Underrated not without cause, because nobody is coming around for "The one with 'I Need You' and 'Another Girl.'" They represent a jangly, soft-bellied version of album-filling pop not present on the previous albums and not quite realized on the previous, mostly rockier ones. The latter of those is has a good, swift-paced twang to it, which shows that the Beatles at their worst are still as good as most bands. "I Need You" marks George's return to songwriting, his first since the universally underappreciated "Don't Bother Me" (which got to John's place Beatles For Sale mood a year early.) Really, George's better song here is "You Like Me Too Much," which like "Don't Bother Me" has a rather specific take on an otherwise generic scenario. He had d a gift for pointed lyrics, when he pushed himself. It's almost a taunt - "You're not going to leave me, no matter how I treat you. You like me too much." It's the kind of thing you couldn't get away with nowadays.
Likewise, nobody's going to point to "It's Only Love" as one of John's best lyrics, but it's one of his best-sounding songs to this point, hitting home a note of nervousness and self-consciousness at being in love that the lyrics don't quite live up to. It benefits from the fact that, as I've said, the band just sounds so good on this one: there's a certain beauty to it. The same can be said for "Tell Me What You See," whose climactic callout of the title phrase is really boss. Again, not one of their best taken at face value, but with hindsight it's an early clue to their growing fascination with perception and identity. Maybe, a little? No? Maybe not. But it's an A-moment in a B-song, pointing to the Beatles' growing ability to build their tunes around unique sounds rather than merely being songs for their own sake - soon they would lavish enough attention on even the minor songs that the minor songs would cease to exist. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The two most telling songs about the Help album aren't the very best ones, but give a good sense of how far along their basic pop craft had come: "The Night Before" is a rollicking McCartney number based around an electric piano boogie that has a more innocent, affable take on similar terrain as Lennon's earlier "No Reply." It was a curiously off-kilter, funky guitar solo on it, courtesy of McCartney. Then there's Lennon's "You're Gonna Lose That Girl," based on a lightweight bongo tapping percussion, and "girl group" harmonies reminiscent of With The Beatles, but compositionally far beyond most of that record. Great album tracks like these did the heavy lifting while they explored new directions elsewhere. Not every track was a home run, but the ones that weren't were getting better.
As an album, bolstered by two bona fide hit singles (a rarity in the Beatles catalog) this album also has several other genuine blockbusters. One is Paul's motor-mouthed "I've Just Seen a Face," which perfectly captures in song that heart-pumping adrenaline feeling of meeting someone and instantly falling in love. Paul's narrator barely has time to collect his thoughts before spilling them all out. Then there's Lennon's Dylanesque acoustic heart-stomper, "You've got To Hide Your Love Away," which was one of the best indications that the band's sound could take on new, unprecedented dimensions and thrive. It succeeds in being "folk" because for all its being a song about isolation and dejection, it's still rousing and somehow unifying. Makes you want to link arms and sway.
And then of course there's "Yesterday," sitting like a sneak attack toward the end of the album. It marks a significant moment for Paul because it reveals a path that only he could follow, writing a song that nobody else could have. It's a perfect pop piece, the way the lyrics and vocals invoke sadness and sorrow without ever attaching it to an important concrete storyline: "Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say / I did something wrong now I long for yesterday." The strings are key: they're soft and understated, not melodramatic. This isn't a teen car crash song, this is something a bit more sophisticated. It could be anybody's pain. And though it's very sad, it's not so hurtful to listen to as it is sweet, because this pain is wrapped so neatly all together. Great pop music gives a voice to those things you can't necessarily sort out for yourself.
This album is filled out by two cover versions that basically shut the door on the idea of the Beatles as a cover band. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" doesn't have the juice of a "Twist and Shout" or "Rock and Roll Music," no matter how forcefully John growls on it. "Act Naturally" at least makes better use of their instrumental dynamics with its reverberated twang. It's a perfect Ringo song, casting him as the likeable, put-upon everyman. It feels at least a bit more natural (har har) than the Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly covers from Beatles For Sale. Looking back, these covers are a farewell to the roots of the Beatles as they move to concentrating on engineering the future of music.
Help! is the growing pains album. They were mostly out the other side of it by the next LP, but for now they were still sorting out exactly what the way forward was. With Help!, things started falling into place, setting up the domino effect that would carry them through the rest of the 60's, the most even mix of rule-bending experiments and pop pleasures. So it gets forgotten a bit, left behind in ways, because it is an awkward part of the "narrative:" an album without a specific character. But in that split, it excels twice. So there.
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