In the studio
The success of their debut album, plus numerous radio sessions and TV appearances, meant The Beatles had become more confident in the studio by the time they came to record With The Beatles.
However, they were still bound by the technological limitations of the time, and the album was recorded entirely on two-track machines. It was only from I Want To Hold Your Hand that the group moved on to four-track recording.
With The Beatles was recorded between July and October 1963. In contrast to the straightforward guitar, bass and drums line up of much of Please Please Me, The Beatles' second album included greater use of percussion and keyboard instruments.
On 18 July, the first recording session, The Beatles worked on four cover versions: You Really Got A Hold On Me, Money (That's What I Want), Devil In Her Heart and Till There Was You. The first two, in particular, arguably eclipsed any of the covers on Please Please Me, and remain among the group's finest recordings.
Although they had more time to work on With The Beatles than on Please Please Me, the album was recorded in just seven non-consecutive days, plus several editing and mixing sessions. The most complicated song was Money (That's What I Want), which contained enough overdubs to warrant a series of reduction mixes. The final stereo version used a separate mono mix in each channel, in order to avoid any more tape-to-tape copying.
Mono was still the preferred format in 1963. Stereo mixes were made, but The Beatles attended none of the sessions. The stereo mixes were primarily intended to feature a balance between the vocals and instrumentation, with each typically filling one of the available recording tracks.
Cover artwork
Although pop groups in 1963 were expected to be pictured grinning from the sleeve of their latest long-player, With The Beatles broke new ground with its artful black-and-white portraits of the group in half-shadow.
The photograph was taken on 22 August 1963 by Robert Freeman inside the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth, during the group's six-night residency at the town's Gaumont Cinema.
They had to fit in the square format of the cover, so rather than have them all in a line, I put Ringo in the bottom right corner, since he was the last to join the group. He was also the shortest.
The Beatles had shown Freeman the iconic images taken by Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg, and asked if their album could be given a similar treatment. He was paid £75 for his work, three times the normal fee granted by EMI.
It was in a hotel and we had an hour in which he could take our picture. He pulled out four chairs and arranged us in a hotel corridor; it was very un-studio-like. The corridor was rather dark and there was a window at the end, and by using this heavy source of natural light coming from the right, he got that photo. He got this very moody picture which people think he must have worked at for ever and ever in great technical detail. But it was an hour. He sat down, took a couple of rolls and he had it. But Robert was very good. I liked his photography a lot. I thought he took some of the best pictures of The Beatles that way.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In his book Yesterday, Freeman claimed that the picture was taken in a hotel dining room. Whatever the true location, it is known that EMI were reluctant to use a black-and-white photograph on the cover, but were persuaded otherwise by Brian Epstein and George Martin.
Freeman's image was also used on the cover of Meet The Beatles!, the group's first Capitol album in North America.
Related articles:
- You Really Got A Hold On Me
- Recording: You Really Got A Hold On Me, Money, Devil In Her Heart, Till There Was You
- Money (That's What I Want)
- Live: Royalty Theatre, Chester
- US LP release: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Iconic artwork on the cover. Although possibly a poorer representation of Astrid Kirsheners work, this was the first step to rewriting the rules on pop production. George Martin calls it their first songbook. It took me longer to get to know this album than any other Beatle album. By the time of With The Beatles, the innocence of Please Please Me had given way to an expectation. This is a fine album. But to truley appreciate what was happening with the group, you really need to listen to their first three albums, in order, one after another, and then you will actually hear The Beatles sound evolve.
John also played Hammond organ on this album.
On which song(s)? Not on I Wanna Be Your Man, as you claim on that page - that was George Martin.
"With The Beatles" marks their first real lasting "moment" in my book, but that is just by the cover image. The content of this album is probably my least favorite. The highs are very high, but the lows are down there among the worse stuff they did. "It Won't Be Long" continues their trend of starting an album out 100 mph & "All My Loving" is one of their best, but it gets a bit inconsistent after that. "Little Child" & "Devil In Her Heart" just aren't a good sound. George did well on this album & "Money" is their best cover ever for my buck. It helps to know they also did "She Loves You" during this time, but all in all, I think it's a step down from Please Please Me as a total product.
Yeah, this is probably my least favourite too. I don't see it as a step down, though - more of a step sideways.
I agree with the assessment that this album is very uneven. Having grown up with the American versions, I think it's counterpart "Meet the Beatles" is an unqualified masterpiece. Practically all originals and nearly every song is strong. The overall effect of Meet the Beatles is "WOW!" the overall effect of "With the Beatles is "Hey cool, more Beatles songs!" Of course, Capitol cherry-picked the best songs available for their first Beatles release.