THE BEATLES – HELP! LP – EXC+ UK STEREO

The Beatles – Help!
(Parlophone Records  1984  PCS3071  STEREO)
Matrix No’s: YEX168-4/YEX169-4 – UK Pressing
Silver/Black Parlophone Label with 2 boxed EMI logos

Vinyl in Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– discolouration around edges on front and back

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.

The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their popularity in the United Kingdom after their first hit, “Love Me Do”, in late 1962. They acquired the nickname “the Fab Four” as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, and by early 1964 became international stars, leading the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market. From 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (commonly known as the White Album, 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the surviving members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001.

The Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. According to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazine’s list of the all-time most successful “Hot 100” artists; as of 2016, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with twenty. They have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and all four were inducted individually from 1994 to 2015. They were also collectively included in Time magazine’s compilation of the twentieth century’s 100 most influential people.

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”.

The American release was a true soundtrack album, mixing the first seven songs with orchestral material from the film. Of the other seven songs that were on the British release, two were released on the US version of the next Beatles album, Rubber Soul, two were back-to-back on the next US single and then appeared on Yesterday and Today, and three had already been on Beatles VI.

In 2012, Help! was voted 331st on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In September 2013, after the British Phonographic Industry changed their sales award rules, the album was declared as having gone platinum.

Track listing

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

Personnel

• 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