Help! – THE BEATLES*****

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/Its Only Love/You Like Me Too Much/Tell Me What You See/I’ve Just Seen A Face/Yesterday/Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Last of the early style Beatles albums Help! topped the UK album chart. It was the final one to include covers and, although it showed no innovation or development over previous releases, it nevertheless maintained the group's superiority over all their competitors. Contains three US chart toppers Yesterday, Ticket To Ride and the title track, the latter two also reaching the summit in the UK. (UK:1)

"This would be the last time that a song by any other artist but the Fab Four would ever appear on a Beatles album."

"Great stuff, if bands could make soundtrack music like this today, I'd go nuts."

"Beatles For Sale and Help! are considered 'holding pattern' works and are less revered by critics because they didn't introduce any great innovations or ground-breaking ideas. But I don't think that does these albums justice. Sure, most of the concerns are still love-oriented, but many of the lyrics are becoming increasing complex. Even a song like Yesterday shows a real maturity in the lyrics."

"The songs offered here are The Beatles at the top of their game, in my opinion. Gorgeous melodies, catchy hooks, great harmony singing and sharp musicianship abound. The strength of songs like Help, Ticket To Ride and Yesterday are legend, but there are many other real gems on this album."

"The energy of the band is what gets it for me. So the songs later on were insanely more impressive but there are some gems on here that could fit flawlessly within their later work."

"This masterpiece shows the musical giant steps The Beatles took since they released their first movie album a year earlier. On this collection, one can hear the stronger, richer and more confident musical arrangements."

"Help represents the beginning of the musical transition from the Beatlemania period to the more sophisticated areas of songwriting that they were beginning to explore."