The album's recording was inspired by the concept behind
John Lennon's "
Instant Karma!" – records, like newspapers, should be released as soon as they are recorded.
Help was recorded on Monday, 4 September 1995, mixed on Tuesday 5th and was in shops on Saturday 9th. The original version release did not include any tracklist attached to the sleeve notes; the tracklisting was instead printed as a full-page ad in
New Musical Express. Notable tracks include: • A version of
The Beatles' song "
Come Together", by new
supergroup the Smokin' Mojo Filters:
Paul McCartney,
Paul Weller,
Noel Gallagher,
Steve Cradock,
Steve White, and
Carleen Anderson. • A cover of "
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which marked
Manic Street Preachers' return to recording after the disappearance of
Richey Edwards. • The first appearance of the
Radiohead song "
Lucky", later included on the 1997 album
OK Computer. • An early version of "Adnan's", a track from
Orbital's fourth album
In Sides. •
Suede's cover of
Elvis Costello's "
Shipbuilding". • The first new recording from
Bill Drummond and
Jimmy Cauty (better known as
The KLF, but performing here as '
One World Orchestra') in over 2 years, "
The Magnificent": a
drum and bass version of the theme tune from the film
The Magnificent Seven, with vocal samples from
DJ Fleka of Serbian radio station
B92. • A version of
Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" by
Sinéad O'Connor. As the makers of the album were putting the final touches to the album, a courier arrived with a tape of O'Connor's contribution. In theory, the song had arrived too late for inclusion in the album, but the producers were so impressed with her haunting rendition that they felt they had to include the song. • An early appearance by
Kate Moss with her then boyfriend
Johnny Depp on the
Oasis contribution, "Fade Away". • A re-recording of "Love Spreads" by
The Stone Roses; this is the only studio recording by the band that features drummer Robbie Maddix and keyboard player
Nigel Ippinson. The album's
sleeve notes included a contribution from former
Nirvana bassist
Krist Novoselic, as well as artwork by
John Squire and
Massive Attack's 3-D. It reached number one on the UK albums compilation charts, and would have reached number one on the
UK albums chart had the UK chart compilers not refused to accept it as a single artist album (Go! Discs had attempted to get around the chart restriction on various artists albums by declaring that all contributors were members of a one-off
supergroup called War Child). In his book
A Year with Swollen Appendices,
Brian Eno writes bitterly about this decision, claiming that it cost the charity thousands of pounds in lost sales. Nevertheless, the album raised more than £1.25 million for War Child. ==Track listing==