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 Lennon/McCartney unless otherwise noted.

Side one

 * 1) "It Won't Be Long" — 2:13
 * 2) "All I've Got to Do" — 2:04
 * 3) "All My Loving" — 2:09
 * 4) "Don't Bother Me" (George Harrison) — 2:29
 * 5) "Little Child" – 1:48
 * 6) "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson) — 2:16
 * 7) "Please Mr. Postman" (Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman) — 2:36

Side two

 * 1) "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry) — 2:47
 * 2) "Hold Me Tight" — 2:32
 * 3) "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson) — 3:02
 * 4) "I Wanna Be Your Man" — 1:59
 * 5) "Devil in Her Heart" (Richard P. Drapkin) — 2:27
 * 6) "Not a Second Time" — 2:08
 * 7) "Money" (Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy) — 2:47

Personnel
The Beatles
 * John Lennon: lead vocals, harmony vocals, backing vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitars, harmonica, handclaps; tambourine on "Don't Bother Me", Hammond organ on "I Wanna Be You Man", nylon-string acoustic guitar on "Till There Was You"
 * Paul McCartney: lead vocals, harmony vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar, handclaps; claves on "Don't Bother Me", piano on "Little Child"
 * George Harrison: lead vocals, harmony vocals, backing vocals, lead and acoustic guitars, handclaps; nylon-string acoustic guitar on "Till There Was You"
 * Ringo Starr: Drums, tambourine, maracas, handclaps; Arabian loose-skin bongo on "Till There Was You" and "Don't Bother Me", lead vocals on I Wanna Be Your Man"

Production
 * Robert Freeman: cover photograph
 * George Martin: arrangements, producer and mixer; piano on "You Really Got a Hold On Me", "Not a Second Time" and "Money (That's What I Want)"
 * Norman Smith: engineer and mixer

Instruments

 * Grestch Country Gentleman
 * Grestch Duo Jet
 * Rickenbacker 360/12
 * Rickenbacker 325
 * Hofner 500/1
 * Gibson J-160E