No hidden gem featured today! The movie and album A Hard Day's Night remains the perfect snapshot of Beatlemania, a phenomenon that has yet to be repeated, and indeed may never be repeated, in the history of rock. After listening to a substantial amount of solo McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison (sorry, Ringo), it is a reaffirmation of the greatness of the Beatles hearing them all working together in their heyday.
Incidentally, today's listen comes from the "Beatles in Mono" box, which in the case of this album, doesn't really make a whole heap of difference. However later albums would sport noticeable differences and are worth checking out! Recently the U.S. versions of the early Beatles albums received proper CD releases, which for most of these albums meant glorified playlists, but I believe the U.S. version of this album also includes the "incidental" soundtrack music, whereas the U.K. version features non-soundtrack songs, many of them substantial hits in their own right. And while I'm on a tear, I also encourage you to check out the corresponding songs from this album on Anthology 1, which (if you can get around the dropped lines and errors) often have compelling alternative musical arrangements.
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