Video: 'Beatles - Help - American Version' (13 videos)

(Friday, August 13, 1965) — As the band traveled from London to New York today to begin their second North American tour, The Beatles’ latest American album, Help!, hit record store shelves, giving fans on this side of the Atlantic a different version than the one released in Britain earlier this month.

Issued by Capitol Records in both mono (MAS-2386) and stereo (SMAS-2386), the record serves as the group’s eighth Capitol LP and 10th overall in the United States.

Side one features the songs from the Beatles’ second feature film, while side two contains selections from the movie’s orchestral score, composed and conducted by Ken Thorne.

The U.S. version also includes a distinctive “James Bond”–style instrumental introduction to the title track and one of the first uses of the Indian sitar on a rock or pop album — the first appearance of the instrument on a Beatles record.

“Ticket to Ride” is presented in Duophonic stereo, a reprocessed mono track, and the mono album uses a folded-down stereo mix of “Help!” rather than the true mono single version.

American listeners won’t hear all of the songs found on the British release in one place. Capitol spread the remaining non-film tracks across three other U.S. albums.