This is often regarded as the first ‘serious’ Beatles album. It’s probably the first to have any real experimental edge to it and does demonstrate a certain maturity missing from the earlier albums. First serious one though? No. That accolade goes to Revolver. For the most part most of the material here is fairly standard folk rock fare, the likes of which was becoming popular in the states, driven by Dylan’s Bringing it All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, along with The Byrds and similar bands whose discography was 90% electric Dylan covers anyway.
The album is pretty light and easy to listen to. Honestly, I prefer most of the content on Help. It’s on the really great songs that the album shines a lot brighter, In My Life is one of the best songs the band ever put to disc and other standouts are Nowhere Man, Norwegian Wood and kind of a funny choice but I really like If I Needed Someone. The filler tracks really feel like filler though and had the best material from Help been saved and replaced the filler here then this would have been a stronger album. Which brings me to my next point.
I’m sure I whinged in an early review that the American configurations of the Beatles albums effectively ruined them. Turns out there are exceptions. The only reason I listen to the UK version is because it’s what I’m used to. The American version is basically what I outlined above and is the stronger, better focussed album.
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