Like everything else involving the Beatles, maturity happened fast. They started recording their followup to Please Please Me 4 months after it came out & released it 4 months after that, but they were already becoming a more confident band with an emerging identity. The goofy grins of the first album cover are replaced by dour expressions in a noir-ish black & white band portrait. George, the band's most serious member, got to write a song about depression. Most importantly, even as the band's group identity was congealing, the members' individual identities were emerging as well. One of my issues with Please Please Me was that John's voice hadn't developed yet. It's apparent from the opener "It Won't Be Long" that he's come into his own on With the Beatles. He uses his ragged rock & roll howl on the opener, "Please Mr. Postman," & of course "Money." Maybe this vocal leap is why he sings lead on fully half the album, with Paul & George splitting the other half (minus the obligatory Ringo number).
Even though it's a more mature album, I still think With the Beatles is a weaker set of songs than the debut, & between the 2 of them I've returned to it less often. First of all, the originals are generally weaker relative to the covers: "Till There Was You," "Please Mister Postman," "You Really Got a Hold On Me" & "Money" are album highlights. The only real dud among the covers is "Devil in Her Heart," my nomination for worst early Beatles song to make it on to an album. (Even though George was the wrong choice to sing a Chuck Berry song; he sounds very unconvincing on "Roll Over Beethoven.") As far as originals, there are no fewer than 3 clunkers here: "Little Child" & "Hold Me Tight" are generic examples of the kind of pop-rock songwriting that was already wearing thin, & "I Wanna Be Your Man" is an obvious throwaway. (This is the only time you'll hear me say the following sentence about anything, so listen up: the Rolling Stones version is better.) There's also the impression that the band was trying to remake Please Please Me song by song: open & close with rockers (the 1st an original, the last a cover); make sure Paul sings a romantic ballad; make sure Ringo gets a rave-up rocker; throw some harmonica on a side-A rocker; etc.
Of course, even a weaker Beatles album is still brilliant. George's songwriting debut, "Don't Bother Me," is possibly the best song on the album, with a hollow reverbed lead vocal singing a haunting melody over tasteful Latin percussion & a sloppily beautiful guitar solo. "All I've Got to Do" is perhaps the best pure R&B song the guys wrote in their early days, & "Not a Second Time" points forward to Rubber Soul-style songwriting.
Like I said at the top, things moved fast in Beatles world. This album is a clear evolution, but the strides they made from '63-'64 are nothing compared to what they'd do between '64-'65. A mere 3 years after this album appeared, they wouldn't even sound like the same band anymore. It's hard to conceive of the transition from lightspeed to warpspeed, but like I said in the last one, everything about the Beatles sounds made up.
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