HELP
HELP is the probably the most legendary charity album of all time, and the one that all others have been compared to since. Recorded in just 24 hours, the album captured the Britpop zeitgeist perfectly - with contributions from Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, The Stone Roses, Portishead, The Manics and Massive Attack. Plus contributions from Paul McCartney and Paul Weller (not to mention Johnny Depp and Kate Moss). It was a response to the plight of the thousands of families caught up in the bloody Balkans war that was tearing Bosnia apart. The need for humanitarian aid was urgent so the Help project's response needed to be too. It drew its inspiration from John Lennon - when he released his 'Instant Karma' single in February 1970, he said records should be like newspapers, reflecting events as they are happening: "The best record you can make, is recorded on Monday, cut on Tuesday, pressed up on Wednesday, packaged on Thursday, distributed on Friday, in the shops on Saturday." As ideas go it fitted the brief rather nicely.
Jukebox
- Fade Away - Oasis and Johnny Depp
- Oh Brother - Boo Radleys
- Love Spreads - Stone Roses
- Lucky - Radiohead
- Adnans - Orbital
- Mourning Air - Portishead
- Fake the Aroma - Massive Attack
- Shipbuilding - Suede
- Time for Livin' - Charlatans and the Chemical Brothers
- Sweetest Truth - Stereo MCs
- Ode to Billie Joe - Sinead O'Connor
- Search lights - Levellers
- Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head - Manic Street Preachers
- Tom Petty Loves Veruca Salt - Terrorvision
- The Magnificent - One World Orchestra
- Message to Crommie - Planet 4 Folk Quartet
- Dream a Little Dream - Terry Hall and Salad
- 1,2,3,4,5 - Neneh Cherry and Trout
- Eine Kleine Lift Musik - Blur
- Come Together - Smokin' Mojo Filters (McCartney, Weller, Gallagher)
The videos
The Impact
From midnight on Monday Sept 4th 1995, 20 artists and bands entered studios from Wales to Malaga to record their tracks. Brian Eno started mastering the tracks on Tuesday and by Wednesday finished copies of the album (with artwork by John Squire) were ready for distribution.
By Friday over 300,000 copies had been delivered to record shops throughout the country. On the Saturday alone the album sold enough copies to reach number one.
The record went on to raise a staggering £1.25m that was put to work in Bosnia almost immediately.
