Me" has a distinctly different sound and is apparently the first songwriting credit that was given to George Harrison. It's a cool track, it is very minor sounding, which makes it stand out against the other poppier songs on the album.

 "Till There Was You" is a nice ballad with some tasty guitar work that is apparently the only Broadway tune the Beatles ever recorded. It is from "The Music Man", a fact that McCartney was allegedly unaware of. "Please Mister Postman" is a classic cover which my daughter really enjoys. We like the break with "Deliver the letter, the sooner the better". The following track is a cover of "Roll Over Beethoven". It is a rocking number, but pales in comparison to Chuck Berry's version. Likewise with the cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "You Really Got a Hold On Me".  Like some of the artists we have spoken of previously, the white boys can't quite match up to the bar set by the black originals. People have varied opinions on this matter as evidenced by some of the YouTube comments where people put in their two cents about which versions are better. 

 At the end of the day, this is a good album, the folks at Rolling Stone placed it at number 420 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Beatles built on this foundation and in the next few years eclipsed superstardom, and rewrote the book on songwriting. I think 420 is very low, but I will expand on this in my next post. It's like a Friday night cliffhanger... To Be Continued.


Buy It here.


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