Help was a phenomenon. Not only did the 1995 benefit compilation from the British charity War Child UK debut a song that would later appear on Radiohead’s OK Computer, feature Sinead O’Connor covering Bobbie Gentry, and spawn a short-lived supergroup between Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, and Paul Weller, it also raised more than 1.5 million dollars for children living in war-stricken areas like Bosnia.
In the ensuing years, the organization has attempted to create that album’s magic in various iterations of subsequent charity compilations. But they’ve never come closer than on Help (2), the official sequel that comes 30-plus years later, at a time when it’s more necessary than ever to raise money for children affected by conflict everywhere from Ukraine and Gaza to Sudan and Syria.
The entry point for many will be the A-listers on the tracklist, like Olivia Rodrigo’s surprising cover of a Magnetic Fields song and Cameron Winter offering his first original song since he and Geese exploded into the stratosphere over the past 12 months. But Help (2) is simultaneously adventurous and pleasantly conventional in its attempt to recreate its predecessor’s formula of bridging generations, showcasing titanic bands (the lead single, “Opening Night,” is the first offering from Arctic Monkeys since 2022), and providing opportunities for artists to pay tribute to their heroes.
Most exciting are originals from artists like Black Country, New Road, Arlo Parks, Big Thief, and Sampha, whose ballad “Naboo” is particularly moving regardless of whether or not it’s about Jar Jar Binks’ home planet. It’s a gift to hear these artists, at the peak of their careers, exploring new sounds and stories on a charity compilation to which they’ve even reportedly donated their master recordings. The Scottish noise-rap collective Young Fathers practically steal the show with “Don’t Fight the Young,” a new song whose urgency and message is so fitting for the War Child cause that it practically feels like the album’s theme song.
The covers are also as striking as they are telling. Nineties singer-songwriters are in, judging by the tracklisting here, which includes the aforementioned proof that Olivia Rodrigo digs at least one of Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs, plus Beabadoobee offering her own reverent spin on Elliott Smith’s “Say Yes.”
Olivia Rodrigo and musicians (including Blur’s Graham Coxon)
Josh Renaut*
Even more stirring are a pair of other Nineties covers. Fontaines D.C.’s take on “Black Boys on Mopeds” by Sinead O’Connor is an ever-relevant callback to the original compilation. Then there’s Arooj Aftab and Beck offering a surprising and of-the-moment cover of “Lilac Wine” by Jeff Buckley, an artist currently in the midst of a broader resurgence.
It all amounts to a record that feels remarkably on-message and cohesive, considering how many disparate artists, genres, and generations it’s drawing from. Taken as a whole, Help (2) is a gratifying follow up to its storied predecessor.
