Yesterday the Conservative Party anointed Liz Truss as their new leader, and today she travels to Balmoral to be sworn in by the Queen as the country’s Prime Minister. This ceremony usually takes place at Buck House, but as Her Majesty is feeling her 96 years it is being done at her summer location. Frankly, if I were her, I wouldn’t have bothered getting out of bed for this either. But, given the circumstances and my view on the zero likelihood of Truss being any good at the job, today’s theme for my tunes just has to be: help!

I know I’ve played them a lot recently and have often started these posts with them, but there really is only one tune that could lead today’s selection, isn’t there:

I’d not seen that video before choosing one to play you, but I’m glad I found it. I really have to say that Ringo’s performance on the umbrella is exceptional, helping him to avoid that incredibly realistic snowstorm! Help! was The Beatles’ fifth album in the UK, released in August 1965. As I’m sure you know, it accompanied their second movie, also with that title. It was their eighth in North America, thanks to their US record company mucking around with their releases. We got fourteen tracks on ours, while they only got twelve across the pond. Side one of ours was the seven tracks that were in the movie, with seven different songs on side two. In North America the album comprised those same seven tracks plus five orchestral instrumentals without the band: I’d sue if I were you, guys! Both versions reached #1 in their respective markets, as well as in Australia and what was then Western Germany.

Of a similar vintage, I thought I’d play this one next:

The Spencer Davis Group released Somebody Help Me as a single in March 1966. I don’t know if you spotted the sideways glance from Steve Winwood as he sang the line “when I was just a little boy of seventeen” – this track was actually released two months before his eighteenth birthday, so the irony wasn’t lost on him. It was their second successive UK #1, after Keep On Running, and it also made #47 in the US. It also featured on their album Autumn ’66, which got to #4 in the UK but wasn’t released in the US. The video is from a German tv show, Beat Club, and there is actually a longer clip which starts with an interview – in German – with Spencer before the band plays. He sounded ok to me in it, and did it well. Judging by the dancing styles on display in the audience I would imagine that many suffered black eyes from flailing elbows!

For this next tune I thought I’d slow things down a little. I’ve played this one before, though not in this series, and it was very well received, so I thought I’d share it with you again. This is a pretty fine cover of a CSN&Y song:

It is nearly eighteen months since I last played that, so I hope you didn’t mind my little bit of self-indulgence. As you may well know, the song was written by Neil Young and first appeared on the CSN&Y album Dejà Vu in 1970. There have been many cover versions, and Neil himself has re-recorded it, but this version rates highly for me: Margo Timmins voice is a thing of beauty (as is she), and the elongated treatment they give the song, with the inspired addition of the accordion, is nothing short of magical. Though this was taken from a live show the band have also recorded a version of the song – it is on the deluxe version of their 2004 album One Soul Now, if you’re interested. And do stick around at the end of the video for the applause and the band’s return to the stage, followed by the intro to a song the video then doesn’t share: a masterpiece of editing!

Back to the Sixties again for my next one:

Help Me Rhonda was a single by The Beach Boys in April 1965. It reached #1 in the US but only got to #27 in the UK – I’ve always thought that we were a little unkind to some of their early singles, as I loved the band. We did make up for it later, and even gave them a #1 – Do It Again – which didn’t hit the top spot in the US, only making #20 there. Or maybe we just preferred to buy their music on albums? This was a track on The Beach Boys Today! which came out in March 1965, peaking at #4 in the US and #6 here in the UK. I got this on their first compilation album, Best Of The Beach Boys, which was released in July 1966: the track listing on the UK version was better than the US version, and it was an amazing album. Even my parents liked it!

As you may have noticed I like to throw the occasional unknown song and artist at you in these posts. How many of you have ever heard of Elles Bailey? You should have, as she is remarkably good. Try this:

That is superb! There is also an extremely good ‘live in studio’ version of it, but it doesn’t have the horn accompaniment. If you want to check it out you’ll find it here. Elles (short for Eleanor) is from Bristol in the UK, and has a notable back story. At the age of 2 she was hospitalised with a severe case of viral pneumonia and spent seventeen days – including her third birthday – with a breathing tube down her throat. Happily she survived that ordeal mostly unscathed, but she has credited, if that is the right word, her slightly husky voice to that experience: “I know how fortunate I am to have walked away with that husky voice. And my life.” She has won several awards here for her music, and has to date released three albums. She tours extensively and is, I think, one of the hardest working performers around. I follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and she is one of the artists who really enjoys the interaction with fans that these give her. I’ve not met her, but I know someone who has: apparently she is a lovely person, very welcoming and friendly. I really hope she gains much wider recognition and the huge success I think she deserves. Help Somebody has a universal message which is perhaps needed more now than ever. It was a track on Road I Call Home, the second of her three albums to date, which was released in 2019. Highly recommended!

I played the Cowboy Junkies’ CSN&Y cover earlier on, and it seems right to give you one by the band themselves, though they were only actually CS&N when this came out:

Helplessly Hoping was written by Stephen Stills, and was a track on the band’s eponymous debut album, released in May 1969. I bought the album at the time and played it to death: I loved it then, and still do. It got to #6 in the US and #25 in the UK. This song was also the B-side to Marrakesh Express, taken in July of that year as the first single from the album: it peaked at #17 in the UK and #28 in the US. Their distinctive harmonies are exquisite and are what made them such an exceptional band, in my view.

I’ve done both an original and a cover by CS&N, so why not do that for The Beatles too? You may well know this one:

An incredible live performance by Joe Cocker of his version of With A Little Help From My Friends. The Beatles’ original is on their Sgt Pepper album, released in May 1967, and was sung by Ringo Starr. Joe Cocker’s version was released in October 1968 and got to #1 in the UK, though it only made #68 in the US. It also appeared as the title track on his debut album, which came out in April 1969 and got to #35 in the US. It didn’t chart in the UK at the time, but was re-released in 1972 as part of a double album package with his follow up record, and reached #29. This is what we in the UK call a ‘Marmite’ song, meaning that, like the spread, we either love it or hate it. I have always loved it, and though that live version was a further twelve years on it showed Joe at the height of his musical powers.

If you think that the title of today’s final song is my message to our new Prime Minister… you may well be right:

Let Me Help You (Find The Door) was the opening track on Blackberry Smoke’s fourth album, Holding All The Roses, which was released in February 2015 and got to #17 in the UK and #29 in the US. It also made #1 on the US Country Albums chart, and #7 on their Rock Albums listings. As ‘country’ bands go they rock along nicely, and I have enjoyed their music since I first heard them played by the national treasure that is ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris on his BBC Radio 2 show. Six of their seven albums to date have made the UK top forty, though they haven’t hung around for long: four have stayed for just one week, the others for two weeks. They are fun, though, and there are some very good videos on YouTube if you want to see more.

That’s all for this week. I hope these help! songs have brightened your day: we certainly need some cheering up here, with the prospect of being led by a potentially even more incompetent Prime Minister than the last one. I think I’ll just lose myself in music! Take care, and I’ll see you again soon 😊🎶