The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965) Review
Rubber Soul begins one of the greatest album runs in the history of popular music. The band really begins to experiment with drugs and pop music while their songwriting is starting to hit a spectacular stride. This would be the last album The Beatles toured since they played their final concert (excluding live TV shows and the rooftop show) in San Francisco shortly after Revolver was released a year later. (I’m linking to the 2023 mixes down below since they are way better than the 2009 remasters.)
The album kicks off with “Drive My Car,” and this is a catchy song with a memorable melody that you probably won’t ever forget. The piano after every line in the verse has a nice stop-and-go touch to it. The guitar is my favorite part of the song. This is a solid introduction and feels like a good transition from their Help! album.
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” is the first Beatles song with a sitar, and that is an incredible addition to their music. The instrument adds such a psychedelic-sounding layer to their music. The main riff of this song is iconic and melodic and a must-learn if you play guitar. John’s lyrics start to slowly become more abstract from album to album, and although this song isn’t fully abstract, it is less straightforward than anything he had done to this point.
I really enjoy the backing vocals and harmonizing of “You Won’t See Me.” The droning organ near the end of the track is such an interesting addition. A good song. “Nowhere Man” is a fantastic John Lennon song with an amazing vocal melody during the chorus. The guitar work is great, and George is consistently able to make some great riffs out of so few notes, I prefer that to someone who is simply technically gifted and shredding.
“Think For Yourself” is one of the two George songs on the album, and both are pretty great. The lead guitar on this song has such a 1960s-defining sound, and it sort of reminds me of some of the guitar tones that would later be used on Sgt. Pepper’s. “The Word” is another very mid-1960s-sounding song, and it captures the era wonderfully. It’s about love and sunshine, and sonically, it’s the 1960s. This is like the most quintessential 60s shit combined into a song. It is a good time capsule.
“Michelle“ is another great song on the album. The melody is classic Paul McCartney. This song brings the energy down from the last few tracks, and it works in the album’s favor. The song has light percussion with a nice guitar part and a beautiful outro section.
The Ringo song on this album is “What Goes On,” and it is not as bad as people make it out to be. I do wish Ringo had a bit more confidence in his voice on this track because you can hear that he seems shy about singing this song. There are random guitar sounds that don’t just noodle around and sound aimless and small shit like that, but it’s not a bad song at all. Weakest on here? Yes. Bad song? No.
“Girl” is another John Lennon song that reflects his growth as a songwriter. John’s writing goes from incel-adjacent in previous albums to something more vulnerable and sincere. Thematically, this song is still about heartbreak. However, it is done in a much more interesting and relatable way than in the earlier Beatles songs. Great song with excellent lyrics.
“I’m Looking Through You” reflects that one of the Beatle’s biggest gifts was their ability to write melodies. Many of the Paul songs on this album are about being heartbroken and figuring out what went wrong in a relationship, and it is done very well. “In My Life” is the best song on the album by far and truly a stand-out track in the Beatle’s catalog. This is one of the greatest songs of all time. The music is so emotional, and the writing is so raw. It shows you that John Lennon was beginning to write at his full potential. The melodies and lyrics are absolutely lovely and evoke deep feelings of nostalgia. The production is fairly sparse, which adds to the song, and doesn’t need much to reach perfection. This song climaxes with a great harpsichord solo that adds to the feeling of nostalgia.
“Wait” is another song that is on the verge of being a psychedelic-pop song. They refer to this as their marijuana album because they were fully into the drug at the time, and a few had started experimenting more with psychedelics like LSD. The songwriting is starting to reflect this, and its influence is starting to appear in the production as well. The second George Harrison song on the album, and the better of the two, is “If I Needed Someone.” This song has an awesome guitar riff to open it up and some excellent harmonies.
The final song on the album is “Run For Your Life,” and this is one of the songs John regretted writing and releasing later in life because he hated the jealous and violent lyrics. I don’t think the song is bad. However, it doesn’t entirely fit the album, and it definitely shouldn’t have closed the album over “In My Life” or “If I Needed Someone.” It’s fine, but I think it could’ve been left out for cohesion. Though in perspective, this is one of the first few cohesive albums in pop music that wasn’t merely a collection of singles, so there is some leniency.
One of the great things about Rubber Soul is that many of the melodies sound familiar and nostalgic, even if you’ve never heard them before. This album is timeless. The creative peak of The Beatles is near, and I would say that this album marks the start of it (though a case could be made for Help!) This album pushed Brian Wilson into creating Pet Sounds, and its influence was and still is massive. This is one of the best albums of all time, yet I wouldn’t place it in my list of the top three Beatles albums. That’s how deep their bench is. This album is ingrained into my brain, and God knows how many times I’ve heard it, but it is amazing.
Speedrun the album: Listen to the whole thing it’s 35 mins long.
9/10 - Excellent