Album Review: War Child Records, HELP(2)

The fact that HELP(2) is a collaborative album inspired by the landmark 1995 release Help, in support of War Child's vital work, is enough to make you, without hesitation, purchase a copy or two.

Indeed, when Help was released in 1995, around 10% of the world’s children were affected by conflict. Today, that figure has almost doubled to nearly 1 in 5, or 520 million children worldwide; more than at any time since the Second World War. A beyond shocking statistic that makes War Child’s work more important than ever.

No further prompting is necessary, but this is a collaborative album on steroids. Arctic Monkeys kick off a roster of 23 tracks that contain the great and the good of contemporary music with ‘Opening Night’, their first new music since The Car. That’s followed by the supergroup of Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten and Kae Tempest on sonic gem ‘Flags’.

And the big hitters just keep coming. There’s Beth Gibbons’ beautiful interpretation of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sunday Morning’; Arooj Aftab & Beck wonderfully perform the much-loved ‘Lilac Wine’; Depeche Mode inject Buffy Sainte Marie’s ‘Universal Soldier’ with a potent dystopian energy; and Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng are simply marvellous on ‘Helicopters’

Elsewhere, the English Teacher/Graham Coxon offering, ‘Parasite’, is an absolute gem, and Pulp are simply brilliant on ‘Begging for Change’. For good measure, Fontaines D.C. covering Sinead O'Connor’s ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ is magic, and Olivia Rodrigo superbly wraps this fantasy cast with The Magnetic Fields' ‘The Book Of Love’.

As if all this alchemy wasn’t enough, Oasis have just announced a live version of ‘Acquiesce’ as an exclusive bonus on this incredible record. Buy it now!

10/10