We wrapped up Hanspostcard’s album draft…100 albums in 100 days. We are going into extra innings and extending three more picks from these categories… favorite Soundtracks, Greatest Hits, and a music related movie. This is my pick for sountrack…Help! by the Beatles.
2020 ALBUM DRAFT- ROUND 11 PICK 4- SOUNDTRACKS- BADFINGER20 SELECTS- THE BEATLES- HELP!
To avoid confusion I’m reviewing the UK version of Help! because that is the one that I own.
The movie Help! was an enjoyable movie. It was not nearly as good as A Hard Days Night but it had it’s moments. I love black and white movies but the color made Help! stand out. The Beatles knew it wasn’t as good as their first…John had a quote about it: “it was like being a frog in a movie about clams.” Nevertheless it was a fun movie and a pleasure to watch today.
They shot the movie in five different locations…London, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Austria, and the Bahamas.
It was the first Beatle movie I ever saw…I rented it from a video store in the mid-eighties. The Help! movie was the only Beatle movie they had at the time. With no internet, it was my only window to see the Beatles other than the documentary The Compleat Beatles.
The soundtrack is a great album on it’s own.
I picked this album/soundtrack because I always thought this was the transitional album between Beatlemania and The Beatles middle period. After this album would come Rubber Soul and the swinging sixties would officially be kicked off. Help! shows them making strides into the future. You can hear a some of their earlier work and get a hint of what was coming.
Here are a few songs…I’ll leave the big hits off of the preview.
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away is a good song with a noticeable Dylan influence.
One of my favorite songs on the album is The Night Before…I first heard it on the Beatles Rock and Roll Music compilation album. It’s another song that would have been a single for another band.
As soon as I heard I’ve Just Seen A Face…I learned it on guitar and have been playing it ever since. This is a song that you can see the change starting to take place…from the bouncy numbers to this folk influenced one. This song would be on the American version of Rubber Soul.
You’re Going to Lose That Girl has a catchy call and response chorus. The backup vocals are superb.
The title track is brilliant with John calling out for Help after being battered by Beatlemania. They also dipped into their club roots with a cover of the Larry Williams song Dizzy Miss Lizzy. The album had the hits of course…Help!, Yesterday, and Ticket To Ride…all #1 in the Billboard 100.
I’m ready to watch Help! now…can I smuggle a Blu-ray player on the island?
Help!
The Night Before
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
I Need You
Another Girl
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
Ticket to Ride
Act Naturally
It’s Only Love
You Like Me Too Much
Tell Me What You See
I’ve Just Seen a Face
Yesterday
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
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Great post. I love this album too. I love some of the apparently underrated songs. I used to obsess over Tell Me What You See. I think Act Naturally is Ringo’s best Beatles song. The scene in the film where they are playing I Need You on Salisbury Plain is forever etched into my memory. It’s the first album I ever owned so I’ve got a soft spot for it. Thank you for posting. You’ve inspired me to listen to it again.
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Thank you for reading… It’s funny because this is the last Beatle album I ever purchased…I was in my early twenties and had most of the music on other packages and by then I had all of the studio album…so Tell Me What You See was a new Beatle song to me at the time…Yea I agree with Act Naturally…it’s perfect for him.
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Man that’s a pretty stellar list of songs Max. More like a Greatest Hits set than a soundtrack compilation
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It is like a greatest hits isn’t it?…rather than just a regular release album…
I know you are a Kiss fan…youtube Gene Simmons and “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl”…he does a good version of it.
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The Demon is a huge Beatles fan. Stanley said years ago that when he met Simmons for the first time Gene was surprised that Paul wrote tunes as Gene thought it was only him and the Beatles that wrote songs! lol
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LOL
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Some great cuts on the album! I had the “red album” Greatest Hits from 62-66 and always loved the James Bond-ish intro to the song “Help!” on there.
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I had that also…now I miss it when I don’t hear it in front of Help.
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I would love to watch the Beatles’ Help movie some day.
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It’s a lot of fun…a lot of clever lines in it.
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We rented “Help!” on the same day that we rented “Shoes of the Fisherman” and a couple of episodes of “Rumpole of the Bailey” and had ourselves a Leo McKern Film Festival.
You’re right, “Help!” was nowhere near as funny as “A Hard Day’s Night,” mostly because it was a little more tightly scripted and the guys didn’t have as much room to improvise. Still, it was a fun movie. My favorite scene is the one where they go to four different front doors and end up in the same room.
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Oh I LOVED that room. Ever since I was a kid I wanted a bed made into the floor with a bookshelf around it. I loved the organ also with the 60s vending machines.
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A great article on my fave band! Great Job
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Thank you.
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I thought of using this for the film one, but didn’t want to double dip into the Beatles.
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After the first 10 I took that off myself…the next one I pick is so rare…not the band but the album…I have no worries of anyone picking it…it’s the first album I ever owned.
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A great pick, like I said on the other site, and a legitimate contender for the regular Top Ten picks let alone soundtracks. Cool that it was the first album you owned! I’m not 100% sure but I think it was Elton John’s ‘Greatest Hits’ for me.
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Oh…this one is not the first one I owned…that is the next pick I made…sorry if that comment was confusing.
The first one I owned is a greatest hits of someone…and you probably can guess who BUT…you wouldn’t guess the album.
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Fab album of a Fab film. I remember seeing it at the cinema when it first came out, all glorious multi-colour, snow, and tropical islands, and exotic cultures. Great fun for a kid. Love the soundtrack album, recently bought the remastered CD reissue to replace the tinny plastic cased original CD release version of the better vinyl original. It works as a series of promo films (or videos as they call ’em now) even if the plot and wackiness in between isn’t to anyone’s taste. Side one is especially stunning, and of course Yesterday wasnt a UK single until 1976. Still makes you gasp, that fact!
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Their first two movies reminded me of the Marx Brothers…they of course were not the Marx Brothers but in that line. Since I’m a huge Marx Brothers fan…I loved them.
It is a fun movie to escape in
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I adore the Marx Brothers, grew up on them on TV during the period Groucho was a huge cult revival figure in the 70’s. The banter between Chico and Groucho was ahead of it’s time, as was the anarchy:)
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Oh you are talking to a huge fan here also. I only wish they had a filmed them on stage when they were younger. The one liners…no one can top those.
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