With The Beatles

With The Beatles is certainly one of the first Beatles albums i'll give it that. This album easily does deserve it's place on this list because it was definitely one of the first albums of it's kind and influenced loads of other bands. I still don't think this album is all that great. Most of the songs are far too samey and this album just doesn't really have any standout tracks (outside of Please Mister Postman, that track was pretty solid). I also feel like the songs go by too quickly, not giving them enough time to sink in and just makes them all get lost in the shuffle. I don't think its a bad album, the musicianship is good and it deserves it's place here, It just isn't great and a bit disappointing considering this is the album that was generated for me on my 21st birthday.
Best Song: Please Mister Postman
Worst Song: Little Child

Favorite songs: Roll Over Beethoven, Please Mister Postman, Money (That's What I Want), Little Child, All I've Got To Do

Least favorite songs: Not a Second Time

3/5

My Beatles knowledge is patchy at best - I believe I've only ever listened to the "1" compilation album, so I know of their obvious hits via that.

This one didn't blow me away. It's a reasonable enough listen, but it offers little explanation towards the revered, global mega-entity that they would go on to become, and I would suggest that it is by no means essential. It's one that you'd put on to gain a greater understanding of the band's early trajectory, but there's little in the way of replay value for me here as it just felt a bit too simplistic.

You know, I honestly haven't listened to this one before, surprisingly. I know a couple songs off it (All My Loving and I Wanna Be Your Man, both classics), but the rest of the tracklist feels kinda pedestrian, especially for The Beatles. It's good, but nothing really special. Kinda derivative of other artists at the time (Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc.).

Obviously, they'd go on to make much better, and interesting music. But as it stands, this album is just OK.

If ever there was a Beatles record to drop from the list, this one could definitely be in the running. Even during this era of The Beatles they had much better material.

kinda beatless

The earlier pop Beatles songs I don’t care for as much as the more complex and varied albums of the later 60s. It’s not bad, plenty of good musical elements. A little repetitive.

I love the Beatles, but although the musicianship is there, this doesn't have the composition strength of later albums. Standout song is All My Loving, which is great (Hold Me Tight is a bit of a stinker though). Serviceable covers played with verve (Money is among the best). A lower end four.

I am very familiar with psychedelic era Beatles, but really haven't spent much time with the early Beatles era. It's genuinely wild referring to these as different eras considering it was only a few years between this album and when they started getting into psychedelic music. Incredible evolution over such a short career!

Overall, I enjoyed this album. It's not something I'd listen to all the time, but I can see myself throwing it on from time to time.

Novembre 1963, moins de huit mois après le coup d'éclat de "Please Please Me", The Beatles livrent leur deuxième album, "With The Beatles". Et par la même occasion, le Royaume-Uni et bientôt le monde entier sont saisis par une fièvre nouvelle : la Beatlemania.

L'album s'ouvre sur les chapeaux de roue avec "It Won't Be Long", une composition de Lennon-McCartney qui incarne tout ce qui fait le succès du groupe à ce moment-là : une énergie contagieuse, des harmonies vocales précises et ce fameux "yeah, yeah, yeah" qui devient leur signature. C'est direct, efficace et terriblement entraînant. Le principal atout de l'album réside dans cette vitalité. On sent quatre jeunes hommes au sommet de leur popularité, jouant avec une confiance et une fougue communicatives.

Le disque contient sans conteste l'une des plus belles pépites de leur début de carrière : "All My Loving". Cette chanson de Paul McCartney est une merveille de composition, bien plus sophistiquée que la plupart des morceaux pop de l'époque. La ligne de basse déambulatoire de Paul, la guitare rythmique effrénée de John et le solo impeccable de George en font un classique intemporel et le point culminant incontestable de l'album. Dans un registre plus sombre et introspectif, "Don't Bother Me" marque la toute première composition de George Harrison à figurer sur un album des Beatles. Bien qu'elle n'atteigne pas les sommets de ses futures contributions, elle témoigne d'une personnalité musicale en gestation et apporte une couleur bienvenue à l'ensemble.

Malgré tout, l'album manque dans l'ensemble d'homogénéité car sur quatorze titres, six sont des reprises de standards de la Motown et du rock 'n' roll. Si cet exercice était courant à l'époque et déjà présent sur le premier album, il donne ici une impression de remplissage, comme si le groupe, pris dans le tourbillon des tournées, n'avait pas eu le temps de composer suffisamment de nouveau matériel original.

Certes, certaines de ces reprises sont magistrales. La voix écorchée de John Lennon sur "Money (That's What I Want)" est à donner des frissons, concluant l'album avec une puissance viscérale. Sa performance sur "You Really Got a Hold on Me" est également poignante. De même, leur version de "Please Mister Postman" est pleine d'un entrain joyeux.

Néanmoins, d'autres reprises peinent à convaincre. "Till There Was You", ballade issue d'une comédie musicale, semble un peu mièvre et détonne avec l'énergie rock du reste du disque. "Devil in Her Heart" ou "Roll Over Beethoven" (chantée par George) sont sympathiques, mais n'apportent pas la plus-value ou la réinvention qu'on attendrait des Fab Four. Elles donnent l'impression que le groupe se contente de jouer des morceaux qu'ils aiment, sans forcément se les approprier complètement.

Même du côté des compositions originales, tout n'est pas au niveau de "All My Loving". Des titres comme "Little Child" ou "Hold Me Tight" (une ancienne chanson retravaillée) fonctionnent grâce à l'énergie du groupe mais manquent de la finesse et de l'inventivité qui caractériseront leurs futurs morceaux.

il faut prendre "With The Beatles" comme un album charnière, mais un album essentiel pour comprendre l'ascension fulgurante du groupe. Il a parfaitement rempli sa mission en 1963 : satisfaire l'appétit insatiable des fans avec une nouvelle dose d'énergie Beatles.

Cependant, l'album reste inégal. Pris en sandwich entre l'explosion brute de "Please Please Me" et le génie mélodique 100% original de "A Hard Day's Night" (sorti moins d'un an plus tard). C'est un album qui consolide un succès plus qu'il ne le réinvente.

Un 3 sur 5 pour un bon album, témoin de son temps, mais pas encore le grand disque des Beatles.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Beatles’ early albums, and 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴 didn’t do much to change that. While it’s full of youthful energy and tight performances, most of the songs feel locked into a narrow formula — basic love lyrics, simple structures, little ambition.

Worse, the mix is hard to enjoy today. The artificial stereo separation — what some call “ping-pong stereo” — can be downright distracting. Vocals in one ear, instruments in the other, with a strange hollowness in between. It’s a historical artifact, sure, but it doesn’t make for pleasant listening.

That said, 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘺 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 is a genuine standout, and some of the cover versions work surprisingly well. 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵) in particular benefits from George Martin’s careful overdub work — it sounds tighter and more powerful than most of the album.

But overall, this isn’t a phase of the Beatles I care to revisit. The real magic was still to come.

I'm pretty sure they have the entire Beatles discography on this considering this is the 3rd album I get from them on day 224, and no matter how many times they get shoved on me and hear all about how important they were for music, I still think they're boring as fuck, please stop trying to convince me otherwise, I'm not falling for the psyop

esse eh o segundo piorzim deles, na minha humilde opinião

tem please mr postman então tá valendo. bom album!

After getting three later albums of all-original material (Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, A Hard Day's Night), it feels weird getting an early record of theirs where nearly half the songs are covers. It feels even more bizarre that the album in question is still pretty good.

For sure, the covers on With the Beatles were done in such a clear imitation that you can tell where each of the songs came from. "Rock and Roll Music" sounds a lot like Chuck Berry. "You Really Got a Hold on Me" sounds like Smokey Robinson. Both "Please Mr. Postman" and "Money (That's What I Want)" sound like they came straight out of Motown in the delivery. The young lads at this time weren't being experimental in their renditions. Yet, they still played these songs with the top-notch execution that you would expect them to play at this early in their career.

Not to mention, the original songs on this record mostly hold up all these decades later. The opening run from "It Won't Be Long" through the George Harrison-led "Don't Bother Me" is still amazing. "Not a Second Time" is a decent cut towards the end. Even the Ringo-led "I Wanna Be Your Man" is a fun bop that Lennon and McCartney originally penned for the Rolling Stones.

Overall, With the Beatles may not be an essential listen for a list of albums to listen to before you die in retrospect, but it's still a fun time.

Solid. Full of classics. Lacking variety.

These lads can write some decent tunes, but someone should probably give them drugs so we can see what they can really do.

Very pleasant album. I enjoyed the listen.

This is my favorite of the early-career stuff. But a lot of that credit belongs to Motown. And there are some real clunkers here too. Four stars.

They already sound great, and in brief glimpses you get to see the exceptional talent they later displayed in bucket loads. If they never went on to write another record, I think With The Beatles would be considered a strong, c-tier early 1960s record with excellent pop sensibilities and gorgeous harmonies. As a Beatles record it receives a far greater level of expectation than it can handle.

The Good: We know who we are with…
The Bad: What happens if we suffer from entomophobia?
The Ugly: Being left without the Beatles…

I was NOT looking forward to listening to this album… not because of who they are, but more because the album cover warned me that this could be a little too campy…

Boy was I wrong!

Again these four freaks from Liverpool prove they are the GOAT, and I really do my best to not like them.
There weren’t too many songs on list that looked familiar to me, so you spin the album (stream… sorry) and you realize that you’ve heard almost all of them before… Whether or not it is in movies, or tv shows, or just on the radio…

And the tunes are wonderfully short, so even if you aren’t enjoying a tune too much, it is over before you can say “what the fuck am I listening to?”!!!

FUCKERS 5*

Schönes aber nich spektakuläres frühes Beatles Album, mit dem Songs „All My Loving“ & „Please Mr. Postman“. Insgesamt etwas zu viel Beat und zu wenig Gefühl.