While Please Please Me presents a tight-knit rock’n’roll band, With the Beatles allows each Beatle to step into their “character.” Opening with “It Won’t Be Long,” a roaring - almost angry- John Lennon leads a call and response convincing his far away lover that she absolutely will come back to him. It’s an incredible opener - sweaty, ballsy, mature, confident and completely rock and roll. It’s following song, “All I’ve Got To Do,” again Lennon, puts John at the front of this record (look at the cover, his head is the biggest). It’s not hard to see why John was considered the wild, hilarious, bad ass Beatle of the bunch.
Paul takes lead on the hit single “All My Loving.” A bouncing, mop-topped pop song with jangling guitars, Paul’s double vocal take smoothly warms hearts. And then George rips out a country solo that sits nicely on top of the urgency of the song, slowing it down and cooling it out.
But George doesn’t stay away from the spotlight for long, on “Don’t Bother Me” - possibly the best track on the album - George debuts his own song writing chops: a dark, slinky, rhythmic swingin’ London lament on another lost lover. And the solo is raw and passionate. Stacked against an album full of Lennon-McCartney originals and R & B covers, this song sounds like a George tune. He’s quite, complicated, and independent. ”Don’t Bother Me” should be testament enough that George was underused, and not under-producing.
That old McCartney tree of cheese is grows, as the Music Man cover “Till There was You” will attest. It’s a nice song though, and the differing arrangement allows for a breathe between “Little Child” and “Please Mister Postman.”
The latter presents the Beatles taking a stab at the Marvelettes hit single. John steps comfortably into the lead of a song made popular by the American R & B group, and nails it, setting of a string of R & B and Motown covers in motion (including Smokey Robinson’s “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me” (this song in particular proves the Beatles knack for singing harmonies)). Comfortably stepping into the lead on a song made popular by an American girl group, Lennon pulls the song off as if he’d been waiting for that letter his entire life. The Bealtes knew how to pick cover songs, as George proves on Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven.” It’s a total British reworking of the classic American rock’n’roll song, but Harrison’s love for Berry and pop music make it shine.
Ringo, in a encore to “Boys” on Please Please Me, takes lead on the Lennon- McCartney penned “I Wanna Be Your Man.” This song kicks ass, and thrusts Ringo into that goofyBeatle spotlight. Flourished with screams, whoops and Lennon on the Hammond organ, “I Wanna Be Your Man” sounds like a drunken Cavern romp. It harkens to Let It Be’s “One After 909” (written in 1957, recorded in 63, rerecorded 69, and released in 70).
Like Please Please Me, With the Beatles closes with a scorching cover. This time it’s the Berry Gordy - Janie Bradford penned “Money,” as recorded by Barrett Strong. Oozing attitude, “Money” takes Lennon’s title of greatest British rock and roll singer (earned on his version of “Twist and Shout”), and elevates him into a stratosphere with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Elvis. Featuring George Martin on piano (anyone else think he’s the true fifth Beatle?), “Money” caused troubles in the recording studio. I’d like to think it was because of all the ruckus, but in reality they just overdubbed so much. Harrison’s guitar beefs along, and Lennon sneers into the microphone. If this is what capitalism sounds like, I’m not sure I’m against it.
Historically, the album was released on the same day as President Kennedy’s assassination. Most historians agree that the shooting in Dallas rushed in the 60’s. I don’t want to suggest that the Beatles were predicting or leading the change of guards, but With the Beatles added heavily to the massive cultural shake up. As the cover suggests, things were about to get dark.
