The Beatles ProfileHigh on the afterglow of Beatlemania and a certain psychoactive substance (more on that later), the Fab Four entered EMI Studios (later renamed Abbey Road Studios) on 12 October, 1965 with a spring in their step.
During their previous American tour – off the back of Help! (released in August, 1965) – the band broke the attendance (55,000) and highest gross revenue records at New York's Shea Stadium, solidifying the British Invasion of the US.
Emboldened by going global, The Beatles approached their Rubber Soul sessions with confidence and curiosity. The group is more creatively simpatico than ever, which spills all over Rubber Soul. The Fab Four were also keen to experiment with new recording techniques, sounds and instruments (including sitar).
Rubber Soul is the sound of unbridled creative ambition fully realised. A defining moment in The Beatles' story, this record set the scene for 1966’s Revolver (their “acid album”) and 1967’s kooky, psychedelic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Rubber Soul (Special Editions)
Newly mixed by Giles Martin (yes, legendary producer George’s son) and Sam Okell, Rubber Soul (Special Editions) invites us into the studio with The Beatles.
Instrumental backing tracks, demos, songwriting work tapes, highlights from the sessions, unused organ solos and casual banter – this expanded special edition documents the making of Rubber Soul like never before.
Little Girl, a previously unheard John Lennon home demo – just Lennon accompanying himself on guitar – illustrates the delicate, lovestruck skeleton of a Beatles song.
“Okay, let’s do it right away then,” Paul McCartney hollers, struggling to be heard over chit-chat at the top of Day Tripper – Takes 2 & 3. Trying to keep The Beatles on task, he then vents frustration: “Okay, put your tea down. Come on, quick. Let’s do it!”
Before We Can Work It Out, another Beatle seeks help: “I know how it goes, it’s when it comes...”
These banter snippets are eagerly anticipated, although relatively scarce, throughout our 68-track advance stream.
Our first taste of Rubber Soul (Special Editions) was Michelle (Take 1), which was released as a digital preview on 29 July.
We hear an audible click – the record button – followed by “Michelle. Take one”, some throat clearing, a few test strums and then, “One, two, three, four”. Those immediately recognisable, plaintive, descending guitar parts set the scene, before delicious vocal harmonies – and Ringo’s loose, rhythmic drumming – send us into the Swooniverse.
“Michelle, ma belle/ These are words that go together well/ My Michelle,” McCartney croons, clear as a bell. We’re already weak at the knees, then enter the language of love: “Sont les mots qui vont très bien ensemble/ Très bien ensemble.” Better brace yourself, though, ‘cause Michelle doesn’t peak ‘til midway through: “I LOVE YOOOUUU!” – soaring and celebratory, this unexpected confession feels like a spinning hug. Then softly strummed guitar – a return to the song’s opening mode – cushions our landing.
The Beatles’ raw, first-take performance of this song, before production layers were added, is absolutely stunning. Just listening to Michelle – Guitar Rehearsal, which is included in the expanded special edition, it’s already obvious they had another international hit on their hands.
Did you know? The Overlanders also topped the charts with Michelle.
Emphatic piano chords during Drive My Car’s choruses, played by McCartney, capture the euphoria of driving an open-top Cadillac along a coastal road, with your latest crush riding shotgun. And, yes, Macca confirmed, “Drive My Car was an old blues euphemism for sex,” in the 1997 biography, Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. During the recording session, McCartney’s bass was captured last to ensure it was as loud as possible in the mix.
“I once had a girl/ Or should I say/ She once had me…” – if you can think of a more intriguing opening line, please DM us.
George Harrison's growing interest in Indian music and culture is evident through his contemplative sitar lines in Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) – a magical finishing touch, reflecting The Beatles’ hunger to explore new musical textures.
Ringo played tambourine and slapped his knee to the beat here, rather than relying on traditional drums.
“Norwegian Wood, no, This Bird Has Flown – Take 3” – song title confusion is evident, even while announcing takes.
After a count-in, the first version of Nowhere Man commences with flawless harmonies: “He’s a real nowhere man/ Sitting in his nowhere land…”
Vocal harmonies that shouldn’t work, do in The Word, which finds The Beatles in full ‘far out, man’ mode; we can just imagine a cloud of smoke slowly dispersing to reveal The Fab Four, bleary-eyed in the booth. See also: the sharp, elongated inhales – akin to hogging a joint – throughout Girl’s choruses.
At the top of I’m Looking Through You – Second Version Take 3, we hear a bit of guitar practice. Then Macca checks, “Did I make a mistake there and not do two solos? Did I not do two solos?”
“Catch you with another man, that's the en-dah! Little girl…” – Run For Your Life certainly doesn’t fuck about!
They Can Work It Out!
In Beatle Talk – Think For Yourself Vocal Overdubs, we hear The Fab Four working it out as they go along – “Close our eyes/ CLOSE our eyes” – having a laugh when they can’t get the last verse (John is struggling to remember how it goes, as it happens).
The Beatles also recorded their first double A-side single (Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out) during the Rubber Soul sessions, which is why both those songs appear in this expanded special edition.
We hear The Beatles messing around, mucking up and getting the giggles during Day Tripper – Songwriting Work Tape – what an absolute hoot! Then, through Take 1 (Instrumental Backing Track) and Takes 2 and 3, which follow, we track their progress.
16 top-notch songs in less than 5 weeks
When The Beatles signed with EMI’s Parlophone label, they were contracted to produce two albums per year.
Help!, the band’s first album release for 1965, dropped in August of that year. So it’s fair to say The Fab Four felt the heat when they hit the studio in mid-October to create Rubber Soul for release ahead of the Christmas rush.
Of Rubber Soul’s 14 tracks, 11 were written by Lennon/McCartney, Harrison penned two (If I Needed Someone and Think For Yourself, which features “Paul on fuzz bass”), and the unique writing credit of Lennon-McCartney-Starkey (Ringo’s birth name is Richard Starkey) created What Goes On – the only album track to feature Ringo on lead vocals.
Since The Beatles also recorded their year-end double A-side single (Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out) during these sessions, they wrote and recorded 16 top-notch songs in less than five weeks!
Rubber Soul was released on 3 December, just two weeks after final mixing. The Beatles’ sixth UK studio album held the #1 spot for nine weeks during its 42-consecutive-week stay in the UK album charts. The Capitol US version of Rubber Soul hit #1 in early January 1966, hogging the top spot for six weeks during its initial 51-week chart run.
“Plastic soul, man, plastic soul!”
Rubber Soul was the first album by The Beatles that didn’t feature their band name on the cover.
Up until this point, The Beatles had used song titles to name their first album of each year (1963’s Please Please Me and 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night) and a playful, band name-referencing catchphrase for the second (1963’s With The Beatles and 1964’s Beatles For Sale).
However, album number one of 1965 was Help! – the soundtrack to their motion picture of the same name – and Rubber Soul was inspired by a Jagger diss.
“I think the title Rubber Soul came from a comment an old blues guy had said of Jagger,” McCartney recalled during an interview. “I’ve heard some outtakes of us doing I’m Down [Help!’s B-side] and at the front of it I’m chatting on about Mick. I’m saying how I’d just read about an old bloke in the States who said, ‘Mick Jagger, man. Well you know they’re good – but it’s plastic soul.’ So ‘plastic soul’ was the germ of the Rubber Soul idea.”
At the end of I’m Down’s first take, the tape captures McCartney exclaiming, “Plastic soul, man, plastic soul!”
NB: Rubber Soul will be available in standard 1CD and 1LP editions, 2CD and 2LP Deluxe, and 4CD and 5LP Super Deluxe editions, so all the tracks mentioned above won’t be included in every edition.
The collection will also be available on Blu-ray, featuring the new Dolby Atmos mix, high-resolution stereo audio and promotional films for Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out, alongside limited-edition orange vinyl and D2C exclusive Zoetrope vinyl editions.
All of the aforementioned Rubber Soul formats feature new stereo mixes, sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes.
Rubber Soul (Special Editions) is available now through UMG/Apple Corps Ltd.
