Help! (1965)

August 1965 saw two major releases. At the beginning of the month saw the soundtrack to the second Beatles film released, and late in the month, Jelltex was born in Great Yarmouth. I'll leave you to decide which had the larger cultural influence.

In 1964, The Beatles, had met Bob Dylan, and he had introduced the band to cannabis and earlier that year had been introduced to LSD.

The film was again directed by Richard Lester, but shot in colour, and was less focussed. The soundtrack was critically acclained, and even nominated for the Album of the Year at the next year's Grammy's.

The album features ten Lennon/McCartney originals, two by Harrison and two covers. And the album further explored techniques that could be used in the studio, like multi-tracking. It also features the most covered song in popular music, Yesterday, the tune which McCartney was sure he heard somewhere else.

Side 1

1. "Help!"
2. "The Night Before"
3. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
4. "I Need You"
5. "Another Girl"
6. "You're Going to Lose That Girl"
7. "Ticket to Ride"

Side 2

1. "Act Naturally"
2. "It's Only Love"
3. "You Like Me Too Much"
4. "Tell Me What You See"
5. "I've Just Seen a Face"
6. "Yesterday"
7. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"

So many of the tracks on this, and the following albums are going to be so familiar. But what is clear from the first track, Help, is that this a very different beast to what became. A Lennon lead vocal, and through the verses a McCartney harmoney in front of the lead vocal, and then the chorus kicks in. It is a remarkable thing to hear, and ponder that it is just 18 months or so after Love Me Do. If this was the highlight of the record, then it would be something, but there are even better known songs to follow.

The Night Before starts off like a throwback to A Hard Day's Night Period, what the NME might have described as a mid-temp foot-tapper. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's not a great leap forward. Still OK, and might have been a single a year previously.

"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is so simple. But then the best things in life are. A tamborine on the beat, an accoustic guitar backing Lennon, a wonderful lyric and a flute outro. I would have given up at this point, as surely nothing could top this?

"I Need You" is a Harrison vocal on a Harrison original. Again, no great shakes, but that Harrison was the back up songwriter is an amazing thing, in a four piece to be the third best songwriter, though I'm sure some would argue different. Mi-temp, mid-period Beatles. No one comes close.

"Another Girl" rattles along in a most pleasant, Beatle-llike manner. Again, doesn't overstay it's welcome, arrives, jangles along with Paul singing, and ends before we get bored. Freddy and the Dreamers would kill for a song like this. And yet, average by The Beatles.

"You're Going to Lose That Girl" starts off as a frindly warning, but then changes into a threat by the chorus. A Lennon vocal, wonderful harmonies. Another stunning song. And passive-aggressive.

David Hepworth says, rightly, that listening to an artist's output now, when it was released years, decades ago, is that you don't get to appreciate the progression. I have grown up with The Beatles singles and some of te better known LP cuts, but putting them in order, or listening to them in order, really helps understand how groundbreaking the band and George Martin were. "Ticket to Ride" could have been released yesterday instead of nearly 61 years ago. It's timeless, and yet modern. And totally wonderful. My baby Don't Care.

Side 2 kicks off with the first of two covers: "Act Naturally", with vocals by Ringo. It don't mean a thang if the song don't twang! Ringo sings this really well, and is a good choice for a cover. Another bittersweet track, somehting the Beatles did so well.

"It's so hard, loving you," maintains Lennon on "It's Only Love". This is peerless Beatles. Sounds like something thrown together to make an albums -worth of material, and yet, again, is bitter-sweet and pop perfect. Ideal for a Lonnon vocal.

Harrison gets a second composition on the record, and sings lead too on "You Like Me Too Much", the ending has something close to a honky-tonk piano plonking away, which makes this a most pleasant track, showing it wasn't jus the primary songwriters were were evolving.

"Tell Me What You See" comes next. A shared Lennon/McCartney vocal, and is rather wonderful. Again sounds timeless. Never outstays its welcome, and has sme nice rolls flourishes from Ringo towards the end.

"I've Just Seen a Face" is the 12th track. Is a mono-tempo accustic track, sung by Paul, and again is rather wonderful. You have to remember this is the first time I have heard most of The Beatles album tracks, and certainly from the presceeding Beatles for Salem there's really not a duff track, and most would have been great singles for almost any other band.

We have been building up to "Yesterday", voted twice, the best song of the 20th century. A standard to stand beside My Way and others as a pillar in which pop itself is built. There's not much I can add to what you or anyone else might thing. I just wonder what it must have been like to hear it for the first time on the record, the second to last track. No released as a single in the UK until 1976, as the other Beatles didn't think it appropriate. There are over 2,200 cover version of the song out there. But only one Beatles. And Paul.

The album closes with a cover of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". I get the impression the band liked to let their hair down on these rock n roll covers. Lennon sounds like he enjoys it, with a vocal that breaks in a similar way to Twist and Shot.

In all, Help! is indeed a masterpiece. Not really a bad track on it, something for everyone, and showing progression in playing, songwriting and use of the studio to create what their imaginations could think of. I am really looking forward to the next two records, ones that Anothology skipped over to get to Sgt Pepper, but I am expecting some amazing things.

See you next time.