Released in 1963, With The Beatles is the second album to be released by The Beatles within the aforementioned year.  Like their debut album, Please Please Me, there are numerous cover versions on both sides of this album, usually of Motown recordings.  Still, both The Beatles’ song writing and musicianship has improved to a noticeable degree.  Their originals now doing their upmost to land in the same quality range as their choice of covers.

The album at first appears less rushed than its predecessor, with more time spent on fine-tuning each song’s strengths and less time worrying about deadlines.  A reasonable debut in its own right, Please Please Me had shown that The Beatles could capably knock together a few tunes and faithfully recreate a number of Motown classics, but this is where the real differences can start to be seen from a Lennon/McCartney songwriting point of view.  True, With The Beatles follows a tried and tested formula by mixing the well known Motown numbers with the lesser known Lennon/McCartney tunes, but you can almost see the band taking on another form, as they are slowly progressing as both musicians and songwriters.  Don’t get me wrong, they still had a way to go until they could produce their first classic album – A Hard Day’s Night - but it’s nice to bear witness to the band’s development.

Allow me to talk about some of the album’s highlights.  The John Lennon led All I’ve Got to Do is one of the band’s first classics.  Lennon’s vocal techniques throughout are pleasantly varied.  I particularly like the way the verses lead seamlessly into the chorus, which bustles and hums with a polished twinkle, “Whenever you want me at all, I will be here, yes I will, whenever you call!” You see, time spent fine-tuning the record, putting effort into arranging the songs and applying the different stages of production practically, working towards highlighting the song’s chief characteristics – in this instance, as so often is the case, Lennon’s sublime vocals.  All My Loving is a high watermark on the album.  I’d like to draw attention to the charming innocence of just what McCartney is singing, “And then while I’m away, I’ll write home every day, and I’ll send all my loving to you!” Pleasant, delightful and possessing chaste virtues, songs such as All My Loving simply do not exist anymore.  Now, where’s my Soulja Boy CD-R, I feel like bouncing on my toe and super soaking some hoes!

Also featured is George Harrison’s first composition, Don’t Bother Me.  Great fun it is too, very playful and a good first outing for Harrison’s talents.  There is a fine balance struck between the upbeat mood of the song and the desolate lyrics, which are some of The Beatles’ best at this stage of their career.

The Marvelettes’ hit song Please Mister Postman is brought out of the closet and is often considered to be one of The Beatles’ best early recordings.  It lacks the intricacy of the carefully arranged vocal harmonies of the original, however, this is made up for with the sheer aplomb with which Lennon’s well-rehearsed vocal performance is delivered (the band had been playing the song as part of their live act for some years).  Less successful is their messy cover of The Miracles’ You Really Got a Hold on Me, which seems to have been covered for the sake of it.  It was no doubt chosen in an attempt to display a more vulnerable and mature side to the Fab Four, which, it could be argued, has thus far been missing from their original material.

Famously covered by The Rolling Stones, I Wanna Be Your Man is Ringo Starr’s second venture into performing lead vocals.  Compared with his satisfying rendition of Boys from Please Please Me this is a bit of a joke, and especially so when taken alongside The Rolling Stone’s scene-stealing interpretation, where this original is forced to run, hide and take cover.  As one news reporter said about the two bands’ differences prior to a Rolling Stones TV performance, ‘From the start, they were rebellious, cynical and rude, presenting themselves as the radical alternative to The Beatles.’  In this case this attitude works in The Stones’ favour, as they deliver this song in a way that The Beatles were simply unable to in 1963.  As was the case with Please Please Me the album isn’t able to provide much in the way of recommendations in its final moments.  The band’s slaughtering of Barrett Strong’s ever popular Money is With The Beatles’ nadir, and is all the more unforgiveable as it closes the album in a simply unacceptable way.  Few things are harder to stomach than observing a white man’s futile attempts to carry off a Motown classic, and such, Lennon shall never be forgiven.

On the one hand The Beatles’ originals have significantly improved in the short space of time between Please Please Me and With The Beatles.  However, the covers this time around are far less interesting.  The problem lies not with the choice of covers themselves – each is a certified classic – but rather in the second-rate performances, be it from Lennon, McCartney or Harrison.  All in all, With The Beatles is no worse than Please Please Me and it’s nice to see the band’s own material becoming stronger.