Best of the Rest Pt. 10 (Rubber Soul)

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keonepax
September 10, 2007

excerpts of songs from one of my favorite albums of all time from Wikipedia: Rubber Soul is the sixth album by The Beatles, first released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, the album w...

excerpts of songs from one of my favorite albums of all time

from Wikipedia:

Rubber Soul is the sixth album by The Beatles, first released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, the album was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. It was a major artistic achievement for the band, attaining widespread critical and commercial success, with reviewers taking note of The Beatles' developing musical vision. In 2003, the album was ranked number 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Musically, the Beatles broadened their sound, most notably with influences drawn from the contemporary folk-rock of the Byrds and Bob Dylan. The album also saw the Beatles broadening rock n' roll's instrumental resources, most notably on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". This track is generally credited as being the first pop recording to use the sitar, an exotic Indian stringed instrument, and "Norwegian Wood" sparked a musical craze for the sound of the novel instrument in the mid-Sixties. The song is now acknowledged as one of the cornerstones of what is now usually called "world music" and it was a major landmark in the trend towards incorporating non-Western musical influences into Western popular music. Harrison had recently been introduced to Indian classical music and the sitar by David Crosby of the Byrds. He soon became fanatically interested in the genre and began taking sitar lessons from renowned Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar.

Recording innovations were also made during the recording of the album — for instance, the keyboard solo in "In My Life" sounds like a harpsichord, but was actually played on a piano. George Martin found he could not match the tempo of the song while playing in this baroque style, so he tried recording with the tape running at half-speed. When played back at normal speed during the mixdown, the sped-up sound gave the illusion of a harpsichord. Other production innovations included the use of electronic sound processing on many instruments, notably the heavily compressed and equalised piano sound on Lennon's "The Word"; this distinctive effect soon became extremely popular in the genre of psychedelic music.
Lyrically, the album was a major progression. Though a smattering of earlier Beatles songs had expressed romantic doubt and negativity, the songs on Rubber Soul represented a pronounced development in sophistication, thoughtfulness, and ambiguity. In particular, the relationships between the sexes moved from simpler boy-girl love songs to more nuanced, even negative portrayals. "Norwegian Wood", one of the most famous examples and often cited as the Beatles' first conscious assimilation of the lyrical innovations of Bob Dylan, sketches a poetically ambiguous extra-marital affair between the singer and a mysterious girl. "Drive My Car" serves as a satirical piece of reverse sexism. Songs like "I'm Looking Through You", "You Won't See Me", and "Girl" express more emotionally complex, even bitter and downbeat portrayals of romance, and "Nowhere Man" was the first Beatles song to move beyond a romantic subject.

Rubber Soul came out in the United States three days after the British release, and began its 59-week long chart run on Christmas Day. It topped the charts for six weeks from January 8, 1966, before dropping back. The album sold 1.2 million copies within nine days of its release, and to date has sold over four million copies in America.
Like other pre-Sgt. Pepper Beatles albums, Rubber Soul differed markedly in its U.S. and UK configurations; indeed, through peculiarities of sequencing, the U.S. Rubber Soul was deliberately reconfigured to appear a "folk rock" album to angle the Beatles into that nascent and lucrative American idiom during 1965, thanks to the addition of "I've Just Seen a Face" and "It's Only Love" (leftovers from the UK Help!) and the deletion of some of the more upbeat tracks ("Drive My Car", "Nowhere Man", "If I Needed Someone", and "What Goes On"). The tracks missing on the U.S. version would later surface on the Yesterday . . . and Today collection. The track variation resulted in a shorter album length, clocking in at 29:59. In addition, the stereo mix sent to the U.S. from England has what are commonly called "false starts" at the beginning of "I'm Looking Through You." The track is also slightly shorter at the end. The false starts are on every American copy of the album from 1965 to 1990 and are also on the CD boxed set, Capitol Albums, Vol. 2. The US version of "The Word" is also recognizably different.
The U.S. version of the album also greatly influenced the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, who "answered" the album by releasing Pet Sounds in 1966. In turn, Pet Sounds greatly impressed the Beatles and served as inspiration for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

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beatles rubber soul drive my car norwegian wood nowhere man michelle girl yt:quality=high i'm looking through you

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1dublj (3 months ago) Show Hide

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The sixth album in the US was Beatles VI, I believe, which had many songs on different releases in Europe. It's a bit confusing because a lot of us growing up with the Beatles in the US will see someone refer to a song from a particular album and say, what are they talking about, that wasn't on that album, it was on this one. Either way, with a few exceptions, most of what they put out was usually pretty darn good.

jody808 (2 months ago) Show Hide

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that because their label in the states, Capital Records, began chopping up their albums by mixing and matching which led to them doing the infamous butcher cover for an album of out takes from prior releases.

carlmoore19 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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Your reference to 6th album is referring to Parlophone in the UK. Starting in spring/summer 1963, the Beatles had two albums out per year (the 2nd one being for Christmas). The last album in this pattern was Revolver in 1966; there was a Beatles oldies LP in England for Christmas 1966 when it was apparent the Beatles would not have a new album then.
Sgt. Pepper album was next.

tonygmilan7 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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u r sooooooo lucky if u got the vinyl for 6$. i saw a horribly scratched up rubber soul lp at an antique store for $80/
now what does that tell you about the quality of the album?

shadyreefer69 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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The Revolver people!

RodCow (4 months ago)

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kingman1315 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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so what are you saying that beatles for sale isn't good?
I like all the songs on beatles for sale.
and I also like all the songs on rubber soul... ow well almost every song the beatles make was good. but my point is that I like the songs better on beatles for sale

RodCow (4 months ago) Show Hide

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Every album seemed to top the previous one and was the product of growth (individually and as a group) but BFS always felt like a backwards step after AHDN with MMoonlight,RnR Music,Kansas City,Words Of Love,Honey Don't and ETTBMBaby taking up the space that should have been used for originals and would have been if the album hadn't been recorded during the busiest time of their lives and rushed out for xmas (at the very least MM and HDon't should have been binned for I Feel Fine&She's A Woman)

kingman1315 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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well thats ur opinion

thelovesickdrifter (2 months ago) Show Hide

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Perhaps not a "backwards step" as much as a "temporary holding pattern". The demand on them - the pressures and the scheduling kept them from being quite as prolific creatively as they had been or (better yet) would become. Perhaps the inclusion of so many of their early stage covers on BFS was sort of an unconscious tribute to simpler times in their lives. As George Martin once quipped, "They perked -up after that."

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Best of the Rest Pt. 10 (Rubber Soul)

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