Rubber Soul

chronology
Rubber Soul (US Version)
The Beatles' studio album
Publication ; (s)	December 6, 1965
Label (s)	Capitol Records , Universal Music
Format (s)	LP , CD , download
Genre (s)	skirt
Title (number)	12
running time	28 min 55 s
occupation	John Lennon : rhythm guitar , vocals ; Paul McCartney : bass , vocals; George Harrison : lead guitar , sitar , vocals; Ringo Starr : drums , vocals;
production	George Martin
Studio (s)	Abbey Road Studios

chronology
Rubber Soul
The Beatles' studio album
Publication ; (s)	December 3, 1965 ( UK ) , ; December 6, 1965 ( US ) , ; December 7, 1965 ( D )
Label (s)	Parlophone / Capitol / EMI / Universal Music Group
Format (s)	LP , CD , MC , download
Genre (s)	Rock , folk rock
Title (number)	14th
running time	35 min 50 s
occupation	John Lennon : rhythm guitar , acoustic guitar , harmonium , electric piano, vocals ; Paul McCartney : bass , acoustic guitar, piano , electric piano, vocals; George Harrison : lead guitar , acoustic guitar, sitar , vocals; Ringo Starr : drums , tambourine , cowbell , maracas , vocals; Other musicians: George Martin : electric piano, harmonium ; Mal Evans : Hammond Organ ;
production	George Martin
Studio (s)	Abbey Road Studios

Rubber Soul ( English rubber soul [as a pun]; cf., rubber sole '=. Rubber sole ) is the sixth studio album of the British group The Beatles , released in the UK on December 3, 1965. In Germany the album was released on December 7, 1965, here it was their tenth album, including the compilation albums . In the USA a modified version of the album was released on December 6, 1965. The British version of Rubber Soul was released on CD on July 21, 1987 in the USA .

Emergence

Day Tripper
(British pressing)

Sitar

Original text font from In My Life

In 1965, the Beatles released two studio albums for the last time in one year. After Help! was released in August, the follow-up album Rubber Soul was released in December 1965 in time for the Christmas business.

The title of the album is said to go back to a remark by Paul McCartney , who was amused by the increasing enthusiasm of the British for soul music . McCartney was probably referring to the derogatory term plastic soul , which American musicians used for the British R&B scene .

Rubber Soul represents an artistic turning point in that the Beatles discovered the diverse possibilities of recording technology and increasingly determined the technology in the studio themselves. George Martin said: “By the time of Rubber Soul you were ready for new styles of music. The Beatles were always looking for new opportunities, and it was a constant and beautiful exertion to supply them with new things. They were always happy to try out new instruments, even if they didn't understand a lot about them. "

Paul McCartney: "George Martin was very understanding, even as we changed our style and became more psychedelic or surreal."

It is the first album the group are represented on all four as a composer, and the second by A Hard Day's Night , which no cover versions contain. In addition, the musical development of the group is reflected in the compositions and arrangements as well as the lyrics of the songs. The increasingly complex recordings made the music at live concerts more difficult to reproduce. George Martin said about this album that it differs from all previous Beatles' albums, as Rubber Soul is no longer a collection of singles , but for the first time an album was considered a total work of art.

John Lennon called Rubber Soul a pot album in an interview , by which he meant that the group consumed more marijuana during this time . But he also made it clear that they had never taken their recordings while intoxicated.

Musically, the Beatles let themselves be influenced by the current music trends of folk rock and soul music. On this album, the Beatles brought new instruments into their music, for example a sitar , played by George Harrison, in Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) , it was the first pop song that featured a sitar.

Eleven songs on the album were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, at What Goes On next was Lennon / McCartney and Ringo Starr involved, and so the author was stating Lennon / McCartney / Starkey , making it unique in the repertoire of the band. The songs Think for Yourself and If I Needed Someone are written by George Harrison . The album also shows the lyrical advancement of the Lennon / McCartney compositions, such as the songs In My Life , Nowhere Man and Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) .

George Harrison concluded about the album: “Rubber Soul was my favorite album, even then. I think it was the best we did and we knew for sure that we were making a good album. "

George Martin produced Rubber Soul , although he had not been employed by Parlophone since August 1965 and was a freelance producer ever since. Norman Smith was involved as a sound engineer on a Beatles album for the last time as he pursued new responsibilities in the music business.

The recordings for the LP began on October 12, 1965, a total of 17 songs including the Christmas single The Beatles Third Christmas Record were recorded during the sessions , 14 of which were used for the album. Two other recorded songs were not used for the album, but were released simultaneously on the album's release date, December 3, 1965, as a single (double A-side): Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out . Wait came from the recordings for the previous album Help! The instrumental song 12-Bar Original was only released in March 1996 on the album Anthology 2 .

The last recordings were made on November 11, 1965, the mono mixes were made on October 25, November 9, 11 and 15, and the stereo mixes on October 26, November 9, 10 and 15, 1965.

The album Rubber Soul entered the British charts at number one on December 8, 1965, where it remained for twelve weeks. It was the Beatles' sixth number one album in the UK. In Germany it was the fifth album by the Beatles, which reached number one on the charts. There were over 500,000 pre-orders for the album. The single Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out also reached number one on the UK charts and became the ninth number one hit in the UK. In Germany, the two singles Michelle / Girl and Nowhere Man / What Goes On were released. Both singles were top ten hits in Germany.

The album was released in a mono and a stereo version. In Germany the album Rubber Soul was only distributed in stereo mix.

The mono version of the album includes other mixes of the songs What Goes On? (contains less guitar playing than the stereo version at the end of the song), Drive My Car (the cowbell is mixed into the background) and Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (the audible cough after the line "to sit anywhere" was lost in the stereo version away).

Other - unused - recorded versions of the songs Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) and I'm Looking Through You can be found on the album Anthology 2 .

The US music magazine Rolling Stone leads Rubber Soul in the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time " in fifth place.

Cover design

For the first time, the group also influenced the design of the cover . The photo was taken by Robert Freeman . The perspective shift on the recording, which shows the cover, gave rise to speculation as to whether this was meant to be an allusion to the band's increasing drug consumption . However, this effect was more accidental: Various photos of the band were projected onto an empty record sleeve to demonstrate the appearance of the cover. The projection was distorted when taking a picture. The Beatles were enthusiastic and wanted to use the resulting effect immediately.

Paul McCartney said of the cover: “The album cover is another example of our evolution: the distorted photo. It was actually one of those little exciting coincidences that sometimes happen. The photographer Robert Freeman had taken a few pictures of us around John's house in Weybridge. We wore our new outfits - the turtlenecks - and took simple close-ups, the four of us in all poses. Back in London, Robert showed us the slides. He had a piece of cardboard the size of the record cover and projected the photos exactly on it so we could see what it would look like as a cover. We had just selected the photo when the cardboard the image was being projected onto tilted back a little, stretching the image. It got distorted and we were like, 'This is it, Rubber Soul, hey, hey! Can you do it like that? ' And he said, 'Yeah, well. I can pull it off like this. ' And that was it."

Track list

page 1

No.	song	author	Lead vocals	Length stereo version	Length mono version
01	Drive my car	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:29	2:34
02	Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:04	2:09
03	You won't see me	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	3:20	3:30
04th	Nowhere Man	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:44	2:47
05	Think for Yourself	Harrison	Harrison	2:19	2:22
06th	The Word	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon and McCartney	2:43	2:49
07th	Michelle	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:42	2:40

Page 2

No.	song	author	Lead vocals	Length stereo version	Length mono version
08th	What Goes On?	Lennon / McCartney / Starkey	Rigid	2:49	2:52
09	Girl	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:32	2:34
10	I'm looking through you	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:26	2:34
11	In My Life	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:26	2:30
12	Wait	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon and McCartney	2:15	2:18
13	If I Needed Someone	Harrison	Harrison	2:22	2:25
14th	Run for your life	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:23	2:31

The lengths of the songs are based on the 2009 CD versions.

Re-releases

On February 26, 1987, the album Rubber Soul was first published on CD in Europe (USA: July 21, 1987), in a digital stereo mix made by George Martin in 1986. The mastering was next George Martin from the sound engineer of the Abbey Road Studios monitored Mike Jarrett. The CD is accompanied by an eight-page illustrated booklet.

On September 9, 2009, the album was released remastered in a stereo mix based on the mix published in 1987, on CD and as part of The Beatles Stereo Box Set . The remastered mono version became available as part of the box The Beatles in mono , also since September 9, 2009. In addition to the mono mix, the mono CD also contains the original stereo version from 1965. The stereo version of the CD, which was re-released in 2009, was remastered by Guy Massey and Steve Rooke, the mono version by Paul Hicks, Sean Magee, Guy Massey and Steve Rooke. While the cover design of the mono CD was based on the original LP version, the fold-out CD cardboard cover of the stereo version was redesigned by Drew Lorimer. The stereo CD also contains a 16-page booklet that contains photos of the Beatles, information about the album by Kevin Howlett and Mike Heatley and information about the recordings by Allan Rouse and Kevin Howlett. The CD contains documentation in QuickTime format, consisting of video clips and modified images from the studio sessions; Accompanied by played music tracks, outtakes or studio conversations from the album.

The remastered stereo vinyl long-playing record was released in November 2012 with the The Beatles Remastered Vinyl Box Set , the remastered mono-vinyl long-playing record in September 2014 with the box The Beatles In Mono .

The album was first published in download format on November 16, 2010 on iTunes , and from December 24, 2015, the album was also available from other providers and streaming services.

Recording dates

The recordings for the album took place between October 12 and November 11, 1965 almost exclusively in Abbey Road Studios (Studio 2) under the production direction of George Martin . The sound engineer for the recordings was Norman Smith , his assistants were Ken Scott, Ron Pender, Jerry Boys, Graham Platt and Richard Lush.

George Martin played the electric piano on the song In My Life , and played the harmonium on If I Needed Someone , 12-Bar-Original and The Word . Mal Evans played Hammond organ on You Won't See Me .

No.	song	Recording dates	Cast / guest musician	Sound carrier (European first release)
01	Wait	June 17, 1965 (recorded during the Help! Sessions) , November 11, 1965 (completion)	John Lennon : rhythm guitar, vocals Paul McCartney : bass , vocals George Harrison : lead guitar Ringo Starr : drums , tambourine , maracas	Rubber Soul
02	Run for your life	Oct 12, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar , vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine	Rubber Soul
03	Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	October 12 + 21, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: Sitar Ringo Starr: tambourine, maracas, percussion	Rubber Soul
04th	Drive my car	Oct 13, 1965	John Lennon: vocals Paul McCartney: lead guitar, piano , vocals George Harrison: bass, backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, cowbell	Rubber Soul
05	Day gonorrhea	Oct 16, 1965	John Lennon: rhythm guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, vocals George Harrison: lead guitar Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine	Single A-side
06th	If I Needed Someone	October 16-18, 1965	John Lennon: rhythm guitar, backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine George Martin : Harmonium	Rubber Soul
07th	In My Life	Oct 18-22, 1965	John Lennon: rhythm guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, electric piano, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, bells George Martin: electric piano	Rubber Soul
08th	We Can Work It Out	Oct 20-29, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar, harmonium, backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, vocals George Harrison: Backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine	Single A-side
09	Nowhere Man	Oct 21 + 22, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums	Rubber Soul
10	I'm looking through you	Oct. 24, 1965, 0Nov. 6, 10 + 11, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar, backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals George Harrison: acoustic guitar Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine	Rubber Soul
11	Michelle	0Nov 3, 1965	John Lennon: Backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals George Harrison: Backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums	Rubber Soul
12	What Goes On?	0Nov 4, 1965	John Lennon: rhythm guitar, backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar Ringo Starr: drums, vocals	Rubber Soul
13	12-bar original	0Nov 4, 1965	John Lennon: lead guitar Paul McCartney: Bass George Harrison: lead guitar Ringo Starr: drums George Martin: Harmonium	Anthology 2
14th	Think for Yourself	0Nov 8, 1965	John Lennon: electric piano, backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, maracas	Rubber Soul
15th	The Beatles Third Christmas Record	0Nov 8, 1965	John Lennon: Language Paul McCartney: Language George Harrison: Language Ringo Starr: Language	Flexi-Disk for Beatles fan club members
16	The Word	Nov 10, 1965	John Lennon: rhythm guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, piano, vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, vocals Ringo Starr: drums, maracas George Martin: Harmonium	Rubber Soul
17th	You won't see me	Nov 11, 1965	John Lennon: Backing vocals Paul McCartney: bass, piano, vocals George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocals Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine Mal Evans : Hammond Organ	Rubber Soul
18th	Girl	Nov 11, 1965	John Lennon: acoustic guitar, vocals Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals George Harrison: acoustic guitar Ringo Starr: drums	Rubber Soul

American publication

Emergence

In the USA the US version of the album Rubber Soul was released on December 6, 1965 , it was the eleventh album by the Beatles and the eighth studio album released in the US by Capitol Records ( Introducing… The Beatles was released by Vee-Jay Records and A Hard Day's Night was published by United Artists , The Beatles 'Story is a documentary album ), reached number one on the US Billboard 200 , making it the Beatles' seventh number one album. In January 1997, the album was certified multi-platinum in the US for six million copies.

The US version of Rubber Soul contains only twelve songs, two of which, I've Just Seen a Face and It's Only Love , were already on the UK edition of Help! had been published. The missing tracks ( Drive My Car , Nowhere Man , What Goes On and If I Needed Someone) were only released in June 1966 on the album Yesterday and Today , which was compiled for the US market .

Due to the changed composition of the songs and due to the acoustically recorded titles, the American buyers had the impression that Rubber Soul would be a kind of folk album. It was not until 1987, when the British CD version was released, that the US audience became familiar with the original version of the album.

The album was released in a mono and a stereo version.

In Michelle's mono version , the percussion accompaniment is more in the foreground, the song is a little longer. Otherwise the British mono mixes were used for the mono release of the album.

The stereo version of the song I'm Looking Through You ends twice briefly at the beginning before the actual song begins, making it about ten seconds longer than the UK stereo version.

The stereo version of The Word contains a different mix (double vocals by John Lennon) than the UK stereo version.

The US version of the album was released on December 9, 1965 in Canada in mono and stereo.

Republication

The US album Rubber Soul was first released on CD in April 2006 as part of the box The Capitol Albums Vol. 2 . The CD contains both the mono and the stereo version of the album. In January 2014 Rubber Soul was re-released as part of the CD box The US Albums , it was also released separately. While in the pit The Capitol Albums Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the original submaster of Capitol Records, not the original master Abbey Road Studios were used were for the albums of The US album Box mainly published in September 2009 British remastered Mono and stereo tapes used. New mixes were made for the songs Michelle (mono), I'm Looking Through You (stereo) and The Word (stereo). The album has been available as a download from iTunes since January 17, 2014 .

Track list

page 1

No.	song	author	Lead vocals	length
01	I've just seen a face	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:25
02	Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:01
03	You won't see me	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	3:18
04th	Think for Yourself	George Harrison	Harrison	2:16
05	The Word	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon and McCartney	2:41
06th	Michelle	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:40

Page 2

No.	song	author	Lead vocals	length
07th	It's only love	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:47
08th	Girl	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:30
09	I'm looking through you	Lennon / McCartney	McCartney	2:23
10	In My Life	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:24
11	Wait	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon and McCartney	2:12
12	Run for your life	Lennon / McCartney	Lennon	2:18

Chart positions of the album

album		Release Date			Best placement in the charts			Label catalog no.
Type	title	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany
Studio album	Rubber Soul	76078356675 ♠0December 3, 1965	76078635750 ♠0Dec 6, 1965	76078728775 ♠0Dec 7, 1965	001!1	001!1	001!1	Parlophone PMC 1267 (mono) PCS 3075 (stereo)	Capitol T 2442 (mono) ST 2442 (stereo)	Odeon SMO 84 066 (stereo)
Studio album CD first release	Rubber Soul	76908418750 ♠Apr 30, 1987	76916511925 ♠July 21, 1987	76905628000 ♠ Apr 1987	060!60	-	-	Parlophone CDP 7 46440 2	Capitol CDP 7 46440 2	EMI CDP 7 46440 2
Studio album remastered CD re-release	Rubber Soul	77772714025 ♠0Sep 9 2009	77772714025 ♠0Sep 9 2009	77772714025 ♠0Sep 9 2009	010!10	008!8th	075!75	Apple / EMI 3824182	Apple / Capitol 3824182	Apple / EMI 3824182

Different publications in other countries

In Greece , the album Rubber Soul (British version) was published in January 1966 in mono in a pop-up cover with an independent cover design.
In Japan , the British version of the album was released in stereo in March 1966. The record was also pressed on red vinyl.

Outcouplings

Singles

single	Release Date			Best placement in the charts			Label catalog no.
A side / B side	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany
Michelle / Girl	-	-	76085984725 ♠Jan. 21, 1966	nv	nv	06th	-	-	Odeon O 23 152
Nowhere Man / What Goes On	-	76088961525 ♠Feb 21, 1966	76090263875 ♠03rd Mar 1966	nv	003081!03/81	03	-	Capitol 5587	Odeon O 23 171

Extended Plays (EPs)

EP		Release Date			Best placement in the charts			Label catalog no.
title	Songs A-Side / B-Side	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany	GB United Kingdom	US United States	DE Germany
The Beatles Soul	Michelle; Run for Your Life / Drive My Car; Girl	-	-	76087008000 ♠ Feb. 1966	nv	nv	999!-	-	-	Odeon 41681
Nowhere Man	Nowhere Man; Drive My Car / Michelle; You won't see me	76102636200 ♠0July 8, 1966	-	-	999!-	nv	nv	Parlophone GEP8952	-	-

US promotional EPs

title	content	Publ.	Label catalog no.
Drive My Car (USA Jukebox EP)	Drive My Car / Yesterday / Slow Down / What You're Doing	Early 1966	DOT DE 2489
Run for Your Life (USA Jukebox EP)	Run for Your Life / It's Only Love / You Can't Do That / A Taste of Honey	Early 1966	DOT DE 7052

literature

Joe Levy (Ed.): Rolling Stone . The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Original Edition: Rolling Stone. The 500 Greatest Albums of all Time , 2005). White Star Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-86726-024-4 , p. 18 f (translated by Karin Hofmann).

Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years . ISBN 0-600-61207-4 .

Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Chronicle. ISBN 0-600-61001-2 .

Neville Stannard: The Long & Winding Road , ISBN 0-907-08096-0 .

Ian MacDonald: Revolution in the Head , ISBN 978-0-099-52679-7 .

Christoph Maus: The Beatles Worldwide , ISBN 978-3-9809137-1-3 .

Christoph Maus: The Beatles Worldwide II , ISBN 3-9809137-2-4 .

The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 194.

^ ^A ^b Richie Unterberger: The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. ISBN 0-87930-892-3 , p. 168

↑ Differences in the mixes of Beatles songs

↑ Cover of Rubber Soul ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
^ The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 197
↑ Download the Beatles songs
↑ Streaming the Beatles songs
↑ Multi-platinum award
↑ Differences in the mixes of Beatles songs
↑ Canadian version: Rubber Soul
↑ Information about the mixes of the Box The US albums
↑ Greek album version: Rubber Soul
↑ Japanese album version: Rubber Soul

[anthology194-1] The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 194.

[unterberger168-2] A ^b Richie Unterberger: The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. ISBN 0-87930-892-3 , p. 168

[3] Differences in the mixes of Beatles songs