a hard day's night (1965) - the beatles: parlophone, PCS 3058

I suppose it's fitting that my journey starts with the Beatles.  After all, they were pretty much the introduction to music for just about everyone of my generation. 

A Hard Days Night managed to not only be a soundtrack album, but also the first album by the mop-heads to feature all their own material.  Both Please Please Me and With The Beatles leaned heavily on covers, but Hard Days Night was all the boys.

This is the original 1965 Parlophone pressing (PCS 3058).  Think about that for a moment - this album is 50 years old.  Even though I've heard each of these songs many times over the years (some, like Can't Buy Me Love probably hundreds of times), when I was about to place it on the platter for this listen I actually felt a bit of concern that it would sound dated and corny. Turns out it holds up quite well.

Side 1:

1. A Hard Days Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can’t Buy Me Love

 Side 2:

1. Any Time At All
2. I’ll Cry Instead
3. Things We Said Today
4. When I Get Home
5. You Can’t Do That
6. I’ll Be Back

The first thing to hit me was just how good at writing pop songs Lennon & McCartney were, and how strong each song is.  Each song on the album is incredibly catchy, and in a way, that sort of poses a problem.  They all share a similar construction and sound – basic 4/4 beat with some tambo accents and some Dick Dale influenced surf guitar twangs.  So by the time you start side two, a song like Any Time At All - a groovy little number - gets sort of lost in the morass.  Especially since artists hadn’t yet started to take advantage of the LP format as a way to create a “concept” album (where all of the songs are related and serve to tell a larger story).  This is just a jukebox – one song after another with no connection to the one preceding or following it.  It’s almost like a Sartre- existentialist concept album.

 

But then again, looking at the jacket while the album played makes it pretty clear why the Beatles became such an incredible phenomenon.  The pictures of the lads on the front show a playful, non-threatening quality, making them perfect for girls just coming into adolescence:  John’s silliness, George’s cool demeanor, Paul’s self-assured comfort, and Ringo’s pensive distance.

One thing’s for sure, listening to this reminded me just how much fun and just how good the Beatles were at being a pop act.

Up next: An album marking a new beginning