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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First Real Beatles Album, 24 Jun 2004
"A Hard Day's Night" not only was the de facto soundtrack for the Beatles movie, not only was it the first Beatles album to be nothing but originals (all penned by Lennon-McCartney), but it found the Beatles truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums had coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies. "A Hard Day's Night" is where the Beatles became mythical, but this is the sound of Beatlemania in all of its giddy glory. Decades after its original release, its punchy blend of propulsive rhythms, jingly guitars, and infectious, sing along melodies is remarkably fresh. There is something intrinsically exciting in the sound of the album itself, something to keep the record vital, years after its recording. Even more impressive are the songs themselves (obviously). Not only are the melodies forceful and memorable, but also Lennon and McCartney have found a number of variations to their basic Merseybeat style, from the brash "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Any Time At All" through the gentle "If I Fell" to the tough folk-rock of "I'll Cry Instead". It's possible to hear both songwriters develop their own distinctive voices on the album, but, overall, "A Hard Day's Night" stands as a testament to their collaborative powers- never again did they write together so well and so easily, choosing to pursue their own routes. John Lennon and Paul McCartney must have known how strong the material was/is- they threw the pleasant trifle "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" to George and didn't give anything to Ringo to sing. That may have been a little selfish, but it hardly hurts the album, since everything on the record is performed with genuine glee and excitement. It's the pinnacle of the Beatles early years. This is a truly great album; it's one of my favourites. If you haven't got it-you're crazy!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's pop - but it's pop of the highest quality, 8 April 2007
Baahmmmmmmmmmm! Never before, and never since, has a single chord had such a lasting impact as that opening power chord produced by a combination of Lennon and Harrison bashing the strings of their Rickenbackers. This is the album that gave The Byrds their sound.
This album was the most self-assured offering to date by The Beatles, a confident statement, a declaration that they had truely made it. They could so easily have rested on their laurels and produced a third album of standard fare backed up with popular covers of the day. But The Beatles would never have been satisfied with that (even if the fans of the day might have been) and with 'A Hard Day's Night' began a trend of barrier-breaking creativity that would be continued (with the possible exception of 'Beatles For Sale') throughout the rest of the band's career.
People always rightly say that The Beatles' early albums in particular should be judged in the context of the pap that was around at the time. But the fact is that this, as with the great majority of the rest of the catalogue, just sounds awesome in any context, period.
Every song is a sing-along joy, and although not a great mix (the famous McCartney bass sound was yet to be invented, and the recording engineers had yet to discover the gains to be made through miking up the bass drum), the power of the music and the guitars and vocals shines through. There are also some fine acoustic guitar sounds, the guys favouring the warmth of nylon strings over steel ones.
For the complete Hard Day's Night experience listen to an old original vinyl pressing (the discs really were produced to a very high standard back then) and follow it up with a spinning of the 'Long Tall Sally' EP, which came out of the same early-1964 period, sounds sonically even better, and features 'I Call your Name' with the same trademark Rickenbacker sound. The EP's title track also features one of McCartney's best ever screaming vocals - this was the heavy metal of 1964!
Although the next album, 'Beatles For Sale', due to pressures from EMI to get another album out, would see a temporary return to the old formula (albeit with some fine original songs), for now 'A Hard Day's Night' would signal to the pop world that the bar had been raised again, by The Beatles.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Hard Album To Put Down..., 22 Dec 2006
This is the Beatles' third album, and is the first one where every song has been written by the Beatles themselves. And what a good effort!
Not only does the album begin with probably one of the most famous Beatles songs ever, with that exact unidentifiable chord being struck to begin the highly-charged 'A Hard Day's Night', which came from a Ringo-ism, but this album also contains quite a huge number of songs that could quite easily have been singles and done very well in the charts - 'I Should Have Known Better', 'If I Fell', 'Things We Said Today' (which is one of my all-time favourite Beatles songs!) and 'I'll Be Back'. And of course the equally well-known 'Can't Buy Me Love' certainly does the album no harm.
There are quite a range of songs on this album - from the almost old-style rock 'n' roller 'I'm Happy Just To Dance With You', to the quite Bluesy 'I'll Cry Instead', to the love ballad of 'And I Love Her', and this album really does show the true potential of the Beatles as songwriters as every song has something to offer.
This album is worth getting for the high quality of all the songs alone, but I think it is the first album the Beatles did which has so many potential hits, something which they pride themselves on in future albums.
In my opinion:
Best Song = "Things We Said Today"
Weakest Song = "Any Time At All".
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