First Reaction to The Beatles - With The Beatles (Full Album)

[@humanreviewsstuff]

Let me know what you think of this album and subscribe if you haven't! We're on our way to 2k!

[@bobsbigboy_]

til there was you is amazing

[@PeterBuwen]

Agreed.

[@dougs78records64]

I was a little kid in early 1964 when The Beatles first hit the American radio airwaves. All pop songs at that point were short. Radio stations wouldn't play any song that was much past the three minute mark. That way they could insert more commercials, sports reports, weather reports etc. Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" broke that mold clocking in at 6:00 in 1966. Album oriented FM radio stations started to come of age quickly in 1967 playing records that sometimes had only one song on an album side. That said, when the first burst of Rock and Roll came along in the mid 1950's, promoted my a bunch of small independent record companies in the US, their was a concerted effort by the mainstream music industry at the time to tame the Rock and Roll beast as they saw it. So by the early 60's, the pop music on the AM radio that was considered Rock and Roll was very watered down compared to the Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly etc. records from 1955 until about 1958. The coming of The Beatles and the British invasion completely blew the lid off of that. The moguls of the time finally realized they couldn't fight it. The previously mentioned artists were all huge early influences on The Beatles. It should also be pointed out here that where pop music and Rock and Roll/R&B was concerned, until The Beatles came along, the market was all about singles not albums/LP's. The Beatles changed that too. As soon as they appeared, LP's became important......for everybody....weather they liked it or not. They raised the bar. They also released singles separately from their LP's (at least in the UK) so that their fans wouldn't have to buy the singles twice. The only exception to that was the movie sound track albums A Hard Days Night, Help and Magical Mystery Tour. The rest of the singles are available on the album "Past Masters". So note that "With The Beatles" has no singles on it. So kudos to The Beatles for reintroducing us stupid Americans to our own culture with all those covers of those great R&B tunes. So with all of that said, it is fascinating to hear someone much younger, with your point of reference comment on this stuff. I think the one thing you missed is how insanely and embarrassingly innocent most of these lyrics are since at this early stage in their career they were consciously aiming these songs at 13 or so year old girls. The boys liked it too because the sound had grit and drive to it compared to almost everything else on the pop music landscape of the time. So for me, I love lot's of music from the decades that have followed, but the 1960's have a special place in my heart because of all of the huge social change that came to society in that 7 year period between 1963 (the assassination of President Kennedy when the repressive 1950's came to a screeching halt) and 1970. Between the Civil Rights movement, the anti war movement, Feminist movement, LSD (and yes I'm serious about the later, it changed me personally). The Beatles were ONE of the big, big, cultural movers that changed everything about the assumptions we all take for granted in our current age about music and everything else.

[@LanceHall]

It was recorded on two channels because they recorded for a powrrful mono mix not wide 😢stereo. Back then you could buy albums in mono or stereo.

[@PeterBuwen]

I don't know how old you are. But up until the 1960s, it was normal for a song to be no longer than 3 minutes. That was because radio stations didn't play longer songs, and radio stations were the main distributors of music. If you wanted to be successful, you had to write short songs that were suitable for being played on the radio, where you wanted as many commercial breaks as possible to finance it. The Beatles were the first to break the mold here too. Because after they became famous in the mid-1960s, radio stations could no longer afford NOT to play the Beatles. "Norwegian Wood" (1965) was the first to break the 3.5-minute barrier. "A day in the Life" (1967) is already over 5 minutes long. I think it was "Hey Jude" (1968) that Jon Anderson from Yes was talking about when he once said in an interview: after the Beatles played longer songs, we said we should do that too. By the way: the production of your video is a bit flat. 😉 You are only a small youtuber; I give you a thumb up. But you should really learn to appreciate the Beatles in their own time and not judge them from the perspective of today's listening habits.

[@pizzarella_yt]

I think this is a little better than Please Please Me. John called this the "true sound of the Beatles". There are a couple possible reasons why their first two albums and few singles don't sound the best. Firstly, pop music wasn't too worried about quality at the time, especially since most Beatles fans listened on some pretty low quality speakers on account of being teenagers in the 60s. Next, the Beatles recorded on 2 track tape recorders up until I Want To Hold Your Hand (where they switched to 4 tracks, and later 8 around the white album), which is also why the stereo mixes are so lopsided, since there are only two tracks to pan. The last reason (which I'm not completely sure of) is that from what I've heard based on a video about Pink Floyd's first album, EMI studios had a "pop" and "orchestral" setting, where the orchestral setting captured a wider amount of frequencies. And as I mentioned under the Please Please Me reaction, since you're hearing a fold-down of the stereo mix into mono, the mixing isn't accurate to the original since the stereo mixes had some unnecessary EQ changes. It's also the 2009 remaster which people often dislike. But regardless, this is an alright album. I'm glad George started writing songs, Don't Bother Me is one of my favorite super early original songs of theirs, and he only gets better. He's my favorite member actually. Weird that these first two albums each had one song with suspicious lyrics. I'm not sure why Paul didn't say "WE were just 17" in I Saw Here Standing There, or why Little Child was even written.

[@jnagarya519]

There isn't any panning. The recordings were, from the beginning, intended to be MONO, because that was the promotional medium -- RADIO -- and the market. All the music was recorded on one track -- in order to "pan" a sound, the sound must be recorded to at least two tracks. The vocals were recorded on the other track. It was easier to correct errors without having to re-record the music as well. The two tracks were then mixed to MONO, as all along intended. One learns that the two-track wasn't stereo by reading George Martin's _All You Need is Ears_ in which he points out the "hole in the middle" -- between the two tracks -- because there was no "panning" possible.

[@MisterMasterShafter1]

This sounds so much better and badder in mono as it was meant to be heard in

[@LanceHall]

I did a very nice modern stereo mix of this album.

[@PeterBuwen]

"I wanna be your man" was one of the first hits of the Rolling Stones. And that's why: The Stones an the Beatles knew each others and were friends. They met Mick Jagger and Keith Richards by chance one day when John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in London on September 10, 1963. Jagger told them that they were in the studio and needed more material. McCartney then offered them I Wanna Be Your Man, which was not yet finished at that time, but was already intended for the album With the Beatles, but not as a single. He and Lennon therefore retreated to a corner and finished composing the song in front of an impressed Jagger and Richards. The Stones released the song on November 1, 1963, and the Beatles released it 11 days later.

[@10Rice8Fun]

Hard days night!

[@CharlesHoward-ud6qv]

You have to remember this was released in the US in 1964. The very first song you said was a nice soft rock song that you wouldn’t revisit. When we dropped the needle on this album it was as if we were listening to something from another planet. It was so different and unique compared to any thing on the radio at that time. Not your fault because you’re listening to it after so much evolution in music. I’m a lead guitarist and it was this music that encouraged me to start playing. I love every song on this album and pretty much everything they did.

[@maxmarino5232]

I actually love this album tbh but you have to go into it expecting it to sound early 60s and even late 50s cos compared to the songs literally the year later it sounds very old but I think it has a certain charm to it knowing they were all so young and this was also like a live album like how they'd play their shows in the even earlier beatle days 🤗🙏

[@vivasanpietro]

Songs had to be under three minutes to allow for radio play back then

[@bobmessier5215]

You are listening with 2025 ears. The Beatlemania years 1963-1964 was about their live shows. It was typical 1950's R&B/Pop with some unique rock and melodies. 1965 were acoustic driven songs. Good for earphones. 1966-1968 was psychedelic rock. 1969-1970 was modern rock with experimental twists. Most of their music was about fun, peace and love. Which is why they are immortalized.

[@thebends1029]

You should listen with 2025 ears though, It is 2025 after all.

[@bobmessier5215]

@@thebends1029 Songs and music are like movies only shorter. When heard or watched through the lens of time, like when it was first recorded, it more often feels fresher and more vibrant. You had to be talented as a musician or singer back in the day. As for movies, try watching "Nosferatu", a silent movie from 1922, as if you've never seen a movie before. It's like time-traveling and very exciting. Watch it with 2025 eyes and you'd miss out on this master class of old-style visual horror storytelling. In theaters, an orchestra would play the score live as you watched the movie in 1922. Color was one or two tints. Crude, but still effective for its time.

[@bobmessier5215]

To fully appreciate The Beatles, you have to put the band into context with other bands of that year. 1964 was almost ALL Beatles, as they took the world by storm. Rock music was dying off and this band revived the genre and then kept defining it. It was known as Beatlemania.

[@PhilSmithRHR]

By folding down the stereo into mono you are not replicating the original mono mix. The mono mixes were separate, dedicated mixes. Unfortunately, the proper mono mix of this album is not currently available on streaming. To dig the early Beatles, one does to some extent need to appreciate it in context. If you haven’t grown up hearing a lot of 1950s and early 60s stuff, it might be hard to get into it. Interesting that you liked Hold Me Tight, which often gets dissed.

[@PeterBuwen]

I always find it strange when, on the one hand, audiences and critics have been praising this music for decades, but on the other hand, a single representative of the younger generation comes along and says: No, that's nothing!

[@thebends1029]

​@@PeterBuwenits only a single person in this case, He's one youtuber and its only his opinion though

[@barbarjinx3802]

The more 50s music you listen to the better these first few Beatles albums are. Smokey Robinson is a big fan of his cover on here.

[@phillipfitton8364]

Why is the sound so low?

[@garykatz775]

You will probably be able to more expertly analyze these early Beatles songs after you’ve actually done a decent sample of 50’s and 60’s songs. You clearly are listening to these songs with 202x ears and you’d 🎉be better served to expand how you listen to older music. Other things to consider: Songs were very short in order to be more commercially viable on radio. DJs of the time expected them to be 2-3 minutes in length or they wouldn’t play them. The technology and production techniques of the time take some getting used to if you’re accustomed to music of today. Fun fact: the Beatles gave I Want to be Your Man to The Rolling Stones and it became their first hit.

[@shayhorvath2795]

Turning down mono is different than a mono mix. May I suggest 🏴‍☠️ing it

[@bobsbigboy_]

why is this video 1 decibel

[@nikolozsuladze7446]

Please Also do let it be album

[@nikolozsuladze7446]

React to magical mystery tour

[@michaelbriefs9764]

All the songs are great on this album. That said, I prefer the U.S./Capitol Records version of this album, which is called "Meet the Beatles". Yes, the U.S. albums had less tracks per album (11 or 12) than the EMI/U.K. albums (which usually have 14 tracks)....ooops...you're opinions are really going in the wrong direction with these songs, so I'm not going to stay. And...eating while doing your video? Yikes.

[@BabbleBebble]

Honestly, to react to the earliest Beatles album it needs a more emotional and easier kind of listening, less mental attitude and one more thing, tho: at Abbey Road nobody had never recorded any rock'n'roll album nether pop music, but just classic music and so on... So the production was flat and not so good just for they reason

[@nelsonmaud1]

In 65 anyone had short length s on the mixing they didn't have much your talking 64 not 2024 was nothing like it it's not my fave but not that bad no one had 5 or 6 minute songs not a great album but not that bad for the time

[@ÉlunMosk-d9n]

. . . Is it a reaction or a picnic ? . . .