Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.

Monday, October 18, 2010

The Beatles - Help! (1965)


I can't write much that hasn't already been written. With this release, John and Paul really came into their own as songwriters with John's You've Got to Hide Your Love Away and Paul's Yesterday. It continues to puzzle me why Capitol Records would change the US release from the UK release. Fortunately, they aligned the tracks with the original UK releases on the CD re-releases.

Two things come to mind as I listen: 1) this music was written, performed, and released before I was born, and 2) The Beatles released all their LP's between 1963 and 1970. All that great music within only 8 years makes me feel like I really haven't done much lately...

1987

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Help! at #266.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (9 weeks, Sept 11 - Nov 6, 1965)
Peak on the Billboard Pop CD chart: #4
Peak on the CashBox CD chart: #2

Tracks: They're all great, but here's my top five from this release: 
  1. Help!
  2. Ticket to Ride
  3. I've Just Seen a Face
  4. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
  5. Yesterday

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: The title tracked introduced my youngest son to The Beatles when he was very young. With the exception of a brief infatuation with Earth, Wind, and Fire, The Beatles have always been his favorite group.

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