#42 A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles

So this is it, album number 42. While it may be cheesy to start going on about the Douglas Adams ‘42 is the meaning of life’ path but it’s one I enjoy. Plus I have actually lasted until 42 which is precisely 36 albums more than I expected to get to. As for A Hard Day’s Night falling on the hallowed number it is definitely an interesting to fact to note that this is the first of the very few soundtracks to be featured. Off the top of my head I can only think of three more (Shaft, The Virgin Suicides & Purple Rain) that I am likely to encounter. I could now bitch about all the films that the Beatles made but I want to leave that particular rant until I reach the last Elvis album. Not because The Beatles were better at it than Elvis but because I’ve seen more of the films meaning I am in a better position to comment on them.

Either way, with a year of music passing in a mere week it makes me ask the same question as I did yesterday with Getz/Gilberto, what has changed since the last album? The answer to this, and it pleases me to say, is that there are absolutely no covers on A Hard Day’s Night as compared to the 50/50 split on With The Beatles. This is a boon for The Beatles for this album truly marks their first steps towards true creative emancipation with them now beginning to be able to show off their song-writing skills. The only downside for me is the lack of a George Harrison track, bah. Oh well. He at least gets a solo Grammy Award for Best Album while Paul McCartney gets bupkis, so look who gets the solo laugh. Sorry, I just deeply dislike Paul McCartney and now have a candle for George Harrison so this was a comparison that was likely to crop up.

With this purging of cover versions there is a definite move on in style from With The Beatles when they could sometimes sound either sounded dangerously close to The Everly Brothers or very wooden, the latter a reference to Roll Over Beethoven. As an album it definitely serves as a stepping-stone to what they are yet to achieve for thus far it is still not a revolution in music that has been associated with them but they are definitely taking a step in the right direction, which is not in the direction of the lyric “I will love her until the cows come home” from When I Get Home. Speaking of which this track, aside from being by far the weakest on the whole album, is a prime example of how bad Ringo’s drumming is.

Complaints aside I really did enjoy this album, it is an overall improvement on the previous one with only one song acting as filler. This is also the first time where I recognised some of the classic Beatles songs with A Hard Day’s Night, Can’t Buy Me Love and the sublime I Should Have Known Better all appearing with full force. While Don’t Bother Me may still have the place, at the moment, of being my favourite Beatles song it is something that may be liable to change as I progress. Also, something that needs to be said, is that I Should Have Known Better came very close to taking this mantle. I have loved this version since hearing a cover version by Zooey Deschanel last year but hearing it in it’s original incarnation makes it all the more better.

A fact that occurred to me is that this may in fact be the first acclaimed pop album where all the tracks have been written by the artist, something that we tend to take for granted nowadays with us expecting every new artist being a masterful vocalist with a flair for lyrics. Whether this is a blessing or a curse this is the legacy that has been left to the music world by this group, and in the end if it means more albums turned up like this than A Date With The Everly Brothers then that is fine by me.

8.0/10

Fab Four:
A Hard Day’s Night
I Should Have Known Better
I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
Can’t Buy Me Love