I broke a tooth last week and this
afternoon I had to get a filling. Dentistry has come a long way since the last
time I got a filling – I can hardly feel it.
Much more painful was the Boston
Bruins losing for the second straight game to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The needle
to the jaw was far less painful.
Disc 1134 is… Help!
Artist: The
Beatles
Year of Release: 1965
What’s up with the Cover? The Beatles spell out some nonsense
message in semaphore. Yes, you probably think this spells “Help!” but it doesn’t
– it spells “NUJV”. As a result, it’s just four guys sticking their arms out at
different angles, taking this cover from clever…to stupid.
How I Came To Know It: This is one of the most famous
pop albums of all time, so that’s how I know it. In terms of why it is in my collection,
Sheila is a Beatles fan, and she bought it years ago.
How It Stacks Up: We (Sheila) have seven Beatles albums. Of
those seven, I’d put “Help!” in at #4, which is respectable.
Ratings: 3 stars
The good news is that “Help!” was a pleasant
surprise – I really enjoyed this record in places. The bad news is that I have
low expectations when it comes to the Beatles, so it was easier to impress me
than the average guy drinking Rolling Stone magazine’s bathwater.
OK, that was unkind. Rolling Stone magazine also
overdoes it over the Stones and Dylan, and I don’t talk trash that way about
them, do I? Also, there is a good reason that “Help!” is one of pop music’s
most revered records. There is some pretty amazing songwriting on this record,
and smart production makes that songwriting shine.
Listening to “Help!” I felt the weight of its
influence on music. These songs have pop structures that have become the norm
in radio friendly pop, and while other bands were doing great things in rock
and roll in 1965, the Beatles were one of the best at it.
My preference for the Beatles is later in their
career, and the sugary pop music topics on “Help!” didn’t catch my attention.
Lots of “boy meets girl” and “boy loses girl” stuff that felt a lot like a
movie soundtrack (half the record was a
movie soundtrack – and a good one at that).
The album adheres almost exclusively to radio
friendly “under three minute” songs, and crams 14 of them into only 35 minutes
of playing time. I didn’t mind this. The Beatles know how to craft a pretty melody,
progress it along a path that seems carefree and natural and then resolve it
with a minimum of fuss. It leaves you sated but not overstuffed.
This record has some of the most recognizable pop
songs, and the grand-daddy of them all is “Yesterday.”
I’ve heard this song a hundred times, and probably over 20 people cover it, but
it never loses its magic. I don’t love the Beatles, but I freely admit that “Yesterday” is a five star song.
On this listen I was drawn to “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” with its build that is both
triumphant and regret-filled and the artful use of the tambourine. The whole
album has a lot of tambourine, but the Beatles employ it well every time.
By contrast, I found “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” creepy and predatory, with the singer ostensibly
insisting someone treat their girlfriend better, but really wanting an excuse
to steal her away. It reminded me of the Ohio Players’ “Backstabbers” although I prefer the latter.
The Beatles even make room for a couple covers of
American songs, with the very country “Act
Naturally” and the classic rock “Dizzy
Miss Lizzy” and both are as good as the original (the latter being buoyed
by George Harrison’s amazing guitar work).
This album is solid and even important in the
history of music, but as is so often the case with Beatles albums, I wasn’t as
inspired as is expected by the crowd. What can I say, I can’t Nujv the way I
feel.
Best
tracks: I Need
You, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Yesterday
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