THE BEATLES – HELP! LP – EXC/VG+ UK 1965 FIRST PRESS MONO G&L SLVE

The Beatles – Help!
(Parlophone Records  1965  PMC1255  MONO)
Matrix No’s: XEX549-2 / XEX550-2 – UK Press
Yellow/Black Parlophone label
G&L Flipback Sleeve – MONO – First Pressing
With “The Gramophone Co. Ltd” & “Sold in UK” label text
outline Mono on front cover

Vinyl in Excellent/Very Good+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl which do give some pops/clicks but sound quality is excellent overall – there are a few clicks at the start of the first track and at the end of it)

G&L Flipback Sleeve in Excellent condition
– small sticker mark below mono, small split to laminate bottom left – name and date written on back at top on left
Emitex Inner Sleeve with small split in one side

The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as “Beatlemania”, but as the group’s music grew in sophistication, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the counterculture of the 1960s.

Help! is the fifth British and tenth North American album by English rock group the Beatles, and the soundtrack from their film Help!. Produced by George Martin for EMI’s Parlophone Records, it contains fourteen songs in its original British form, of which seven appeared in the film. These songs took up the first side of the vinyl album and included the singles “Help!” and “Ticket to Ride”. The second side contained seven other releases including the most-covered song ever written, “Yesterday”.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted.

Personnel

According to Mark Lewisohn and Alan W. Pollack.

• John Lennon – lead, harmony and background vocals; acoustic (six and twelve-string) and rhythm guitars; electric piano
• Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and background vocals; lead, acoustic and bass guitars; keyboards (acoustic and electric pianos); güiro
• George Harrison – lead, harmony and background vocals; acoustic, rhythm and lead guitars
• Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps and assorted percussion (tambourine, maracas, cowbell, bongos, claves and brushed snare); lead vocals (on “Act Naturally”)

Additional musicians

• George Martin – piano and producer
• John Scott – flutes on “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”
• String quartet on “Yesterday”, arranged by Martin in association with McCartney