Listening to The Beatles Albums - "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles"

I have decided to listen to every album by The Beatles, in the order in which they were released

Yesterday I listened to their first album, Please Please Me

I think that all these songs were very very similar

I think they sounded generic, all very similar in tone and spirit

But the thing is, back in the 60s they'd have felt fresh and novel, and would have hit differently

And of course, The Beatles contributed greatly to the sound that we recognise as being 1960s-ish

In my opinion Love Me Do and Twist And Shout are the two stand-out tracks on this album

The others don't stand out and are all a bit samey

So I think this album should get some points for being historically significant but based simply on how good the tracks are as tracks I'd have to give this album two stars out of five

Today I listened to their second album, With The Beatles

This basically has the same sound, but it is done much better, and with more character and presence, the tracks on this one sound more substantial than on Please Please Me, it is a much better album as the tracks are much better, even though they are very similar to both themselves and the tracks on Please Please Me

I think they have noticeably improved since Please Please Me, this one is a much better effort

It Won't Be Long is a cracking song as is I Wanna Be Your Man

Please Mister Postman and Roll Over Beethoven also stand out, and feel very 60s-ish but I think a part of this may be because that we associate those songs with 60s pop music - I'd say that they are iconic and of their time more than they are good

Devil In Her Heart also sounds very well crafted, and I like the guitar riffs in it

But the other tracks are very much like the tracks in Please Please Me and don't really stand out and are not particularly memorable

I gave Please Please Me 2 stars out of 5. I think I will award With The Beatles 2.5 stars out of 5, as it is marginally better than Please Please Me but still very similar

It's not really The Beatles at a later stage of development, but it is clearly an improvement on Please Please Me - they are definitely a better band on their second album and I think the improvement is very noticeable

Also, the vibe of this album hits differently, it sounds like they took the whole thing more seriously than they did Please Please Me, and it is less twee and jangly and a bit more mature - they come across as young men, rather than as boys (as they did in Please Please Me)

In these two albums their tracks are I think formulaic, all their tracks sound alike even though some of them do stand out more than others, but not massively

The sound in With The Beatles is clearly from the same place as the sound carried on Please Please Me even though it is slightly more mature and sophisticated

I think that with Please Please Me and With The Beatles the tracks are all a bit hit and miss but more miss than hit I'm afraid - but at the time they'd have felt better

Hold Me Tight is definitely a miss for me, it just doesn't work for me

You Really Got A Hold On Me also isn't too good in my opinion. It most certainly didn't get a hold on me!!!!

Till There Was You is also nice I think, it is pleasant and rather chilled and sounds sweet and nice

But I do like their use of a harmonica in some of their tracks on both albums!

Also: I enjoyed With The Beatles much more than I did Please Please Me - so that's got to count for something, if it was more fun to listen to, and also more memorable too I'd say!

Tomorrow I will listen to their third album, A Hard Day's Night!