What I mean by this is that Help!, by itself, people feel is a good album.  However, when compared to ANY album after it, it seems to get a bit of a shaft.  "Help! is good, but the rest is better." Instead of Help! being the album where they experimented a bit with sounds, Rubber Soul gets the credit.

I feel that, because of this, Help! is a bit underrated as a Beatles album.  I'd go as far as to say that it's superior to Rubber Soul.  I think the title track is great, and it is part of the 1 trinity (along with Yesterday and Ticket To Ride, both awesome songs.) Ticket to Ride was one of the first tunes to have a bit of a different sound to it, if I remember correctly.  Then you have a great Lennon tune (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away), songs that are just REALLY REALLY catchy (You're Gonna Lose That Girl, The Night Before - and the latter is so, SO fun to listen to and get into), George starting to be different (I Need You), some very fast singing by Paul (I've Just Seen A Face, which is a really cool song), and another Paul dittie called Another Girl.

It's such a well put-together album, and most of the songs are pretty darn good.  But it never seems to hold up if compared to any later albums.  Heck, if you look at the "What is the best album?" thread, Help! isn't even listed as a contender.  Why is this?

Help usually does get a bad press compared to the other albums. I've always found it a similar album to beatles for sale. The bealtles are bored with the whole beatlemania thing an want to try some newer interesting musical ideas. But they havnt got enough time because of there scheduals to really put some huge effort into the music. Also at the time they were almost permantly stoned which means they wernt in the fittest state for making a album. I've always thought help sounded half baked, like they wanted to try something serious but couldnt quite pull it of, and Rubber Soul was the first album where they truly realised wat they wanted.

But when you look at it i suppose it has got some great songs. I really like tell me what you see, and your gonna loose that girl. Then it has on the hits such as help, ticket to ride, and yesterday. I suppose help isnt as bad as i heard some people say it is, but i still think its only a warm up to rubber soul.

I agree.
Help is a great album.
And you didn't even mention the divine 'It's Only Love'.

i've read that lennon hated that song

Quoted from Frightwolf, posted September 10, 2004, 5:23am at here

songs that are just REALLY REALLY catchy

I think you answered the question yourself. I like the album alot, but the songs still hover around their earlier work in my opinion. Rubber Soul songs have more substance and sound a bit deeper to me. It really doesnt matter though, as long as you like it, thats all that matters.

(it was the first Beatle cd I ever bought)

Quoted from Kiss_My_Bad_Self, posted September 10, 2004, 11:15am at here

i've read that lennon hated that song

That's true. Its originla title was "That's a nice hat", and JOHN always felts it had terrible lyrics, written beacuse they needed another song for the album.

However, I absolutely ADORE this song! I love it. It's divine, as you say.

It's also a song that talks of Lennon's shyness with women.

A lot of people would have loved to have written this song and in any case Lennon was very critical of a lot of his own work.

Quoted from Kiss_My_Bad_Self, posted September 10, 2004, 11:15am at here

i've read that lennon hated that song

Yeah, but he hates most songs he'd written. Except for "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields", I think...

Quoted from tkitna, posted September 10, 2004, 4:17pm at here

I think you answered the question yourself. I like the album alot, but the songs still hover around their earlier work in my opinion. Rubber Soul songs have more substance and sound a bit deeper to me. It really doesnt matter though, as long as you like it, thats all that matters.

(it was the first Beatle cd I ever bought)

And you're right, of course, with your last sentence.  I know that I consider it a great album, and I made this topic strictly for clarification and debate.  It's true that some stuff like You're Gonna Lose That Girl and The Night Before are like early rockers and tunes, but that's the beauty of it.  It has the introspective pieces like Help! and deeper things like Yesterday, but it still has a few of those catchy tunes mixed in and different sounds like Ticket to Ride.

I know you said you liked it, but I'd like to make that point as well.

Quoted from Soft_Guitar60, posted September 10, 2004, 5:33pm at here

Yeah, but he hates most songs he'd written. Except for "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields", I think...

Probably.  During a Lennon tribute by Macca, Paul sang Strawberry Fields Forever, Help!, and Give Peace a Chance, which would definitely be three songs that I think John really liked.

i think lennon hated his songs that didnt really mean much to him, that he mainly wrote for fun, such as dig a pony. but although songs like that arnt really that meaningful i think there still good in there own right.

Help! is probably my least favorite Beatles album.

Quoted from Sadie4, posted September 10, 2004, 5:07pm at here

That's true. Its originla title was "That's a nice hat", and JOHN always felts it had terrible lyrics, written beacuse they needed another song for the album.

However, I absolutely ADORE this song! I love it. It's divine, as you say.

yeah i agree 

Quoted from Kiss_My_Bad_Self, posted September 10, 2004, 10:02pm at here

i think lennon hated his songs that didnt really mean much to him, that he mainly wrote for fun, such as dig a pony. but although songs like that arnt really that meaningful i think there still good in there own right.

i think hated is much too strong a term.  if you go strictly by the bitter RS interview, lennon was disliking just about everything except his new album & yoko.  he'd warmed up considerably by the '80 playboy, where he seemed relatively happy w/ a good chunk of his catalog.

i agree with kiss my bad self, its a warm up to the great rubber soul