Help! Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Help! came out in the US on August 13, 1965, not even two months after Capitol's release of Beatles VI. It, too was a platinum record (3x in the US and 2x in Canada) and a number one hit album. Its release was only a week after Parlophone went into record shops in the UK with the original recording of Help! This was the eighth Capitol release of the Beatles' music in the US. Like A Hard Day's Night, it contained songs from the film on one side, and instrumentals on the other. These were compositions made for the film by Ken Thorne and recorded by George Martin, conducting a small orchestra. The stereo version is true stereo with the exception of Ticket to Ride, which was pressed in "duophonic" sound, derived from the mono mix.

The US version opens with a James Bond inspired intro that lasts about 16 seconds and was very much a soundtrack album.

Most noteworthy, absent on the U.S. version are all of the tracks on side B of the British version including convers "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" as well as original Beatles songs such as "It's Only Love", "Tell Me What You See", "I've Just Seen a Face", George Harrison's contribution "You Like Me Too Much" and possibly the most popular Beatles song of all - "Yesterday". These omissions were later released on a variety of Capitol albums such as Beatles VI, the U.S. version of Rubber Soul, or put out as singles. The day hadn't yet arrived when albums where looked upon as artistic bodies of work but rather where still looked upon as a collection of tracks.