Earlier this year marked the 50th anniversary of The Beatles invading America; this month marks the 50th anniversary of my favorite early Beatles album, A Hard Day's Night. Now, to clarify, the version of the album to which I am referring is the original British version which, since 1987 and the initial release of the band's catalog on CD, has been the dominant form available to most fans. In the states, through an agreement with United Artists, a soundtrack album was released that contained about half the songs from the album and a bunch of instrumentals that served as the score to the accompanying film (more on that later).Not only is this my favorite album from the 'Beatlemania' era of the band, it is, in many ways, the first true Beatles album. First of all, it is the first album to contain no early Rock 'N' Roll covers; the album consists solely of Lennon-McCartney originals. Secondly, it is the strongest set of originals that the band had yet released. Many of the originals on the band's first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles (and their American Counterparts Introducing.... The Beatles and Meet The Beatles) wore their influences on their sleeves. In other words, they weren't all that different from the songs they were covering by other artists (i.e. "I Saw Her Standing There" is, basically, a Little Richard song, "Love Me Do" is The Everly Brothers and "P.S. I Love You" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" were fairly indistinguishable from dozens of other pop songs of the era). The band had already had a significant breakthrough late the previous year with its final two singles of 1963, "She Loves You" and, especially, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". With these singles, the band began to establish a unique sonic vocabulary and these were, perhaps, the first songs that can truly be described as 'Beatle-esque'. However, on A Hard Day's Night, we are given a collection of 13 such songs. On top of that, every single song on the album could have been a hit single. And, the albums first single, "Can't Buy Me Love" is a work of such simple brilliance that one can't imagine how it could not have been written.
There is also a growing sophistication in the songwriting; sure, there's the traditional teeny-bopper fare in "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" (and never had such a song been done better) but we also have "If I Fell" where Lennon sings, not to the one to whom he has pledged himself, but to another who seeks to tempt him away (by 1964 standards, pretty racy stuff).
Finally, on a technological level, this was the first album to be recorded by the Beatles entirely using four-track recording technology (the first two albums, believe it or not, had been recorded using only two tracks; "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and its UK b-side "This Boy" were the first recordings made by the band using four tracks). As a result of this leap in technology, the album sounds far more fresh and modern than their previous records. I remember hearing "Things We Said Today" in the early 90s and assuming that the song was from McCartney's solo career and was recorded sometime in the 80s!
To me, this will always be the album where the Beatles became the Beatles; sure, Rubber Soul and Revolver broke even further musical ground and are even better albums but, when I think of the loveable mop tops from Liverpool that first charmed the world, this is the album that is foremost in my mind.
Key Tracks: All of them? but especially: "A Hard Day's Night", "I Should Have Known Better", "If I Fell", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Things We Said Today", "You Can't Do That"
A quick note on the movie:
The film was once called "the Citizen Kane of Jukebox Musicals"; this is actually an enormous understatement. In order for that to be accurate, of all the movies ever made, Citizen Kane would have to be the only great movie ever made. A Hard Day's Night is really the only example of this particular type of movie as vehicle for pop-group/performer that manages to completely transcend the typical aspirations of such a work. There is nothing else in that category that comes close to being as good; even the band's own Help! pales in comparison (Purple Rain? --- which just celebrated an anniversary of its own--- have you watched it lately? Aside from the musical performances, it is terrible). Its faux-documentary style manages to naturally reflect the band's personalities without anyone having to 'act' too much and the script is charming and light-hearted and even manages some subtle satire regarding the youth culture of the era. Dick Lester also managed to create a new vocabulary for filming rock bands; previously, the technique had been: close-up of the singer, cut to the guitar player for solo. cut! But, since the Beatles had no one star, Lester showcased the whole band throughout each performance using pans, close-ups, and other techniques that I don't have the technical vocabulary to fully articulate. In short, A Hard Day's Night remains a unique artifact: a low budget, Rock N' Roll musical made in order to quickly cash in on the popularity of an artists that is actually good and, like the Beatles themselves, it has managed to endure.
