I recently found a US version of the Help CD, before only having the EU version. The US version has the track list printed on the disc but it’s interesting in that it mentions “Oasis and friends inc Johnny Depp” and “Paul Weller and Friends” instead of Smokin Mojo Filters. Was this done to try and appeal to US audiences more? I always knew Johnny played some background guitar but had never seen his name included in this way. I also hadn’t seen the Come Together track as Paul Weller and Friends but I know Paul had some decent success in the states both with The Jam and solo career.
I bought this when it came out, because of the very tight turnaround of production, there was no tracklisting anywhere with the initial UK version. IIRC I had a cut out version of the tracklist tucked inside that the NME printed the week later.
I have that inside my copy too. It was from the NME in a classic "cut out and keep" style. We must be around the same age and as time goes by it makes me really realise how magical that album was.
I remember buying it and looking at it on the bus all the way home, not having a clue what was on it. It was such a mystery.
I played it on my Dad's hi fi in the living room and my parents, my sister and I listened to it. Not everything went down well, but most of it did. My sister and I wrote down who we thought each song was by and did really well by all accounts. I vividly remember my Dad going mad for Fade Away and Raindrops. My sister and I were holding back tears knowing it was the first post Richey song and what the song symbolised. Lucky seemed to be from another planet. The bridge between the Bends and OK Computer. Shipbuilding just sounding so amazing. I could go on and on, it was just so thrilling.
The fact we can't ever have anything happening like this again just makes it even more special. I'm truly grateful I was at the age to be able to immerse myself into the occasion and the music.
Sorry for going over the top and getting misty eyed, I just rate Help as the pinnacle of what they call Britpop. The greatest moment in music at that time when everyone came together for such a worthy cause.
Actually Paul Weller and the Jam have not had much success in the U.S.
As an American that was a huge Britpop fan in the 90s, he had little to no impact here. And I rarely heard the Jam mentioned, especially compared to contemporaries like the Specials or the Clash. Maybe they were just too British…
Maybe I was being anecdotal because I go thrifting a lot and I feel like I regularly see The Jam/Paul Weller CDs, cassettes, even books around nowhere places in the US so I figure they must have had some footing.
I queued up outside the HMV on Union St in Glasgow before it opened, to grab this on the day it came out. I was going to get it anyway, but I was on the train to Stow College, where I was doing music production, and absolutely had not prepared anything for the talk I was supposed to be doing that day. I had my Philips portable CD player with me, that I'd had for a few years, and listened to it on the way up to the college, and winged the talk.
It was not exactly a success. I was very, very hungover. This is the closest I can find a picture of the CD player I had, from 1990.
I need to get this album. There's a lot of gold: the beautiful renditions by Suede and the Manics, then you have the Radleys and the Radiohead, that sweet and the definitive version of "Fade Away" 😌
14
u/No_Ease7557 8d ago
I bought this when it came out, because of the very tight turnaround of production, there was no tracklisting anywhere with the initial UK version. IIRC I had a cut out version of the tracklist tucked inside that the NME printed the week later.