Collectors Music Reviews

Beatlemania! With The Beatles (Canadian Stereo LP-Capitol- Wide Mix) was released on LP by Dr. Ebbetts (Reference: ST6051) in 2005 as well Beatlemania! With The Beatles Canadian Stereo LP-Capitol- Narrow Mix/Hybrid) on LP by Dr. Ebbetts in 2005. This was the first Beatles’ album released in Canada on November 25, 1963 and equivalent to the Beatles’ second album, With The Beatles, released on November 22, 1963.

Beatlemania! With The Beatles contains 8 originals + 6 covers.  The transfer on DBM-033A is primarily clean. The bass on “All My Loving” is a bit flat. The overall gain seemed weak to me on the mono transfer. “Till There Was You” begs for more separation. The high and low end on “Please Mr. Postman” are not equally balanced with the vocals sounding bright. There is a minute skip/break on “Hold Me Tight” at the 41 second mark. The vocals are a bit bright again on ”You Really Got A Hold On Me”. The guitar is more prominent and the vocals are more in your face on the mono as compared with the stereo transfer on “Money (That’s What I Want)”. Total time is 33:25 on the mono as compared with 33:58 on the stereo mix.

DBM-033B adds a dimension to “It Won’t Be Long” with the stereo separation. The bass is not that defined on “All My Loving” but the low end sounds more enhanced in stereo.  “Don’t Bother Me” sounds flat. The gain on “Little Child” seems initially weak until the one minute instrumental interlude with solid instrument separation. The vocals break up at the 44 + 57 second marks on “Till There Was You” with nice deep bass definition on this track. The vocal harmonies distort at 1:40 on”Please Mr. Postman” lending themselves to being overbearing. The bass was especially low in the mix on “I Wanna Be Your Man”. The piano is elevated and the guitar is buried with the vocals more subdued on “Money (That’s What I Want).”

The above listed flaws do not detract from the inherent appreciation of the music. I find that the Beatles’ song writing here was weaker and obviously not fully developed as they employed simpler basic chord structures for most of the tracks. Their sheer energy, however, is unmistakable and their unheralded ability to harmonize speaks volumes for this release.