Customer Reviews

Rubber Soul

5 star:		(359)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

RUBBER SOUL remains a milestone in The Beatles' recording careers. It ushered in their most celebrated and sophisticated musical phase that is unrivalled to this day.

In the 20 months since The Beatles landed in America to the time the band recorded this album, rock 'n' roll had undergone a revolution, sparked by The Beatles themselves. The British invasion inspired Bob Dylan to go electric, while The Beatles converted the L.A. folk quartet, The Byrds, to replace their acoustic guitars with electric music. Add to this the whiff of American grass and you get the influences which shaped the late-1965 Beatles.

Above all, the Beatle's songwriting takes a big leap forward with RUBBER SOUL. For the first time John, Paul and George avoid the cliched boy-meets-girl songs and address introspective themes. Though RUBBER SOUL was widely viewed as Just Another Beatles Album in late-1965, some listners took notice of the words with as much care as they did Dylan albums. Some started to use the word "poetry" to describe Beatles music.

The album opens superbly with the funky Drive My Car which features a sharp vocal by Paul and a gorgeous bass influenced by Motown. John's Norwegian Wood is one of the record's highlights and introduces the sitar to Western ears. It obliquely tells of an affair John once had. You Won't See Me could've easily been a single. Paul's song, it is simply structured but strong. Nowhere Man was actually pulled as a single in the U.S. and is the first Beatles song not to talk about love or girls. John looks in the mirror and finds himself lost in a lyric that was one of his best (Dylan covered it many years later). George's Think For Yourself also steers away from the love song and features Paul playing the distinctive fuzz bass. The Word preceeds All You Need Is Love and discusses love not in boy-girl terms but universally (at a time when the Anti-War Movement was growing). Michelle closes side 1 in style. Love it or hate it, it is a fine love song with another great bass line.

Side 2 opens and closes with two disposable songs, What Goes On? and Run For Your Life. RUBBER SOUL would have been far better with the double-sided single, We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper, taking their place. However, the rest of side 2 shines with Girl and I'm Looking Through You -- John and Paul's complex views about women which are light-years away from She Loves You -- and In My Life which the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently named as the best song of all time. In My Life is a milestone in Lennon's career, featuring a nostalgic but bittersweet lyric. Lennon has never been this candid with his audience. Word is merely a leftover from the Help! sessions, though George's If I Needed Someone features the chiming Rickenbacker put to good use.

Today, RUBBER SOUL remains fresh. Amazingly, it was rush-recorded in two weeks with most of the songs written in the studio. John and Paul are at the height of their powers, while George is keeping pace with two songs instead of his customary one (or none). The album's acoustic sound allow's the band's maturing lyrics to be heard, while the arrangements are simple, yet intelligent. Few Beatles albums can rival RUBBER SOUL in songwriting. The sound of the album sounds unified which will pave the way for their next two albums, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. RUBBER SOUL is The Beatles' first masterpiece.

A wonderful album, and the quality of the 180 gram vinyl is incredible. This is my first 180 gram album and it was quality enough to determine that 180 gram is the way to go!

one of my favourite beatles albums containg such gems as michelle and norwegian wood.disregard the one star reviews and buy this cd.

There are a certain group of music fans in this world who believe that musical groups should not be allowed to evolve and experiment with new materials; the same old thing should be repeated over and over again. That's the problem we have with music today: you're either a clone of the Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit, or Matchbox 20; there is no "alternative" anymore, and people seem to like it that way. So, therefore, it makes sense that the Beatles could not exist in the world of today. The world of mid-sixties was quite a radical time, and the Beatles, with their previous pop successes, seem willing to take up the mantle of trying something new. Hence, we have "Rubber Soul", the very first "alternative" album ever; heck, it was the first important album ever. Before it, success was judged on singles and individual songs, and their positions on the charts (unfortunately also the case today). Then the John, Paul, George, and Ringo came out with this: an actual album that was to be taken as a whole, not as parts. And when you think about, is there a "She Loves You" or an "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" on this album? Doubtful. Keeping the philosophy of "whole" in mind, the four young lads now had the freedom to experiment with such instruments as the sitar (name a pop artist that uses a sitar!) and experiment with many different genres of music. In the process of making this album, they revolutionized music altogether. I recall reading Brian Wilson's comment on "Rubber Soul." It was true. With "Rubber Soul," the Beatles had unknowingly upped the ante, and turned rock and roll into a hotbed of creativity. It should also be noted that the Beatles were not content with revolutionizing music as we knew it. Throughout the next five years after "Rubber Soul," they put out "Revolver", "Sgt. Pepper", "Magical Mystery Tour", the White Album, "Let it Be", and "Abbey Road." Each of these albums (with perhaps the exception of "Let it Be") raised the bar even further; each album was more risky and more "alternative" than the next. And while "Rubber Soul" may not be the Beatles's best album, it may very well be the most important album in rock history, as it was indeed the very first of its kind, and curved the course of music forever. All other bands have been trying to catch up ever since.

This is one of my favorite Beatles albums. When this was released in late 1965, the Beatles were already experimenting with different musical styles. The songs on this collection run the full gamut of expression and styles from the highly romantic ballad "Michelle" to the highly danceable "Wait" and "Drive My Car." The lyrics are nonpareil and remain so to this day. The blend of guitar, drum and harmonies remains flawless and unrivalled. "In My Life" is truly an exceptional work of art. It is a musical masterpiece. The lyrics evoke strong feelings and the gentle harmony provides a pleasant contrast to the strong feelings expressed in the lyrics. I always felt it was a shame that most of these songs did not get a lot of radio play (e.g."Wait," "You Won't See Me," "Run for Your Life.") The work contained on this album is of impeccably high caliber and it is something to be heard and treasured to this day.

If I could, I would rate this one more stars.

Rubber Soul's one of the very first records that started challenging artists to make proper, full length statements that helped usher in the album era. And it did so because the songs were all of a higher caliber (aside for What Goes On) compared to everyone else's regular album tracks. Six tracks even wound up on the Red Album, and the 11th track (In My Life) was just voted the greatest song of all time in Mojo magazine. One of the people that put it at #1 was Brian Wilson, someone who adored this album. That should account for something.

So is this essential? Easily. This is not only an essential Beatle album, but an essential rock and roll album.

Although I will say this, the Beatles' run of classics (Revolver through Abbey Road) all trounce this. This is a classic album, and it is deserving of a 5 star mark, but this is not a run away classic like the other Beatle albums. So don't expect that.

It might be a good starting point for a Beatles collection, it's got a lot of the sophisticated music of their later years (Nowhere Man, In My Life) while still harking back to their Beatlemania (The Word, Run For Your Life) days.

This is an elegant collection of songs that was a starting point for music. Here excellent music composition was combined with thought provoking lyricism and affective production. The guitars, pianos and bass play complementary melodies to the tunes, resulting in one flawless package that simply doesn't date.
Along with Pet Sounds and Mr Tambourine Man (Byrds) here is a the new intellectualism of Bob Dylan combined with a production that emotionally frames it's lyrical content. Every track is a winner, although 'Run for your life' is somewhat lightweight. 'Norwegian Wood', 'In my Life', 'Nowhere man' and 'Girl' are probably the finest examples of songcraft here. Anyone interested in music must have this album.

The repackaging is neat, with new pictures and a booklet, and a mini documentary on the CD... which makes it difficult/impossible to copy songs from the CD (which was easy to do with the older CD). The older CD cover photo looked more natural while the remastered version looks more green and has a larger image which gets a bit cropped. Old plastic covers are replaceable while the new covers can't really be replaced if they wear or tear.

Overall they did an excellent job remastering this CD and staying true to the original CD mixes. The bass guitar is louder and there is more noticeable bleed of reverb between the 2 speakers. I'm not sure if it's a modern reverb effect added or just that you can now HEAR the original reverb a lot more than ever before.

Some noticeable different things are:
Nowhere Man: the 1987 version has distorted vocals while the newer one definitely sounds cleaned up (you can hear George's harmony clearer) and the vocal reverb bleeds a lot to the other speaker.

Micelle: newer version has a lot more bleed from opposite speaker and significantly louder/cleaner drums and backing vocals.

What Goes On: the 1987 version left Ringo's vocal more bare in the one speaker, while the newer version has more bleed of the rhythm guitar beneath Ringo's vocal.

Girl: the old version has bass guitar in both speakers while the new one has bass in one speaker.

I'm Looking Through You: the old version has bass guitar bleeding into the vocal speaker, and the keyboard and lead guitar riff blend together to create ONE sound. On the new version you can clearly hear the keyboard as distinct from the lead guitar. Although it's cool to finally hear how it was done, to me it also takes away a little magic from the sound.

All the rest are true to the old CD mixes, just a bit louder and clearer/cleaner.

I've yet to compare it to the mono remastered CD.

the original track list of the lp goes as follows:

1. I've Just Seen a Face
2. Norwegian Wood
3. You Won't See Me
4. Think For Yourself
5. The Word
6. Michelle
7. It's Only Love
8. Girl
9. I'm Looking Through You
10. In My Life
11. Wait
12. Run For Your Life

Although I think "If I Needed Someone" is a nice addition, in general I find it disgusting that the record company felt the need to destroy what may have been the Beatles' most perfect, if not their most ground-breaking, album. Thus, 4 instead of 5 stars. Boo to Capitol!

All the signs were there on Help and yet, somehow, no one was quite ready for Rubber Soul. The Beatles sixth album was their best to date, and yet, were it the first album by an unknown band, it probably would not have received the acceptance and scrutiny it did. The world of popular music was probably eight to ten years away from easily embracing an album such as Rubber Soul, but when put out by the Beatles, audiences gave it the hearing it richly deserved and loved it,... mostly. To be sure, there were some AM radio dj's who lamented the 'new Beatles' and continued to play I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. But most people 'got it', a pop album of impeccable composition, that redefined 'commercial' by situating itself halfway between the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. This was rock's first great album, a collection of songs that sounded like they belonged together without sounding the same. It kicks off with a jaunty Drive My Car which could have been a number one hit, but was never released as a single. Next up is Lennon's Norwegian Wood, a lyric about an extramarital affair which was largely ignored in favour of discussing George Harrison's use of the sitar on this track. An infectious You Won't See Me gives way to Lennon's masterpiece Nowhere Man. Think For Yourself is a musical delight, but the odd vocal is handled by composer George Harrison, singing one of two compositions from this album. The best thing about The Word is the harmonizing and then McCartney's lovely ballad Michelle closes out the first side. Side two is nearly as memorable. What Goes On, I'm Looking Through You and Wait are less impressive than Girl, John's effort at writing about Christianity through the metaphor of romantic love, the mysoginistic Run For Your Life, George's If I Needed Someone, and best of all, John Lennon's In My Life, one of the greatest songs by anybody ever. With Rubber Soul, the Beatles had scaled new heights. They would never really come down, even when they failed or partly failed. Starting with Rubber Soul the Beatles were always breathing deeply the rarified air from the heights that they alone had reached.