Help!
is the fifth
studio album
by the
English rock band
and the soundtrack
to their film
of the same name.
It was released on
August,6th 1965
by Parlophone.
Seven of the fourteen songs,
including the singles
"Help!"
and
"Ticket to Ride",
appeared in the film
and take up
the first side
of the vinyl album.
The second side
includes
"Yesterday",
the most-covered song
ever written.
The album was met
with favourable
critical reviews
and topped the
Australian,
German,
British
and
American charts.
During the recording sessions
for the album,
the Beatles
continued to explore
the studio's
multitracking capabilities
to layer their sound.
"Yesterday"
features a
string quartet,
the band's first use of
Baroque sensibilities,
and
"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
includes a flute section.
The North American release
is a true
soundtrack album,
combining the
first seven songs
with instrumental music
from the film.
The omitted tracks
are instead
spread across
the Capitol Records LPs
Beatles VI,
Rubber Soul
and
Yesterday and Today.
In the US,
Help!
marked the start
of artistic recognition
for
the Beatles
from mainstream critics,
including comparisons to
the European
art music tradition.
It was nominated in
the category of
Album of the Year
at the 1966
Grammys Awards,
marking the first time
that a rock band
had been recognised
in this category.
In 2000,
it was voted
119th
in the third edition of
Colin Larkin's book
All Time Top 1000 Albums.
In 2020,
it was ranked 266th
on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the
"500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
In September 2013,
after the
British Phonographic Industry
changed its sales
award rules,
Help!
was certified
platinum
for recorded sales
since 1994.
According to McCartney,
most of the
songwriting for Help!
was done at
Kenwood,
Lennon's house in
Weybridge.
McCartney also
wrote some songs,
e.g. "Yesterday"
and
"I've Just Seen a Face",
at his girlfriend
Jane Asher's family home,
57 Wimpole Street
in London.
At this time,
the Beatles were
heavily influenced by
Bob Dylan,
especially Lennon,
who later referred to
it as his
"Dylan period".
Mark Hertsgaard
writes that while
Dylan's influence was
"evident"
on
Beatles for Sale,
Help!
is where it became
"fully realized".
Additionally,
Help!
is the first Beatles album
on which drugs
made a
significant impact.
Dylan in 1964
had introduced them to
cannabis,
which they smoked habitually
while filming Help!,
and they first encountered
LSD
in spring 1965.
According to
Alexis Petridis,
drugs motivated
the Beatles on
Help!
to take their
songwriting to
"new emotional depths",
such as on
"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
and
"Ticket to Ride"
The North American version,
the band's eighth
Capitol Records album
and tenth overall,
includes the songs
in the film
plus selections
from the film's
orchestral score
composed and conducted by
Ken Thorne,
which contains one
of the first uses
of the Indian sitar
on a rock/pop album,
and its very first use
on a
Beatles record.
"Ticket to Ride"
is the only song
on the American release
in Duophonic stereo
(also known as "fake stereo")
reprocessed from
the mono mix.
Likewise,
the mono version
of the album
uses a folded-down
stereo mix of
"Help!"
instead of the
true mono version
used on the single,
which features a
different vocal track.
Help!
is available on CD
as part of
The Capitol Albums,
Volume 2 box set.
This CD contains
both the stereo
and mono fold-down versions
as heard on
the American LP release.
A second CD
release of this album,
which contains
the seven songs
in true mono mixes,
was issued in 2014
individually
and as part of
the Beatles'
The U.S. Albums box set.
All of the
non-film tracks
from side two
of the Parlophone album
were spread out
through three
American albums.
Three were already issued
on the previously released
Beatles VI:
"You Like Me Too Much",
"Tell Me What You See"
and
"Dizzy Miss Lizzy".
"I've Just Seen A Face"
and
"It's Only Love"
were placed on
the Capitol
Rubber Soul,
with its follow-up album
Yesterday and Today
receiving the remaining
two tracks:
"Yesterday"
and
"Act Naturally".
The American version
of Help!
reached the
number one spot
on the
Billboard Top LPs chart
for nine weeks starting on
September,11th 1965.
TRACKLIST
CD 1
Help !
(original 1965 stereo mix)/
Help!
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(Stereo)
Help!
(1965 stereo mix)
The Night Before
(1965 stereo mix)
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
(1965 stereo mix)
I Need You
(1965 stereo mix)
Another Girl
(1965 stereo mix)
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
(1965 stereo mix)
Ticket to Ride
(1965 stereo mix)
Act Naturally
(1965 stereo mix)
It’s Only Love
(1965 stereo mix)
You Like Me Too Much
(1965 stereo mix)
Tell Me What You See
(1965 stereo mix)
I’ve Just Seen a Face
(1965 stereo mix)
Yesterday
(1965 stereo mix)
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
(1965 stereo mix)
SOUNDTRACK
Intro/Help!
(stereo)
The Night Before
(stereo)
From Me To You Fantasy
(instrumental)
(stereo)
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
(stereo)
I Need You
(stereo)
In The Tyrol
(instrumental)
(stereo)
Another Girl
(stereo)
Another Hard Day's Night
(instrumental)
(stereo)
Ticket To Ride
(stereo)
The Bitter End
(instrumental) /
You Can't Do That
(instrumental)
(stereo)
You're Gonna Lose That Girl
(stereo)
The Chase
(instrumental)
(stereo)
CD 2
Help !
(original 1965 mono mix)/
Help!
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(mono)
Help!
(1965 mono mix)
The Night Before
(1965 mono mix)
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
(1965 mono mix)
I Need You
(1965 mono mix)
Another Girl
(1965 mono mix)
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
(1965 mono mix)
Ticket to Ride
(1965 mono mix)
Act Naturally
(1965 mono mix)
It’s Only Love
(1965 mono mix)
You Like Me Too Much
(1965 mono mix)
Tell Me What You See
(1965 stereo mix)
I’ve Just Seen a Face
(1965 mono mix)
Yesterday
(1965 mono mix)
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
(1965 mono mix)
SOUNDTRACK
Intro/Help!
(mono)
The Night Before
(mono)
From Me To You Fantasy
(instrumental)
(mono)
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
(mono)
I Need You
(mono)
In The Tyrol
(instrumental)
(mono)
Another Girl
(mono)
Another Hard Day's Night
(instrumental)
(mono)
Ticket To Ride
(mono)
The Bitter End
(instrumental) /
You Can't Do That
(instrumental)
(mono)
You're Gonna Lose That Girl
(mono)
The Chase
(instrumental)
(mono)
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