Beatles - Rubber Soul

I've been recording many of my old vinyl albums onto my laptop (using Audacity) and decided to add Rubber Soul to the digital playlist last night.

This was one of the very first albums I ever bought and I hadn't heard it for years and I'd forgotten just how good an album it was - apart from Michelle which still makes me cringe when I hear it!!

But what struck me when listening on headphones was how good the stereo panning was (albeit very basic). It makes me realise how simple can often be best. This must have been one of the first albums to be produced in stereo - my copy was bought around 1968 so remastering been done to it, it's as it came out of Abbey Rd in all its primitive glory.

Not bad for a 4 track studio and basic equipment (by today's standards).

love that album!

Michelle is actually quite a lovely melody. Try it acoustic, sans vox, very pretty

My favorite B album.

I found Rubber Soul on sale and grabbed it and noticed the Hard Day's Night soundtrack on sale too. Rubber Soul is a masterclass in songwriting, Hard Day's Night is a bouncing ball of fun. Their work holds up well.

Oh, and while I'm here, Hard Day's Night kills Rubber Soul as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and while I'm here, Hard Day's Night kills Rubber Soul as far as I'm concerned.

AHDN is my favorite Beatles album.

Rubber Soul is the only one of their albums that i like the US version better.

and the only cringe worthy song from it is "Run For Your Life", unless you're talking about the UK version, in which case "What Goes On" induces cringes.

We knew the Beatles were good, but when Rubber Soul came out a lot of musicians realized they were amazing - goodby Bobby Vinton!

I dig the stark stereo style of those early stereo albums, the way things are panned full right or left. Matthew Sweet used that technique on the album Girlfriend and it gave it a 60s flavor I thought.

I love Rubber Soul. "You Won't See Me" used to just overwhelm me with this spell of melody and harmony. I wasn't able to parse out the individual performances at the time, it was just this incredible wash of beauty as the lead vocal sang "I wouldn't mind, if I knew what I was missing" and the backup vocals sang "no I wouldn't, no I wouldn't ooooh." It was one of the things that made me want to be a musician, to be able to cast that spell. (Still not quite there I'm afraid.)

Michelle is one of the best examples of the mastery of the Beatles i can think of. consider it seriously for a minute : when you were 23-25 yrs. old, could your band genuinely make that sound ? listen : it's three voices, bass, drums, and two guitars. and they managed to get that sound, THAT far removed from the rockin' guitar band music they usually did, and sound THAT good.

for that matter, get your mates together, go to a studio and do something that good now.

I don't question the musical merits of Michelle. I have just never liked the song myself, that's all I was saying.

And now a comment from the local novice...

This 'in stereo" thing always confuses me. I notice the left/right thing in general, but many times while working, I only have one earphone in. But that doesn't work because the vocals are coming out of one. I have had embarrassing moments where I'd think, "shouldn't they be singing by now??" So, could someone explain in easy words, what type of recording is going on there?

In regards to Rubber Soul, that was one of the Beatles albums I owned for myself. My oldest sister had all of them, but someone this one got in my xmas pile as well. I played the heck out of it and still love it today.

My favourite of the early Beatles' albums.

Norwegian Wood, the album is classic.

Michelle won a Grammy, although that doesn't mean you have to like a song.
What Goes On, I like listening to the awesome hi-hat and bass on the left side and the sloppy Carl Perkins bits on the right with the cute harmonies.
Does You Won't See Me slow down near the end?
I've never been crazy about that obnoxious fuzz bass in Think For Yourself.
Great ALBUM.

"Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" were recorded during the same sessions, and released (at that time) only as a single. imagine Rubber Soul without "Run For Your Life" and "What Goes On", and adding "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out". i actually made a cd that way...kind of a Rubber Soul "re-imagined". i think that version, if were the real thing, would top a lot of "best album" lists

my second favorite, after Beatles for Sale

My favourite Beatles album always goes back and forth between Rubber Soul and Revolver. Both and always in my cars cd changer and don't come out...ever...:mrgreen:

A great album to finish 65 on after a year of touring US Shea stadium etc, the second album that year the other being Help and releasing their second movie. A busy year.

And now a comment from the local novice...

This 'in stereo" thing always confuses me. I notice the left/right thing in general, but many times while working, I only have one earphone in. But that doesn't work because the vocals are coming out of one. I have had embarrassing moments where I'd think, "shouldn't they be singing by now??" So, could someone explain in easy words, what type of recording is going on there?

This an assumption on my part;

multitracking was fairly new at the time and with only four tracks, each track had several performances on it. A possibility might be all vocals and guitar solo on one track and so forth...

Also you have whatever choices were made in arranging the song.

Sometimes parts are placed on different speakers to separate parts that occupy similar frequencies.

I think AHDN is fantastic, such energy! It's like the last of the Beatlemania LP's for me. By the time they got to Rubber Soul it was like a different band in a way. Rubber Soul and Revolver might be my favorite one/two punch for LP's ever. Can't beat that combo.!

Love Rubber Soul....

In "Michelle" I always thought it was clever how he incorporated a diminished arpeggio into the melody.Judging from the early demos, the song seem to have started out as a chord melody arrangement on the guitar.

No-one's mentioned If I Needed Someone yet. That has to be one the Beatles' best pop tunes ever.

My favorite, ex aequo with Revolver

Great album, wore out a few copies before cd's came around. Always reminds me of that year growing up.

Rubber Soul is one of my favorite albums, but I honestly feel that it sounds best in mono.

The Beatles' Mono box is a real ear-opener - I'd never realized just how much spatial detail could be captured in good mono recording.

Was inspired by French cafe music----brilliant!

No-one's mentioned If I Needed Someone yet. That has to be one the Beatles' best pop tunes ever.

That's such a great song. The guitar riff is to my ear one of the classic Rickenbacker sounds. (Now someone will come on and tell me it was actually a strat.)

Someone mentioned "You Won't See Me" earlier in the thread, I started doing an acoustic version last year for some friends which is rather fun.
I always wondered what that would've sounded like if they had played it on the '66 tour, but sadly that never happened.
It seems like Macca did perform it on the 2004 tour and I found this on the tube. Enjoy.

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That's such a great song. The guitar riff is to my ear one of the classic Rickenbacker sounds. (Now someone will come on and tell me it was actually a strat.)

Looks like a Rickenbacker to me, at least in Japan in '66 :mrgreen:

iOw_sx6P8ek

There are 2 different performances is why the video is over 5 minutes.
Enjoy.

Looks like a Rickenbacker to me, at least in Japan in '66 :mrgreen:

iOw_sx6P8ek

There are 2 different performances is why the video is over 5 minutes.
Enjoy.

this thread got me to want to hear...if i needed some one and i watched the video you posted...which led me to watch more videos from that japan concert :lol:

"Drive My Car" translates well to the live stage:

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This was one of the very first albums I ever bought and I hadn't heard it for years and I'd forgotten just how good an album it was - apart from Michelle which still makes me cringe when I hear

I must have bought my vinyl copy very early, Michelle isn't on it and I have some different tracks on it and some that are missing.
It has always been my favorite!

I must have bought my vinyl copy very early, Michelle isn't on it and I have some different tracks on it and some that are missing.
It has always been my favorite!

Not unusual. Beatles' US, UK and worldwide releases were different from each other. Trying to "capitalize" profits at the time (pun intended..Capitol records released Beatles' US records).

"Drive My Car" translates well to the live stage:

mjYfv1q-ZmA

Obviously I know the song well - but damn it's a good guitar riff just listening again after many years.

I'm pretty sure the story goes like this:
George Martin intended for the 2 tracks to be mixed mono when they were shipped to the states for release by Capitol records. The original UK releases were in mono.
Anyway, as it happened, who ever did the mastering in the U.S. made a mistake, mastered in 2 tracks, and thus the "stereo" versions were released.
Of course this turned the music world upside down.
A revolutionary mistake, so to speak.

To me Rubber Soul was the Beatles "coming out" album. The creativity and complexity of the vocal harmonies and arrangements blew me away. Although the songs themselves were still relatively simple there was something different going on. Anyway It's my favorite and my wife's as well.

Was Rubber Soul the first Beatles album to not have any covers at all? I love A Hard Days Night as well, thats probably my favorite album from them... the height of BeatleMania and all that crazy stuff... I cant remember if there are any covers on that one.

Was Rubber Soul the first Beatles album to not have any covers at all? I love A Hard Days Night as well, thats probably my favorite album from them... the height of BeatleMania and all that crazy stuff... I cant remember if there are any covers on that one.

A Hard Day's Night was the first no-covers Beatles album. all Lennon and McCartney originals, and oddly, no Ringo lead vocals (they tossed George a bone with "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You").

next came Beatles For Sale, then Help!, followed by Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul is one of my favorite albums, but I honestly feel that it sounds best in mono.

The Beatles' Mono box is a real ear-opener - I'd never realized just how much spatial detail could be captured in good mono recording.

I concur. The songs were intended to be heard in mono by the Beatles, the stereo mixes had nothing to do with them. Mind you, I enjoy that album any way I hear it.

Cool thread. My favourites are Revolver and AHDN. Sadly, I think that their music - with a few notable exceptions - went downhill after that. I don't even own any of their albums post Magical Mystery Tour. I find Sgt Pepper unlistenable, excruciatingly dated, twee, self-indulgent. For the latter part of the sixties I much prefer Creedence and the Stones. Up to 1967 The Beatles rule.

The Beatles(White Album) is my favorite album of all time




(yer missin' out Macdog!)

Maybe the Beatles did get self indulgent at times, but there's always William Burroughs' question: "Wouldn't you?" It would surely be really hard to maintain much sense of reality given that amount of adulation.

Apparently they came close to breaking up after Sgt. Pepper, and were mostly held together by the influence of Paul from that point on. I think the work they did after that is mostly excellent.

Some of the lo-fi stuff on the White Album has enough graunch and grind to show that the tweeness was only temporary; the album also introduced the avant-garde to a massive audience. The fact that something as outrageous as 'Revolution #9' has found its way into millions of homes is impressive enough, regardless of what anybody thinks of it as music.

The long medley on Abbey Road pretty much invented prog, which in my book is a good thing. It's a wonderfully produced album too; to these ears the sound is fuller and more richly detailed than any of their other albums.

Let It Be is clearly a minor work in comparison, but it still has its moments.

I love the ageless rock and roll of prime Stones and Creedence too. It's a good thing there's room in the racks for them all.

All true. Don't get me wrong, I love The Beatles. I just think that the fantastically high standards they set earlier slipped in later years. If you've not read the late Ian McDonald's "Revolution in the Head", then it is a must for any Beatles fan, especially if you are a musician. He, too, is less keen on the later material.

Rubber Soul was my first exposure to the Beatles and to an entire album that wasn't a K-Tel special!! I love the whole thing.

White album then rubber soul #2

All true. Don't get me wrong, I love The Beatles. I just think that the fantastically high standards they set earlier slipped in later years. If you've not read the late Ian McDonald's "Revolution in the Head", then it is a must for any Beatles fan, especially if you are a musician. He, too, is less keen on the later material.

It's an excellent book. The best I've read about the Beatles for sure. I think he says somewhere that their best work comes between the first chord of 'Hard Day's Night' and the last chord of 'Day In The Life'. That's a neat way of putting it, although I don't agree with him.

Every Beatles fan needs to read this book, though!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Revolution_in_the_Head.jpg/200px-Revolution_in_the_Head.jpg

I think every album the Beatles did was a masterpiece.....Rubber Soul was in the top 3 for me.

AHDN is my favorite Beatles album.

"A Hard Day's Night" is the album that shows all (especially Paul fans) that John was the greatest and John was The Beatles. Here the boys are at the point where they are going to make a movie, they need songs, they need an album. So they come up with 13 songs, no covers, 13 compositions that will make up the soundtrack. And ten of them were written by John!

Here it is, really the make or break point for this group. They could go down in flames and be just a nice blip in music history if the movie is laughably bad and the songs in it aren't worth a damn. Lennon took the responsibility and delivered 10 of the 13 songs. Paul's contribution of three is just something a sideman would contribute. It was John who was The Beatles and "A Hard Day's Night" is his greatest achievement. That album is a masterpiece top to bottom...and it is essentially a John solo album!

Paul's contribution of three is just something a sideman would contribute.

oh, to be a sideman that could contribute "Can't Buy Me Love", "And I Love Her" and "Things We Said Today". good stuff from Paul.

yeah, AHDN was a high water mark for John. amazing that he was able to churn out such quality work under pressure. i'm a big fan of his early (pre-67) songs. a textbook in pop/rock songcraft. brilliant.

I don't question the musical merits of Michelle. I have just never liked the song myself, that's all I was saying.

I started off liking it, but over time it became radioactive.

I don't care how painstakingly or simply something is recorded IF the song makes you ill. To my ears, it is cloying, and saccharine, and it is maybe Reason #1 why my preference for Lennon became so strong over time.

oh, to be a sideman that could contribute "Can't Buy Me Love", "And I Love Her" and "Things We Said Today". good stuff from Paul.
Oh, I agree. Though Paul was only capable of supplying just three songs, they were incredible songs. Among Paul's, or anyone's, best.

Rubber Soul is one of the best! The Beatles were responsible for me and my friends becoming musicians. So, we've been messing around with re-creating some of their tunes. Right at the moment, we are recording The Word. It should be initially mixed in June. We are also considering Nowhere Man.

If you want a real challenge, just try to duplicate what they did. It's a real eye-opener!

Here is our version of If I Needed Someone....
If I Needed Someone - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10856303)

We've focused a bit more on Revolver, recording She Said, She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert.
She Said, She Said - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11325745)
And Your Bird Can Sing - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11362287)
Doctor Robert - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10931051)

Rubber Soul is one of the best! The Beatles were responsible for me and my friends becoming musicians. So, we've been messing around with re-creating some of their tunes. Right at the moment, we are recording The Word. It should be initially mixed in June. We are also considering Nowhere Man.

If you want a real challenge, just try to duplicate what they did. It's a real eye-opener!

Here is our version of If I Needed Someone....
If I Needed Someone - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10856303)

We've focused a bit more on Revolver, recording She Said, She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert.
She Said, She Said - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11325745)
And Your Bird Can Sing - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11362287)
Doctor Robert - cover (http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10931051)

nice work! you guys are good