Maps of Music

With the Beatles (1963)

Where the lyrics of With the Beatles take you, and where it was really made.

EMI first refused this cover because none of the four members was smiling, and the photo was shot in a dark hotel corridor in Bournemouth.

Key places

Recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios (1963)

Recording site Abbey Road Studios — The album was recorded over seven sessions across three months at EMI Studios in London. Studio 2 is recorded as the recording room for these sessions. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Jubilee line to St John's Wood station, then about a 5-minute walk.

Album story

Overview

• With the Beatles: second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles
• Released 22 November 1963 in the UK on Parlophone, eight months after Please Please Me
• Produced by George Martin
• Eight original compositions: seven by Lennon–McCartney and "Don't Bother Me", George Harrison's first recorded solo composition
• Six covers, mostly of rock and roll and Motown R&B hits
• The non-album single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", backed by "This Boy", was recorded during the same period

Background

• In 1963, groups were typically required to release more than one LP a year
• Martin and manager Brian Epstein planned for two LPs and four singles every year
• The band returned to EMI Studios in London shortly after recording "She Loves You" on 1 July 1963
• They came back only four months after Please Please Me was released
• Unlike the debut, whose bulk of tracks were recorded in one day, this album was recorded over seven sessions across three months

Recording

• On 18 July the group tracked four covers, including the Miracles' "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)"
• On 30 July they recorded a cover of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" and began work on the first new Lennon–McCartney song, "It Won't Be Long"
• The same session saw the recording of Paul McCartney's "All My Loving"
• In September, "I Wanna Be Your Man", given to the Rolling Stones, was attempted several times and left unfinished
• Four-track recording was installed at EMI before the 17 October session
• The album was officially completed on 4 November 1963

Cover

• The cover photograph was taken by fashion photographer Robert Freeman in black and white
• The band asked Freeman to take inspiration from Astrid Kirchherr's pictures of them in Hamburg, with members in half-shadow and not smiling
• The shoot took place on 22 August 1963 in a dark corridor of the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth
• EMI objected to the lack of smiles; approval came only after George Martin intervened as head of Parlophone
• EMI Australia used different shots for its release, which the Beatles were not pleased with

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960
• Grew out of Lennon's earlier band the Quarrymen
• Built its reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg
• Starr officially joined in 1962

Members

• John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr

Career

• Manager Brian Epstein shaped them into a professional act
• Producer George Martin developed their recordings after they signed with EMI
• First hit Love Me Do came in late 1962
• By early 1964 they were international stars
• Part of the British Invasion of the US pop market
• Retired from live performance in 1966
• Turned to more sophisticated studio albums: Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the White Album and Abbey Road
• Founded Apple Corps in 1968
• Broke up in 1970

Around this album

• Abbey Road was the last album the group recorded together
• On 20 September 1969, six days before release, Lennon told McCartney, Starr and manager Allen Klein that he wanted a divorce from the group
• No public announcement of the split came until McCartney announced he was leaving in April 1970

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Record Mirror: critic Peter Jones reviewed the album on release and hailed it as an improvement over Please Please Me
• He praised the covers and originals, particularly Harrison's "Don't Bother Me"

Reappraisal

• Music critic John Harris finds the cover most reminiscent of Kirchherr's Hamburg photos using the half-lit technique
• Harris describes the album as a repackaging of the band's early 1960s image, sold as accomplished rock and roll and art-house cool
• Harris calls the cover a watershed design that encouraged other acts to avoid the more cartoonish aspects of pop photography
• Ranked number 420 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003
• Included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2010)
• Voted number 275 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000)
• Rated 29th in Paul Gambaccini Presents the Top 100 Albums

Records

• Advance orders of half a million copies
• Sold another half million by September 1965, making it the second album to sell a million copies in the UK after the South Pacific soundtrack
• Stayed at the top of the UK charts for 21 weeks, displacing Please Please Me
• The Beatles occupied the top spot for 51 consecutive weeks
• Reached number 11 in the singles chart
• Released in Canada on 25 November 1963 as Beatlemania! With the Beatles

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Freeman was paid £75 for the cover, three times the fee EMI first offered.
• The original concept was an edge-to-edge painted picture with no title or artist credit, a plan EMI vetoed immediately.
• The first album with an edge-to-edge cover was the Rolling Stones' self-titled debut, released five months later.
• In the US the album's tracks were split unevenly across Meet the Beatles! and The Beatles' Second Album.
• The same photo with a blue tint was used for the cover of the US release Meet The Beatles!.
• Canada's 1963 release made this the first Beatles album released in North America.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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