With the Beatles

• 1. Recording Sessions And Timeline

  ›

  The Beatles returned to London's EMI Studios on the 18th of July 1963, just four months after their debut album had been released. They recorded four cover songs that day including Smokey Robinson's You Really Got a Hold on Me and Barrett Strong's Money That's What I Want. The session ended with an attempt at Till There Was You which the band deemed unsatisfactory. On the 30th of July they reconvened in the morning to record Please Mr. Postman by the Marvelettes. Later that afternoon they added overdubs to Money and recorded Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven. Paul McCartney's All My Loving was finished during this late-afternoon block. Historian Mark Lewisohn later called it his best songwriting effort up to that point. A single featuring She Loves You followed on the 23rd of August and became the group's first million-selling record in Britain alone. The band returned to the studio on the 11th of September 1963 to work on John Lennon's Little Child. Ringo Starr also attempted vocals for I Wanna Be Your Man but both efforts failed. They successfully completed All I've Got to Do and Not a Second Time before starting Harrison's Don't Bother Me. This track remained unfinished until the next day when they remade Hold Me Tight and finished the other two songs. On the 30th of September George Martin added piano and organ overdubs while the band were away on holiday. Final preparations concluded on the 4th of November 1963 after seven distinct sessions spread across three months.

• 2. Packaging Design And Photography

  ›

  Manager Brian Epstein invited photographer Robert Freeman to create the cover image after seeing Freeman's black-and-white pictures of John Coltrane. The Beatles asked Freeman to take inspiration from photos their friend Astrid Kirchherr had taken in Hamburg between 1960 and 1962. These images featured the band members in half-shadow and not smiling. On the 22nd of August 1963 Freeman photographed them in a dark corridor of the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth. He placed Ringo Starr in the bottom right corner since he was the shortest member and the last to join the group. McCartney described the result as very moody yet noted it took only an hour to complete. EMI initially vetoed the concept of an edge-to-edge picture with no title or artist credit. They also objected to the fact that the band members were not smiling. George Martin intervened as head of Parlophone to approve the portrait. Freeman received £75 for his work which was triple the fee first offered by the label. Music critic John Harris found the cover reminiscent of Kirchherr's half-lit technique from Hamburg. He argued the design represented a canny repackaging of their early incarnation sold as rock n roll mixed with art-house cool.

• 3. International Release Strategies

  ›

  Parlophone issued With the Beatles on the 22nd of November 1963 eight months after Please Please Me. The album became the first Beatles record released in North America when it appeared in Canada on the 25th of November 1963 under the augmented title Beatlemania! With the Beatles. This Canadian version included additional text on the cover and was issued only in mono format. For the United States release Capitol Records split the original running order unevenly across two albums. Nine tracks including all eight original compositions plus Till There Was You went to Meet the Beatles! The remaining five songs which were all covers ended up on The Beatles' Second Album. EMI Australia did not receive the standard cover art due to union restrictions on importing negatives for printing. They used different shots of the band in a similar style to the black-and-white photograph instead. The group remained unaware of this substitution until fans showed them the Australian cover during their only tour there. They informed EMI publicity staff that they were displeased with the change. A blue-tinted version of the same photo later served as the cover for the US release Meet The Beatles!

• 4. Chart Performance And Sales

  ›

  The LP had advance orders of half a million copies before its official release date. It sold another half million by September 1965 making it the second album to sell a million copies in the United Kingdom. Only the soundtrack to the 1958 film South Pacific had achieved that milestone previously. With the Beatles remained at the top of the charts for 21 weeks displacing Please Please Me. This run meant the Beatles occupied the number one spot for 51 consecutive weeks total. No other group or singer has ever matched 51 consecutive weeks at number one in the album charts. The record even reached number 11 in the singles charts because UK charts counted all records sold regardless of format. Peter Jones reviewed the album for Record Mirror and hailed it as an improvement over their debut. He praised both the covers and originals particularly Harrison's Don't Bother Me. On the 26th of February 1987 the album was officially released on compact disc in mono only. It appeared domestically in the US on LP and cassette on the 21st of July 1987 after being available only as an import.

• 5. Critical Reception And Legacy

  ›

  Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 420 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. English writer Colin Larkin voted it number 275 in the third edition of his All Time Top 1000 Albums published in 2000. Robert Dimery included the record in his book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die which came out in 2010. Paul Gambaccini rated it the 29th greatest album in his book The Top 100 Albums. That publication canvassed a panel of experts from seven countries to determine the rankings. Contemporary reviews like Peter Jones' praise highlighted the band's growth beyond their first effort. The cover design influenced future music industry aesthetics with acts like Lou Reed and Patti Smith adopting similar styles. Punk rock albums throughout the 1970s continued to draw inspiration from Freeman's watershed design choices. The album remains a benchmark for early Beatles production and songwriting development during their formative years.