Help - Help & Second Coming (1971/2008)

Help's first album hasn't attracted as much attention as their collector-friendly second, but it's by far the superior record. It's a solid mix of rural rock, folk rock and pop, and rocks really hard despite there not being any distortion on the guitars. There appear to be no instrumental overdubs, just a trio of guitar, bass and drums, yet the excellent musicianship (especially the rock-solid rhythm section) makes the sound full and rich. Side one is full of energy, melodic songwriting, and excellent vocals, and is solid all the way through. Side two is somewhat less inspired, but still pretty good, and the album is definitely recommended. This much heavier second album is the one that most collectors know, due to lots of fuzz and wah wah on the guitars. The sparse trio format is the same as on the first album, except that the clean guitar is replaced by distortion and effects. Strangely enough, that makes the sound less full than on the debut. It admittedly sounds pretty cool, but after a few listens it becomes apparent that the songwriting is actually pretty weak, with only two or three songs at a high standard. Worth listening to for those songs, but overall a patchy record.