Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul

• Rubber Soul UK: Parlophone PMC 1267, December 3, 1965 (mono)
• Rubber Soul UK: Parlophone PCS 3075, December 3, 1965 (stereo)
• Rubber Soul US: Capitol T 2442, December 6, 1965 (mono)
• Rubber Soul US: Capitol ST 2442, December 6, 1965 (stereo)
• "Yesterday"... and Today Capitol T 2553, June 15, 1966 (mono)
• "Yesterday"... and Today Capitol ST 2553, June 15, 1966 (stereo)
• Rubber Soul (CD) UK: Parlophone CDP 7 46440 2, April 30, 1987
• Rubber Soul (CD) US: Capitol CLJ 46440, July 21, 1987
• Rubber Soul (US version) (CD) Capitol CDP 0946 3 57501 2 6, April 11, 2006
• Rubber Soul (CD) remastered: US: Capitol 82418, September 9, 2009

• Rubber Soul practically defines the idea of the watershed album, the moment where a band changes subtly (in this case) but permanently - and, because this happened to the most popular rock band of all time, it was also a watershed moment in the history of pop music. It is an album of firsts and lasts: It's the last to be recorded on the old, very hectic Beatlemania schedule, the last to be rushed out for the Christmas season, the last to concern itself primarily with simple love songs, the last to find Paul lagging behind John in compositional growth, the last to treat George's songs as second-rate, to indulge in rockabilly, to have its songs performed on stage, to end with a simple rocker.
• It's also full of firsts. Rubber Soul is the first Beatles album of their "middle period"; the first to fully explore soul, folk-rock, foreign pop, and the sitar; the first to exhibit a social conscience; the first to boost the drums; the first to be recorded on four tracks instead of two; the first to dig into the group's personal life, to forego covers, to flow like its own standalone entity and not just a collection of recorded tracks, the first to remove the band's name from the cover. And, miraculously, the gamble paid off: it was wildly successful like its predecessors, staying at the to for weeks and spinning off the hit "Nowhere Man," not to mention deep cuts that became so ingrained in the public consciousness they may as well have been hit singles: "Drive My Car," "Michelle," "In My Life." But Rubber Soul remains what many consider to be the Fabs' first real classic album because it makes no compromises, revealing the band for the first time to be mature artists and not just a boy-band with fantastic songs. Indeed, over the years, this album's rep has grown so large, many critics now consider it more consistent, track-for-track, than even Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road.
• This was also the second-to-last Beatles album to be chopped up, downsized, and restructured for American release. Capitol had done this with the band's LPs from the beginning, preferring to use earlier material, singles, and b-sides to create twice as many (shorter) Beatles albums for hungry US consumers. The irony is that Rubber Soul's American counterpart, quite by accident, was structured in such a way as to highlight the band's recent folkier side, and it led to a version that many consider the equal of, even superior to, the original release. Still, fans who wanted the harder (and most popular) songs from these sessions had to wait six months for the release of the notorious Yesterday and Today. By that time, the new album, Revolver, had changed the game yet again.

• 1
• 2