Most people remember November 22, 1963 for what happened in Dallas that day. But in England, another historic event occurred at the same time: the release of "With the Beatles", the band's 2nd album. To commemorate its 60th (!) anniversary, we'll run it through the Weakest Link. Pick the THREE weakest links! DISCUSSION: when did you first hear "With the Beatles" - or these songs on its chopped-up US releases - and what did you think of it at the time?
Little Child is a goner for sure. Nothing can save it. I've also voted off schmaltzy Till There Was You and the girl group Devil In Her Heart. I first heard it around 1981 and thought it was devoid of classic tracks. I was wrong though. It's a great album
Little Child Hold Me Tight You Really Got A Hold On Me I can't remember when I first heard "With The Beatles". I definitely heard "Meet The Beatles" before that. It actually might've been in my late teens, which is late for me considering I knew more about The Beatles at age 5 than any 5 year old should. But of course all these songs appeared on various collections and comps over the years, so nothing was new to me when I finally heard the album in its entirety.
Agree with Beatlened on the first 3 off. My only struggle with this album was how it sounded. Stereo only then (in 1980) and even my young ears (13 at the time) knew it sounded worse than Please Please Me or my only other album at that time (62-66). The 87 mono CD made it better but, even then, I felt my "All My Loving" EP was better than that.
Till There Was You Devil In Her Heart I Wanna Be Your Man DQ?: Born in '64, it was very early grade school, 1st/2nd grade ('71/'72) on the American versions of the albums & I loved them, as The Beatles has overtaken The Monkees as my favorite band before I went to Kindergarten.
Little Child Hold Me Tight Devil In Her Heart This is gonna be a tough one after this round. I first heard With The Beatles in full when the CDs were released in 1987. My college roommate and I liked it but we both thought it was too “early rock and roll” to be on par with the Fabs’ later and greater work.
Little Child Till There Was You Devil in Her Heart Born in 1961, my parents bought Meet the Beatles as well as Second Album sometime in the 60's. Liked them both at the time, but as a little kid didn't appreciate them as much as I did later on. Heard and bought With the Beatles sometime in 1990, after I received my first CD player for Christmas 1989.
Heard the vastly superior Meet The Beatles in first grade 1971 and it rocked my world. Already had Yellow Sub, Y&T and 2nd (in that order). Probably first heard With when it came out on CD and thought a bunch of the tracks sounded less good and it oddly kept some of the weaker tracks and cut out some of the best.
Was bought MTB by mother at Sears after Sullivan show. Bought WTB as an import in 73 with my grad money. Still prefer MTB over WTB
Hold Me Tight-one of the few Beatles songs that sound amateurish Till There Was You-I like it OK, but for this hurts the Beatles reputation with some potential fans I Wanna Be Your Man-Ringo has energy, but the Beatles gave it to the Stones, so they couldn't have thought it was that great DQ: I heard All My Loving on the radio in 1964. I heard most of the covers on THE BEATLES 2ND ALBUM when my mother bought it sometime in the late 60's. I heard the rest on MEET THE BEATLES (a better album than WITH THE BEATLES) a few years after that at a friend's house. I bought both albums myself in the mid 70's. I didn't actually hear WITH THE BEATLES until the CD era.
First heard these songs as a child around 1969 when I borrowed Meet The Beatles! and The Beatles' Second Album from a cousin. I liked all Beatles music at that point, although I didn't play these two albums as much as the others; in particular, I found Second Album screechy and unpleasant to listen to. My appreciation of With The Beatles increased when I got the CD in 1987—it was like, oh, this is how it was supposed to sound.
I voted Little Child, Till There Was You, and Devil in Her Heart. Then I looked at the result, and those three have the most votes. I was right! I got Meet The Beatles (US version) ASAP after Feb. 9, 1964.
I was 12 at the time and pulled into Beatlemania.I bought only singles for a few years and then caught up with the albums when my money caught up.
Little Child Till There Was You Hold Me Tight I listened to With The Beatles for the first time shortly after Please Please Me at the age of four and I always thought that they improved a lot during 1963
Don't Bother Me, Little Child, Not A Second Time. I probably first listened to the whole album around 1982 I'd guess. If I'd been that age (14ish) when it first came out I might feel differently about it, but compared to the other ones which I listened to around the same time it's between this and Beatles For Sale as least listened to Beatles album for me. It's got some great tracks on it though!
I went with: Little Child Devil In Her Heart Not a Second Time I first heard the bulk of these songs on Meet The Beatles in 1978 when I was about five years old and got it as a hand-me-down from my uncle. It's hard to believe now that these songs were "only" 15 years old at the time, because they seemed like they were from a much more distant, innocent, black-and-white place than the world in which I was growing up. I heard With The Beatles as an album for the first time when I was in the 8th grade in 1987 when the CD was released. I felt it was a bit weak by Beatles standards. Without "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" as part of the whole thing, it seemed a bit like an album of second tier material. Of course, second tier Beatles is still far better than most bands could ever hope to accomplish. In 1963, they were still finding their feet as songwriters and creative thinkers, and I think George Martin was only just starting to figure out how to coax out their brilliance. There are only little hints at this time of what they were capable of, and 1964 is when they really unlocked that.
I only voted for "Hold Me Tight" because I realized too late that I have 3 votes. I would have voted for "Little Child" "Hold Me Tight" "Devil in Her Heart" Deciding on the third one was surprisingly hard.
You Really Got a Hold On Me Devil In Her Heart Not A Second Time DQ: first heard this in 1987 when the first four UK titles were released on CD. I had never heard Meet The Beatles (still haven’t actually) so it was a fairly new experience for me and I liked it a lot. I can already tell that the songs I like on here are not popular with a lot of the rest of you lot!
Voted "Little Child," "Till There Was You" and "Not a Second Time" off to clear out all the weaker songs. "Second Time" could have been better with a little more work, I think. Someone gave me a beat up mono copy of Meet the Beatles in 1970, making it my third Beatle LP in my collection after I'd bought Abbey Road and Let It Be earlier. Love it and played it constantly. "It Won't Be Long" had a skip during one of the stretched out "loooongs" and I still expect it when I hear the song.
I've always liked the album, there are only a few things that bother me. My first pressing was a German stereo version from 1969, so I was always familiar with the hihat intro to All my loving. Over the years I have bought many UK pressings from the 60s, Mono is definitely my favorite when it comes to With the Beatles. My choice would be Little Child, Roll over Beethoven Hold me tight. The originals are pretty lousy compositions, the Chuck Berry cover suffers a lot from the hand clapping, which I've hated since I was a child. The live versions are far superior.
Roll Over Beethoven You Really Got a Hold on Me Devil in Her Heart Never liked any of the Beatles cover versions. My brother had a copy of Meet the Beatles and that's where I heard most of these songs first. Although, I do like Till There Was You. I still enjoy listening to this album.
