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Rubber Soul

RUBBER SOUL
 
 
Rubber Soul  is the sixth studio album by English rock group the Beatles and was released on December 3, 1965.  Rubber Soul is a folk rock album that incorporates R&B, pop, soul, and psychedelic music styles.  The album is regarded by musicologists as a major artistic achievement that continued the Beatles’ artistic maturation while attaining widespread critical and commercial success.  It was the second Beatles album – after the British A Hard Day’s Night album – to contain only original material; the Beatles would record no more cover songs for their records until 1969, with the “Maggie Mae” excerpt appearing on the Let It Be album.  In 2012, Rubber Soul was ranked number five on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
I have a confession to make though.  When I first heard the “Stars on 45 Medley” (Beatles medley), there were several songs that I was actually not familiar with.  I don’t think that I have ever told anyone this before now; I wonder how many other Beatles fans were similarly chagrined.  My own experience with the band is being caught up in the excitement in late 1963 and early 1964, but I quit buying Beatles albums sometime in 1965, though I still bought a lot of their 45’s.  Naturally, I bought Sgt. Pepper right away, and it wasn’t long before I figured out how good the preceding album Revolver was.  However, I didn’t buy Rubber Soul until I got the box set, The Beatles / The Collection.  Basically, between “Yesterday” and Sgt. Pepper, if it wasn’t on the radio, I hadn’t heard it.  Thus, for this music fan at least, Stars on 45 reawakened my interest in the Beatles, and I definitely took to heart their exhortation:  “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t forget!” 
 
(September 2012)
 
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This promotional photo for the Not Quite – which looks like it has been stretched in the same way as the cover shot for the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album – was also turned into a poster by Dark Lord Rob:  
 
  
 
 (May 2013)
 
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Following the Beatles’ lead, many rock musicians began incorporating sitar into their recordings, including the Byrds and Stone Poneys; the Beatles song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, included on their 1965 album Rubber Soul, was the first rock song to include sitar music, which was played by George Harrison on the song.  One of my favorite songs on the Sgt. Pepper album, “Within You, Without You”, was composed by George Harrison, who plays sitar and another Indian instrument, the tambura; several Indian musicians were also on hand.  
 
(September 2014)
 
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To some extent, the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson’s answer to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album; and in turn, the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album is in response to Pet Sounds.  Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds were voted #1 and #2, respectively, on the Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

 

(October 2014)

 

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The Beatles also includes “Don’t Pass Me By”; other than “Octopus’s Garden” (from Abbey Road), this is the only song written solely by Ringo Starr (listed under his real name, Richard Starkey as is normal in songwriting credits) that appears on an official Beatles album.  Starr also shares a songwriting credit with John Lennon and Paul McCartney on “What Goes On” (from Rubber Soul), and the instrumental “Flying” (on Magical Mystery Tour) shows all four bandmembers as the writers.  
 
(June 2015)