Often referred to as a folk rock album, “Rubber Soul” incorporates a mix of pop, soul and folk musical styles. The title derives from the colloquialism “plastic soul”, which McCartney heard in reference to Mick Jagger’s singing style. After the British version of “A Hard Day’s Night,” it was the second Beatles LP to contain only original material. For the first time in their career, the band were able to record the album over a continuous period, uninterrupted by touring commitments.
The songs demonstrate the Beatles’ increasing maturity as lyricists and, in their incorporation of brighter guitar tones and new instrumentation such as harmonium, sitar and fuzz bass, the group striving for more expressive sounds and arrangements for their music. The project marked a progression in the band’s treatment of the album format as an artistic platform, an approach they continued to develop with “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The North American version of “Rubber Soul” contained ten of the fourteen new songs, supplemented by two tracks withheld from the band’s “Help!” album. The four songs omitted by Capitol, including the February 1966 single “Nowhere Man”, later appeared on the June 1966 North American-only release “Yesterday and Today.”
TRACKLIST (UK):
1) Drive My Car
2) Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3) You Won’t See Me
4) Nowhere Man
5) Think for Yourself
6) The Word
7) Michelle
What Goes On
9) Girl
10) I’m Looking Through You
11) In My Life
12) Wait
13) If I Needed Someone
14) Run for Your Life
TRACKLIST (US):
1) I’ve Just Seen a Face
2) Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3) You Won’t See Me
4) Think for Yourself
5) The Word
6) Michelle
7) It’s Only Love Girl
9) I’m Looking Through You
10) In My Life
11) Wait
12) Run for Your Life
