A Hard Day's Night (album)

Infobox Album
Name = A Hard Day's Night
Type = studio
Artist = The Beatles


Released = 10 July 1964
Recorded = Abbey Road and Pathé Marconi Studios 29 January 1964 – 3 June 1964
Genre = Rock and roll, beat music
Length = 30:30
Label = Parlophone
PMC 1230 (mono)
PCS 3058 (stereo)
CDP 7 46437 2 (reissue)
Producer = George Martin
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aaxkqikp6bbo9 link]
* Piero Scaruffi rating|5|10 [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html link]
*"Q" rating|4|5 [http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.artist.review&fixture_review=117562&fixture_artist=144975 link]
Chronology = The Beatles UK
Last album = "With The Beatles"
(1963)
This album = "A Hard Day's Night"
(1964)
Next album = "Beatles for Sale"
(1964)

"A Hard Day's Night" is the third album by The Beatles, released in the UK on 10 July 1964 as the soundtrack to their first film of the same name. The album was released on 26 June 1964 in the U.S. by United Artists Records with a slightly different tracklisting (see the American release section of this article).

First all-original album

While showcasing the development of the band's songwriting talents, the album sticks to the basic rock and roll instrumentation and song format. It is notable as the first The Beatles album to feature entirely original compositions (and the only one with a song catalogue credited entirely to Lennon-McCartney). The album contains some of their most famous songs, including the title track (with its distinct, instantly recognizable [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1718612 opening chord] ) and "Can't Buy Me Love", both being transatlantic number one singles for the band. The album and film are said to portray the classic image of the Beatles, as it was released at the height of Beatlemania.

The title of the album (and of the film) is said to have been the accidental creation of drummer Ringo Starr, though the phrase is used in John Lennon's contemporary book "In His Own Write" and was reputedly used at least once by him during the Hamburg era.

Side one of the LP contains the songs from the movie soundtrack. Side two contains songs written for, but not included in, the film, although a 1980s rerelease of the movie includes a prologue before the opening credits with "I'll Cry Instead" on the soundtrack. This is also the first The Beatles album to be recorded on four-track tape, allowing for good stereo mixes. Despite this, the CD of this album is currently available only in mono, though many of the tracks appeared in stereo on CD for the first time with the release of the boxset "The Capitol Albums, Volume 1" in 2004. "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" both appear in stereo on the "1962-1966" compilation. "I Should Have Known Better" and "You Can't Do That" have yet to be released in true stereo on CD.

In 2000, "Q" placed "A Hard Day's Night" at number 5 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. [cite web | last = | first = | url = http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlists.html#100%20Greatest%20British%20Albums | title = The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever | format = | work = | publisher =Q | accessdate = 2007-11-20] RS500|388cite web | url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6626215/388_a_hard_days_night |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|accessdate=2007-11-19 |publisher=Rolling Stone]

On 26 February 1987, "A Hard Day's Night" was officially released on CD in mono, as were three other of The Beatles' albums, "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles", and "Beatles for Sale." Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the 13 track UK version of the album was also issued domestically in the US on LP and cassette on July 21, 1987. Stereo mixes of "A Hard Day's Night", "Can't Buy Me Love" and "And I Love Her" are available on the "1962-1966 (The Red Album)" CD.

Track listing

All tracks credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Normally, Paul McCartney and John Lennon would contribute a roughly equal number of songs to each album, but "A Hard Day's Night" is the one Beatles album on which Lennon's dominance as songwriter is by far the greater -- writing the majority of the 13 tracks on the album on his own. This is also one of two British Beatles albums, along with "Let It Be", in which Ringo Starr does not sing lead vocal on any songs (although Starr sang the lead vocal on "Matchbox," a cover of a Carl Perkins song recorded contemporaneously with the songs on "A Hard Day's Night" and released in Britain on the "Long Tall Sally" EP).

ide one

#"A Hard Day's Night" – 2:34
#"I Should Have Known Better" – 2:46
#"If I Fell" – 2:24
#"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" – 1:59
#"And I Love Her" – 2:33
#"Tell Me Why" – 2:12
#"Can't Buy Me Love" – 2:14

ide two

#"Any Time at All" – 2:15
#"I'll Cry Instead" – 1:49
#"Things We Said Today" – 2:40
#"When I Get Home" – 2:20
#"You Can't Do That" – 2:39
#"I'll Be Back" – 2:20

Chart positions

The American release

Infobox Album
Name = A Hard Day's Night
Type = soundtrack
Artist = The Beatles


Released = 26 June 1964
Recorded = Abbey Road 1964
Genre = Beat
Length = 29:21
Label = United Artists
UAL 3366 (mono)
UAS 6366 (stereo)
Producer = George Martin
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ljud6j2h7190 link]
Chronology = The Beatles U.S.
Last album = "The Beatles' Second Album"
(1964)
This album = "A Hard Day's Night"
(1964)
Next album = "Something New"
(1964)The American version of the album was released on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records and contained the seven songs from the film: "A Hard Day's Night," "Tell Me Why," "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," "I Should Have Known Better," "If I Fell," "And I Love Her," and "Can't Buy Me Love." It also features "I'll Cry Instead", which, although written for the film, was cut from it at the last minute. The American version also included four easy listening-styled instrumental versions of Lennon and McCartney songs by George Martin: "I Should Have Known Better", "And I Love Her", "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)", and "A Hard Day's Night", each of which later appeared on George Martin's own instrumental albums released by Capitol, United Artists and Parlophone. The album went to number one on the Billboard album chart, spending 14 weeks there, the longest run of any album that year. [Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Albums 1955-2001 (Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, 2001), 1178.]

After EMI acquired United Artists Records, this album was reissued on 17 August 1980 on the Capitol label, catalogue number SW 11921.

Whilst the stereo version of the album included the instrumental tracks in true stereo, the Beatles' own recordings appeared as fake stereo recordings made from the mono recordings in the stereo releases. True stereo versions of most of the songs appeared on the Capitol Records album "Something New", also in 1964. "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better" finally appeared in stereo versions on the Apple Records compilation "Hey Jude" in 1970. The song "A Hard Day's Night" did not appear in a stereo version in the U.S. until the LP "Reel Music" in March 1982. The American version has yet to be released officially on CD.

Track listing

All tracks credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

ide one

#"A Hard Day's Night"
#"Tell Me Why"
#"I'll Cry Instead"
#"I Should Have Known Better" (instrumental, George Martin & His Orchestra)
#"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"
#"And I Love Her" (instrumental, George Martin & His Orchestra)

ide two

#"I Should Have Known Better"
#"If I Fell"
#"And I Love Her"
#"Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" (instrumental, George Martin & His Orchestra)
#"Can't Buy Me Love"
#"A Hard Day's Night" (instrumental, George Martin & His Orchestra)

A Russian inported CD of "A Hard Day's Night" contains both the British and American versions of the album, all on one CD. The disc also includes 7 bonus tracks - "Leave My Kitten Alone", "If You Got Troubles", "That Means A Lot", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", plus alternate takes of "A Hard Day's Night", "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Saw Her Standing There".

Personnel

According to Mark Lewisohn [Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years (1962-1970). ISBN 0-681-03189-1]

*John Lennon: lead, harmony, and background vocals; rhythm and acoustic guitars; harmonica; lead guitar on "You Can't Do That"; piano on "Things We Said Today" (wiped in the mixing process but always audible on the record) and tambourine.
*Paul McCartney: lead, harmony, and background vocals; bass guitar and piano (Lewisohn suggested acoustic guitar on "I'll Be Back", but not confirmed).
*George Harrison: lead guitar (6- and 12-string); acoustic and Spanish guitars; background vocals; lead vocals on "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You"; harmony vocal on "Things We Said Today" and claves on "And I Love Her".
*Ringo Starr: drums, cowbell, maracas and tambourine.
*George Martin: piano

uccession

s-ttl|title=Billboard Top LP's
number one album by
The Beatles
years=July 25-October 30, 1964 s-aft|after="People"
by Barbra Streisand end

ee also

*A Hard Day's Night (movie)
*A Hard Day's Night (song)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba03hard.html Beatles comments on each song]
* [http://www.norwegianwood.org/beatles/disko/uklp/night.htm Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes]