Log In
Register
6.13am
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline
Please Please Me was an amazing album, great debut, love all the songs, but by AHDN the Beatles really knew what they were doing. Every song was well thought out musically (some lyrics were a bit forced) and recorded well. It’s their best early album (first four) and the title song is a classic. Was AHDN The Beatles’ first masterpiece?
1.07pm
16 August 2012
Offline I’ve always seen AHDN as their cultural crossover album, as it proved they were more than just hype. It was a truly varied collection of songs tied into a great movie. It’s the first album of all-originals, too.
I’ve noticed that as time marches on AHDN gets lumped into the “early Beatles” pile. Probably because in comparison ‘Beatles For Sale ‘ almost seems like a step backwards with its glut of cover songs and occasionally questionable song choice. Honestly, for years I thought BFS came before AHDN , because the transition from AHDN to ‘Help !’ felt more natural.
E is for 'Ergent'.
1.08pm
16 August 2012
Offline Hey, albums get hyperlinked now. Neat. When did that start?
E is for 'Ergent'.
1.28pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline SatanHimself said
I’ve always seen AHDN as their cultural crossover album, as it proved they were more than just hype. It was a truly varied collection of songs tied into a great movie. It’s the first album of all-originals, too.I’ve noticed that as time marches on AHDN gets lumped into the “early Beatles” pile. Probably because in comparison ‘Beatles For Sale ‘ almost seems like a step backwards with its glut of cover songs and occasionally questionable song choice. Honestly, for years I thought BFS came before AHDN , because the transition from AHDN to ‘Help !’ felt more natural.
Beatles For Sale Seems like a break, probably due to the fatigue caused by touring, definitely a step backward in my opinion. But I wasn’t even thinking about the movie, that definitely was a big turning point.
And I think they started linking last night.
2.14pm
14 December 2009
Offline
More hyperlinking mysteries for me to ponder: How does it differentiate between the single and album titles?
The following people thank Von Bontee for this post:
Mr. KitePaul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
2.26pm
1 November 2013
Offline
Von Bontee said
More hyperlinking mysteries for me to ponder: How does it differentiate between the single and album titles?
Context?
2.33pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Von Bontee said
More hyperlinking mysteries for me to ponder: How does it differentiate between the single and album titles?
I don’t think it does, the albums get precedence and then its the songs so Help ! takes you to the album page not the song page. I suppose the thinking is that the album pages will provide you with the links to entries for all the songs on that album plus a load of other entries around the forum whereas the song entry might lead to less.
SatanHimself said
Hey, albums get hyperlinked now. Neat. When did that start?
Joe put the feature in a few days back, its detailed in this Forum Changes post and the ones following.7
On topic.
Is it a masterpiece? Its certainly an amazing album, another step up in quality in their writing and recording and all songs self-penned by John and Paul, which was a real eyeopener at the time, and there are a few fillers (I’m Happy Just To Dance With You , When I Get Home , I’ll Cry Instead – tho some will argue that Revolver , The White Album and even Pepper has that) and its lacking that something needed to take it to the masterpiece level. It did take them them two more albums before they pushed thru with Rubber Soul .
For me their first masterpiece, which is very different from an exceptional album, is Revolver , that was when they put an album together that blew the world of music and everything in it away and left anyone stunned at how far ahead of the game they were – tho it may hav enot been felt that way at the time. By Pepper everyone else had cottoned on and got it and society was pretty much in tune (altho some derided it on initial release, same as when She Loves You was released). I think thats why Revolver is now generally seen to be better than Pepper.
The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:
Zig, vonbontee"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
3.03pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline meanmistermustard said
Von Bontee said
More hyperlinking mysteries for me to ponder: How does it differentiate between the single and album titles?
I don’t think it does, the albums get precedence and then its the songs so Help ! takes you to the album page not the song page. I suppose the thinking is that the album pages will provide you with the links to entries for all the songs on that album plus a load of other entries around the forum whereas the song entry might lead to less.
SatanHimself said
Hey, albums get hyperlinked now. Neat. When did that start?
Joe put the feature in a few days back, its detailed in this Forum Changes post and the ones following.7
On topic.
Is it a masterpiece? Its certainly an amazing album, another step up in quality in their writing and recording and all songs self-penned by John and Paul, which was a real eyeopener at the time, and there are a few fillers (I’m Happy Just To Dance With You , When I Get Home , I’ll Cry Instead – tho some will argue that Revolver , The White Album and even Pepper has that) and its lacking that something needed to take it to the masterpiece level. It did take them them two more albums before they pushed thru with Rubber Soul .
For me their first masterpiece, which is very different from an exceptional album, is Revolver , that was when they put an album together that blew the world of music and everything in it away and left anyone stunned at how far ahead of the game they were – tho it may hav enot been felt that way at the time. By Pepper everyone else had cottoned on and got it and society was pretty much in tune (altho some derided it on initial release, same as when She Loves You was released). I think thats why Revolver is now generally seen to be better than Pepper.
Which is why Revolver is probably my favorite. I probably shouldn’t have used the word masterpiece, but I meant their first real breakthrough, an exceptional album that showed their true talent and was full of amazing music.
8.25pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline Testing: A Hard Day’s Night
EDIT: Excellent, it kept my italics. I’m weird about needing the italics there.
The following people thank IveJustSeenAFaceo for this post:
Starr Shine?, Mr. Kite(This signature brought to you by Net Boy and Net Girl. Putting messages in modems since 1996.)
8.41pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline Mr. Kite said
I probably shouldn’t have used the word masterpiece
Why not? It’s a legitimate question. Great topic.
Since I consider 1963/64 to be the “early days”, I say yes it was their first masterpiece for the positives mentioned by SatanHimself.
SatanHimself said
…it proved they were more than just hype. It was a truly varied collection of songs tied into a great movie. It’s the first album of all-originals, too.
I can definitely see the merit in mmm‘s thinking as well – especially since Revolver is my co-favorite album along with Rubber Soul (Rubbolver!).
The following people thank Zig for this post:
Mr. KiteTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
7.47pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline Listening to the album at the moment and yes, it is the masterpiece of their early phase that started with Please Please Me and ended with Beatles For Sale . Just wire-to-wire mastery and so far ahead of everyone else at the time it was released that it must have seemed cruelly unfair in 1964.
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
Please Visit My Website, The Rock and Roll Chemist
Twitter: @rocknrollchem
Facebook: rnrchemist
11.22pm
28 March 2014
Offline Clearly AHDN is a master piece compared to their 1st 2 LPS, which could have been Please Please Me 1 & 2, like Rubber Soul & Revolver were. Again followed by another master piece in Sgt.Pepper. How Ironic. 
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms! 
12.24am
2 August 2014
Offline I had to register reading about this topic. I consider this album their first POP masterpiece. Not a single bad song on this one, it has incredible energy all through it and there’s the movie too. Heard it for the first time some months ago and I was shocked. Too perfect 
12.36am
4 June 2014
Offline Agreed that this album is fantastic. There isn’t a song I’d skip on here, and even if I didn’t like a song on here there isn’t a song that goes beyond three minutes in length. It’s definitely my favorite of the Fabs’ first four albums, and I think part of that is because all the songs are Lennon-McCartney originals. Not only that, each man was becoming more mature in terms of lyric writing and arrangements (Things We Said Today and I’ll Be Back are good examples of these.) And that’s not to say you don’t have your typical early Beatles songwriting, but they were getting better.
If you're lonely (or not!), you can talk to me. .....Hey! Are you a new member on this fine forum and don't know where to go to introduce yourself?
Well, you can do it here! Dig it?
12.55am
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline StrawberryWalrus said
I had to register reading about this topic. I consider this album their first POP masterpiece. Not a single bad song on this one, it has incredible energy all through it and there’s the movie too. Heard it for the first time some months ago and I was shocked. Too perfect
Thanks for popping in @StrawberryWalrus – pull up a chair and join us.
DrBeatle said
Listening to the album at the moment and yes, it is the masterpiece of their early phase that started with Please Please Me and ended with Beatles For Sale . Just wire-to-wire mastery and so far ahead of everyone else at the time it was released that it must have seemed cruelly unfair in 1964.
Just as RS, R and SPLHCB were in 65, 66 and 67.
The following people thank Zig for this post:
Mr. KiteTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
10.15am
8 April 2014
Offline A Hard Day’s Night was the first album I owned. I loved it. In my opinion it is their best from their early days. They had gotten the hang of it, Please please me was just a sort of experiment, then came With the Beatles (which was alright) and then came… A Hard Day’s Night , you can hear the change, they were maturing.
Lyric-wise it was not too strong, but definitely an improvement from the other two albums.
I like the fact that there are no covers on the album, it is all their own work, but the only shame is that George didn’t have a song on there.
Beatles For Sale definitely was a step back. It happened too soon after A Hard Day’s Night and they just wanted a break, I guess.
The following people thank Beatleva for this post:
Mr. Kite, Bulldog11.13am
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline Beatleva said
I like the fact that there are no covers on the album, it is all their own work, but the only shame is that George didn’t have a song on there.
He didn’t write one for it, but at least he got to sing I’m Happy Just To Dance With You . Poor Ringo however… 
: Hey guys what am I singin’ on this one?
: Umm… *mccartney mouth scratch* You don’t get a song this album, Ringo…
: We’re writin’ the whole thing!
: I get to sing one!
: C’mon guys, I can do a cover! We only have 13 songs!
: Go make a movie ’bout it, Richie!
: I will!
The following people thank Mr. Kite for this post:
Starr Shine?, Beatleva, ewe22.24pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline Diggin’ the love for the early albums here. As much as I enjoy everything from Rubber Soul forward, the early stuff excites me to no end. There is no doubt in my mind they mastered Rock & Roll.
@mr-kite-2 Even though Ringo did not have a track on this album, they did record ‘Matchbox ‘ during these sessions (1 June 1964). It appeared on the Long Tall Sally EP.
The following people thank Zig for this post:
Mr. KiteTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
2.32pm
2 August 2014
Offline Zig said
StrawberryWalrus said
I had to register reading about this topic. I consider this album their first POP masterpiece. Not a single bad song on this one, it has incredible energy all through it and there’s the movie too. Heard it for the first time some months ago and I was shocked. Too perfectThanks for popping in @StrawberryWalrus – pull up a chair and join us.
Thank you too 
I would agree that it’s definitely a huge improvement over previous two records, but they are all too different to compare.
Please Please Me was their first record, it was very fun and lightweight, but then comes With The Beatles . The latter is way more mature and somewhat darker, while the former is the opposite. Then A Hard Day’s Night pops in. To me, at least, it’s more similar to PPM than WTB. It’s almost as if they were following some order: Fun, mature, fun, mature (the last being Beatles For Sale ). Of course that most probably isn’t the case, but that’s how I picture those albums (and to add to this, dividing like this isn’t doing it the full justice – AHDN has a fair share of beautiful, solemn ballads just like WTB has All My Loving , Hold Me Tight etc.)
About Ringo, I agree that he should have had a chance to sing somewhere. I can easily imagine him singing I’ll Cry Instead in somewhat different arrangement. However, he contributed the name of the album/movie, and to me, that’s quite an accomplishment for such a record.
The following people thank StrawberryWalrus for this post:
Zig, Mr. Kite1.42am
10 August 2014
Offline Let me get this out of the way: Is A Hard Day’s Night a masterpiece? As a film, yes. As an album, no.
But I will say that I consider this their first truly great album. When I listen to it, I don’t feel the need to skip around like I do with some of their other albums (I’m looking at you, Please Please Me , With the Beatles, and Beatles For Sale ). It has some nice tunes, but I don’t see it as being anything too revolutionary. Pretty par for the course with what they were writing. I think the album came out better because they had more time on it as far as the songwriting goes. Beatles For Sale is generally considered a rushed effort, and while there is brilliance on that record, it doesn’t match that of A Hard Day’s Night .
Plus, the guitar on I’ll Cry Instead sounds like it’s on drugs. I like that.
The following people thank paulramon1962 for this post:
Mr. Kite, UnidentifiedFiendishThingyFavorite Beatle of the moment: Paul McCartney
