Rubber Soul [Remastered]

by The Beatles

Overview

Paul McCartney crooning in French, George Harrison playing a sitar, Ringo Starr crafting innovative drum parts, and John Lennon singing movingly about his childhood -- no rock album had ever sounded like Rubber Soul (1965). For that matter, the Beatles themselves were hardly recognizable as the energetic bar band that had recorded its debut effort barely three years earlier. Beach Boy Brian Wilson called Rubber Soul the first rock album without filler, and it certainly was the Beatles' first album with a consistent, organic sound and feel, despite its enormous stylistic range. There were nods to Dylan, the Byrds, and folk rock ("If I Needed Someone," "Nowhere Man"); early Elvis ("Run for Your Life"); and bluegrass ("I've Just Seen a Face"). But the glue, helped along by George Martin's intimate production gloss, was the uniformly first-rate songwriting by Lennon and McCartney, which still seems fresh as new paint today.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/09/2009
Label:	Capitol
UPC:	0094638241829
catalogNumber:	82418
Rank:	4448

Tracks

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. The Word / Michelle
7. What Goes On / Girl
8. I'm Looking Through You
9. In My Life / Wait
10. If I Needed Someone
11. Run For Your Life
12. Rubber Soul Documentary

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Beatles   Primary Artist

Editorial Reviews

While the Beatles still largely stuck to love songs on Rubber Soul, the lyrics represented a quantum leap in terms of thoughtfulness, maturity, and complex ambiguities. Musically, too, it was a substantial leap forward, with intricate folk-rock arrangements that reflected the increasing influence of Dylan and the Byrds. The group and George Martin were also beginning to expand the conventional instrumental parameters of the rock group, using a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," Greek-like guitar lines on "Michelle" and "Girl," fuzz bass on "Think for Yourself," and a piano made to sound like a harpsichord on the instrumental break of "In My Life." While John and Paul were beginning to carve separate songwriting identities at this point, the album is full of great tunes, from "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Michelle" to "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," "You Won't See Me," "Drive My Car," and "Nowhere Man" (the last of which was the first Beatle song to move beyond romantic themes entirely). George Harrison was also developing into a fine songwriter with his two contributions, "Think for Yourself" and the Byrds-ish "If I Needed Someone."

All Music Guide - Richie Unterberger