by Aaron Ross, news editor

The Background: 49 years ago today, the Fab Four released “Help!”, their second movie soundtrack and 5th album, but The Beatles certainly don’t need much of an introduction. At the time of its release, “Help!” was lauded as a critical and commercial success. Being a Beatles album pretty much guarantees it’s sacredness to a large portion of music lovers today.

The Bad: “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” sounds like Bob Dylan. This is coming from a person who has only knowingly listened to two Bob Dylan songs. “You’re Going to Lose That Girl” is probably the most generic song off the album; it doesn’t have a memorable melody or chorus, which leaves only the slightly repetitive and annoying lyrics. “You Like Me Too Much” sounds like an abusive relationship and is a bit scary.

The Good: The title track, “Help!” is great. I distinctly remember hearing different fragments of the song as a child and thinking each part was a separate song. That’s pretty cool: hearing several different songs from your childhood all at once. The vocal harmonizing on tracks like “The Night Before” and “I Need You” is fantastic. As a whole, the way the Beatles use their voices as instruments to convey a feeling rather than a message is pretty genius. “Ticket To Ride” has a chorus that’s unforgettable. “I’ve Just Seen a Face” has a cool solo that repeats the enjoyable vocal melody. “Yesterday” goes by so fast you might miss it, but hopefully not. It’s a definite tone shift from the rest album: a perfect song if there is such thing, and one of the most iconic love songs off all time.

The Conclusion: As a whole, the album remains extremely enjoyable. It’s certainly not complex music, but there are enough good–and even amazing–moments on the album to compensate for a little bit of repetitiveness.

Image via Apple.