Help!

Last updated

We still haven't made the sort of sound we want to, and we don't even know what we're after. [33]

– John Lennon during the recording of Help!

Lewisohn writes that 1965 introduced the part of the Beatles' career where they put less focus on live performances and took "a more serious application in the recording studio." [34] He identifies multiple new recording practices used on Help!, one being "to rehearse songs with a tape machine running, spooling back to record properly over the rehearsed material." [34] Another involved adding numerous overdubs to rhythm tracks without considering them as comprising new takes; because of this, many songs on Help! are documented as having needed only a small number of takes, yet they still required hours of work. [34] Martin also began placing the guitar parts on different tracks than the bass and drums, accomplishing "a more satisfying stereo image" according to Walter Everett. [33]

According to Hertsgaard, Help! showed "a major acceleration in the Beatles' ongoing search for fresh sounds." [35] He points out that half of the songs feature instruments the Beatles had never used before, including electric piano, flutes, a volume/tone pedal, and most famously "Yesterday"'s strings. [36] Help! is also the first Beatles album to feature the Epiphone Casino, first purchased by McCartney around December 1964 before quickly becoming a staple of the group's instrumentation. [37] Prior to the recording of "Yesterday", the flutes on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" were played by John Scott, only the second outside musician to appear on a Beatles track (after Andy White). [22]

Songs

Side one

The song "Help!" was written primarily by Lennon. He originally conceived it at a slower tempo and regretted speeding it up to make it more commercial. [38] Although it was only written out of need for a titular song, [39] Lennon remained extremely proud of "Help!" from the Beatles' break-up to his death, [40] even once calling it his favorite Beatles song he wrote. [41] He felt it was one of his "real" songs, [42] explaining in an interview: "The whole Beatle thing was just beyond comprehension. I was eating and drinking like a pig and I was fat as a pig, dissatisfied with myself ... later, I knew I was really crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period." [43]

McCartney's "The Night Before" is the first Beatles song to feature electric piano, played by Lennon. [44] McCartney and George Harrison played the guitar solo together, doubling each other in octaves. [45]

Lennon specified "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" as exemplifying his "Dylan period". [46] A connection has been suggested between the lyric and Beatles manager Brian Epstein's homosexuality, which he kept private due to British law at the time. [47]

"I Need You" was George Harrison's first songwriting contribution since "Don't Bother Me" in 1963. [48] He wrote it for his girlfriend Pattie Boyd, whom he met while filming A Hard Day's Night. [49] Its unusual guitar sound was achieved using a volume/tone pedal [50] – the first time a guitar pedal was used on a Beatles song. [34] A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Tom Petty sang it at the Concert for George. [51]

McCartney wrote "Another Girl" while holidaying at a villa in Hammamet, Tunisia. [52] He played lead guitar on the track as Harrison was struggling with it. [53]

"You're Going to Lose That Girl" was written by Lennon and McCartney together, though McCartney credited it 60–40 to Lennon. [54] Some have interpreted it as a continuation of "She Loves You" due to it revisiting the theme of a love triangle. [55]

"Ticket to Ride" was another song Lennon and McCartney wrote together, [56] but they later disagreed on how much each of them contributed. Lennon said in 1980, "Paul's contribution was the way Ringo played the drums." [46] In Many Years From Now , McCartney responded: "John just didn't take the time to explain that we sat down together and worked on that song for a three-hour songwriting session, and at the end of it we had all the words, we had the harmonies, and we had all the little bits. ... We wrote the melody together ... Because John sang it, you might have to give him 60 per cent of it." [57]

The meaning of the phrase "ticket to ride" has been debated. As was rumored at the time, it was partially inspired by the town Ryde in the Isle of Wight, where McCartney's cousin owned a pub that he and Lennon had performed at in the early 1960s. [58] Another story goes that Lennon used "ticket to ride" to refer to cards given to prostitutes in Hamburg by health authorities. [59] Lennon touted the song as "one of the earliest heavy metal records made." [46]

Side two

"Act Naturally", written by Johnny Russell and first recorded by Buck Owens in 1963, [60] was chosen by Ringo Starr to be his vocal contribution to the album. [61] Recorded at the end of the Help! sessions, [29] it was the last-recorded cover song the Beatles would officially release until "Maggie Mae" in 1970. [62] In 1989, Owens and Starr recorded another version together. [63]

"It's Only Love" was originally written by Lennon under the title "That's a Nice Hat (Cap)". Five guitar layers were used on the track, [64] including Harrison's which was run through a Leslie speaker. [64] Lennon was highly critical of the song in later years: "That's the one song I really hate of mine. Terrible lyric." [65]

"You Like Me Too Much" began the precedent of Harrison providing two or more songs to each Beatles album. [66] It once again features Lennon on electric piano, but also George Martin and McCartney on a Steinway grand piano. [67]

For "Tell Me What You See", McCartney drew inspiration for his lyrics from a religious verse that hung on a wall in Lennon's childhood home. [68] McCartney later described it as a filler song, "Not awfully memorable." [69]

McCartney wrote "I've Just Seen a Face" at the home of his girlfriend Jane Asher's family, at 57 Wimpole Street in London. [70] It would become one of McCartney's favorite Beatles songs and among the only ones he would perform with his later band Wings. [69]

The album's penultimate track, "Yesterday", came partially to McCartney in his sleep. He spent about a month playing it to people to make sure he had not plagiarised it. He then wrote working lyrics for it under the title "Scrambled Eggs". [71] "Yesterday" was later recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-covered pop song in history. [72]

The album ends with a cover of Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". Lennon in particular was a fan of Williams and, along with "Bad Boy", the Beatles also recorded his song "Slow Down". [73]

Album cover

Help!
The Beatles - Help!.png
Studio album by
Released6 August 1965 (1965-08-06)
Recorded15 February – 17 June 1965
Studio EMI, London
Genre
Length33:44
Label Parlophone
Producer George Martin
The Beatles chronology
Beatles for Sale
(1964)
Help!
(1965)
Rubber Soul
(1965)
The Beatles North American chronology
Beatles VI
(1965)
Help!
(1965)
Rubber Soul
(1965)
Semaphore Hotel.svg
H
Semaphore Echo.svg
E
Semaphore Lima.svg
L
Semaphore Papa.svg
P
Semaphore November.svg
N
Semaphore Uniform.svg
U
Semaphore Juliet.svg
J
Semaphore Victor.svg
V
Semaphore November.svg
N
Semaphore Victor.svg
V
Semaphore Uniform.svg
U
Semaphore Juliet.svg
J

The album cover shows the Beatles with their arms positioned to spell out a word in flag semaphore. According to cover photographer Robert Freeman, "I had the idea of semaphore spelling out the letters 'HELP'. But when we came to do the shot, the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn't look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms." [74]

On the UK Parlophone release, the letters formed by the Beatles appear to be "NUJV", whilst the slightly re-arranged US release on Capitol Records appeared to indicate the letters "NVUJ", with McCartney's left hand pointing to the Capitol logo. [75] The Capitol LP was issued in a "deluxe" gatefold sleeve with several photos from the film and was priced $1 more than standard Capitol releases at the time.[ citation needed ]

Compact disc release

There have been four CD releases of Help! The first was on 30 April 1987, using the 14-song UK track line-up. Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the original 14-track UK version replaced the original US version with its release on LP and cassette as well on 21 July 1987. As with the CD release of the 1965 Rubber Soul album, the Help! CD featured a contemporary stereo digital remix of the album prepared by Martin in 1986. Martin had expressed concern to EMI over the original 1965 stereo mix, claiming it sounded "very woolly, and not at all what I thought should be a good issue". Martin went back to the original four-track tapes and remixed them for stereo. [76] One of the most notable changes is the echo added to "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", something that was not evident on the original mix of the LP.

When the album was originally released on CD in Canada, pressings were imported from other countries, and used the 1987 remix. However, when the Disque Améric and Cinram plants in Canada started pressing the album, the original 1965 stereo mix was used by mistake. This was the only source for the 1965 stereo mix in its entirety until the release of the mono box set in 2009. [77]

The 2009 remastered stereo CD was released on 9 September. It was "created from the original stereo digital master tapes from Martin's CD mixes made in 1986". [78] The original 1965 stereo mix was included as a bonus on the mono CD contained in The Beatles in Mono boxed set.

The 1965 stereo mix was reissued again on the Help! CD contained in the Beatles collection The Japan Box released in 2014.

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews

Help! was another worldwide critical success for the Beatles. [79] Derek Johnson of the NME said that the LP "maintains the Beatles' usual high standards" and was a "gay, infectious romp which doesn't let up in pace or sparkle from start to finish – with the exception of one slow track". [80] [81] Despite the band's introduction of new instrumentation into their sound, particularly a string quartet on "Yesterday", the reviewer also wrote of the album: "It's typical Beatles material, and offers very few surprises. But then, who wants surprises from the Beatles?" While typical of the light and snappy pop music reviews at the time, according to music journalist Michael Halpin, these comments angered McCartney, who, like his bandmates, believed that artists should constantly develop through their work. [79]

In the United States, where the mainstream press had long focused on the Beatlemania phenomenon and had derided the group's music, as well as rock 'n' roll generally, the summer of 1965 coincided with the first examples of artistic recognition for the Beatles from the country's cultural mainstream. [82] Among these endorsements, Richard Freed of The New York Times likened the band's songs to works from the European art music tradition. Adding to what he described as the Beatles' impact on "serious music", Freed cited musicologists and composers such as Leonard Bernstein and Abram Chasins as admirers of the group's work. [83] Along with several nominations for "Yesterday", [84] Help! was nominated in the category of Album of the Year at the 1966 Grammys Awards. The nomination marked the first time that a rock band had been recognised in this category. [85]

Retrospective assessments

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [86]
The A.V. Club A [87]
Chicago Sun-Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [88]
Consequence of Sound B [89]
The Daily Telegraph Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [90]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [91]
MusicHound 3.5/5 [92]
Paste 100/100 [93]
Pitchfork 9.2/10 [94]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [95]

In his review of the Beatles' 1987 CD releases, for Rolling Stone magazine, Steve Pond remarked on the "unstoppable momentum" evident in the band's pre-Rubber Soul albums and recommended Help! "for the relatively quiet and understated way in which they consolidated their strengths". [96] Writing in 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide , Rob Sheffield says that the US version of Help! was "utterly ruined" through the replacement of the Beatles songs with the soundtrack music, and that, as a result, the album remained relatively overlooked. He describes the full album as "a big step forward" and "the first chapter in the astounding creative takeoff the Beatles were just beginning". [97]

Mark Kemp of Paste considers it to be the equal of A Hard Day's Night and cites "Help!", "Ticket to Ride" and "Act Naturally" as highlights, along with Harrison's return as a songwriter. Kemp identifies "Yesterday" as "the album's masterpiece" and a song that "set the stage for one of the most groundbreaking and innovative periods in The Beatles' career, not to mention pop music in general". [93] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph says that the album evokes "a band in transition, shifting slightly uncomfortably from the pop thrills of Beatlemania to something more mature", with Lennon's writing increasingly autobiographical and the group's sound growing more sophisticated. McCormick concludes: "Help! may not be their greatest album, but it contains some of their greatest early songs." [90]

In 2000, Help! was voted 119th in the third edition of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums . [98] In 2006, it was recognised as one of the "Most Significant Rock Albums" in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History. Two years before then, Tor Milde, music critic for the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang , ranked it at number 20 on his list of "The 100 Best Pop and Rock Albums of All Time".[ citation needed ] In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Help! number 332 on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", raising the ranking to number 331 in the 2012 update and then number 266 in the 2020 list. [99] [100] [101]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Help!"Lennon2:18
2."The Night Before"McCartney2:34
3."You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"Lennon2:09
4."I Need You" (George Harrison)Harrison2:28
5."Another Girl"McCartney2:05
6."You're Going to Lose That Girl"Lennon2:18
7."Ticket to Ride"Lennon3:09
Total length:17:01
Side two
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Act Naturally" (Morrison–Russell)Starr2:30
2."It's Only Love"Lennon1:56
3."You Like Me Too Much" (Harrison)Harrison2:36
4."Tell Me What You See"McCartney2:37
5."I've Just Seen a Face"McCartney2:05
6."Yesterday"McCartney2:05
7."Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (Larry Williams)Lennon2:54
Total length:16:43

North American Capitol release

Help!
HelpUSalbumcover.jpg
Soundtrack album by
Released13 August 1965 [102]
Recorded15 February – 17 June 1965
Studio EMI, London
Genre
Length29:34
Label Capitol
Producer George Martin, Dave Dexter, Jr. [103]
The Beatles North American chronology
Beatles VI
(1965)
Help!
(1965)
Rubber Soul
(1965)
Singles from Help!
  1. "Ticket to Ride"
    Released: 19 April 1965
  2. "Help!"
    Released: 19 July 1965 [102]

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 11 September 1965.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Help!" (preceded by an uncredited instrumental intro based on the "James Bond Theme")Lennon2:39
2."The Night Before"McCartney2:36
3."From Me to You Fantasy" (Lennon–McCartney; arranged by Thorne)instrumental2:08
4."You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"Lennon2:12
5."I Need You" (Harrison)Harrison2:31
6."In the Tyrol" (Ken Thorne)instrumental2:26
Total length:14:32
Side two
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Another Girl"McCartney2:08
2."Another Hard Day's Night" (Lennon–McCartney; arranged by Thorne)instrumental2:31
3."Ticket to Ride"Lennon3:07
4."The Bitter End/You Can't Do That" (Ken Thorne/Lennon–McCartney; arranged by Thorne)instrumental2:26
5."You're Gonna Lose That Girl"Lennon2:19
6."The Chase" (Ken Thorne)instrumental2:31
Total length:15:02

Charts

Certifications and sales

In the US, the album sold 1,314,457 copies by 31 December 1965 and 1,594,032 copies by the end of the decade. [122]

Original release
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF) [123] Platinum60,000^
Australia (ARIA) [124] Gold35,000^
Brazil320,000 [125]
Germany100,000 [126]
Italy (FIMI) [127]
sales since 2009
Gold25,000
United Kingdom (BPI) [128]
sales since 1994
Platinum300,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

North American release
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [129] 2× Platinum200,000^
United States (RIAA) [130] 3× Platinum3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

According to Mark Lewisohn [131] [132] and Alan W. Pollack. [133]

The Beatles

Additional musicians

Surround versions

The songs included in the soundtrack of the film Help! (tracks 1–7) were mixed into 5.1 surround sound for the film's 2007 DVD release.

Release history

CountryDateLabelFormatCatalog
United Kingdom6 August 1965 Parlophone mono LP PMC 1255
stereo LPPCS 3071
United States13 August 1965 Capitol mono LPMAS 2386
stereo LPSMAS 2386
Worldwide reissue15 April 1987 Apple, Parlophone, EMI Compact DiscCDP 7 46439 2
United States21 July 1987Capitolstereo LPCLJ 46439
Japan11 March 1998 Toshiba-EMI CDTOCP 51115
Japan21 January 2004Toshiba-EMI Remastered LPTOJP 60135
Worldwide reissue11 April 2006Apple/Capitol/EMICD reissue of US LPCDP 0946 3 57500 2 7
Worldwide reissue9 September 2009Apple/Capitol/EMICD stereo remasterCDP 0946 3 82415 2 2

See also

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References

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