Help! review

Back to the beginning of the cycle of the 15 (Formerly 16) artists I'm running through. Help! is the 5th album by The Beatles, and is a bridge between their more conventional earlier stuff and artier later stuff. The fascinating music they produced later begins to show here for the first time.

Tracks:

1. Help!: 10/10 the perfect mixture of catchy music and serious lyrics, this is one of the best explorations of the dark side of fame ever.

2. The Night Before: 8/10 it admittedly feels like stuff we've heard before, but it's got a mature and dark edge to it as well.

3. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away: 8/10 slightly vague but soulful and pleasingly stripped-back.

4. I Need You: 8/10 this one earns ratings for harmonies and emotion, if not for originality.

5. Another Girl: 7/10 you'll most likely enjoy this without caring about it particularly.

6. You're Going to Lose that Girl: 9/10 combining an interesting narrative and great melody, this one stands tall among the other tracks on the album.

7. Ticket to Ride: 8/10 a perfectly good break-up song. I really don't know why everyone raves about this one so much though.

8. Act Naturally: 7/10 it approaches its subject from a very interesting angle, but it's not energetic enough to truly soar.

9. It's Only Love: 8/10 a pretty catchy one that's certainly an enjoyable song if not a definitive work.

10. You Like Me Too Much: 8/10 a cool love song. Nothing special.

11. Tell Me What You See: 6/10 mediocre at best.

12. I've Just Seen a Face: 8/10 this manages to stand out among some of the album's other songs and maintains more energy than many of them do.

13. Yesterday: 10/10 a titanic, shattering song that may only involve one of The Beatles, but is still one of the best things that ever had The Beatles' name attached to it.

14: Dizzy Miss Lizzy: 8/10 this hugely energetic song is a rocking good time.

Best song: Help!
Worst song: Tell Me What You See

Summary: This is definitely the most overrated album by The Beatles. This was my second listen and I still didn't think that much of it. When people rave about it, they're thinking of the 2 Beatles giants- Help! and Yesterday, which are of course brilliant songs and for some reason Ticket to Ride. It's as polished as ever and has some great moments, but before those moments there's always another phoned-in song to sit through before that. This one just doesn't do it for me particularly, although it's better Beatles For Sale.  


Final rating: 7/10