FEATURE:
When the War is Finally Done…
ARTWORK CREDIT: Jonathan Glazer
The Importance of the HELP(2) Album
__________
I remember when…
IN THIS PHOTO: Jarvis Cocker said he hoped the HELP(2) album would raise both money and awareness
the original HELP album came out in 1995. I had not really heard anything like until that point. I was aware of compilation albums and that sort of thing, but the notion of a range of popular artists coming together recording songs for a charity album was such an incredible idea. I am going to drop a couple of the HELP tracks in to show the type of artists who were involved. HELP(2) seem hugely important right now, as there is genocide and bloodshed around the world. War Child You can donate to the charity here. Consider the scenes we see of countries afflicted by war and violence. It has been over thirty years since the first HELP album, so I do think that it is long overdue. At perhaps one of the scariest and most violent times in decades for the world, minds turn to the children affected by this. I am going to come to a feature first where producer James Ford revealed some artists approached to record for HELP(2) turned him down, as they thought it was too political. That seems infuriating, as it is not a political decision but a moral one. Supporting a charity that raise money for war-afflicted children does not make you anti-Semitic or against any nation. It is not an artist tying themselves to a political party. The thought artists would be worried fans would create backlash because it is controversial to support War Child. I can’t quite fathom why artists would do that. I know that Kate Bush has raised money for War Child and I wonder if she was approached. I cannot imagine she would decline for political reasons, but it would have been cool to see her in the fold. However, I am curious which artists declined to be a part of HELP(2). This NME article featured James Ford talking about that strange and shocking decision of artists not wanting to be part of an album raising much-needed money for War Child:
“James Ford, producer of War Child’s upcoming ‘Help(2)’ album, says some artists refused to be involved as they thought it was “too political”.
The collaborative album, inspired by the landmark 1995 ‘HELP’ record for War Child, comes out on March 6 – you can pre-order here. Produced and stewarded by Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine, Blur, Pet Shop Boys), ‘HELP(2)’ was recorded through “a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios” mostly during one week in November 2025.
So far, the album has been previewed by one track – ‘Opening Night’ by Arctic Monkeys, which also marks their first new song in four years. Now, in a new interview with the Guardian, Ford has said that some artists declined to be a part of the album out of fear that it was too political.
War Child was first set up in 1993 by filmmakers David Wilson and Bill Leeson, who had seen the effects of war in the former Yugoslavia first-hand. The 1995 ‘Help’ record saw the charity gain mass exposure and generated a significant increase in donations.
IN THIS PHOTO: Producer James Ford/PHOTO CREDIT: Pip Bourdillon
The decision to make a new album came from the severity of the crises in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Syria.
“Obviously, a lot of people I know and I’ve worked with were easy targets, so we started with them: Fontaines DC, Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, Pulp and people like that,” Ford told the publication.
He went on to say that curating the record was “actually a great insight into the industry: which people are willing to do something. People who you’d think would be into it flat-out refused because they saw it as too political or something like that. It was fascinating.”
Alongside Alex Turner and co’s first material since 2022’s ‘The Car‘, the album also features Anna Calvi, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Blur’s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Wolf Alice‘s Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C. and frontman Grian Chatten, Greentea Peng, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, The Smiths‘ icon Johnny Marr and Young Fathers.
However, shortly after being asked to lead the project, Ford was diagnosed with leukaemia. He told the Guardian that he was in the ICU during the week of recording sessions “with a pipe coming out of my fucking neck.”
“But because of technology, I could actually be in hospital, on my laptop, listening to what they were doing on the desk,” he added. “I could press the space bar and talk to everyone’s headphones, so I was remotely producing a lot of the tracks.
The record follows more than 30 years from the original and legendary Brian Eno-led 1995 ‘Help’ album that featured Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, Sinéad O’Connor, Manic Street Preachers, The Boo Radleys and more.
That album raised over £1.25million and sold over 700,000 copies, and was followed by other charity records including 2002’s ‘1 Love’, 2003’s ‘Hope’, 2005’s ‘Help!: A Day in the Life’ and 2009’s ‘War Child Presents Heroes’. The charity works to protect, educate, and support the mental health of children affected by war – and comes at a time of conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and beyond.
The original ‘Help’ charity album was reissued and made available on streaming platforms in 2020 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. In October last year, it was then reissued again, this time as a limited, numbered 7” single boxed set in celebration of it turning 30”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Arctic Monkeys/PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Fox
Before going into the behind the scenes and the making of, Abbey Road give all the details of where you can pre-order the album, the artists involved, the tracks that have been recorded, and some details around the original HELP album:
“HELP(2) is a brand new collaborative album inspired by the landmark 1995 release HELP to engage music lovers globally in support of War Child's vital work delivering immediate aid, education, specialist mental health support, and protection to children affected by conflict around the world. The new album, like the original, speaks to the urgency of the humanitarian situation globally today.
HELP(2) will be released on Friday 6 March via War Child Records. You can pre-order the album HERE.
HELP(2) carries forward the spirit of the original HELP album and was brought to life through a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios, recorded predominantly across one extraordinary week in November 2025 under the stewardship of acclaimed producer James Ford.
HELP(2) features an incredible line-up of contributors including Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers. You can find the full HELP(2) tracklist below.
The spirit of the original record was reflected in the collaborative nature of the recording process with numerous impromptu moments unfolding in the studio. Damon Albarn's session for Flags saw him joined by Johnny Marr on guitar and Kae Tempest and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on vocals; and Olivia Rodrigo was connected with Graham Coxon resulting in the guitarist performing on her cover of The Book of Love.
In addition to the stellar cast of musicians involved, renowned filmmaker and Academy Award Winner Jonathan Glazer acted as Creative Director for HELP(2), working with Academy Films to assemble a team of brilliant creatives and overseeing the filming and art direction for the project. Glazer and Mica Levi’s concept was simple - By Children, For Children - with his team handing the cameras over to children in order to see the world through their eyes and serve as a constant reminder of the reason for the endeavor to the audience and all involved.
Each child operated their own small camera and was invited into the studios to film the artists recording without any restrictions. In addition, Glazer’s team worked with fixers and filmmakers in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan to gather footage filmed by children on the ground in these conflict zones. The results are a stunning piece of work that, ultimately, connects the album to the children the music seeks to help.
Recorded in a single day in 1995, the original HELP album raised over £1.2 million, enabling War Child to provide vital support to thousands of children caught in the Bosnian conflict.
However, 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’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.
“When James Ford called and asked if we’d contribute to the HELP(2) album we set to work on a song idea and assembled in Abbey Road to record it. We are proud to support the invaluable work War Child do and hope the record will make a positive difference to the lives of children affected by war.” - Arctic Monkeys
“I felt incredibly honored when War Child asked me to work on ‘HELP(2)’. The original ‘HELP’ meant a lot to me and to have the opportunity, given the current news cycle, to help galvanize our music community into doing something as unarguably positive as helping children in war zones seemed like a no brainer. The experience of making the album itself has been very powerful, and dare I say life affirming for me personally, against the backdrop of a very difficult year. I’m extremely proud of the results and of the efforts made by all involved. I can’t wait for people to hear this very special record. ” - James Ford
“It has been such a privilege to be part of bringing a team together to film this incredible collective effort.” - Jonathan Glazer
“HELP(2) is more than an album. It’s a powerful example of what can happen when the music industry comes together around a shared purpose. It has united a diverse group of artists and creatives in support of War Child’s vital work with children affected by the devastating impacts of war. We are immensely grateful to all the artists and teams who have donated their voices, talent and time to support our mission to ensure that no child is caught up in conflict zones. We hope this record not only raises vital funds, but also awareness of the urgent need to turn compassion into action and do more to protect children living through war.” - Rich Clarke, Head of Music at War Child UK.
War Child is driven by a single goal – ensuring a safe future for every child affected by war. Using 30 years of experience and proven methodologies, War Child aims to reach children as quickly as possible when conflict breaks out and stays long after the cameras have gone to support them through their recovery.
Together with its partners, War Child delivers vital work in 14 countries across the globe, including Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and more. Every day, its local teams are in communities and refugee camps creating safe spaces for children to play, learn, and access psychological support. War Child also specialises in responding rapidly to emergency crisis situations as they happen, offering immediate and critical aid impartially to keep children safe and help them through their trauma.
Led by Brian Eno, the original HELP album has become one of the most celebrated charity records ever made, featuring contributions from Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Portishead, Sinéad O’Connor, Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and more.
The story behind the record and its recording is now legend: all of the songs were recorded on one single day, Monday 4th September 1995, mixed the following day, and released to the buying public a few days later, on Saturday 9th September. The idea to record in 24 hours came from John Lennon, who, when discussing his 1970 record Instant Karma said that records should be like newspapers, reflecting events as they are happening.
HELP sold over 70,000 copies on day one and reached number one in the UK compilation charts and would have reached number one on the UK albums chart had it been eligible. Following its release, the record won both a specially created BRIT Award, collected by Thom Yorke, and a Q Award to recognise its impact. It was also nominated for the 1996 Mercury Prize; Pulp won that year with Different Class but donated the prize fund to War Child.
HELP captured a defining cultural moment and, nearly three decades on, its unparalleled influence continues to resonate with a globally-conscious generation of listeners.
No child should be a part of war. Ever.
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”.
Some truly major artists are behind the HELP(2) album. I hope to interview some of them or some of the technical crew and those responsible for bringing the music together, as I would love to know what it was like seeing it all coalesce. Rolling Stone gave us some insight a charity album that I hope raises millions for War Child. I have heard the Arctic Monkeys’ song that has just been released, Opening Night, and it is a fantastic track:
“Arctic Monkeys have their own relationship with War Child going back to 2018, when they played a show at the Royal Albert Hall and donated the proceeds to the organization. A live album from that concert, released two years later, yielded even more funds for children affected by war. “I think we’re just shy of £1.5 million from the show and the record,” Clarke says.
When the band met up at Abbey Road toward the end of 2025, it was their first time together in a studio in a few years. They decided to revisit an unfinished song that Turner had been toying with for more than a decade; Helders estimates that it first surfaced “in Joshua Tree, when we used to record out there.” (Dedicated Monkeys scholars can deduce that it probably entered the picture during the sessions for 2009’s Humbug or 2013’s AM, both partially recorded in the California desert.)
“He never got to scratch the itch of completing this song,” Helders says. “It was just one of those that wouldn’t go away in his head, I think. There was never a full version of it. We’d jam it out and try to write parts for it. It never got over the finish line, but it was too good to just leave alone.”
Now, they tried taking another run at “Opening Night” in the style they’ve evolved into on later albums like Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and The Car. “And it just worked,” Helders says. “It’s different to what it was going to be if we did it 10, 15 years ago, but we were all really happy with it… It’s almost like this song was waiting until we were good enough to do it.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Damon Albarn
Coming Full Circle
The rest of the HELP(2) sessions, the bulk of which took place over three days at Abbey Road, featured some other familiar faces, too. Back in 1996, when Pulp won the Mercury Prize for their era-defining album Different Class, they donated their winnings to War Child, feeling that The Help Album ought to have won instead. Three decades later, Jarvis Cocker and company stepped up to contribute a characteristically droll rocker called “Begging for Change” to the new project.
The original Help album, released at the height of the Britpop craze, included an instrumental track from Blur. This time, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon dropped by Abbey Road to sit in with the indie band English Teacher, while Albarn teamed up with Chatten and rapper Kae Tempest to polish off a new song called “Flags.”
“It was quite major chords, which is unusual for me,” the Blur/Gorillaz singer tells Rolling Stone. “So when conversation of War Child came, I thought it was quite a good thing to present as an idea.”
Albarn is a fan of both Chatten and Tempest, calling them both “huge talents,” and he was delighted to form an impromptu trio with them in the studio. “Flags” wound up featuring guitar from Johnny Marr, Portishead’s Adrian Utley, and Dave Okumu, as well as backing vocals from Cocker, Barât, Declan McKenna, Marika Hackman, the members of Black Country, New Road, and several other musicians who were around that day.
“We did it all together, like a band,” Albarn says. “When you do music for charity, it can be a bit trite somehow. But I don’t think we got distracted by that sense of, ‘Oh, we’re doing a charity record.’ We all just enjoyed recording together in Abbey Road.”
All of this action was recorded on hand-held cameras wielded by a crew of grade-schoolers that Glazer, the filmmaker behind The Zone of Interest and Under the Skin, sent to Abbey Road to document the sessions. “It’s to tell the story through the eyes of children,” Clarke says. “At one point, they’d be sat next to Damon on the piano stool, or sticking a camera up Jarvis’ nose in the vocal booth in Studio Three. It had a wonderful effect on the atmosphere, because once you’ve got kids running around, it just takes the stress away.”
Sadly, Ford, who was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2025, was unable to attend the sessions in person. So War Child brought in top producers including Marta Salogni and Catherine Marks to help out, and Ford continued to provide as much remote input as possible.
On the final day of recording, Dec. 17, Olivia Rodrigo came by Abbey Road to record a quietly stunning cover of the Magnetic Fields’ “The Book of Love”; the track also features Coxon on acoustic guitar. Ford, who was receiving treatment in the hospital at the time, guided the session over Zoom. “He was actually talking into Olivia Rodrigo’s [headphones] while she was recording, while he was having a blood transfusion,” Clarke says. “Remarkable man, and an absolute genius.”
Around Christmas, Clarke got to hear Arctic Monkeys’ “Opening Night” for the first time. A longtime fan of the band — “I’m old enough to remember seeing them in Camden in skinny jeans and a flannel shirt and long hair” — he knows that getting a new single from them is no small feat. “We didn’t take it for granted,” he says. “I was absolutely blown away. It’s a brilliant track, isn’t it?”
With “Opening Night” out now and the album arriving on streaming services soon, he’s looking forward to seeing how fans respond to all the music that got made at Abbey Road for War Child. “The wonderful thing is, these rights are going to support children affected by conflict in perpetuity,” Clarke says. “The music’s the legacy piece, and the quality of that will carry through for the next 30 years, we hope. Fingers crossed”.
I will end with a BBC article that also takes us inside the recording of HELP(2). It is important because there is this crisis moment in terms of the children displaced and affected by war around the world. It is not talked about as much as it should. Whilst events in the U.S. and global politics is crucial, there is not as much media coverage of the nations affected by violence and what they are facing. HELP(2) will help shine new light on a conversation that needs to continue. Those artists who turned down the opportunity participate and add their voices, I feel, should be ashamed:
“These were the scenes in London last November, as some of the world's biggest stars convened to record a new charity album in aid of Warchild.
The tracklist, revealed yesterday, is like a who's who of indie rock. Wet Leg, The Last Dinner Party, Wolf Alice, Fontaines DC, Nilüfer Yanya, Cameron Winter, Ezra Collective, Foals and Young Fathers all contribute.
Over the course of one week, 23 tracks were recorded. At times, five of Abbey Road's famed studios were in use, with collaborations springing up on the spur of the moment.
Blur's Graham Coxon plays guitar with Rodrigo on a cover of The Magnetic Fields' The Book Of Love. Damon Albarn's session saw him joined by Johnny Marr on guitar, with additional vocals by Kae Tempest and Grian Chatten.
Later in the day, Jarvis Cocker got back from a bathroom break to find them all in his studio - so he got them to sing the intro to a new Pulp song, Begging For Change.
"The just turned up, so I thought, 'Why not?'" he laughs. "I'm not used to that kind of thing, but it was really good."
The original 1995 Help album featured Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney and Paul Weller playing a cover of The Beatles' Come Together, under the name Mojo Filters
The album is the spritual successor to 1995's Help! - recorded at the height of Britpop, and featuring contributions from Paul Weller, Radiohead, Suede, Paul McCartney, The KLF, Portishead and The Manic Street Preachers.
It was also, famously, the only time Oasis and Blur appeared on the same record, just months after their legendary (and acrimonious) chart battle.
"We'll put aside our differences for the cause," Noel Gallagher said at the time. "And it's the only time you'll see us agreeing on anything."
The record sold 70,000 copies in its first week, raising nearly £1.25m to help children in war-stricken areas, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2025, the fund-raising is even more urgent. According to Warchild, 520 million children worldwide - almost one in five - are affected by war, with simultaneous crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza.
The figure is higher than any time since the Second World War, at the same time as governments across the world are cutting international aid.
"At the moment, there really does seem to be a lot of bad things happening, and a lot of people feel powerless," says Cocker.
"They're looking at the news and they don't know what to do. So I would hope this album is something the people can enjoy, and also know that they're trying to make a positive change."
More than 15 million children are in need of assistance in Sudan alone, with more than a third of the population fleeing their homes amidst a brutal civil war.
The first single, released on Thursday, is a new track by Arctic Monkeys called Opening Night.
A sparse, sinister ballad, it finds Alex Turner singing about political sloganeering and "supercomputer crusades" before a beautifully harmonised chorus that offers a message of hope in dark times.
The song dates back a couple of years, drummer Matt Helders tells the BBC, but had never been finished.
Getting the call from Warchild was the prompt they needed to complete the song, with lyrics that felt like a call to arms.
"With charity records, it's often tempting to do a cover, or an interesting collaboration," he says, "but we enjoy making records and being in the studio, so it was fun to work on something that we'd written."
Adding to the fun was that film crew of children, principally aged between eight and 10, who documented the entire recording progress.
They were corralled by Bafta-winning director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under The Skin, The Zone Of Interest), who wanted to connect the music back to the young people it would help.
"They were given free reign to just roam around, which really changed the atmosphere," says Helders.
"Studios can be quite a stiff, clinical environment, sometimes. But they were walking around and bumping into stuff. It made it fun."
The stars at Abbey Road were filmed and interviewed by a cast of junior documentarians
Cocker wasn't so sure.
"I hate anybody watching me sing in the studio, because I'm kind of a self-conscious person and somebody pointing a camera at me doesn't help with that," he says.
You won't get to hear that song until Help(2) is released on 6 March. Thanks to record labels and pressing plants donating their services free of charge, it will be cheaper than standard albums - with a double vinyl costing around £26 - and Warchild receiving all the profits.
"We found that this project really lit a fire under the creative community, " says Rich Clarke, the charity's head of music. "Lots of people wanted to get involved."
He lets slip that the 23 tracks on the album weren't the only product of the week-long recording sessions.
"There's a there's a whole load of tracks, around 10 or so, that that came in when people heard about the project. So actually, there were some tough decisions for the team about what made it onto the record."
But Olivia Rodrigo's song - about the purity of love - was always earmarked as the closing track”.
Even though HELP(2) is about raising money and this wonderful and vital combination of artists, it is also intriguing looking at the tracks and artists performing together. I am excited to hear Olivia Rodrigo’s take on The Book of Love. I love Peter Gabriel’s version, but Rodrigo will do something different with it. Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis together will be awesome arrangement of talent. I do hope that there is more life in terms of a documentary coming soon and maybe magazine articles. I am not sure whether publications beyond Rolling Stone are running features with photos, interviews and insights. I will keep an eye out. I would encourage everyone reading this to pre-order HELP(2), as it is very affordable for a double album and all that money goes to War Child. It is going to be a phenomenal collection of songs and a unique occasion. These artists all together and in harmony for a great cause. On 6th March, you can experience this wonderful album. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios and thinking about the atmosphere. These amazing scenes of artists who might never interact chatting and being in the same space. The power of these performances and the possibility that HELP(2) could raise many millions. Let’s hope so. Opening Night is a tantalising cut from the album, and it may be the final track we hear from Arctic Monkeys. If it is, then it is a wonderful way to wrap things up. However, it is more than being about the artists. So paramount that War Child is supported so that they can get much-needed resources and help to those in need. Let’s not rule out a third volume of this album. However, here and now, everyone needs to throw their weight behind…
THE stunning and moving HELP(2).