The Beatles - With The Beatles (1963)

"I Wanna Be Your Man" by The Beatles

When David Jones went on The Ed Sullivan Show to promote Oliver! with others in the cast, he saw up close one of the seismic cultural events of the century.  He saw The Beatles debut on American television.  It changed the young Artful Dodger's life as it showed him what he wanted to be a part of: his own Beatles-like experience.  That's for another time.

The Beatles released their second album in the UK, With The Beatles, in 1963 on Parlophone Records.  (Here's their first.)

Note:  In the first half of 1964, North American labels caught on to the "trend" and started releasing the existing Beatles material in their respective markets -- restructuring the UK albums with the non-album singles.  I'm including those albums in the discography but focusing the blog stops on the UK lineage even though Meet the Beatles! and The Beatles' Second Album are seminal albums in US music history.

Here is the discography surrounding The Beatles's second album:

With The Beatles

I Want to Hold Your Hand (1963 single)

Introducing... The Beatles (1964 US album)

Meet The Beatles! (1964 US album)

Twist and Shout (1964 Canadian album)

All My Loving (1964 EP)

Souvenir of Their Visit to America (1964 EP)

The Beatles' Second Album (1964 US album)

The Beatles' First (1964 compilation album)

Four by The Beatles (1964 EP)

The Beatles' Long Tall Sally (1964 Canadian album)

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles (on The Ed Sullivan Show)

"Till There Was You" by The Beatles (at Royal Albert Hall)

"Roll Over Beethoven" by The Beatles

Pass the Headphones!!

The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963)

It was only a matter of time before we got around to everybody's favorite Liverpudlian band. Their connection to Them is a bit indirect, but fun, and follows this wayward path: Dick Rowe, a producer at Decca Records, is notorious as being one of the individuals to not sign The Beatles to a recording contract. The foursome auditioned at Decca Studios (an audition paid for by the band's manager Brian Epstein) and were rejected since "guitar bands are on their way out, Mr. Epstein". After The Beatles shot that theory down and shot to the top of the world, Dick Rowe was given a poor recording of Them's live act. Not willing to let another potential chart-topping band go unsigned, Mr. Rowe rushed to one of Them's concerts, liked what he heard and immediately signed them/Them to a recording contract.

The Beatles's debut album Please Please Me, released in 1963, is a solid collection of original songs by Lennon/McCartney and covers of songs they regularly performed at their concerts in Hamburg and the UK. But honestly, what else is there to say about "The World's Greatest Band" that hasn't been said a million times before?

Here is the discography surrounding The Beatles's debut album:

Love Me Do (1962 single)
Please Please Me (1963 single)
Please Please Me
From Me to You (1963 single)
Twist and Shout (1963 EP)
She Loves You (1963 single)
The Beatles' Hits (1963 EP)
The Beatles No. 1 (1963 EP)





Pass the Headphones!!