Beatles - Rubber Soul LP 

NEW. SEALED.

Capitol Records

Ranked 5/500 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Sourced From the Original Master Tapes

Cut at Abbey Road Studios

Pressed on 180 gram vinyl

From a modern perspective, this is where things start to get very interesting. Breaking out of the routine of squeezing albums between touring, Rubber Soul is the result of their first extended period in the studio.

The production is open and spacious, adorned but not yet overcrowded with new instruments and ideas. The songs themselves are like little Pop Art vignettes, where the lyrics are starting to match the quality of the melodies and arrangements. Even a simple, witty rocker such as Drive My Car is played with such tight grooviness (listen to the synchronised bass and guitar) that it practically sparkles with self-amusement.

Lennon, whose personality and leadership has been strongly at the fore throughout the early Beatles, really raises his game on Rubber Soul, with such thoughtful, breakthrough classics as Norwegian Wood (which showcases Harrison on a sitar), Nowhere Man, Girl and the utterly majestic In My Life (replete with George Martin’s flighty harpsichord solo), surely one of the most perfect songs ever written.

Lyrically, McCartney lags behind, but in some ways his lighter, poppier songs help keep Rubber Soul fresh and bubbly, while his melodic bass-playing takes a huge leap forward, propelling everything. There is a crisp innocence about this album, a sense of sweet delight and joyful discovery.

A team consisting of some of the best producers and engineers in the recording industry were brought together and would spend 4 long years mixing and mastering with some of the most state of the art recording equipment. Treating these records much like a science experiment, engineers ran extensive tests before copying the analog master tapes over into a digital format using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution, and carefully removing clicks, vocal pops and poor edits. Never altering the original songs them selves, just polishing them up a bit.

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
8. 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