guitar solo, doubling each other at the octave. McCartney was pleased with the final recording, telling Melody Maker, "that sound was one of the best [we] had got on record, instrumentally." On 18 February 1965, Martin, Smith, and Scott mixed the song for mono in the control room of Studio Two. Smith and engineer Malcolm Davies remixed it for stereo on 23 February. On 18 April in EMI's Room 65, another stereo remix was made by Martin, Smith, and Phil McDonald for the film company United Artists, but it was never used. Film sequence "The Night Before" was one of six songs selected by director Richard Lester for use in Help! The song's film sequence was shot over 3–5 May 1965 and consists of the band miming to the track on Salisbury Plain, where Stonehenge is located. The scene depicts an outdoor recording session, with a makeshift control booth and recording equipment set up in an open field. Further to the film's premise of Starr being targeted for assassination by a cult, the Beatles perform the song under protection of the British 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, surrounded by soldiers and Centurion tanks. "She's a Woman" is also featured in the sequence, interspersing the performance with respect to the film's action. As "The Night Before" finishes, dynamite explodes and the band runs for cover. Release and reception Help! premiered in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1965, and EMI's Parlophone label released the soundtrack LP on 6 August. "The Night Before" appeared on side one along with the six other tracks used in the film, sequenced between "Help!" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". On 13 August, Capitol released the North American version of the album, with the song sequenced between "Help!" and "From Me To You Fantasy", an orchestral piece from Ken Thorne's film score. In a contemporary interview, McCartney said that "The Night Before" was one of his favorite songs from the film and that the band struggled deciding whether it or "Ticket to Ride" should have been the lead single. Among Beatles biographers, Hunter Davies considers "The Night Before" to be a "middling song" that "critics have had little to say about, not seeing much to praise, or much to attack". Ian MacDonald was critical of the song, writing in his book Revolution in the Head, "[n]othing surprising happens in the harmony, the lyrics are weak,