With The Beatles
Studio album by The Beatles
Released 22 November 1963
Recorded 18 July–23 October 1963, EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock
Length 32:24
Label Parlophone
Producer George Martin
Professional reviews
* Allmusic 5/5 stars link
* Blender 4/5 stars link
* Pitchfork Media (8.8/10) link
* Q 5/5 stars link
* Rolling Stone 5/5 stars link
With The Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock group The Beatles. It was released in November 1963 on Parlophone, and was recorded four months after the band's debut Please Please Me. The album features eight original compositions (seven by Lennon/McCartney, as well as George Harrison's first composition) and six covers (mostly of Motown and R&B hits). Most of the songs from the album were released in the United States as Meet The Beatles! on 20 January 1964, and the remaining that were not, featured on their next US album, The Beatles' Second Album.
With The Beatles was also released in November, 1963 by Capitol Records in Canada, with a slight change to the title Beatlemania! With the Beatles. This release has the distinction of being the first Beatles LP released in North America, pre-dating the Capitol US Meet The Beatles! and the Vee Jay Records Introducing... The Beatles LPs by 2 months.
The LP had advance orders of a half million and sold another half million by September 1965—making it the second album to sell a million copies in the UK. With The Beatles stayed at the top of the charts for 21 weeks, displacing Please Please Me, so that the Beatles occupied the top spot for 51 consecutive weeks. It even reached number eleven in the "singles charts" (because at the time UK charts counted all records sold, regardless of format). EMI Australia did not receive the cover art, and used a caricature of the band in a similar style to the black and white photograph on other releases. The Beatles were unaware of this until fans showed them the cover during their only Australian tour, and informed the EMI publicity people they were not pleased with the substitution.
On 26 February 1987, With The Beatles was officially released on compact disc (in mono only, catalogue number CDP 7 46436 2). Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the album was also issued domestically in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987. Along with the rest of the Beatles' canon, it was re-released on CD in newly re-mastered stereo and mono versions on 9 September 2009.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 420 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Track Listing
All songs written and composed by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
Side one
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "It Won't Be Long" Lennon 2:13
2. "All I've Got to Do" Lennon 2:03
3. "All My Loving" McCartney 2:08
4. "Don't Bother Me" (George Harrison) Harrison 2:28
5. "Little Child" Lennon and McCartney 1:46
6. "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson) McCartney 2:14
7. "Please Mister Postman" Lennon 2:34
(Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman)
Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry) Harrison 2:45
2. "Hold Me Tight" McCartney 2:32
3. "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson) Lennon with Harrison 3:01
4. "I Wanna Be Your Man" Starr 2:00
5. "Devil in Her Heart" (Richard Drapkin) Harrison 2:26
6. "Not a Second Time" Lennon 2:07
7. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy) Lennon 2:50
Personnel
According to Mark Lewisohn:
The Beatles
* George Harrison – lead, harmony and background vocals; lead and acoustic guitars; handclaps; nylon-string acoustic guitar on "Till There Was You"
* John Lennon – lead, harmony and background vocals; rhythm and acoustic guitars; harmonica and handclaps; nylon-string acoustic guitar on "Till There Was You"; Hammond organ on "I Wanna Be Your Man" and tambourine on "Don't Bother Me"
* Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and background vocals; bass guitar and handclaps; piano on "Little Child" and claves on "Don't Bother Me"
* Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, maracas, handclaps; lead vocals on "I Wanna Be Your Man" and Arabian loose-skin bongo on "Till There Was You" and "Don't Bother Me"
Production
* Robert Freeman – cover photograph
* George Martin – arrangements, producer and mixer; piano on "You Really Got a Hold on Me", "Money (That´s What I Want)" and "Not A Second Time"
* Norman Smith – engineer and mixer
Chart performance
Album cuts
Billboard charts (North America) Chart Rank
1964 "All My Loving" Billboard Hot 100 45
1964 "Roll Over Beethoven" Billboard Hot 100 68