Meet the Beatles!

"Meet the Beatles!" was the Beatles' first American album on Capitol Records (). This album topped the American Billboard record charts peaking at #1 and held the #1 spot in America for 7 weeks. The Beatles conquered America - before their feet touched ground on American soil. Beatlemania was just beginning.

When the Beatles came out I was four years old, so I was pretty envious of my sister (ten years older) because she was the "right age" for going to Beatles' concerts. She listened to KRLA and won free tickets to see the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl in 1965. And if that was not enough, she called the station months later and won free tickets to see the premier of "Help!" - The Beatles' second full-length movie was in-color.

The Beatles made everything more exciting - just knowing they existed gave me something to look forward to. The Beatles were everywhere; even my friends' parents had a copy of Meet the Beatles! The Beatles were an amazing band that brought about musical changes and new ideas that revolutionized music, Other aspects of our lives were affected, too: from the way we dressed, to the length of our hair. If the Beatles did something cool, Americans had to do it, too. The Beatles were trend setters, to say the least.

Meet the Beatles! is my review of this timeless classic. Beside each song title I have included a little information about the song and some related facts you might find interesting.

Side 1

1. I Want to Hold Your Hand: The Beatles' best-selling hit worldwide to this day! It was the first of 19 #1 hits on the Billboard record charts here in the United States. The guitar-riff that changed the world.

2. I Saw Her Standing There: This song brings back so many memories, starting with Paul's count at the beginning: "One, two, three, fah!" The boys are in top form in this great song. It was the B-side of "I Want to Hold Your Hand", but was also released as a single. It reached as high as #14 on the Hot 100 chart, and was on the charts for 11 weeks.

3. This Boy (Ringo's Theme): This beautiful ballad in waltz tempo was also used in their first feature movie, "A Hard Day's Night." John does a beautiful job on lead vocals. I especially like the middle: "Oh, and this boy | would be happy | just to love you | but oh, my...." John showing his emotions.

4. It Won't Be Long: I once had a rude awakening when my brother blasted this song to wake me up! I almost had a heart-attack. I love this song, but it starts out pretty abrupt. (Great for a practical joke- I just don't like being the brunt of it.)

5. All I've Got to Do: A very thoughtful song, mostly sung by John. The tempo is moderate until it gets to the chorus; then it picks up. This song leaves you feeling content, if that makes sense.

6. All My Loving: "Close your eyes and I'll kiss you. Tomorrow I'll miss you..." I remember hearing this song while riding in the car with my parents. I always loved the sound of Paul's bass... and his voice, of course. The bass rings out its final note at the end of this optimistic song.

Side 2

1. Don't Bother Me: Written by George, this song reminds me of myself: "...so go away, leave me alone. Don't bother me."

2. Little Child: John sings this one. It's a little rocker - great for dancing!

3. Till There Was You: Another favorite of mine. Paul sings a beautiful lead, while George plays some fancy Spanish-style acoustic guitar. This song is pretty tough to play, but very pleasant to listen to.

4. Hold Me Tight: Paul on lead vocals. This one is classic rock'n'roll. The break on this song is amazing: "Oh, no... What it means to hold you tight. Being here, alone, tonite, with you....It feels - so - right - so...hold....me tight..."

5. I Wanna Be Your Man: Sung by Ringo. It is one of the songs Ringo sang 'live' while playing his drums - the girls loved it.

6. Not A Second Time: John sings this one. I love the 'monster-sounding music' in the opening bars. This is one of my all-time favorites of John's.

Here are videos of the songs from the U.S Meet the Beatles! album.

I selected videos that had the highest number of views so these should be pretty good.

* "Meet the Beatles!" earned The Beatles' first gold record award certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which represents sales of over one million albums.

* The first of 14 Beatles' albums to go #1 -- Gold record status (http://honormusicawards.com/)

* April 1965 the Beatles won 2 Grammy awards. 1) Best New Artist Of 1964, and 2) Best Performance By A Vocal Group for the song "A Hard Day's Night" (https://variety.com/2001/music/news/armstrong-beatles-tunes-join-hall-of-fame-1117793615/)

* In 2001 "Meet the Beatles!" was inducted to the Grammy Hall Of Fame (https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/beatles)

Images from:

1. The Beatles receiving gold record from http://honormusicawards.com/wp-content/uploads/201...

2. RIAA Meet the Beatles! Gold Record Award from http://www.whocollection.com/MeetTheBeatles.JPG

Above photo provided by http://www.mybeatles.net/charts.html

The Beatles held the first 5 Positions of Billboard's Hot 100 pop music chart as you can see in the above photo.

Holding the Top 5 positions of the U.S. pop charts was a feat that has never been done, never been duplicated nor surpassed. This was just the beginning of what was yet to come.

The Beatles had several other songs on the chart during the week of April 4, 1964. They are listed below with the number they appeared in to their left:

31. I Saw Her Standing There

41 .From Me To You

46. Do You Want To Know A Secret?

58. All My Loving

65. You Can't Do That

68. Roll Over Beethoven

79. Thank You, Girl