Opening with the call and response of It Won't Be Long, With the Beatles is a strong album that moves on rapidly from the excellent Please Please Me. As such as shows just how fast the Beatles were maturing as songwriters and musicians. Paul McCartney's All My Loving is one of the best-known Beatles songs despite not being released as a single. This is an indication of the strength of the Beatles' albums.

But it was not all fast, "beaty" numbers. The Beatles could also produce wonderful ballads as the likes of All I've Got To Do show.

With the Beatles marked the writing debut of George Harrison (Cry for a Shadow excepted). Don't Bother Me is a well-crafted song that shows that Harrison's early efforts were certainly catchy and in no way inferior to those tracks being produced by Lennon and McCartney. With the Beatles also marked the singing debut of Ringo Starr. After this, Ringo tended to have one vocal performance on each successive album. I Wanna Be Your Man was written by Lennon & McCartney for the Rolling Stones' second single. The Beatles version is quite different to the Stones' riff-laden effort. George Harrison puts in a superb guitar solo though. Which is the better version?

There are also a number of cover versions on With the Beatles. John Lennon and Paul McCartney may have been prolific songwriters but cover versions will still appearing on Beatles' albums up to 1965's Help. However, writing, recording and touring two albums a year required a tremendous flow of new material which no other artists appears to have managed. Till There Was You and Roll Over Beethoven certainly date back to the Beatles days in Hamburg. The Beatles' version of the Chuck Berry classic has almost become the benchmark for future versions of the song. There are also nods to influence of Motown with versions of the Marvelettes' Please Mr Postman, Smokey Robinson's You've Really Got a Hold On Me and Barrett Strong's Money.

Release Date: 1963

CD re-release: 1998

Essential Tracks:

• All My Loving
• Roll Over Beethoven
• It Won't Be Long

Track Listing:

1. It Won't Be Long
2. All I've Got To Do
3. All My Loving
4. Don't Bother Me
5. Little Child
6. Till There Was You
7. Please Mr Postman
8. Roll Over Beethoven
9. Hold Me Tight
10. You've Really Got a Hold On Me
11. I Wanna Be Your Man
12. Devil in Her Heart
13. Not a Second Time
14. Money