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The Beatles - Rubber Soul CD (album) cover

RUBBER SOUL

The Beatles

 

Proto-Prog

3.97 | 873 ratings

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Rune2000
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars While Help showed the early stages of a band in transition, Rubber Soul was where the Beatles weren't trying to hide it anymore. Love it or hate it, this is definitely an important transitional release that helped shape albums like Revolver and therefore kick-started the band's experimental phase.

I can definitely agree that the Beatles weren't on top of their game with the release of Rubber Soul. The album was released only a few month after Help and just in time for Christmas season 1965. Still, there is no doubt about a great deal of amazing songs featured here. Big public favorites like Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Drive My Car and Nowhere Man may not be among my personal favorites but they still complement the highlights quite well. To me, it's all about those two French-inspired compositions called Michelle and Girl that unfortunately often get overshadowed by, what I can only assume to be, publics fascination with sitar sound and studio wizardry.

Yes, Rubber Soul might have been a great achievement from a recording point of view, plus it just might have been the first British pop record to feature a sitar, but I don't find these aspects as interesting as excellent songwriting. Since this album was one of my later stabs at the Beatles' discography, it doesn't have that nostalgia factor as Help or many of their previous albums have on me. Still, its a decent recording that should definitely be respected for brining forth the elements that would be perfected on albums like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Even though I do enjoy Rubber Soul it doesn't really reach the level of the next few releases and in order to differentiate it from the bunch I'm giving it a good, but non-essential rating with a big plus sign on the side.

***** star songs: Michelle (2:42) Girl (2:33)

**** star songs: Drive My Car (2:30) Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (2:05) You Won't See Me (3:22) Nowhere Man (2:44) Think For Yourself (2:19) What Goes On (2:50) In My Life (2:27) Wait (2:16) Run For Your Life (2:18)

*** star songs: The Word (2:43) I'm Looking Through You (2:27) If I Needed Someone (2:23)

Rune2000 | 3/5 |

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