With the Beatles, the Beatles

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1963.

With the Beatles, the Beatles, 1963, :33

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The second Beatles album. I’ve never actually heard this album all the way through. In fact, I think I have never so much as heard maybe six of these songs, ever. Some Beatles fan I am! In my opinion, the Beatles' godlike songwriting skills tend to overshadow their very solid interpretation ability. They should get more credit for it.  Their rollicking "Please Mr. Postman" overshadows the original, and even Chuck Berry and Smokey Robinson's material, if not definitively redone, are given a bold new energy by these four daring lads from Liverpool.  Some favorite tracks: "I Wanna Be Your Man," "It Won’t Be Long," "Hold Me Tight," "You Really Got a Hold On Me."

Yellow Submarine Songtrack, the Beatles

Yellow Submarine Songtrack, the Beatles, 1999, :45

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Well, it's the Beatles, you know?  Obviously I've heard most of these songs before, but not in this order, and not all of them.  For example, I don't hear the brilliant "All Together Now" or the psychedelic "Only a Northern Song" very often.  Favorite songs: title track, "Think For Yourself," "Nowhere Man," and others.