With The Beatles

This review applies to Sept 9, 2104 vinyl mono releases only. I've waited 35 years or more for new issues of pure analog Beatles on vinyl. No digital manipulation, or any manipulation, just music from original analog tapes to LP's. After years and years of disappointing digital releases and digitally modified vinyl, I thought this day would never come. I actually gave up buying music for a 20 year span. Based on listening to these new all analog mono LP's, I have found these Lp's have very little noise, if any, sound fantastic, and the pure analog sound is as good or better sounding than original Capital/EMI/Apple releases, in my opinion. No harsh compressed sound, no 2 dimensional sound, no digitally remastered sound transferred to vinyl, and no more dashed hopes in DVD Audio and SACD. These LP's sound fantastic. Like many Beatles fans, I grew up listening to them in the 60's. They made a violent and polarizing time in America more bearable. In the 60's, I bought and played their LP's until they were damaged beyond repair. I bought into digital music in the 80's only to find that it paled in comparison to pure analog. I should have bought more pure analog LP's while I had the chance, but, thought the medium was gone, whether I liked it or not. Finally I found vintage equipment (Sansui 6700 Receiver, Marantz Model 6300 Turntable, and JBL S312BE Speakers) and set out to spend mega money on EBAY for sealed analog LP's from the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, many albums made in the 70's were made of cheap thin vinyl and were often warped or had defects/noise when new and right out of the package, but, I persevered and have a good collection of Beatles and other pure Analog LP's and some 45's. You don't have to spend Mega money, however, as these mono releases are superb in quality and sound. There is very little noise, often none between songs. The LP's are flat as they are 180 grams, and most importantly these LP's sound warm and beautiful. I just sat back, closed my eyes and let the music and harmonizing soothe my soul. I did not buy the box set for $375. I bought each individually. This along with a $40 reduction for applying for a credit card brought the total to about $250, and if you get a defective album, you can send it back instead of the whole box. Remember though, "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road" are not included in the box set as they were only made in stereo. Capital US releases like "The Beatles Again" and "Beatles 65" won't be there either, but, you will find those songs in these mono releases anyway. Thank you Apple/EMI/Optimal Media (Germany) for giving audiophiles what they've wanted for so many years. You did good.

"With The Beatles" was the first step in producing the Beatles more artificially ? It was the change from Beat to Pop ! Comparing all the Beatles`Albums I must say, from the depth of my heart: "Please, Please Me" is the best and most true Album, the Beatles ever had recorded ! You can hear a very fresh, young and soulful kind of music-making ? It was the creative kind of George Martin(Thanks), to produce this LP quasi as a live-LP in the studio, because of only little time and a low budget. So the Sound was getting very more fundamental(bass-drum, drum-breaks and the more rough kind of their singing, than on the later , more technical LP-productions. That was the excellent way to play the real cool Mersey-Beat, but in a high niveau ! That`s why, "I saw her standing there" had become t h e e BEAT-HYMN of all , not to talk about "Twist and Shout" ! But don`t forget "There`s a place","Baby it`s you" and "Taste of Honey" ? And what about "Chains" and "Misery"? That was the time, when the Beatles had to fight for acceptance and fame, and..........They showed, and everyone could feel then their big heart and much fun , in making Music, Music and Music ! So I have more fun to listen to this LP, than to "Seargeant Pepper", wich seems to be only technical work ? So it`s no wonder, that The Beatles tried to catch that early spirit of making Rock-Music, when they started the "Get Back/Let It Be" Album ??? But the spirit had already flown away ! But last not least, there shall be no doubt: I like all the Beatles music ! But I like some more and some less, whenever I differ ! If I had to go to live alone on an island and I could only take one record of the Beatles with me, I would take the LP "Please, Please Me" with me !

The Beatles’ second album improves on the debut in almost every way whether it is in the Lennon-McCartney originals, the choice of covers or the fact that George Harrison’s first song written for a Beatles’ record is as good as any of John and Paul’s. Despite the fact there were no singles taken from the LP, ‘With the Beatles’ has many great songs, some which have become part of the legend or others that are underrated. “All My Loving” may have been a single in the US but it was not in the UK (as far as I know) but it as well known as any song from the early years. Favorites include “It Won’t Be Long” (which is so much better than “She Loves You” or “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”), “All I’ve Got to Do” and George’s song “Don’t Bother Me”. As far as the covers go – the three Motown standards are fantastic; “Mr. Postman”, “You Really Got a Hold on Me” (love this version) and “Money”. These gems make up for some of the tracks that are a little overrated – “Roll Over Beethoven” isn’t all that special and “I Wanna Be Your Man” pales in comparison to the Stones’ version but maybe the Beatles knew that the song wasn’t really for them which is why they gave it Andrew Oldham to present to his boys and let Ringo sing their version. The other covers are just ok but the rest of the originals are great and would pave the ways for Beatles records dominated by Lennon-McCartney classics with an occasional Harrison gem thrown in for good measure. ‘With the Beatles’ continued the Beatles early dominance of the pop charts and helped pave the way for the rock revolution to follow.

Gift

This recording and Japanese pressing is how they all should be done. Outstanding. You can hear all the components of each song in total clarity. The vocals, Ringo drumming, guitars..etc. When these were produced 50-60 years ago they made their way only to AM radio so production quality on the originals was sub par. To say the least. The LP vinyl releases didn't add much as the equipment at the consumer level was not exactly high end at the time. Any Parlaphone release and Japanese pressing is off the hook. I have several.

I had previously purchased the stereo vinyl remaster that came out in 2012, (as well as practically every other new 2012 Beatles release) and even though i listened to that version and enjoyed it quite a lot, i could clearly hear the false stereo that had been produced not by the band themselves. I ordered most of the Mono vinyl re-releases not long after they appeared for pre order. This is one of the two 2012 remasters however that i chose to sell, considering it to be pointless to ever listen to again after i receive the mono. I was absolutely correct. There is a lot of discrepancy as to if buying the Mono (vinyl) is even worth it, if you have already spent money on the Mono or Stereo CD's, let alone the vinyl releases from 2012. I wont even get into the later Beatles albums argument of Mono vs. Stereo, but for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper, the mono is the superior version. And as far as vinyl is compared to CD...Vinyl sounds better. I'm sure A Hard Days Night & Beatles for Sale are superb on mono as well, but the stereo versions are just as flawless production wise in my opinion. By the end of the day, The Beatles are The Beatles, the greatest rock group of all time. Even listening to a crappy mp3 version of one of their songs is joyful event because their music is timeless. Any Beatles CD, stereo or vinyl will please your ears. Similarly to Frank Zappa for myself, spending money on anything related to this band never really disappointing me, ever.

Its a natural misconception to think that each album through Sgt.Pepper was better than the one before it. That thinking assumes that progress in songwriting technique could overcome the fatigue that comes with 3 years of nearly constant touring and songwriting. Paul and John had worked together almost as many years before they made this album as they would work together after it. In fact these guys were ready for their first major label release. Here they offered some of their best songs and all the energy, excitement and positive vibes that Beatlemania would eventually come perilously close to [draining] dry. These songs were written before songwriting became a job for these guys. And before it was a sure thing that every record they made would sell big. The choice of selling the UK versions of their early records is usually a good thing. But here, the US version - "Meet the Beatles" would have made a far superior CD. "With the Beatles" has 5 covers, most of which have aged badly. "Meet the Beatles" included 3 hits not on "With...",'I Want to Hold Your Hand,''I Saw Her Standing There' and 'This Boy.' No contest. Not until "Revolver" would they again sustain this high level throughout an album. They would go on to write more musically sophisticated, socially relevant, and mind expanding songs. But they never wrote better songs than these. If you want to hear the Beatles rock, this is the album.

Vinyl plays perfect 0 skips, I love Ringo and he holds one of my favorite Beatles songs “with a little help from my friends” but his song on this album is just pure filler and not good, same goes for Lennons track “little child” if they replaced these 2 songs for the amazing singles “this boy” and “I want to hold your hand” this would’ve been one of my favorite early Beatles albums. Aside the negatives, the first 3 songs on this album are pure 10/10