The Beatles: Help!

8.1/10

They had perfected there initial form at this point, but didn't quite have the inspiration for a new direction.  So, while this is the album of, for the most part, stagnation before their reinvention it does make quieter innovation.  Firstly for the best, they mostly abandon the 50s type rock n roll, the exception is Dizzy Miss Lizzy which is easily the worst song on the album.  Other than that song the album is consistently strong with three standouts and every other track being middle to upper echelon Beatles at this point.  Help acts as the most perfect pop song they had created.  A kind of perfection of the best qualities of the group's early years.  Yesterday, which should have been the proper closer if they would have excised the track mentioned earlier, offers a tender singer songwriter vibe which they would never really return without George Martin's orchestral strings.  The biggest innovation comes on Ticket to Ride, which is the only track that could really show the psychedelia that would appear on Rubber Soul.  Help! acts just as the other early Beatles albums, a couple great songs mixed along with mostly other solid with a few that are too clearly rip offs of their heroes that only prosper on the energy of the performance.  The biggest problem of Help!, Though, is that they place the one bad track at the very end leaving the album always a bit unfulfilling.  Otherwise the albums perfect sequenced with a great opening centerpiece and should be end.