Released 1964
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Saw Her Standing There
This Boy
It Won't Be Long
All I've Got To Do
All My Loving
Don't Bother Me
Little Child
Till There Was You
Hold Me Tight
I Wanna Be Your Man
Not A Second Time
A few days after that first perfomance on the Sullivan show I spent the evening with some friends in a cafe in my hometown. It was, or anyway had been, a folk club. This night one heard only Meet The Beatles. The music, snaking through the dark, suddenly spooky room, was instantly recognizable and like nothing we had ever heard. It was joyous, threatening, absurd, arrogant, determined, innocent and tough... (Greil Marcus)
Conventional wisdom holds that the Parlophone, UK editions of The Beatles catalog are, to a one, the superior artifacts. Thus, With The Beatles, the Parlophone release from which this US Capitol disc is chipped from, is nominally the definitive article.
Of course, it gets tough. The unique thing about The Beatles is that their catalog is so strong and so consistent, with even their lesser creations usually being memorable and having something to offer, that you can practically toss together any old mix of single and album tracks and have a better-than-average album on your hands. In fact, it's been done!
In the case here; With should be, arguably is, the definitive article - it's longer (3 more songs, 7 more minutes), more balanced (more Paul and George, more rock and roll covers) and is, after all, the disc the lads intended it to be.
But I will go against the grain, and say that, for sheer impact, the US knock-off Meet The Beatles, which is 75% With, adding a single and b-side and one track from their first true LP, Please Please Me, is the one I choose.
The great albums tell a story. With The Beatles and Meet The Beatles tell the same story, really. But I think maybe Meet tells it a little bit better. Meet was the formal introduction for us in US, not counting VeeJay's Introducing The Beatles, which knocked off Please Please Me, and rode the coattails of Meet into the #2 spot. Meet, driven by the hot single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was a good as its name. Here's where we Amurricans got acquainted. And it tells the story better because it's shorter, harder, direct and to the point. It doesn't fuck around.
It's the hot single that kicks it off - hard. A three-chord blast. Then again. Then again! Then again!! And then a surging straight into "Oooooh I ---". All great rock and roll songs grab you by the throat from the first second, then deliver the goods. This one is no exception. The songs comes at you in a joyous rush, "the I can't hide" (or is it "I get high"? It sure sounds like the latter. Maybe Dylan was right) building and building on itself, much as the "Come on - come on!" in"Please Please Me". From those first few seconds the record is undeniable. Then it's the "One - two- three - faaah!" that launches "I Saw Her Standing There". (Context - I prefer this one as the lead off on Please Please Me. Practical reality - it's a prime candidate for their Best Song and it sounds just fine here, a one-two punch coming right on the heels of "Hand").
After that it begins to settle down a bit. "This Boy", the doo-wop-ping b-side of "Hand" is a nice hark back to Album # 1. But Meet (and With) is no re-hash. The Fab Ones were burning too fast to look back. On their first outing they had mastered every rock and roll move up to 1963. Here they're giving notice of their mastery of this year's model. Track three (the opener on With) slams home with Motown power; they were listening to the latest hot sounds from Detroit, and learning. "All I've Got To Do" similarly shuffles and stutters with soul energy. And a newfound, mature longing creeping into the lyrics, pushing the teenage romance aside (though that transition won't be complete for another year).
"All My Loving" harks back to last year again. "Don't Bother Me" is an early George outing with a slightly sinister melody. "Little Child" a rumbling rocker. "Till There Was You" another early example of essential Paul balladry (and obsession with square show tunes). "Hold Me Tight" runs on its mighty, chugging bridge and yelped vocal. "I Wanna Be Your Man" fills the role of first album's "Boys"; a good slab of Liverpool rockabilly, wailed by Ringo. It has the same kind of drive ("Boy", however, has the tougher groove). Then it slams to a close with the urgent, despairing "Not A Second Time" - more Motown riddim, and a threatening sound that's new to their music.
A 27-minute volley, courtesy of Capitol Records A&R department, in the Beatles campaign to conquer the US. America fell without a fight.
