<\/p>\n
\n\tIt took patience, plenty of false-starts and a bit of cosmic timing for Help(2)<\/em> to come to life. \u201cThe universe had to finally align,\u201d says Rich Clarke, head of music at War Child, whose team had long dreamed of marking the 30th anniversary of the original Help<\/em>, the era-defining charity album featuring Paul McCartney<\/a>, Oasis<\/a>, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/a> and Radiohead<\/a>, with a new star-studded compilation.<\/p>\n \n\tReleased in September 1995, Help<\/em> was recorded in one day, with Brian Eno at the helm. It was nominated for both a BRIT Award and the Mercury Prize, sold 70,000 copies on its first day, and raised \u00a31.25 million ($1.68 million) for children affected by the Bosnian conflict of the mid-\u201990s. Its success stands as a benchmark that no subsequent charity LP in the U.K. has managed to replicate since.<\/p>\n \n\tThe move to make a second charity compilation, says Clarke, came from the severity of the current humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Syria, as well as civil wars across Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo. War Child estimates<\/a> that the number of children affected globally by war has jumped from one in 10 when the Help(2)<\/em>\u2019s predecessor was released, to one in five today, around 520 million children.<\/p>\n