“An all-out try at carving a new career as a screen team before their long love affair with the squealers dies out”. That was the key quote from the Times review of the movie Help! (more of which, tomorrow), and one that reflects a growing attitude to The Beatles in the press at the time. If you think journalists now are quick to change the narrative and turn vicious on a popular act now, bear in mind that this comment and this album came out 13 months after the album A Hard Day’s Night, during which time they had two more (canonical) LPs, a litany of singles, two feature films, multiple television appearances and ever tiring, ever increasing and ever more dangerous concert halls on which to play. There was still much adulation for the Beatles, but a sense from some quarters that they lacked direction. That is not true, of course. If anything they had too much, and from a lot of people. Perhaps the cover to Help! was a dig at this conception, showing the band in flag semaphore poses as though they are ushering in a ship to dock. The irony there would be that they tried to spell “Help”, were told by Robert Freeman and crew that it looked wrong, and had to change it.
It might have been tempting before to call Beatles for Sale a transitional album, but it might be more accurate to call it the instigator album. It was the first fires, the signs that The Beatles environment was not in complete simpatico with the songs they wanted to make, even if the songs were still of immense quality. But all of that came mainly in the folk structures and introspective songwriting. Help! also has those elements, in less pronounced qualities, but what makes this the transitional record to their studio heavy album (beyond, you know, being the last album before) is how this is merged with prominent sonic changes. It contains the start of Paul’s obsession with the pastiche, including baroque instruments like woodwind and strings, and even including an element of eastern influence in the guitars of “Ticket to Ride”.
This last change would come with the traces of Indian culture that were in the production of the Help! movie, which would have a huge influence on the songwriting and mysticism of the group, particularly George Harrison, going forward (strange considering that Help! is kind of passive aggressively racist to Eastern cultures. Although less so than much 60’s culture. Again, more on that tomorrow). Like the first soundtrack The Beatles had written, the album Help! reflects the film its present on; it’s not as cohesive or as joyous as its predecessor, and under a haze of marijuana, but has sections of unadulterated brilliance that rival (and here even trump) it. And so to does it reflect the band, tugging between the periods of youth and maturity and, like the cover, signalling us in to see what they have grabbed.
Track by Track
“Help”: There are two stories about the creation of “Help”. One is that it was an assignment John was given at the last minute after the movie had changed titles. The second, more familiar story, is that it was a piano folk ballad, an extension of “I’m a Loser”, until George Martin told them it would be best to turn it into a pop anthem akin to “A Hard Day’s Night”. Both those stories could be true, and in both it makes this song of desperation and depression feel more pronounced. That melancholy is still there, particularly in the second verse when the guitars are turned down, but it matched by a joyous rhythm and countermelodies by Paul and George that feel almost sarcastic. If anything, the decision of compromise helped to make this song more complex, the desperation of the touring life trapped inside one of the catchiest songs the band ever wrote.
“The Night Before”: Unlike any Beatles song I can think off beforehand, the main riff of this song is being played on an electric piano, giving it the feeling of a jam. So much so I’m surprised this song wasn’t played in concert by Paul until 2011! Those this does indicated how much of a “Paul” song this one is, right down to the prominent ascending and descending bass melody. The dark keys of the organ also hit that line between joy and almost brooding, such as the narrator who is both blinded by love and desperate for clears signs.
“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”: Like “I’m a Loser” this is John channeling Bob Dylan. This is most obvious in the snarling inflection of his voice, but the way the the rhythm compound on each other (6/8 waltz over 4/4 drums) that make this feel more in line with classic Beatles. And like “Help!”, there is a contrast between the melancholic, self-hating lyrics (John was a fan of those!) and the bright, waltzing tune that George brings with his classical guitar. Those two sides are brought together in its coda, with John Scott’s wilting woodwinds, fading out as though are about to go into hiding.
“I Need You”: For the first time since With the Beatles George Harrison contributes a song writing credit to the proceedings. And with this song he was well and truly missed. Matching Paul in terms of pure romanticism, the song is said to be about Patty Boyd, which makes at least two great songs from two different musicians about wanting to get with Patty Boyd. With the confidence of writing and singing credits, he also felt the confidence to experiment with other things, specifically with effects pedals that makes those chunky tremolo chords. This make the song sound so atypical from normal Beatles song, whilst being inside a typical framework.
“Another Girl”: This is a cool follow of the ideas of Beatles for Sale. The percussion and acoustic guitar makes this feel like a full on country, but with the flourishes of electric guitar George brings near the end of the song it turns into an almost blues number. Good song. Well apart from the fact that you can read the lyrics as the singer bragging that he has cheated and is telling his girlfriend he is going to leave her. Hey, music doesn’t have to be about nice things, I guess.
“You’re Gonna Lose That Girl”: You know those rap or R&B songs by ilk like Lil Wayne and Chris Brown bragging about how they’ll “steal your bitch”? Well this is the 60’s version of that song, albeit the classier, doo-wop version with a call and response backing crew. Compared to most songs of that time the piano filling the sound is being played by Paul instead of George Martin, which shows how the band was evolving into an autonomous studio unit, and also allowed Martin to move onto more complex inclusions. And Ringo is sure going to town on those bongos, huh?
“Ticket to Ride”: Side A ends with not just a classic Beatles track, but one important in terms of their song craft. Those guitar strings are both brighter and much heavier than anything prior, and its where Ringo really perfects that stuttering, stumbling percussion that would be the famous trademark that others would fail to imitate. Also, was this the most overtly sexual the band had been at this point (“Ride”, slang from Hamburg times, being exactly what you think it is)? Either way it makes those harmonic vocals reach a similar level of ecstasy.
“Act Naturally”: Not one of the best songs on the album, and more of a throwback to the Hamburg/Cavern Club days, so it’s really surprising that this is the opening track to the second (though I guess it makes sense since the only covers on the album are the beginning and end of Side B). But the obligatory Ringo led number is still effortlessly charming, with the lyrics about him being excited to be in the movies adding to that amiability. I like the idea that he would have been singing this on the set of Help!
“It’s Only Love”: So when a song starts with “I get high” it doesn’t take much to jump to conclusion right? I mean, this is a traditional love song, but this is also the first real reference to drug or drug related activities in the Beatles canon, and how cheesily playful it is probably explains why John Lennon hated this song. But I kid of like it for those reasons, plus the short buzzing melody that replicates both the practices the song speaks of to a tee.
“You Like Me Too Much”: John’s electric piano returns for the next two track, and as well here is a grand piano introduction which makes everything feel like we’re entering a western saloon. Also back again is Harrison, who brings his vulnerable vernacular to a deceptively simple melody that sees George competing with Paul and George in terms of weird chord progressions.
“Tell Me What You See”: Not the most memorable tune the band ever wrote, but the one that lets John have the most fun on the electric piano (and Ringo with the varied percussion). “It’s Only Love” might have hinted at the band’s preoccupation with marijuana, but if I didn’t know this was written most by Paul McCartney, I would have thought this would have been “vision trip” song, a precursor before the Beatles wrote the most famous vision trip song of all time. Sadly it is not, but the imagery Paul picks here does make this romance feel like a spiritual experience.
“I’ve Just Seen A Face”: Beatles for Sale might have been the Beatles “country and western LP”, but here Paul just writes a country song without any leeway on the subject. Its Paul’s first dip into obvious pastiche, and he does so with great aplomb, with a chugging-train like rhythm and percussion, classical guitar and Paul moving into gleeful hum and ahhs. With songs like this the band don’t just sound confident; they sound effortless.
“Yesterday”: It’s definitely hard to talk about the most covered song in the world without parroting what others have not said. At this point even that sentence is a cliche, and is true of every Beatles song. But fifty years on and this still manages to be one of the most iconic, most imitated, and most gorgeous songs ever written by a band full of those. Other songs have been a showcase for a band member, but this without question Paul McCartney’s song, with a soft but passionate vocal showcase backed by the lushest of string quartets. This was a melody so good that McCartney had thought he plagiarised it (he didn’t), and for a song called “Yesterday” its lyrics make you feel so much in the now, as though we are in a suspended piece of time where there is no turn back. And with Paul fully embrace of beauty of the baroque, it was the perfect transition point of things to come…
“Drizzy Miss Lizzy”: …unlike the final song of the album, which is more the end of things as they were. Not just being the final song, but being the last cover the band would use until their “final” album (we’ll get to that conversation). Considering this song stops “Yesterday” being the conclusion probably makes it feel worse in the album, but it is also obviously trying to end the album with the regular “rocker ending” formula. Not a bad song mind you, I don’t think John’s vocal had been as fierce as “Twist and Shout”, but I’ve never been a fan of the guitar tone on this recording. It’s also the most visible reason for why this practice had to go if the band were to move on.
And move on they would. Help! is an album that shows even in a time where some were calling them “directionless” The Beatles could create some of the most classic pop songs ever written. But their next album would see the merge of the folk and sonic experimentation the were building towards, for the album that really began the era of The Beatles as prominent studio artists. But until we talk about the second half of the Beatles, lets complete what’s left of this one…
What did you think, though?
The Beatles Album Rankings
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Beatles for Sale
- Please Please Me
- Help
- With the Beatles