Help Yourself - Reaffirmation: An Anthology

**JKL2000** · 10-30-2014

Got this Esoteric release a couple weeks ago and haven't got past the 4th track because that one is so damned good I listen to it over and over. It's called Old Man, and sounds like an equal mix of The Grateful Dead and CSNY. An incredibly beautiful chorus (at least I think it's the chorus - a haunting bit) and excellent, sensitive guitar. As it says in the liner notes, the vocalist (at least on some tracks, including this one) sounds more like Neil Young than Neil Young does.

Anyway, seems to be a killer compilation.

**Scrotum Scissor** · 10-30-2014

Malcolm Morley's true hero was actually Stephen Stills, and at his best (at lyrics, vox and songwriting), he was none the lesser a talent. If you haven't yet moved beyond "Old Man", it seems that the main bulk of HY's greatness remains for you to discover! Strange Affair, Beware of the Shadow and The Return of Ken Whaley were their best albums IMO. Together with Man and Mighty Baby, HY were the finest West Coast-influenced band in the UK, I think.

**spacefreak** · 11-01-2014

What you might find of interest is how album-by-album they evolved from the west coast country influenced rock of their debut to the acid rock excellence of Beware The Shadow and The Return Of Ken Whaley. Very underrated band.

**JKL2000** · 11-01-2014

After listening to some sample songs I decided the Esoteric anthology would be a good way to get an overview, and I'll probably spring for some of those more psychedelic albums later.

**Scrotum Scissor** · 11-01-2014

Originally Posted by JKL2000

After listening to some sample songs I decided the Esoteric anthology would be a good way to get an overview, and I'll probably spring for some of those more psychedelic albums later.

But the Esoteric anthology essentially CONTAINS most of those albums, plus the more basic Happy Days mini-LP (which was actually recorded as a studio-only project by a quite different version of the band).

What Spyros says about the evolution of this group is absolutely correct; while the debut and some of Strange Affair is strongly flavoured by the likes of Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape and even Poco and CSN, they venture way beyond that on Shadow and The Return. Some of the tracks on the latter showcase a fascinating level of originality in chordal and harmonic progressions and arrangements, and there's a highly unnerving aura to some of the songs. "It Has to Be", the 'mandatory' epic acid jam, remains one of the finest such pieces recorded by any UK act of the day, and tunes such as "Pioneers of the West in the Head" and especially "The Golden Handshake" highlight a most peculiar sense of atmosphere.

Other UK bands were attempting similar paths at the time (Cochise, Quiver, Gypsy, Capability Brown, Audience, Global Village Trucking Co.), but IMHO none of them matched the sheer idiosyncracy of Help Yourself. If you want to discover just a couple of other European acts who did, check out Norwegian band Hole In the Wall and Danish group Mo-I-Rana. Both made only one album each, but they are excellent.

**Esoteric** · 11-01-2014

hY are a brilliantly underrated band and ok I'm biased but it's a great anthology,

**spacefreak** · 11-02-2014

Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor

Other UK bands were attempting similar paths at the time (Cochise, Quiver, Gypsy, Capability Brown, Audience, Global Village Trucking Co.), but IMHO none of them matched the sheer idiosyncracy of Help Yourself.

Correct, correct, correct. I will add Unicorn, Byzantium, Prelude, Open Road, Heads, Hands & Feet and marginally Heron to that list. It was a strange, idiosyncratic subgenre; to witness UK folk inspired artists, influenced by US west coast and country styles, instead of using traditional English music, celtic structures of Breton folk or medieval/renaissance elements as their basis.

I'm also seconding the Hole In the Wall and MoIrana recommendations.