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Meet the Beatles (Again) - Meet the Beatles!/With the Beatles

Posted at 2:06 AM on September 9, 2009 by The Current (1 Comments)
Filed under: Meet the Beatles (Again)

Meet the Beatles!/With the Beatles
Originally released in 1963/64
By Mary Lucia
8th Grade

With the Beatles is the second U.K. album recorded just four months after their first, released November 22, 1963 - the same day as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The album features eight original tunes, including the first by George Harrison,"Don't Bother Me" and six covers of Motown and R&B hits. (which was pretty commonplace for the time). Most of the songs from the album were released in the U.S. as Meet the Beatles! in January of 1964.

I had to re-read this stat three times to make sure this number was correct, the record had an unheard of half million advance orders and sold another half million by September 1965.

Making it only the second album to sell a million copies in the U.K .(The first being the South Pacific Soundtrack.) Bali Hai your hand.

Actually, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was the first of 19 #1 singles in the U.S and the Beatles best-selling single world wide. The bands extreme popularity in Germany found them reluctantly agreeing to re-record "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in German. The band felt it didn't translate well and vowed never to do any more.

At the risk of being run out of town by torch-wielding Fab Four lovers, I should state up front that The Beatles were always someone else's favorite band. I believe I have grown to appreciate their place in music, ideas, hair, social relevance, sound, impact, style and legacy more and more.

Everyone's parents or older siblings owned Beatles albums. My first experience with the Beatles, I'm told, was that when I was barely four years old my oldest sister was babysitting me with her friends. Like a performing chimp, they thought it funny as stoned teenagers to ask me to tottle over to the stereo to pick a record and put it on the turntable. Which I might add I did flawlessly. (Future foreshadowing?)

I remember the album cover with four brunette dudes' heads close together. Some 45 years later it's one of the most parodied album covers in music history. One of my favorites being The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," the album cover of "Meet the Be Sharps."

I always thought it funny growing up in the '70s when older girls would talk about who was the cutest Beatle... it always seemed like asking "Which of your dad's friends do you think is the hottest? Uhhh." Let's just say that if my dad would've had a golf buddy who resembled Harrison, I'd say "George."

When trying to review an early Beatles album it feels a bit futile. For one thing essentially in this stage of their career one would be judging them as a cover band. Let the records show they were a pretty spectacular cover band.

Of course not without controversy, the argument has been made that the effect of the British Invasion actually ended up hindering early '60s pop music by American black artists. As so many British acts at the time, the Beatles had a deep respect for the soul of American Motown and R&B. With the Beatles nodded in homage to the best of the best with covers of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold On Me" and Berry Gordy's "Money," to name a few. Served up without too much deviation in arrangement or feel, but given that it was The Beatles, they were able to make even show tunes their own i.e. "Til There Was You" from Music Man.

With the Beatles features one of my all time favorite Beatles tunes - "the rocking "It Won't Be Long." John Lennon's voice always had an edge of sandpaper grit even when he sang pretty, which is a quality I most love in all of my favorite singers today.

Mary Lucia hosts weekday afternoons on The Current from 2-6 p.m. Mary is NOT a performing chimp.

Comments (1)

Fantastic record! Strong start with Saw her standing there, and a hell of a finish with twist and shout..

not bad for a debut I think.

Posted by Vince | September 9, 2009 12:25 PM

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