With the Beatles - Beatles - Review

Beatles - With the Beatles - 1963

Songs: It Won´t Be Long, All I´ve Got To Do, All My Loving, Don´t Bother Me, Little Child, Till There Was You, Please Mr. Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, Hold Me Tight, You Really Got A Hold On Me, I Wanna Be Your Man, Devil In Her Heart, Not A Second Time, Money.

Type of Music: Early Sixties Pop Music.

Comments:

Another mix of covers and original Lennon/McCartney compositions following their debut  Please Please Me. The covers are performed with mixed results. Both Please Mr. Postman and You Really Got A Hold On Me have become Beatles songs over the years. And you might argue the same goes for Money. But their version of Roll Over Beethoven pales next to Chuck Berry´s original. The songs written by John and Paul are more or less OK. Nothing here really impresses me. George makes his first contribution with Don´t Bother Me and indeed, it doesn´t bother me but that’s all.

One early Classic here namely All My Loving. That´s not enough to make this album worth owning unless you want to collect everything the Beatles ever produced. Which, by itself, is a very nice hobby!

Rating: ****** (6 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Beatles Collectors Only.

Beatles - A Hard Day' s Night - Review

Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - 1963

Songs: A Hard Day’s Night, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, And I Love Her, Tell Me Why, Can’t Buy Me Love, Anytime At All, I’ll Cry Instead, Things We Said Today, When I Get Home, You Can’t Do That, I’ll Be Back. 

 

Type of Music: Early Sixties Pop Music.

Comments:

The Third Beatles Album and what a vast improvement over the first two!! The first seven songs are from the film but the rest isn’t just filler either. No Way!! And, also for the first time, all songs are written by John & Paul. The result is a Feel Good Album packed with excellent compositions and filled with memorable hooks. It’s difficult to point out highlights because A Hard Day’s Night, I Should Have Known Better, Can’t Buy Me Love, Anytime At All and the beautiful ballads If I Fell, And I Love Her, Things We Said Today and I’ll Be Back are all genuine Beatles Classics, at least in my book. Of course not all of the remaining songs are in that same league but they still aren’t bad!! A less brilliant Beatles song is still much better than most pop music around.     

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: An Excellent place to start your Beatles collection. Every Beatles Fan and every one else who enjoys good pop music should own this one. 

Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - Review

Songs:  Magical Mystery Tour, The Fool on the Hill, Flying, Blue Jay Way, Your Mother should Know, I am the Walrus, Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Baby You´re a Rich Man, All you need is love.

Type of Music: Mid Sixties Quality Pop with Psychedelic Influences.

Comments:

Sure, the first six songs on the Album form the Sound Track of the film of the same name. But actually this record sounds more like another Beatles Greatest Hits collection with some accidental filler in the form of the Psycho instrumental Flying or the Psycho George contribution Blue Jay Way. These two songs do nothing for me.

But the other songs,  all written by John and Paul are at least memorable and at best excellent.

Personally I would consider Scott McKenzie´s San Francisco, but to a lot of people All You Need is Love is the anthem of that famous Summer of Love. Psychedelics are certainly an important ingredient of the Magical Mystery Pie and I am the Walrus and above all Strawberry Fields Forever are among John´s finest work in this specific field.

And Paul is not far behind with the spooky Fool on the Hill and Penny Lane, a song Ray Davies would have loved to have written.

Actually Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane were written for Sgt. Pepper but were rejected because they would not fit in the context of that album.

So here it is, another Beatles album. Not very coherent but with some great songs.

 Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  Actually you can find most of the relevant songs on this album on one of the various Beatles Compilation Albums. Therefore Magical Mystery Tour is for Collectors Only.