The Beatles' "Rubber Soul" - Putting together the proper tracklist

They couldn’t. Your “fun fact” is neither fun nor fact. Songs like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “I Am The Walrus” got split on the 8-track versions.

 

But the U.S. Rubber Soul, along with other unique Capitol titles and versions were the standard in the U.S. not only in the 60s but all of the 70s and 80s on LP.
The entire reason the Capitol boxes came to be was because of the fans who wanted those versions on cd and those sets sold incredibly well.
Because those discs weren't sold individually and took so long to even appear in a box set, the UK versions naturally continued to remain solely the standard.
But I don't think this thread would be strange to anyone outside of this forum.
Maybe to younger casual fans but even middle age casual fans remember the Capitol albums from their reprint days in the 70s and 80s or their parents original 60s releases that stayed in the home.
Plus most avid Beatles fans are not part of this forum worldwide or in the U.S. and avid Beatles fans are more than aware of all things Beatles.

 

If they wanted to make Rubber Soul a shorter strong folk-rock album for the US market, the easy way was this imho:


1. "I've Just Seen a Face" 2:05
2. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" 2:01
3. "You Won't See Me" 3:18
4. "Nowhere Man" 2:40
5. "Think for Yourself" (Harrison) 2:19
6. "Michelle" 2:40

1. "Girl" 2:30
2. "I'm Looking Through You" 2:23
3. "In My Life" 2:24
4. "Wait" 2:12
5. "If I Needed Someone" (Harrison) 2:20
6. "Run for Your Life" 2:18

If they simply wanted to make it stronger by cutting a few weaker tracks and adding a few hits, then this comes to mind:

1. "Drive My Car" 2:25
2. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" 2:01
3. "You Won't See Me" 3:18
4. "Nowhere Man" 2:40
5. "Michelle" 2:40
6. "Think for Yourself" (George Harrison) 2:16


1. "Day Tripper" 2:50
2. "Yesterday" 2:05
3. "Girl" 2:30
4. "We Can Work It Out" 2:16
5. "In My Life" 2:24
6. "The Word" 2:41

 

If only the Beatles and George Martin had sent Capitol 'Leave My Kitten Alone', 'If You've Got Trouble', and 'That Means A Lot' for the Y&T album rather than the three Revolver tracks. It would have fit in well with the butcher cover theme.

 

That's exactly what I was talking about. They didn't purposely create a folk rock album but "luckily" suits at Capitol stepped in and "created" something the band didn't intend it to be - e.g. made Beatles into something they weren't, a folk rock band.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of folks who bought the album in the 60s who went looking for the Rubber Soul album on CD in the 80s and 90s and only got confronted with the UK Rubber Soul. That must have been Twilight Zone moment for many folks (and folkies). Disappointing, to say the least, despite the UK RS being a decent listen. 'First they try to push the bloody metric system on us, and now this?!'... It couldn't have gone down too well with many.

 

Didn’t have those - sorry.

 

I see your point about making them a folk rock band but I don't think that was really Capitol's intent to that degree but rather to create a more cohesive sound.
Although the U.S. version is more folk than others, keeping Wait on there instead of Nowhere Man and Think For Yourself instead If I Needed Someone to me says they weren't trying to turn them into a straight up folk rock band even for one album.
They just wanted the album to blend with the times a bit.

 

Or they just needed to use the two remaining Help! tracks somewhere.

 

They weren't to worried about using There's A Place or Misery Somewhere from PPM or the single From Me To You.

 

Great reply. Although I just can’t agree with having Help! songs on RS, you do have a brilliantly thought out point.
For me I think it’s purely subjective. It just doesn’t sound right at all, especially since I mark it as their transition album and beaides that think everything found on U.K RS is far better than anything on U.K. Help!, but yet I can’t really counteract your arguments. It’s just how I feel

 

They put them on singles around the time of Early Beatles.

 

I usually make up folders for albums on my computer and add the songs that I think "should" have been included due to time constraints of a record. It makes it more fun for me.

 

That was Capitol.

 

True. In the UK “Penny Lane” was also split. As well as “I’ve Got A Feeling”.

 

I've Just Seen a Face
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
You Won't See Me
Nowhere Man
Think For Yourself
The Word
We Can Work It Out
Michelle
Day Tripper
Drive My Car
It's Only Love
Girl
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life
Wait
If I Needed Someone
Run For Your Life

Contains all of the tracks from the US and UK RUBBER SOUL (except the dreadful "What Goes On") plus both sides of the Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out single.
The running order is pretty close to the order of the original album(s) with the big exception being moving Drive My Car to a spot which would likely be the start of side 2 for an album.

 

In my mind the "correct" answer has to be the UK running order. For me, "I've Just Seen a Face" might work, but "It's Only Love" just isn't up to snuff--the lyrics especially. And the single, while brilliant, works best IMO as just that, a single.

That said--I might be weird, but I quite enjoy threads like this!

 

My REVOLVER doesn’t split any tracks - interesting track order, though.

 

For the first 5 years of my Beatles listening era (80-84) I listened to the US version and knew nothing else. Then I got the Blue Box Set with all of the UK albums and never looked back. The UK tracklist is how I like it and wouldn't want to change it.

 

This was the track order on Canadian cassettes as well. Always loved the "Love You To"/"She Said She Said"/"Tomorrow Never Knows" climax.

 

Cool.

So now both the Yanks and the Brits can settle their differences on Rubber Soul and join hands in solidarity and hate on the Canadians as that most assuredly is an atrocious version of Revolver.

 

I’ve Just Seen aFace was the perfect song to open the album, set the tone for the rest of the album very well.

 

'Cept it wasn't us Canuckleheads who came up with that running order for Revolver- it's the original UK cassette/8 track running order.

Read it and weep...the lowdown on the UK cassette versions:
http://urthepob.byethost24.com/cas/BtleCas.html?i=2

 

We Can Work It Out, end of side one, adding to the anticipation of side two track one. Day Tripper, end of side two, adding to the anticipation of the next Beatles LP.

 

The transision from Michelle to What Goes On is not exactly smooth (even with turning the lp sides it has always sounded awkward to me), hence one could add Day Tripper and We Can Work It OUt (in this order) between.