ALBUM REVIEW: The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

    Nothing says "music review" like a quick bit of etymology. On 13 October 1963, The Beatles performed on Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium television show, where they performed four songs for an audience of ecstatic fans - the reaction from young and enthusiastic girls was coined by newspapers in the coming days as "Beatlemania". From then on, "Beatlemania" became not just a term to describe the hyper fixation on The Beatles in culture, but it became a defining ethos of the early 60s. This was all still mostly contained in Britain, though, until February of 1964 - with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sitting comfortably at Number 1, The Beatles arrived in America at JFK Airport to a massive audience of screaming fans. The British Invasion was underway. What follows for years to come is an influx of British artists, complete Beatle dominance, and one of the biggest cultural shifts of the last century in many ways.  By now, The Beatles were dominating the album, EP, and singles charts, they were constantly on TV and radio, and John Lennon's In His Own Write book would pave the way for Beatle dominance in print - clearly, all that's left is to become a legend of the silver screen! Coupled with their first movie of the same name, A Hard Day's Night became the soundtrack for Beatlemania for years to come - filled completely with Lennon/McCartney originals and a newfound polish, the end result is the Beatles' first truly enduring album, and one that brilliantly captures an era.

     I'll do my best to avoid any mention of the movie that coincides with this release, although I certainly could praise its humor until the cows come home - I heard this album long before seeing the movie that it shares its name with, and that's how many people still hear the album and its songs today. With that in mind, it should be worth noting that the album has far more significance than just being the soundtrack to their first film - it was also The Beatles' first fully original album, stripping away any cover versions in favor of filling the album completely with tunes from The Beatle Songbook. To date, it's also the only Beatles album with solely Lennon/McCartney compositions - no Harrisongs here, unfortunately, and there wouldn't be any until 1965's Help!, although his presence isn't absent from songs like the bouncing energy of "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You". In place of these absences is the refinement of that pure Beatlemania sound - Lennon and McCartney had this down to a science, to the point where they could more than afford not only to make hits for themselves but for other artists as well. Look at that tracklist! Filled to the brim with hits, ranging from the iconic title track with that earth-shattering opening riff to the tinge of blues on "Can't Buy Me Love" to the roaring B-side of that single with "You Can't Do That", the latter being one of my favorite early Beatles moments. It's this very art of pop that was hitting its pinnacle on this album, when even an album cut like "Tell Me Why" or "Any Time at All" sounds pure and filled with life.

     To date, there's plenty of discussion on where the artistic development of The Beatles' really began - if you want my two-sense, they had really grown into it on Help!, which sounds like a major step forward, but more on that another day. Even still, listen closely to this record and you'll hear that same artistic growth. A song like John's brilliant "If I Fell" stands as one of the group's best early ballads, and a sign of more matured love to come - "I found that love was more than just holding hands". Similarly, the album's closing moment of "I'll Be Back" is a great proper closing track, and one of the most melancholic cuts from this era, steeped in John's classic cynicism and sadness. Really it's one of the most matured early Beatles cuts. "And I Love Her" is one of Paul's greatest ballads to this day, with a smooth performance and George's tasteful acoustic solo. Even still, it's not all pure artistic growth, and any song like "I'll Cry Instead" is bound to sound like a step backwards - yeah, I said it. For all these great pushing moments, you still have songs like "I Should Have Known Better" or "When I Get Home", which are still great cuts don't get me wrong, but aren't as pushing as some of the aforementioned tracks - still, these moments showcase the immense talent for their craft that Lennon and McCartney had at this point.

    A Hard Day's Night, both film and album, coupled with the Long Tall Sally EP from June of that year became the defining era of Beatlemania, and remains so in some ways to this day. Indeed, The Beatles' classic pop sound has never been as close to perfection as it is on this record, and there's still a spark of life and energy on many of these cuts that feels missing on their following album, even as their artistic ambitions grow thanks to some weird Greenwich Village nasally dude. A Hard Day's Night is indeed the torch-carrier for this now iconic era of pop music, and remains the best of their early album days in terms of quality and ambition - you know I feel alright.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to A Hard Day's Night.