Help: A Day in the Life

Overview Edit

Help!: A Day in the Life, released in 2005, brought together many contemporary artists from Britain and Canada. It was produced by War Child UK in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original Help album, and aimed to raise money to fund the charity's efforts in war-torn countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name is a conglomeration of the titles of two Beatles songs, "Help!" (featured on the Help! album and film) and "A Day in the Life" (from the album Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). On Wednesday 14 September 2005, five days after its release, it was reported in The Guardian to have broken the record for the fastest-selling download album ever.

Other War Child albums include The Help Album (1995), 1 Love (2002) and War Child Presents Heroes (2009). Whereas the first album had broken records in 1995 by being recorded on Monday 4 September and then released on Saturday 9 September, this time around the album was recorded and made available for purchase via the War Child Music website within thirty hours. Recording began at 12pm BST on Thursday 8 September and was made available for purchase at around 18:10 on Friday 9 September.

Notable contributions to the album included tracks by Radiohead and Manic Street Preachers, both of whom had contributed tracks to the original 1995 album. Also of note was a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by War Child patrons Keane, a song from Gorillaz called "Hong Kong" which was chosen to be played live various times by the band, a last-minute contribution from Coldplay, and a song by Emmanuel Jal, who was involved in the Sudan conflict as a child.

War Child Canada released a Canadian version of Help!: A Day in the Life in 2006. Contributions for the Canadian version included songs by Sam Roberts, The Dears, and Buck 65. A cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice it's Alright" by Emily Haines and James Shaw of Toronto's Metric was also included on the album.

The first single off the album was "Lebo's River", a song by Raine Maida, who helped produce the album, and Chantal Kreviazuk, his wife. The chorus was written by Lebo Kgasapane, an 18-year-old South African singer-songwriter who died of AIDS. The track features vocals by Lebo, as well as by Archie Khambula, a good friend of Lebo's.

The album cover was designed by John Squire.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_-_a_Day_in_the_Life. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:

Independiente UK

Catalog number:

unknown

Release dates:

Sep 26 2005 in United Kingdom

1 other version of this release

What do Amazon.com customers think?

4.5 Stars.... The rare compilation album that actually works

I have never been a big fan of the compilation album genre, be it movie soundtracks, charity albums (such as this album) or whatever multiple artist compilation. But when I saw this album on a recent trip to London, I couldn't resist, and for once, I am happy to say that this album is worth every nickel.

"Help: A Day in the Life" (20 tracks, 78 min.) is the sequel to the 1995 charity compilation album "Help: War Child". The line-up of artists contributing to this album (with every single track …

Read the full review

Written by Paul Allaer

All-star alt-Brit

3 1/2

Certainly a step above generic rock benefits, Help could still use some after the disproportionate first segment prepares for a letdown, even if it is a gentle one. All and all this one is worth getting if more then a few of these artists appeal even if it can play like a glorified b-sides disc.

Written by IRate

Track listing Edit

CD

format:
number:
title:

number

name

artist

hh:mm:ss

How You See the World No. 2

Coldplay