There’s this guy in my hometown named Joe Peppercorn who, armed with his trusty backing band, performs every Beatles album consecutively in a single day every year the week between Christmas and New Year’s. In the three years he’s done it, I’ve never stayed for the whole thing, but witnessing even a couple hours of the spectacle last year ensconced it on my calendar as an annual commitment. (See you Dec. 28, Joe!) Undertaking that herculean task every year makes Peppercorn the foremost Beatles authority in my vicinity, and his favorite Beatles song is “Ticket To Ride,” so that’s gotta count for something when figuring out where to rank Help! And “Ticket To Ride” is surely a masterpiece. So is “Yesterday” (obviously!) and you could make a case for “I’ve Just Seen A Face.” Trouble is, the wheat is so much better than the chaff on this record. The Beatles were starting to grow up, as was evident in the implicit sex of “The Night Before” or the restraint of the spare, mid-tempo “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.” And whether it manifests in the top-of-your-lungs maximalism of the title track or the easy glide of “I Need You,” that mature perspective was paying off in their songwriting. But Help! is as uneven as any of the other early Beatles LPs — most of the middle of the record is skippable — so it will forever remain on the second or third tier of their canon.