Released in spring 1965, just six months after their previous LP,Beatles for Sale, the new album was a marked return to form. As with A Hard Day’s Night, the band provided a soundtrack LP split into film songs and other work.
The cover versions were now down to just two (it would be the final time the group released any songs which weren’t their own) and the song writing had taken another leap forward. Although close inspection of the cover reveals a lack of smiles again, the album itself exhibits some of the band’s best work to date.
Help! - Songs Featured in the Movie
The LP starts with a bang. The single "Help!" is the Beatles at their best: Lennon’s vocal backed by McCartney and Harrison’s harmonies had become a trademark sound that has been aped by numerous bands ever since. In a sense the song takes up where much of Beatles for Sale had left off in terms of its dark subject matter hidden behind joyous, life-affirming music. But the songs also exhibits a re-discovered passion and energy for perfect pop music.
"You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away" has often been described as Lennon’s attempt to be Dylan, but that is to do the song a disservice. It’s a bold new departure for the group and is a clear sign of what was to come later in the year on the ground breaking Rubber Soul. Its hypnotic acoustic guitar married to a detached vocal are one of the first clear examples of the band outgrowing the confines of pop music.
George Harrison’s song writing was greatly improving and while Help! is the last album his songs are clearly second rate when compared with the Lennon/McCartney powerhouse, "I Need You" especially is a good effort with wonderful lolling guitar work.
McCartney’s "Another Girl" is a workmanlike effort whose lyric is on the mean-spirited side, something Lennon was often accused of and yet it’s still a great tune with some nice guitar licks thrown in for good measure.
"You’re Going to Lose That Girl" is vintage Beatles. Harmonies to the fore, it’s an example of the perfect pop music they could produce almost in their sleep. It would also be one of the final times such elegant simplicity would be let loose on a Beatles’ record. Almost impossible not to sing along to, the track freezes the band in a moment of time that had already passed by the time the LP was released.
The final film song is the single "Ticket to Ride". Quite simply one of the greatest singles of the decade, the guitar playing is worth its number one status on its own. But what really makes the song is Lennon’s laid-back vocal delivery that simply oozes with the knowledge that the Beatles are the biggest band in the world. Look at what we can do, is the song’s subtext. It’s emotive, languid and utterly brilliant.
Help! - the Non-Movie Songs
The less said about the Ringo vehicle, "Act Naturally" the better. As a song it’s pretty awful, but as a cover on a Beatles LP it’s totally redundant. It’s also what the skip button was invented for and while it suffers from following the matchless "Ticket to Ride", it’s inclusion remains a mystery.
Thankfully, the album is back on track with the next song, "It’s Only Love". This is an overlooked gem with a lovely Lennon vocal. Lennon effortlessly slides down the vocal scale like a carefree child. The slight chuckle in his voice at 1:06 is a lovely moment and only heightens the pleasure in what is one of the band’s seldom heard tunes.
"You Like Me Too Much" and "Tell Me What You See" are enjoyable but as close to filler as the band ever came, not surprising when you consider they were releasing two albums and a number of singles a year.
The album’s penultimate track is almost hidden away. A string quartet, acoustic guitar and just one Beatle, "Yesterday" has become the most covered song in musical history. The fact it was left to skulk near the end of side two and was not even considered as a single in the UK shows the band’s almost embarrassment at writing a song that did not fit the pop mold.
Summary
Within six months of the release of Help! the Beatles would begin to shed the binds of Beatlemania with the release of Rubber Soul. In the meantime, the world was presented with what would be the group’s final “pop” album.
Help! is an album that marked the final point in the band’s Mop Top story. Its great era-defining songs, classic singles and overlooked album tracks make it an essential part of anyone’s collection.
Today, the album stands as a perfect example of classic mid-sixties pop music and should be enjoyed on those terms. Many groups would record similar sounding albums in the future, but not the Beatles. They were about to move on.
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