Today's album of the day entry is a little special because it also happens to fall on my Mom's birthday. While driving into the office today, I thought long and hard about albums that we both like and it occurred to me that we didn't really have a lot of those in common.

We did however have one musical artist in common, the Beatles. She prefers their earlier work, while I prefer their later stuff... I think the line in the sand is Rubber Soul. I do however have a very soft spot for the album Help! tho'.

It's my favorite "early" Beatles album and if you ever get to hear the song "Help!" through a pair of earphones you'll instantly become a believer in all things George Martin.

There's truly nothing new I can say about the album Help! that hasn't already been said before... and that's kinda nice for a change. I do however a short story to share regarding my copy of the album.

In my 20's, I knew I needed to add the Beatles discography to my collection, but I didn't know if I should add them in on CD or Vinyl. I settled on CD, but before I made my purchase - I ran across a strange set of imports. I picked them up at Switched on CD's in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Glen (owner of the store) informed me that they were imported from Russia... which makes sense, the album has all kinds of Russian writing on the back of the CD.

Glen told me that if you want to sell an album in Russia, you have to press the album in Russia... I figured if I was going to have the albums, should get them from the USSR.

Stand out Tracks: