With the Beatles

With The Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock group The Beatles. It was released on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, and was recorded four months after the band's debut Please Please Me. The album features eight original compositions (seven by Lennon/McCartney and "Don't Bother Me", George Harrison's first recorded solo composition and his first released on a Beatles album) and six covers (mostly of Motown and R&B hits). Most of the songs from the album were released in the United States by Capitol Records as the Meet The Beatles! LP on 20 January 1964, and the remaining that were not, featured on their next US album, The Beatles' Second Album.

The album was also released in November 1963 by Capitol Records in Canada, with a slight change to the title: Beatlemania! With The Beatles. This release has the distinction of being the first LP of Beatles material released in North America, pre-dating the Capitol US Meet The Beatles! and the Vee Jay Records Introducing... The Beatles LPs by two months.

The LP had advance orders of a half million and sold another half million by September 1965, making it the second album to sell a million copies in the United Kingdom, after the soundtrack to the 1958 film South Pacific. With The Beatles stayed at the top of the charts for 21 weeks, displacing Please Please Me, so that The Beatles occupied the top spot for 51 consecutive weeks. It even reached number 11 in the "singles charts" (because at the time UK charts counted all records sold, regardless of format). EMI Australia did not receive the cover art, and used a caricature of the band in a similar style to the black-and-white photograph on other releases. The Beatles were unaware of this until fans showed them the cover during their only Australian tour, and informed the EMI publicity staff that they were not pleased with the substitution.

On 26 February 1987, With The Beatles was officially released on compact disc (in mono only, catalogue number CDP 7 46436 2). Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the album was also issued domestically in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987. Along with the rest of the Beatles' canon, it was re-released on CD in newly re-mastered stereo and mono versions on 9 September 2009. In 2003, the album was ranked number 420 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Tracks
All songs written by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted otherwise.

Personnel
The Beatles
 * John Lennon: lead vocals, harmony vocals, background vocals, rhythm guitar (1958 Rickenbacker 325) acoustic guitar (1962 Gibson J-160E), harmonica, hand claps; tambourine on "Don't Bother Me", nylon-string acoustic guitar on "Till There Was You", Hammond organ on "I Wanna Be Your Man"


 * Paul McCartney: lead vocals, harmony vocals, background vocals, bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1), hand claps; claves on "Don't Bother Me", piano on "Little Child"


 * George Harrison: lead vocals, harmony vocals, background vocals, lead guitar (1962 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman), acoustic guitar (Gibson J-160E), hand claps, nylon-string acoustic guitar (1950 Jose Ramirez DeEstudio) on "Till There Was You"


 * Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, maracas, hand claps; lead vocals on "I Wanna Be Your Man", Arabian loose-skin bongo on "Till There Was You" and Don't Bother Me"

Production
 * Robert Freeman: cover photograph


 * George Martin: arrangements, production, and mixing; piano on "You Really Got a Hold on Me", "Not a Second Time" and "Money (That's What I Want")


 * Norman Smith: engineering and mixing

Instruments

 * Grestch Country Gentleman
 * Grestch Duo Jet
 * Rickenbacker 325
 * Hofner 500/1
 * Gibson J-160E