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Pop’s most important and popular transitional album ever. After the seemingly never-ending schoolboy silliness, once more displayed and perfected with the movie ‘Help!’, a rather serious quartet of young men, which was in a position that did not need a visible band name on the sleeve, gazes into some void from the cover of Rubber Soul (except, of course, for the more assertive John Lennon). The beholding fan generates puzzled questions like: Have they grown up? Did they join Art College? Are they – God prevent it - taking drugs? Well, all of it – at least a bit. The Fab Four certainly had something more mature and ‘rounded up’ in mind when they unleashed the ironically titled Rubber Soul, allegedly coined by a Paul impromptu. On the one hand, the band tries to break away from the simple and repetitive repertoire of the pop charts and half-baked cover versions to fill up albums, on the other hand, they still serve up one or the other track in their former trademark style. Generally speaking, Rubber Soul is not only a bridge between hit-factory and ambitious Beatles, it also is likely to be the one album on which early and late Beatle-fans can agree without disputes. The Mersey-Beat is enriched with sitars, sound effects and tasty piano-interludes, while the lyrics become more edgy with a darker slant. At the same time, though, Rubber Soul features a very homogeneous, warm acoustic sound with less rock’n’roll and Ringo’s never-ending cymbal wash than on previous records. The topics of love and romance are treated in an ironic, often pessimistic way. Despite the ballad-heaviness of the album, the collected material has a rougher side, for the first time allowing the Beatles to create a sound that soon would define ‘rock-music’. “Drive my car”, the starting point, sucks the listener already in. With its bitchy story and the unadulterated swagger of the performance, it is arguably Lennon’s/McCartney’s finest tracks ever. The key tracks, however, are those of a more folk oriented nature, most notably the stunning “Norwegian Wood”, one of Lennon’s most inspired moments, uniting sarcasm and catchy tune. Other songs bearing the marks of change include the weed-filled “Girl”, a bittersweet acoustic ballad, the meditative “In my Life” and George’s unexpected masterpiece “If I needed someone”, which emancipated him as a songwriter and makes one wish the guitars would never cease to jangle. So, while John looks good as the Bob Dylan of British pop, Paul uses the rest of the space on the record to perfect his sweet pop gems. “You won’t see me” and “I’m looking through you” are rarely talked about, but this is probably only because they have to fight for your attention. What is left are some nice precursors to the arriving hippie-vibes (“Wait” and the underrated “The Word”), as well as the typical country-ish throwaway, reserved for Ringo’s vocal skills (“What goes on”), a half-baked George composition and the closing track, which sounds like something still lying around from either the Help or For Sale sessions, but still is not out of place on this extremely influential album. A mighty slice of pop-history in just a few minutes! This album alone, although not entirely flooring, is achievement enough...............Read full review
The 1965 album "Rubber Soul" from The Beatles is a real delight, when it comes to talking about their music. Every song included in this album is a stand-out effort on the part of this legendary group. The boys moved into an entirely different direction when they made this album. The opening song is the high-charged rocker "Drive My Car", perhaps best known for its "Beep Beep" refrain that is a part of the song's chorus, and also effectively closes the number. "Norwegian Wood" and "In My Life" have lost absolutely none of their appeal. There are some stellar moments in songs like "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You". "Nowhere Man" displays the group's harmonies at their best. George Harrison shines as a songwriter with "Think For Yourself" and "If I Needed Someone", 2 of his finest compositions. And the album's best song, "Michelle", is one of The Beatles' very best love ballads, and it's easy to see why it won the Grammy Award for Song Of The Year 1966. The lads from Liverpool truly hit their stride when they released "Rubber Soul". They certainly moved forward from "She Loves You" and "A Hard Day's Night", onto a broader musical canvas. This album became the shape of things to come.Read full review
Track listing 1. Drive My Car 2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 3. You Won't See Me 4. Nowhere Man 5. Think For Yourself 6. Word, The 7. Michelle 8. What Goes On 9. Girl 10. I'm Looking Through You 11. In My Life 12. Wait 13. If I Needed Someone 14. Run For Your Life Details Playing time: 35 min. Contributing artists: George Martin, Mal Evans Producer: George Martin Distributor: EMI Music Distribution Recording type: Studio Recording mode: Stereo SPAR Code: ADD Album notes The Beatles: George Harrison (vocals, guitar, sitar); John Lennon (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Paul McCartney (vocals, guitar, piano, bass); Ringo Starr (vocals, organ, drums). Additional personnel: George Martin (piano); Mal Evans (organ). Though some might argue that the Beatles' unprecedented evolution from British Invasion pin-ups to pop music visionaries began with BEATLES FOR SALE, RUBBER SOUL is without a doubt the first album to definitively put the Fab Four in the running for Greatest Band Ever. Virtually every aspect of the Liverpool quartet's incredibly diverse sound is in evidence here: the dark, irony-filled Dylanism ("Norwegian Wood," "Nowhere Man"), pop perfection ("In My Life"), the passion for classic tin pan alley balladry ("Girl," "Michelle"), and the love of good 'ol rock & roll music ("Drive My Car"). Peppered with nasty fuzz bass, exotic sitar, cartoonishly sped-up piano that sounds like harpsichord, and elements of country, Motown, and classical music, the album reveals a creative scope and willingness to experiment so revolutionary it can now only be termed "Beatlesque." Though the Fabs don't go as far out on a limb here as on the more overtly experimental REVOLVER, RUBBER SOUL is perhaps the Beatles' most finely crafted and accessible work, and consequently many fans' and critics' favorite.Read full review
The impact of this 1965 album is incredible. The earliest recorded of the five great Beatles albums (Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album, and Abbey Road are the others), Rubber Soul was the album that invented "album rock." This was the first rock album recorded for its own sake, without any Top Forty hit singles to back it up (Nowhere Man did not appear on the U.S. version). The songs "Girl", "Michelle", and "Norwegian Wood" each got massive radio airplay despite never being released as singles. Before Rubber Soul, most albums were junk, consisting typically of one or two songs that were Top Forty hit singles with the rest being throwaway filler tracks. Thanks to Rubber Soul, rock artists for the first time got serious about recording albums as works of art rather than just another way to make money. My favorite songs here are "Girl" and "In My Live", but just about everything on this CD is superb. However, I don't like the way they tinkered with the song selection; I would have preferred the original vinyl release format. The psychedelic cover art was the best of its time and it too was trendsetting. Overall, a must have CD for anyone who wants an introduction to their work, and don't forget the other four!Read full review
From 1964's "Beatles For Sale" to 1965's release of "Rubber Soul" quite a lot of change was made to the sound. First off I believe that the group was beginning to tire of the celebrity life and the touring that had been taking place to promote their music. Looking more inward a trend started with this release that would kick off a new phase in the evolution of sound that took place for the 'lads from Liverpool'. The sound on this is becoming more complex and the lyrics to songs were indeed becoming more poignant, moving away from the simpler songs about love and longing, and fun and games, into themes of isolation, celebrity and more complexity in relationships and life, Rubber Soul really kicked off a new phase in Beatles music that would lead to a new sound being created just a couple of years later with smash hit conceptual masterpieces like Sgt. Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour and later on Abbey Rd.Read full review
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