The first “War Child,” a British-all-star charity album featuring rare tracks from such then-rising-ish stars as Oasis, Radiohead, Blur, Portishead and Massive Attack as well as Sinead O’Connor, Suede and the Stone Roses, arrived in September of 1995 — so long ago that the primary motivation at the time was to support the War Child charity’s efforts in Bosnia. The organization aims to deliver aid, education, mental health support and protection to children affected by conflict around the world; musically speaking, we can remember getting a specially burned advance CD of that album and being very excited about the new songs from Radiohead (“Lucky,” which of course would be a highlight of the “OK Computer” album almost two years later) and Portishead (“Mourning Air,” ditto their self-titled sophomore set).
Much more importantly, the album — recorded in a single day — raised over £1.2 million for War Child.
Some 31 years later, the sequel, “Help (2),” has arrived and was overseen by executive producer James Ford, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Pulp, Fontaines DC and many others. He put his address book to work here: There are new tracks — nearly all of which were recorded at Abbey Road Studios across one week last November — from all of the above artists (including the first new song from the Arctic Monkeys since 2022) as well as new songs from Olivia Rodrigo, Geese’s Cameron Winter, Arooj Aftab & Beck, Damon Albarn (with Johnny Marr on guitar), Wet Leg, Big Thief, Beabadoobee and many more — a whopping 23 songs in all, the full tracklist appears below. As the announcement notes, “The new album, like the original, speaks to the urgency of the humanitarian situation globally today.”
Bringing a critical take to such a well-intended album is always awkward, but highlights include the Arctic Monkeys’ first new song since 2022, an uncharacteristically low-key “Obvious” from Wet Leg, an unlikely tag-team on the Broadway song “Lilac Wine” from Arooj Aftab and Beck, a sensitive take on Sinead O’Connor’s hard-hitting “Black Boys on Mopeds” from Fontaines D.C., a sweetly soulful “Naboo” from Sampha, Big Thief’s “Relive, Redie” — and probably most of all, Olivia Rodrigo’s gorgeous, hushed take on Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love,” from their 1999 classic album “99 Love Songs,” which she sings in a tone that summons “Drivers License” flashbacks.
There is also a visual component to the album, for which Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer acted as creative director, working with Academy Films to assemble a team of creatives and overseeing the filming and art direction for the project. Glazer’s concept was “By Children, For Children”: Each child operated their own small camera and was invited into the studios to film the artists recording without any restrictions, according to the announcement. Glazer’s also team worked with fixers and filmmakers in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan to gather footage filmed by children on the ground in those conflict zones.
Most importantly of all, as the announcement states, “When ‘Help’ was first released, 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. With conflicts escalating and funding cuts hitting hard, War Child U.K.’s work has never been more urgent and the need for these artists to carry forward the original album’s spirit of collective action could not be more vital.”
“Help(2)” Tracklist:
Arctic Monkeys – “Opening Night”
Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest – “Flags”
Black Country, New Road – “Strangers”
The Last Dinner Party – “Let’s do it again!”
Beth Gibbons – “Sunday Morning”
Arooj Aftab & Beck – “Lilac Wine”
King Krule – “The 343 Loop”
Depeche Mode – “Universal Soldier”
Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng – “Helicopters”
Arlo Parks – “Nothing I Could Hide”
English Teacher & Graham Coxon – “Parasite”
Beabadoobee – “Say Yes”
Big Thief – “Relive, Redie”
Fontaines D.C. – “Black Boys on Mopeds”
Cameron Winter – “Warning”
Young Fathers – “Don’t Fight the Young”
Pulp – “Begging for Change”
Sampha – “Naboo”
Wet Leg – “Obvious”
Foals – “When the War is Finally Done”
Bat For Lashes – “Carried my girl”
Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis – “Sunday Light”
Olivia Rodrigo – “The Book of Love”
