Thrifty Tunes 09.05.09: The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 09.05.2009

Rubber Soul is often called the first mature Beatles album. Could it also be the best record the Beatles ever made?

Im Looking Through You [Stereo] - The Beatles

By year's end in 1965, The Beatles were, indeed, 'bigger than Jesus.' The band had conquered the pop music world, television and the movies. A slew of imitators arrived on the scene and attempted, with varying degrees of success, to copy the band's Mersey beat sound and image. When the band went into the studio to record another album, however, they didn't want to make just another album which sounded like everything else they'd already done. Instead of making just another album, the band showed they had musical ambitions and wanted to take their music, and pop music in general, to new heights. The band challenged themselves, and the result is one of the most influential albums ever.

The album opens with the Paul McCartney track "I've Just Seen A Face." It's nearly a straight-up country song, has no bass line, and George Harrison plays his 12-string guitar at a breakneck speed. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" follows, which was written mostly by John Lennon. Harrison uses an Indian sitar in the song, the first major step in his attempts (both in the Beatles and his solo career) to fuse Indian sounds into Western pop music. As far as album openers go, its hard to find a better one-two punch which showcases the band's determination to move beyond their original sound. Neither song sounds like anything the band had recorded up to that point, although both point toward the bands musical experiments on later albums.

Side one ends with "Michelle", one of the band's most well known ballads and another example of the band expanding and evolving their sound. McCartney sings parts of the album in French. The entire song has a French flair, including a French influenced lead guitar written by producer George Martin, The song won a Grammy and one of McCartney's most famous compositions while with the Beatles. In a little over two and a half minutes, the song creates an airy, dreamy mood which set a new standard for pop ballads. A million songs have been written which tried to recapture the sound and scope of this one Beatles song, and none have come close to matching its texture or longevity.

"It's Only Love" opens side two, which is one of the few songs on the album which the band never cared for. (Lennon said later, "The lyrics were abysmal.") While it sounds comfortable to some of the band's earlier work, it seems oddly out of place among all the other forward looking songs on the rest of the album. "Girl", another mostly Lennon composition, follows and shows how much the sound of the band had matured. (Especially when heard directly after "It's Only Love.") I would say "Girl" is one of Lennon's better ballads. (At least with the Beatles, "Jealous Guy" is a whole other can of worms.)

Pages upon pages have been written about "In My Life" and there's really not much more that I could possibly add, except to say that if you consider The Beatles overrated or don't understand their timeless appeal, listen to this song and the lyrics. (Yes. i know I just said "Girl" was one of John's best ballads. It reminds me of the old joke: 'What is the best Beatles song? The answer is, of course, the last one you heard.")



Complete Track Listing: (1965 on Capital Records. The UK version has a different track listing and also includes "Drive My Car" and "Nowhere Man" and excludes "I've Just Seen A Face" and "It's Only Love" which appeared on the UK releases of Help.)



Side One:
1. I've Just Seen A Face
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won't See Me
4. Think For Yourself
5. The Word
6. Michelle

Side Two:
1. It's Only Love
2. Girl
3. I'm Looking Through You
4. In My Life
5. Wait
6. Run For Your Life

The Beatles changed everything about pop music, and themselves, and their image with this release. (Not to mention their influences. Some of these songs were obviously influenced by Dylan and The Birds) While it's always an impossible argument, I believe this to be the Beatles finest collection of songs and one of the most important albums ever recorded. So much of what came later, not just from The Beatles, but from pop in general had its genesis in the songs on this album, and it retains its appeal not solely because of that influence, but because the songs themselves are almost universally timeless.

Pickett Stars: Five out of Five

Next Week: Revolver by The Beatles