A lot of bleating goes on about the Beatles' work from Rubber Soul onwards. Their studio experimentation, massive success, refusal to conform to the boundaries of pop music and simply brilliant songwriting from the second half of 1965 onwards cannot be downplayed (outside of Magic Mystery Tour/Yellow Submarine). However, there is often a reluctance to accept the pre-Rubber Soul Beatles as being anything better than a very good pop band.
I beg to differ. I think that the Help album, while in posession of a duff track or two, is a simply magnificent, life-affirming 35 minutes of wonderfully written pop. Pop, yes, but - at the risk of becoming Bones McCoy - not as we know it. This is the catchiest, most well written pop with a great attention to detail.
One thing that has to be pointed out is that the 'classic' standout songs from this album - 'Yesterday' the most covered song ever, 'Help!', the most confessional of John's earlier songs - as good as they are, are not necessarily any better than the lesser known moments here. Both of George Harrison's contributions, while ignored by the man himself in his book I Me Mine, are great. Paul McCartney's 'Another Girl' sets a slightly vicious lyric to a quirky tune, preluding his dumping of Jane Asher for Linda Eastman by three years. 'Dizzy Miss Lizzie,' while being a shameless attempt to emulate their early cover of 'Twist And Shout', is underrated. While the guitar riff is somewhat meek, the constant crashing cymbal and Lennon's throat-shredding vocal make it a wonderful closer.
The only slack moment is Ringo's vocal turn on 'Act Naturally,' a cover of an artist the name of which escapes me, but even that is perfectly listenable when in the right mood.
This is a perfectly tuned album of pop genius. Avoiding this based on the later quality would be a big mistake.