Music: Help! (The Beatles)

Beatles Album #5: Help!

Released in August 1965, Help! helped the Beatles begin to significantly move into the next phase of their musicianship. The album also is their first to have a strong theme throughout: that of vulnerability, bitterness, loss (but don't worry, it's not a negative-sounding album in the musical sense). The Beatles were clearly shedding their care-free, mop-top, boy-meets-girl style, although traces of it are certainly still there. Some of the songs are moderate upgrades, while others are quantum leaps forward for the group. I rate this one slightly above A Hard Day's Night, which I consider their quintessential early album, but the overall quality of Help! simply puts it above that one.

1. "Help!"
The album's title song, obviously, is one of the Beatles' biggest hits. This hit also shows the group's musical evolution right off the bat: yes, it's still an uptempo rock song like earlier ones, but it also shows more nuance and complexity, and the lyrics, obviously, are no longer romance driven. The Beatles kick it off with a one-off, very effective variation on the chorus. As the first verse comes in, the bass part provides a great energy, and the backing vocals fit in perfectly seamlessly. The chorus adopts a tone of greater urgency from John's vocal, and by the end Paul is singing along in classic Beatle harmony. One drawback of the song is that the essentially one-note vocal line can get a bit tiring; but it's still an essential Beatles classic.

2. "The Night Before"
The bass starts things off with a rising rhythm, accompanied by the guitars. Paul comes in singing the lead in a somewhat typical Beatles-rock style, although it's certainly not one of the harder rockers. Lennon leads a backing vocal that is perhaps a little too assertive, but one that is still appropriate. The chorus flows in naturally with a rising tone, but Paul's vocal maintains a dark, heavy feel for this and throughout. The guitar solo is a bit anemic, but the middle eight is neat, with Paul's vocal rhythm nicely accompanied by Ringo's drums. A very good song, which could have been elevated further with just a bit more punch to the performance.

3. "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
The first of two fantastic Beatles ballads on the album, this song represents a huge breakthrough for Lennon as a songwriter. Accompanied sparingly but expertly by a guitar and tambourine, Lennon sings an aching, beautiful verse. The chorus, started with the recognizable jolt of "hey!", gives a nice added bit of energy, while retaining the somber mood of the piece and showing some more sophistication from the instrumentals. Like so many of the Beatles' strongest ballads, this one keeps it simple and short, while leaving a complex and long-lasting effect on the listener. Brilliant.

4. "I Need You"
Hmmmm. It would have been hard for just about any song to follow the previous one, but this is a particularly poor choice. One of Harrison's first original compositions, this one is stuck in the past. The verses are actually pretty good, but the chorus is definitely a step in the wrong direction. The instrumental backing is pretty plain, and lets Harrison's vocal dominate (joined at times by a light backing vocal). However, by far the worst part of the song is the accordion-sounding synthesizer, or whatever horrible contraption that is. Blech. Let's move along.

5. "Another Girl"
This one immediately kicks off as another of the Beatles' country-rhythm songs. Again starting off with a bit of the chorus, Lennon and McCartney start right in with their harmony. Quickly, though, John passes it off to Paul to sing the verses alone, which he does quite well, using the lower register of his voice very effectively and supplemented by a very nice bouncing rhythm. John comes back in at the chorus with a great harmony, and Paul launches off with a nice touch at the end of it. The bass and guitar trading off on beats is a simple but effective way to reinforce the rhythmical pattern, and George has a small but nifty guitar part. Maybe not one that'll blow your socks off, but just a rock solid tune that showcases many of their strengths.

6. "You're Gonna Lose That Girl"
John finally comes in with a harder rocking number here. It's worth noting here that the album has quite a strong theme of vulnerability in the lyrics, and even carrying over somewhat to the tone of the music - this song being a prime example. John's vocal effectively mixes a menacing, snarly tone with a higher pitch at points that seems to reflect their earlier work sarcastically. The backing vocal, often used to help brighten Beatle songs, here instead echoes John's sentiments. The verses and chorus roll right along with the practiced skill of a band subverting their own genre. Ringo adds a cool drum part, and George's guitar is nice as well. Very good.

7. "Ticket To Ride"
Another of the Beatles' #1 hits, this one starts off with a distinctly advanced guitar part, and Ringo's drums fit perfectly. In fact, it might be one of his best performances. Lennon sings a fantastically-written verse, which ends each line with an equally-great harmony from Paul. The chorus flows right in from the verse, and John and Paul are just cruising in the heights of their collaboration. The middle eight is also great, with a good tambourine from Ringo and more of the harmony. The instrumentals continue effectively support the vocal with a heavy but uninterrupting force. The musical jump in this song is just incredible, and it's a phenomenally well executed performance.

8. "Act Naturally"
Time for the song of the album for Ringo! The Beatles don't bother messing with the formula here, giving him yet another country cover to perform. A perfectly pleasant song, Ringo sings it admirably well, and the backing instruments don't let him down, either. The lyrics also fit quite well for Ringo, a funny, self-deprecating guy (at least back in the day). It does kind of come off as a bit of an intermission in the album, but perhaps that's appropriate after the jolt provided by "Ticket To Ride".

9. "It's Only Love"
Here, we get one of Lennon's songs in the model of "Anna" and others, of which we normally get one per album - this one adopting the album's vulnerable, perhaps bitter tone, in lyrics. I'm quite fond of the verses here; not only does John sing the upper-register part quite well, it is simply written very creatively with some cool chords, supported by guitars. The chorus, sadly, is a bit more generic, but it's serviceable. Interestingly, no backing vocals here, although Lennon's voice is double-tracked in the chorus. Pleasant little song that doesn't overstay its welcome.

10. "You Like Me Too Much"
Harrison's second song on the album, this one is a considerable improvement on his first, but still not one of the album's better tracks. This one does, however, follows the same pattern of his other composition, strong verses, but a chorus that is overly derivative of earlier stuff. On the upside, the refrain shows a little development in use of chords, something that will blossom fully later on. An electric piano (?) accompanies throughout, a very nice choice; the rest of the instruments are also fine, if basic. I believe Harrison recorded two different vocal parts for the chorus, similar to John in "It's Only Love". Beginning and ending with a neat, wobbly piano line, this one is alright.

11. "Tell Me What You See"
Here's another neat, original piece from John and Paul. It strikes me as a bit bi-polar, though in a good way. The verses switch between a line of bright, high harmony from John and Paul with the following line just as low as the other was high, finishing with more of the deep, rich low register; you can practically feel the vibration. The chorus then goes to a high-low combo, that is difficult to tell who is who thanks to some tricky, effective producing. With a slower tempo and little variation, it's perhaps a bit long, but still quite a nice song.

12. "I've Just Seen A Face"
This one opens with a really neat guitar duet with a triplet rhythm (you know I'm a sucker!) before heading into a completely different style. I would call the style Paul's country, aided by percussion that gives that country feeling and led by a tender, well-performed vocal by Paul. Once again, the chorus features two parts - and it's another double track of the lead singer, this time Paul. The song is almost over before you know it, and I kind of wish they'd taken some time from the last one and put it on this one. Not a centerpiece song, but a very nice one anyway.

13. "Yesterday"
Boy, does this one need any explaining? Only the most covered song in pop music history, and perhaps one of the most recognizable. Heard within the context of this album, it's a shocking push forward musically for not only the group but popular music in general. It combines composition of perfectly elegant simplicity from Paul with an enriching and ingenius score for strings by the fifth Beatle, George Martin. It's easy to get overexposed to this one, but if you can take a step back from all the significance and popularity surrounding it, its power as one of the Beatles' and pop music's great works will come back to you.

14. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
Hmmm... sorry to question you, Beatles, but what's up with this? "Yesterday" would have made a perfect conclusion to the album. But you tack on this song, whose tone if nothing else is a horrible fit for the album. Is this a strange attempt to recreate the "Twist and Shout" effect, perhaps? If so, it didn't work. Sure, Lennon's vocal is quite good (though not T&S level), but it's not a good choice for the group, and the high-pitched guitars quickly get on my nerves. Actually, the instruments in general are a bit sloppy by the Beatles' standards. Unfortunately, Help! does not get what it is calling for from its closing track.

Essentials: "Help!", "Ticket To Ride", "Yesterday", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
Weak(er) Songs: "I Need You", "You Like Me Too Much" (sorry, George!)

My Rank of The Beatles' Albums So Far:
1. Help!
2. A Hard Day's Night
3. Please Please Me (after further consideration, I bumped it up)
4. Beatles For Sale
5. With The Beatles