Rubber Soul Reviews

“Is there anybody going to listen to my story/All about the girl who came to stay?”

John. Paul. George. Ringo.

Lots of people know their names. Lots of people know their story. Lots of people have heard their music. These men formed one of the greatest music groups to ever strike a chord or a fill. During their decade-long career, they changed their style while simultaneously shaping the music of their time. They changed history and became legends of the field. They were the Beatles: four boys from Liverpool who turned into the most popular thing since Jesus Christ.

...but that was a long time ago. Nowadays, young people will more likely recognize Paul McCartney working with Kanye West than with John Lennon. Ringo has turned into yet another tired drummer joke. And John and George are both dead. But even if the Beatles are longer the most relevant music icon, their legacy and influence still rages on through their incredible music.

While going their incredible discography, I realize that there are two notable eras of Beatles music: the early teeny-bopper love song era (i.e. Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and Beatles for Sale) and the more-renowned experimental psychedelic era (i.e. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, and Revolver). Both eras are generally liked for varying reasons but my preference is the latter era. Even still, the transition between these two eras was gradual and subtle with the Rubber Soul album being the middle point between these two points. This album is generally seen as either the last of the teeny-bopper era or the first of the experimental era.

The reason for this is that Rubber Soul contains mostly love songs like plenty of their early records but such songs explore more complex and ambiguous themes, compares the more simplified “boy-meets-girl” tunes. “Girl” explores the ignored plight of a man stuck in an abusive relationship. “I’m Looking Through You” presents a stagnating relationship as the couple becomes unable to relate to each other. “The Word” even explores the more abstract concept of love and ponders its’ true meaning. For the first time in their career, the Beatles also deviate from the topic of love completely in a couple of tracks, most notably “Nowhere Man” which is a song focused exclusively on the titular loner.

However, it wasn’t just the album’s complex themes but its distinct sounds that distinguishes it from some of the Beatles’ early works and connects it closer to the Beatles’ late-era. Some of the stylistic choices would foreshadow the Beatles’ incredible experimentation in their later career. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” was the first appearance of George Harrison’s sitar. This track helped bring Indian music into the Western music scene as well as influence Harrison’s interest in Eastern music as seen in some of his most well-known compositions (“Love You To”, “Within You, Without You”, etc.). While exploring new territory, the Beatles still kept to their rocking roots with jams like “Drive My Car” and “Nowhere Man”.

Despite being one of their lesser-recognized Beatles endeavors, Rubber Soul is definitely an influential record. This album served as a stepping stone for the Beatles, allowing them to further experiment on their next record, Revolver. It also inspired Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys with the concept of a well-constructed album without filler, resulting in the acclaimed Beach Boys record, Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds’s complex, well-orchestrated sound would eventually inspire Paul McCartney to do a similar approach on their next record, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. And the rest is musical history…

I feel that this album is pretty much a spotlight of John Lennon’s incredible lyrical talent. On this album, he is responsible for most of the album’s best tracks: “Norwegian Wood”, “Nowhere Man”, “Girl”, and “In My Life”. Particularly, the powerful poetic lyrics presented here may have aided in the Beatle’s musical maturity. The stringing sitar works perfectly with Lennon’s tale of an awkward attempt at a one-night stand in “Norwegian Wood” and the themes of reminiscence of old times and lost ones incorporating with current relationships are touched excellently on “In My Life”. It certainly makes up for working on the uncomfortable last-track, “Run For Your Life”. The song’s portrayal of an abusive relationship doesn’t sit well with me, especially when considering Lennon’s own abusive past. With hindsight, even John Lennon eventually became disgusted by the track. Most of Paul McCartney’s tracks on the album are less ambitious and memorable in comparison but he still manages to perform some stand-out songs such as the opener “Drive My Car” and the emotional guitar-headed “Michelle” that ends Side One of the album.

Unfortunately, both George Harrison and Ringo Starr lack truly memorable or influential tracks on this album. The song structure of “If I Needed Someone” reminded me of a more interesting Harrison track, “Only A Northern Song”, off the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. “Think for Yourself” isn't just another love song but it's still nothing particularly special, definitely better Harrison songs than this. While “What Goes On” isn’t a bad song and does feature the first Ringo Starr songwriting credit, there isn’t much to it to make it stand-out from the other more spectacular tracks. It’s just Ringo Starr doing a country song, besides he’s done better country songs anyway (“Act Naturally”, “Don’t Pass Me By”, “Octopus’s Garden”, etc.).

Overall, this album is still great. While some of the tracks aren’t very memorable, the tracks that are memorable here are absolutely phenomenal. Those tracks aren’t just some of the greatest Beatles songs but some of the greatest songs ever. Even the lesser tracks are still a fine listen. I definitely recommend you listen to this album. I wouldn’t call it the #5 Greatest Album of All Time, like Rolling Stones magazine did, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Favorite Songs:
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Drive My Car
Michelle
In My Life
Nowhere Man

Least-Favorite Songs:
Run For Your Life
Think for Yourself
What Goes On