Released on 10th July, 1964, the Beatles third album in less than eighteen months was timed to coincide with the cinema opening of their first movie.
Of the album’s 13 tracks seven were featured in the soundtrack of the film. One single had been released ahead of the album that being “Can’t Buy Me Love”/”You Can’t Do That” which had been issued on 20thMarch. It was also quite remarkable that for the first time on a Beatles album that all of the titles had been composed by John and Paul.
Since the release of With The Beatles, the previous November, their UK success had started to spread around the world. Their first US single via Capitol Records – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”/”I Saw Her Standing There” had topped the US charts for seven weeks, leading to their former US distributor reissuing ‘She Loves You’ and ‘Love Me Do’ both of which also reached the # 1 spot. In fact such was the group’s popularity that in the first week of April, 1964 they held all top five positions in the Billboard chart with a further seven titles it’s Hot Hundred.
Despite their success, their workload did not ease up, in fact within hours of returning from a triumphant visit to the US, which had included concert performances and three appearances on the Ed Sullivan TV show, the guys were in a TV studio in London rehearsing and recording another guest appearance.
The Spring and early Summer of 1964 saw The Beatles filming and recording new material both for the movie and their next album. They also filmed a TV special, and played a few UK dates prior to jetting off on a 27 day tour that visited Denmark, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. They eventually returned to Britain on 2nd July and four days later attended the world premiere of “A Hard Day’s Night” at the London Pavilion.
The album reached no.1 in the UK charts towards the end of July and occupied the top spot for 21 of the 38 weeks that it spent in the Top Twenty
In the USA, A different album was issued to that at home. The US version (issued in late June) was a soundtrack which as well as featuring a number of the songs from the UK album also included four instrumental pieces from the film’s soundtrack performed by George Martin’s Orchestra. A month later Capitol Records released “Something New” an all-Beatles album that included eight songs from the UK release along with a further three tracks not previously released in the US. Both albums achieved enormous success. The soundtrack album enjoyed a 14-week stay at #1 and despite the crossover of titles, “Something New” spent nine of those same weeks at #2.
NME Friday, July 3rd, 1964
Here it is, at last! The long-awaited title song from the Beatles’ film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. I’m sure every NME reader already has a copy on order, so you don’t need me to recommend you to buy it. It’s a bouncy finger-snapper, with a pounding beat and catchy melody. Both sides written by the Lennon-McCartney partnership, of course.
NME Friday July 14th, 1964
America Gets The Beatle Bug From John, Paul, Ringo & George
Tuesday proved a sensationally historic night for British pop music when the Beatles performed their first live U.S. concert in Washington to an overwhelming reception. The capacity audience of 8,000 screaming American teenagers stood up as Paul soloed in ‘Long Tall Sally’ to close a terrific thirty-minute act.
All four Beatles regarded this Washington concert as a big challenge in their storming career. Before they went on they were unusually tense – but once on stage they clicked into action.
After their concert, the Beatles were guests of honour of the British Ambassador in Washington at a masked ball.
TRACKS
