The Beatles - Help! [UK]
![Help! [UK]](/images/Help-UK-B000002UAL-L.jpg)
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Free Music Notes for Help! [UK]
Free Music Review: Transitional--half brilliant, half enjoyable filler
Hit: 4 Stars
What's amazing about "Help!" is that it remains one of the weakest Beatle albums, yet can still be listened to all the way through with complete enjoyment. By now heavily into cannabis and weary of their hectic schedule from 1963-64, The Beatles sound relaxed on this album--perhaps a bit *too* relaxed in places, as they substitute inspiration for a smooth but empty professionalism for about half of the disc's running time. Still, there was enough brilliance to go around for any group before or since, most notably in the searing, confessional title track; the pretty folk-rock of "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"; George's heartfelt "I Need You"; the overpowering hard rock of "Ticket To Ride"; and McCartney's double-whammy of "I've Just Seen A Face" and the overplayed but still classic ballad "Yesterday" on side two are all too good to miss, and bear hundreds of listens with ease.
As for the rest, the quality ranges from top-line but slightly
superficial mid-60s pop ("The Night Before"--with some fine electric piano by Lennon--and "You're Going To Lose That Girl") to mildly catchy filler ("Another Girl", "You Like Me Too Much", "Tell Me What You See") which is considered by critics to be among the worst of their entire catalogue, but which this author finds appealing enough to sing along with every time.
The only real clunker is John's forced cover of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"--why the group chose this to close the album when "I'm Down" was also recorded at the sessions is beyond me (the other b-side, the haunting "Yes It Is", was also too wonderful not to show up here).
In the end, what makes "Help!" underrated to this day is only knowing what came directly after it. However, in order to understand how The Beatles moved from "A Hard Day's Night" to "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver", this work remains an essential transitional release. Like all Beatle albums, though, a remaster of the original mix is desperately needed (preferably in both mono and stereo versions); the cold late 80s remix found here (along with that for "Rubber Soul") sounds dated and unneccesary.
Free Music Review: Great album!
Hit: 5 Stars
The songs on this movie soundtrack album appeared on the US Capitol Records releases HELP!(the US version features a few instrumental pieces not recorded by the Beatles),RUBBER SOUL,YESTERDAY AND TODAY and BEATLES VI(6). On this album,there is YESTERDAY,which is Paul McCartney and a string orchestra. Other hits are the title track(there is no band/orchestra introduction on this album),TICKET TO RIDE and YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY. All the other songs are cool. In the movie,we see the Beatles in their color film debut(A HARD DAY'S NIGHT was filmed in black & white).Free Music Review: A great early Beatles album
Hit: 4 Stars
The Beatles' music had been increasingly getting more interesting in 1965. Help is filled with catchy songs but is far different from any other early Beatles album. The last two tracks, "Yesterday" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" exhibit the band's full virtuosity. With "Yesterday," they prove they can make music beautiful and use sorrowful lyrics. (They'd tried before, but never had made a song like "Yesterday"). On "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," the Beatles stay true to their Chuck Berry/Little Richard-like roots and play a riff that will be stuck in your head for hours.
As a whole, Help isn't that much different from A Hard Day's Night or Beatles for Sale, but it's the best example of the Beatles early pop stuff and a perfect album for Rubber Soul to follow.
Free Music Review: Remixed, the original Parlophone LP is better
Hit: 2 Stars
I am only giving it 2 stars because this is the CD version I am reviewing. As an album it is 4 stars. The CD version is remixed, it sounds different than the LP. The LP is what the Beatles intended and several songs have variations, for example "The Night Before" has a louder keyboard on the LP and mixed down on the CD, and kind of muffled. Also "Help!" is different on the mono 45, the vocals are different. Until they rerelease the LP mix on CD, that remains the definitive version. The CD version is inferior. Try to get the LP if you can and notice the difference!Free Music Review: Beatles Moving Forward Creatively...
Hit: 5 Stars
Help is a very interesting album incorporating sounds that we had come to associate with the Beatles, but also giving us a glimpse into the new direction they would soon be embarking on.
As hard as it is to believe, the title song "Help" was in fact a very autobiographical John Lennon tune and a real cry for help. John, at the time was in his "fat Elvis" period eating and drinking too much and clearly getting heavier. As well, Beatlemania was still raging and clearly any semblance of a personal life had long disappeared for John and the other Beatles ("my independance seems to vanish in the haze").
I've later read that John was disappointed that Help, which had originally started out as a slower Dylanesque type song transformed into the version we know it as today. However, it still represented one of his favorite songs primarily because it was real / honest.
Clearly, the influence of Bob Dylan, which John and the other Beatles were listening to at the time can be heard on "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". John was beginning to write in a more and more personal style which would become a trade mark of his throughout the rest of his time with the Beatles as well as his solo years.
Ticket To Ride, You're Going To Lose That Girl, I Need You - they're all great songs and make this a very listenable album and film..!
Hey, it's the Beatles - could it possibly be anything but great..??!!