Help! [UK] [SOUNDTRACK]

The Beatles

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 1990)
• Original Release Date: August 6, 1965
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002UAL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (254 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,273 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
How John Lennon's confessional song became the title for a silly James Bond spoof I really don't know. The funny thing is, it works both ways--as a young man's personal statement about learning to open up to others, and as the frantic theme for an exotic espionage chase comedy starring those lovable mop-tops (this time in color). Like A Hard Day's Night, only the first "side" of this album actually contains songs from the movie--the biggest hits being the eponymous cry for assistance and "Ticket to Ride." But part 2 has a few nice tunes as well, like "It's Only Love," "I've Just Seen a Face," and a little ditty called "Yesterday." And I always love it when they do an all-out screamer like "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which sounds like John's raucous answer to Paul's "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" vocal on Beatles for Sale. Of course, it's essential--as are all the Beatles' soundtracks (all the Beatles' albums), with the possible exception of Yellow Submarine. --Jim Emerson

Product Description
Japanese exclusive reissue of 1965 album. This Toshiba/EMI pressing features an OBI strip (different from the last Japanese pressings issued in 1990) & an insert with Japanese text & lyrics in Japanese & English. Manufactured & pressed in Japan. This album has been direct metal mastered from a digitally remastered original tape to give the best possible sound quality. 2003. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 Star record (by Beatles standards), some great songwriting, February 8, 2001

By	Mike London "MAC" (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

With The Beatles' first five albums, we have them in the process of bubble-gum pop, whereas their only artistic contemporary Dylan is doing much more satisfying (to this listener) work during this time period. Of course, these five records, and especially HARD DAY'S NIGHT, are the best that early rock'n'roll has to offer. And this is the same period HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED is released. Tell me, do you want to listen to Like a Rolling Stone or Desolation Row or this pop with Ringo singing a Buck Owens song about "all you have to do is act naturally"? I think that's the worst Ringo song of all. They should have stuck with the song from Anthology II "If You Got Trouble", and maybe included "That Means a Lot" as well..

Not that this is a bad album, by any means. Its The Beatles, after all, and all of their albums (even BEATLES FOR SALE) is top rate stuff. This is the first album to point toward some new changes in The Beatles' repertoire. The best songs on here are the title cut, Ticket to Ride, Its Only Love (in my opinion), Tell Me What You See, and the best Dylan song that Dylan never wrote: Hey You Got To Hide Your Love Away. Oh yeah, I'm also leaving out another song.......what was it.......something about Yesterday. Of course, I'm sure no one remembers that, but I think its pretty good, very memorable melody. Its not like its the most covered Beatles song ever *cough cough*. Also, a funny factoid for you music buffs is Yesterday was originally Scrambled Eggs, and McCartney literally dreamt it. One thing Lennon resented McCartney for happened that this and Michelle, two of The Beatles' biggest song, is essentially McCartney solo, with Lennon not playing at all on eithe track.

Dizzy Ms. Lizzy's good for the rocking side of Lennon, reminiscent of Twist and Shout off Please Please Me, which, btw, was never released in America in the original format until much later (ooooh, that evil Capitol!).

So chalk it up as a holding pattern, one last bubble-gum record before they moved on to the much more satisfying (to me) mid and late portion of their career. Remember, any criticism against The Beatles is realative -- it should go without saying any other band would give their front teeth for these songs.

Yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away........

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What am I missing here??, June 13, 2005

By	justme "music lover" (WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Help! (Audio CD)

I have looked at two pages here side by side and I can't for the life of me figure out why this version of 'Help' put out by Toshiba EMI in 2004 is priced at $41.49, while what looks to be the exact same CD put out by Capitol in 1990 is priced at a much more reasonable $13.49.
Unless you can find something I am missing, I'd suggest you head over to

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002UAL/ref=m_art_li_59/102-3455281-6122531?v=glance&s=music

and buy that one.

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh I believe, in Yesterday, January 30, 2003

By	Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Things got a little more upbeat following the downbeat For Sale. Also, the Beatles songcrafting improved and would set the pace for things to come. The title track has the same frantic quick-paced sound that made the title track to their first movie a hit. The theme of age reducing the cocksure assertive of one's younger years and the need for that helping hand is universal. And who can forget these lyrics: "Help me if you can--I'm feeling down/cause I do appreciate you being around/Help me get my feet back on the ground/Won't you pleeeeaaaase please help me?" John gets good backing vocal help from Paul and George.

"The Night Before" has a faint Chuck Berry influence. Paul sings here and it's a song of puzzlement, concerning a girl's nice and sincere behaviour and why she has done an about-face in attitude. That's John on electric piano.

John sports a strained and sometimes roughened voice in the acoustic ballad "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". There's a flute solo by session musician Johnnie Scott in two places.

The distorted pedal guitar is cool in George Harrison's "I Need You". A similar effect was used in the song "Yes It Is", which is on Past Masters Volume 1. The theme of mistreatment explored in "The Night Before" is revisited here as well. He also sings the engaging "You Like Me Too Much", the first time he sings two songs on one album. This was a nominee for the movie, and understandbly so. He gets piano help from Paul, John, and producer George Martin.

The engaging "Another Girl" has Paul on lead vocals and lead guitar and might be a response to either of the two mistreatment songs: "I have got another girl who will love me to the end, through thick and thin/She will always be my friend." Well, that's a relief.

In the mid-paced "You're Going To Lose That Girl", John challenges another man that if he doesn't start treat her right, he himself will "make a point of taking her away from you. Watch what you do. The way you treat her, what else can I do?"

"Ticket To Ride" opens with a nice Rickenbacker guitar by Paul before John launches into another breakup song. "The girl's that'd driving me mad is going away. She's got a ticket to ride (X3) and she don't care." The first single from Help! and my second favourite here.

"Tell Me What You See" has John and Paul on lead vocals, and when they sing, "open up your eyes now" Paul's lower register voice is clearly discernible. "I Have just Seen A Face" has a racing guitar and sounds like something Simon and Garfunkel might do later, particular "The Boxer".

The reflective "Yesterday" is one of my all-time Beatles song and why Paul is my favourite vocalist of the quartet. It is the classic Paul McCartney ballad. Paul's use of a string quartet instead of what he called that "Mahavishnu rubbish" was a good move. Unforgettable lyrics: "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as if they're here to stay. Oh I believe in yesterday."

This the last album where they do cover tunes. Ringo does Buck Owen's "Act Naturally", a nice country-flavoured track. I often compare this to the similarly-sounding but production-laced "Don't Pass Me By" from the White album. John rips into the frantic Larry Williams number "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" in the same way he did "Twist and Shout". Nice mean guitar from George.

If the Beatles needed help on this album, I'd be hard-pressed to find it, because it's another bang-on job for them.