Rubber Soul

It's the Beatles. It sounds like the Beatles. I'm sure it's great if you enjoy listening to the Beatles. I don't enjoy listening to the Beatles.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP YEAH!
Oh damn. Back in the day when I binged the Beatles for 6 months, this was my favorite album; it felt like their first departure from the boy band look/sound and they'd stopped touring at this point. Let's see how it holds up now for me. Fuck it, easy 5* for me.
Instantly in a good mood with Drive my car.
Norwegian wood just has a great guitar groove.
You won't see me: I was always more inclined toward Paul songs.
Nowhere man: obsessed. Why did I just praise Paul, when this and In my life are in this album??
Think for yourself: even when I'm not a fan of early George songs, this is still great and catchy
Michelle: so lovely. Also all the harmonies in the album are so on point.
Girl: another John great
All my life is such a GOAT track.
All good, 5*.

A solid album. Has my second favorite Beatles song with Norwegian Wood. A few other classics. Run For Your Life is a bit cringey.

Ikke så forfærdeligt som frygtet, men der var ikke nogle super gode sange..

But seriously, "Drive My Car", "You Won't See Me", "Nowhere Man", "The Word", and those are just the choice picks of Side A. Side B has "I'm Looking Through You', "In My Life", and "Run For Your Life", so for those counting along at home, that's 7 classic rock staples. It truly changed the game musically, laying the foundations for what would come later, and influencing everyone else to be better... Without this we don't get Beach Boys "Pet Sounds, we don't get Velvet Underground, we don't get evolved pop music...

Add in the fact this album was thrown together in around 90 days from start of the writing process after their 1965 August tour of America to pressed vinyl being in people's hands in early December, just an unreal creation in that span of time, and it was their second album of 1965 after "Help!", and 3rd album released within 365 days after 1964's "Beatles For Sale!" was released barely a year before. These mad kids were just chugging along like a well oiled machine, cracking out classic after classic like many normal people draw breath.

Despite me gushing over this album, it's not my favourite Beatles album, its barely in the top 5, but it's still an absurdly easy 5 stars and it's about as filthy as the fuzzy bass on "Think For Yourself". It's almost perfect, but I can't abide with "Michelle", a wholly terrible song from Paul McCartney that's only matched by "Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da" and "Wonderful Christmastime"...

Not the Rolling Stones are they.

A good album. Not the biggest Beatles fan but the song Girl is something I’m glad I found.

Being just a studio band as a pop music group was unheard of before this album. Beatlemania was at an end, and the Beatles were no longer merely a product to be sold. The band stopped touring, and there was a significant downshift in the marketing side of things, and this put more focus on actually creating music.

A lot of people know Rubber Soul as the Beatles' pot album, since Bob Dylan had introduced them to marijuana in 1964. The lads smoked a lot of pot during the recording of Help!, and that marijuana motif spills over into this album, what with the album cover being reminiscent of the leaves as well as the distorted image evoking a sense of altered consciousness. Unlike on Help!, however, the Beatles didn't work high on this album. They took their drug experiences into the studio but not the drugs. Rubber Soul has vision and articulation, a clear-headed and purposeful musical statement.

This is also where the Lennon / McCartney rivalry really takes off. The duo were rarely writing together by this point, just answering each other's songs instead, like a game of oneupmanship. One day Lennon would come into the studio with a song, the next day McCartney would show up with something of his own.

Harrison was also getting in on the songwriting act. He had only two songs on the first five albums, but now he's got two songs just on this album. This is the real beginning of his songwriting career, and you can hear the maturity as he just gets better and better. On his "Think for Yourself", he's not afraid to try a bit of sound experimentation: the two simultaneous bass guitar lines, one conventional and the other run through a fuzzbox.

Overall, the general songwriting style of the Beatles was changing. No more naive, shallow love songs about dating and holding hands. There's a sense of adventure, a sense of questioning, no doubt influenced by the drug use, the sexual experiences, and the dabbling in spirituality, evidenced in the song "The Word", wherein belief in the sufficiency of love is proclaimed. With love, all the world's problems are solved. Despite these new frontiers, the band keeps to the brevity and clarity of the classic pop song.

Rubber Soul also has a streak of sarcasm and irony running through it. The Beatles are laughing at and joking about their fame as they comment on stardom and seduction. Everyone fawned over the Beatles, everyone lusted after them. The best example is "Drive My Car", and musically it's an interesting number: the guitar and bass doubling the vocal, the use of the tambourine instead of the cymbal, the drumming rimshots, creating a stronger, sharper sound.

Let's go back to that new frontier idea I mentioned earlier. Listen to "Norwegian Wood". This is the first time that the sitar replaces the lead guitar. Look at the social criticism on "Nowhere Man", the opening a capella line and somber tone giving the impression of profundity. This song attacks their parents' generation of conformity.

Lo han dicho otros y más o menos opino lo mismo. Con este disco lo Beatles empezaron a ser ellos sin nada que les dijera qué camino seguir. Tiene canciones impresionantes: Drive my car, Norwegian wood, Nowhere man, In my life o If I need someone. Sin olvidar Michelle o Girl (con ese aspirar entre dientes). Este disco es de cinco estrellas aún sabiendo que otros de los suyos deberían ser de 6 o 7.

After listening to Rubber Soul. I can tell you that while The Beatles do have their fans, I'm certainly not one of them. None of the songs really managed to stand out to me in this album (except for Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, Girl and I'm Looking Through You). Overall, While it wasn't terrible, It did little to change my impression of the band
Best Song: I'm Looking Through You
Worst Song: Run For Your Life

Yea this album kicks ass. Like seriously, Nowhere Man is a thundering killer track. Michelle is another banger, but every track has a sparkle, a little sheen.

I'd genuinely never heard of *Rubber Soul* even though it's like right in the middle of their other stuff that I like. It's good!

I can't believe that I've listened to 157 records on this generator before I got 1 Beatles album, because I'm assuming that there are quite a few in this list.

Historically, I've been known to not be a huge fan of the Beatles. I never cared for their poppy stuff too much, but always understood how influential they were in the grand scheme of music.

This album, however, was a bit of a stray from their usual poppy crap, and they were testing the waters of psychadelica/blues rock a bit here. Certainly albums that followed (Revolver/Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) delved into these genres heavier, but this album was the start of that shift.

I thoroughly enjoyed the country/blues rock feel of the song What Goes On, and the inclusion of a sitar in the song Norwegian Wood was great! The song Run For Your Life was a bit jarring, and a weird way to end a record, but it was still a great song.

The reason I tend to hate the Beatles is because apparently to make a Beatles song, all you need is harmonizing, "Ooh La La La's", and a fuck ton of tambourine work, which this album has a bit of, but not too much.

Overall, a good record from a very influential band. The Beatles aren't in heavy rotation for me, but a few of these songs may make it onto a playlist for sure.

Favourite songs: What Goes On, Run For Your Life, Norwegian Wood, I'm Looking Through You, Drive My Car, The Word

Least favourite song: Girl

4/5

A natural progression of the Beatles formula, and in my opinion the first time you can hear what is to come with albums like Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, etc. It's interesting how all over this album can be quality wise. Like, there's songs like Michelle and Girl, which while being very much like older Beatles songs, feel like a deeper understanding of that style of music. You also have songs like Drive My Car and The Word that really just feel generic and boring. Finally you have songs like Norwegian Wood and In My Life that sound like what's to come more than anything. It's just a situation where for every bad song there's three great songs, but those bad songs still sour the music, leaving to be unable to grasp that five star rating. Still a must listen for that transition period, and still has some fantastic songs (Girl being in my top three Beatles songs), but every Beatles album has good songs.

It's a great album with some real stand-out all-time songs. In My Life is possibly my favourite Beatles song. The content and lyricism is just superb. Deceptively simple, but so expressive and effective.

One of many Beatles albums that will get a 5. It's just great, not much more to say.

My first Beatles album 142 albums in.

Rubber Soul is their first masterpiece. Some all time great songs on here, in my life, say the word, drive my car, Norwegian wood.

There are a couple of arguments not to give this a 5.

1. The Beatles albums that follow are better.
2. Run for you life is a terrible song. Even worse given Lennons history with his first wife.

1. Its not Rubber Souls fault that the Beatles went on to surpass it. If another band wrote this album argument 1. wouldn’t hold.

2. One bad song at the end of this album that can be skipped is outweighed by the other 13 brilliant songs.

This album was so influential in 1965, Wikipedia states it influenced The Beach Boys, Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks this is clearly an important album not only in the Beatles career but in the history of pop and rock music.

Given the importance of this, that some of the greatest albums in history were soon to follow and influenced by this album, this fully deserves 5 stars.

Listening as a kid, I seem to remember that (on vinyl) side one was better than side two. Still a nostalgia trip. Was initially going to give it a 4, but re-listening to the whole album, it's worth a 5.

Ei haluaisi liikaa haippaa, mut on sille syy miksi Beatlesilla on näin monta levyä tällä listalla. Tällä levyllä nappaa esim. Drive my car:n kertsin pianot ja Nowhere Man. 4/5 taattua tavaraa

One small step for The Beatles, one giant leap for Rock and Roll.