Beatles
Rubber Soul - Parlophone 1965
Tracks: 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
Comments:
Rubber Soul will always have a special place in my music collection, perhaps especially because it was the first album I got, but also very much because the music is so good. The album actually has no weak tracks. The psychedelic wave has not yet affected the Beatles music very clearly, but it slightly distorted cover shows that something new is on its way.
The acoustic guitars play great and important role on most of the tracks, and some songs, such as Lennon's "Norwegian Wood" could almost be called "folksy".
The vocals are sublime throughout the album with tight harmonies on most tracks.
Lyrically the album reveal that in particular Lennon have begun to show more personality, evident on "Nowhere Man"
The Lennon-McCartney songwriting team is really at its peak on this album, but also George Harrison's two contributions "Think for Yourself" and "If I Needed Someone" are strong.
It is difficult to highlight songs as most are excellent, but among the ballads, I think Lennon's "In My Life," "Norwegian Wood" and "Girl" are the strongest. McCartney stands out on the more up-beat songs like "Drive My Car" and "I'm Looking Through You".
Beatles showed also in this period great flair for effective and catchy guitar riffs. Listen to "If I Needed Someone" and "Run For Your Life".
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