The Beatles

Rubber Soul

[Remaster]

[EMI; 1965/2009]

By Hamish Duncan; September 10, 2009

Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOG

Rubber Soul shows a group of performers just before their unstoppable and insurmountable height – it’s brilliant, refreshing and wholly influential, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming in the following years. Before the backwards tape and studio trickery, Rubber Soul is just four (sometimes five with the ivory tinkering of George Martin) musicians doing what they do best – rock and roll, with a few ballads mixed in for good measure.

With classics such as “Drive My Car” and “Michelle”, “Yesterday”‘s often overlooked little sister, and the horribly themed but incessantly catchy “Run For Your Life,” Rubber Soul is the Beatles at their almost best- Worth picking up for perhaps Lennon’s best song (“In My Life”) alone. Newly influenced by Dylan, this album showcases the Beatles then-recent rocketing change in songwriting and is one of several landmarks in the band’s short career.