Why Isn't ' Rubber Soul ' Our Favourite Beatles Album ?

Which day are we talking about? Because depending on what day it is my favorite is Rubber Soul or, my favorite is Revolver or, my favorite is Abbey Road or...

 

for me they are all an ongoing album...; )

 

My guess is Brian Epstein would have heavily advised against it before they’d even run it by Ed.

 

indubitably!

 

never allow that ....of course not...different world back then...just look around to what get by these days on the radio and TV...

 

I just sold my copy of Rubber Soul. I never really got into any of the songs much, even though a few or nice enough. But the John Lennon abusive partner song is just so horrible that it makes it hard to ever want to put the album on, since nothing else is really making it a must listen for me. I know lots of the old blues was sung from the perspective of men wanting to kill their women, and the young brits in the 60s took this up as if it were cool to sing about. But it is not cool. It is pretty chilling.

 

You might want to, I dunno, chill a bit?

A guy singing (for three seconds in a 35-minute album) that he'd rather see his girl dead than be with another man quite obviously (unless you're an idiot) does not mean he's intending to kill his girl. It means he's angry and hurt and jealous.

Yeesh.

Lennon got the lyric from Elvis's version of "Baby Let's Play House" -- which, incidentally, is my #1 favorite Elvis track and one of my top-ten recordings of all time -- and if you listen to that track, Elvis sounds positively charming and playful.

Elvis, in turn, was covering the relaxed and bouncy Arthur Gunter rockabilly original, which is also very playful-sounding.

Here's another one: When John sang "I am the walrus", he didn't literally mean that he is a walrus.

 

I am an idiot then. I grew up around enough abusive men to be a bit on guard about all of this. But mock me pal.

 

I was chill. But I will never endorse possessive threats of violence over women as if it is light entertainment.

 

I can understand that. I think the attitudes we each have over songs like this are rooted in our personal life experiences. I never took what Lennon says in the song literally… then again I’ve never had proximity to this type of circumstance hence, the song to me is no more than a story set to tune I happen to like. But in rereading your last couple of posts, I can see why you’d take it completely differently. I don’t think there’s a right and wrong here in terms of how one approaches this or any other song. It’s all a matter of personal experience or lack of.

 

Dr. Robert was supposedly a true story. Their dentist game them LSD at parties. I don't think he disclosed it until after they were dosed.

 

If WGO and RFYL are removed, I would insert Day Tripper in place of WGO and put WCWIO after If I Needed Someone as a nod to Yesterday and Today.

 

Simply put, people have varying tastes. My favorite is Revolver. Rubber Soul is very good, but it’s not the top of the heap. I will say that 1965-66 is as good as the band got. After that, diminishing returns.

 

I don't see Rubber Soul and Revolver as parts one and two. To me, RS is part two of Help!. To me, Rubber Soul is an extension of what they started with Help! Revolver is a much larger step forward in the evolution of the band. Maybe Revolver and Pepper are parts one and two!?!

 

1965 was very good, but 1967 (Pepper and MMT) were very good as well. The in-fighting and bickering affected the music too much in 68 and 69. By then Beatlemania was dead and the solo mentality started.

 

From 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' to 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road', I love all Beatle music. However Beatlemania holds a special place in my heart.

 

BULLHOCKEY!!
It was apparent to this American that moment in 1987 when I heard the 14 track Revolver for the first time. The same day it was also apparent to me that British Rubber Soul was better than American Rubber Soul. Revolver is simply the better album of the two.
It was also apparent that both were better than Pepper.
One of the reasons that Yesterday and Today was so good was that the corporate stooge from Capitol that put it together had a lot of great material leftover that Dexter didn't put on an album.

 

It amazes me how many people are here to second guess and judge. I happen to think the original version of I'm Looking Through You is better than the remake but even in the confines of my own skull I would never presume to replace one with the other. I happen to like George Martin's's editing of 12 Bar Original that appears on Anthology 2. I prefer it to either What Goes On or Run For Your Life but alas they didn't use it for 30+ years. My guess is the reason is the editing dates to much later. Are there any junior Lewisohn's or Howlett's here to verify that?

The American catalog is different. We can reshuffle that to all our heart's desire because in essence it is a reshuffling to begin with. As much as I love Day Tripper, I'd still replace the American mix with the British stereo (which the Lewisohn shoulder angel pointed out to me that Brit non-mono Tripper didn't appear until A Collection of Beatle Oldies. so that makes the American the original stereo mix.

That isn't to say the Beatles British albums are perfect. Leave My Kitten Alone is better than most of the covers that appear on Beatles for Sale. I'm not going to presume my opinion is as pertinent as the major players in the Beatles Saga. The original releases are fine as they are.

JMO

 

Ah, the Beatles' folk rock album. Love it.

 

We need to deprogram you from the Dexter Mind Control Experience. .

 

Ed Sullivan & Brian Epstein might have agreed on the word “Red” considering the Cold War at the time. Not sure how the Beatles would’ve felt about changing a lyric though.

 

Shoot me! I've never cottoned to it and don't really like The Word, Michelle, What Goes On, Run For Your Life, or In My Life which comes across as very syrupy to me. Sorry! Glad many of you love it to pieces.

 

You might get a few spit wads aimed at you.

 

I have read and seen a lot of people ranking Rubber Soul as their favorite Beatles album. For me The White Album is my favorite followed not that far behind by Revolver. I look at Rubber Soul as the bridge between the old and the new.

 

Should be. Honeycomb's big. Yeah yeah yeah.