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

Who cares. Let's make America great again by replacing the original version of Rubber Soul with the US one, because, you know, it's better because it's american.

 

I would argue that "beatnik" falls more under jazz. This is reinforced by the jazz backings on Ken Nordine, Jack Kerouac, and Babs Gonzalez LPs. Moreover, the bongo element in beatnik would bring some beatnik music into the bongo exploitation subcategory of exotica.

If you don't already have it, I highly recommend the album Jazz Heat, Bongo Beat by the Latin Jazz All-Stars, led by West Coast flautist Buddy Collette, on Crown.

 

Sounds a bit like Cool Jazz, in a cheesy way. Quite late 50's. At least here in Britain.

But bongos? I guess You're Going To Lose That Girl gets the nod after all then.

 

"Cheese" is relative to the listener; one could argue that rock and pop in general are inherently cheesy. As for me, I wouldn't hesitate to keep Jazz Heat, Bongo Beat over either the US or UK Rubber Soul.

 

Yes, a relative term. I meant relative to Miles Davis's cool Jazz.

 

Buddy Collette is highly respected in west coast jazz circles, that is, among the dozen or so people who still listen to jazz.

 

The rest have all been liquidated by T.H.R.U.S.H agents.

 

Rumours are that the post Br*xit US/UK trade deals will involve the UK adopting the Capitol track listings as standard, as well as the replacement of Nelsons column with a 100 meter high concrete statue of Dave Dexter, before which Mark Lewisohn will dismount his horse and shout ‘Goddamn You All To Hell!’

 

Trying to use informed musical analysis and facts, aren't you? Didn't you receive the memo? Talk about genre and musical analysis is not allowed because the magic of Dexter's masterpiece can't be contained in those restricting frames, nor can it be described or analysed in any way. You can only feel it. Only true believers are revealed that certain songs "fit" in Rubber Soul and others don't. And of course what The Beatles and George Martin thought of the matter is of no consequence. They didn't know what Rubber Soul was, only Dave Dexter The Great did, he knew even months before recording sessions began. It's been well stablished by the great spirit of Rubber Soul-ness.

 

Lewisohn is researching it, yes. He is projected to dismount the horse in 2028, after thinking about it for several years. He needs to corroborate, through research, which side of the horse to Brexit off of. That might require a run-off vote (in his mind). Rubber Soul will help him with that.

 

Have you heard the Rubber Soul Jazz album? West coasters.

Don Randy - Piano, Hal Blaine - Drums, Julius Wechtor - Vibes & Percussion, Pat Smith - Bass, Tommy Tedesco - 1st Guitar, James Burton - 2nd Guitar
Dave Hassinger - Engineer

 

Capitol Records had a banner year in 1963 with the Beach Boys leading the explosive Surf scene and didn't feel the need to spend money on an act from a country who had never produced anything of merit in the United States. And they were right. In 1963 the country didn't want the Beatles. All their hits were released. They were in record stores. They were offered to radio. They bombed. When 1964 came around and the Beatles finally developed a song targeting the US market, and the Summer Surf season had been replaced by a dreadful winter of death, what do you know, Capitol spent a few dollars on the Beatles.

Lewisohn doesn't mention Brian Epstein's ineptitude in your quote. That's the real story here. Dexter Jr. did his job in '63. Epstein didn't.

 

Groovy, thanks for sharing!

 

This is the definitive tracklist of Rubber Soul:

1. Paint it Black
2. Wish You Were Here
3. Stairway to Heaven
4. Layla
5. Baby one more time
6. Despacito
7. The House of The Rising Sun
8. The Elephant Never forgets

 

So did this guy:

 

Brian's bumbling negotiations on a Pan Am jet to New York cost the Beatles tens of millions of dollars in merchandising and royalty revenue, his film deal wasn't much better. George Lucas built an empire from action figures and toy spacecraft, not from the films themselves and your genius Epstein, an actual merchant, couldn't even get that right.

The question that started this tangent was what the Beatles would have become if they flopped in America. With the comedy producer, the shopkeeper, and no clout with EMI, the answer? Herman's Hermits.

 

Hear, hear. The amateurs were in England.

The most amazing aspect of the Beatles story is how on Earth they succeeded in the UK with the type of ineptitude their record company and manager showed. America was conquered because Capitol Records was a professional organization that knew how to properly launch a band. Epstein's contribution was nothing but dumb luck and a string of horrific contracts. Martin was fantastic behind a mixing desk but hadn't a clue how to reach a discerning and sophisticated American audience. The rose-colored narrative is painted to make these two dumbfounded amateurs look like geniuses while the professionals in America are made to look like slow-to-react buffoons. Enough already.

 

It's not better because it's American. If Americans felt that way, if we were the elitists you accuse us of being we'd favor an American rock band, not the Beatles.

Rubber Soul is better because the Capitol song selections undo the formulaic boredom the UK enlisted in all the Beatles early works. Beep! Beep! Yeah! dance number for the teen party crowd. Nasal Ringo song for his pitiful fanbase. George song to give the bus driver's son a cut of publishing. Best songs? Removed for singles. Filler tracks? Written in hotel bathrooms. Theme/concept/artistry? Not even a thought in Parlophone's mind.

You'll scour record bins for hours looking for some obscure pressing with a fractional betterment in sound quality, but the Beatles trusted partners in their biggest market takes the time to improve one of their albums and transforms it into a themed concept album and that's not worth your time. The hypocrisy is amazing. Truly.

 

Scours record bins for an obscure Dutch pressing of You Know My Name Look Up The Number on the grounds of 'sound quality'.

Suffers through What Goes On on Rubber Soul for 50 years.

Great use of time, audiophiles.

 

The biggest and most powerful record label in England didn't want the Beatles in 1963 yet the biggest and most powerful record label in America should have?

These ridiculous biographical narratives really need to stop. I realize authors sold a lot of books back in the 80's on the grounds of satisfying Brits by putting Americans down, but we're supposed to be smarter than this by now.

 

Sounds like you are setting them up to pull them down. I've never thought of them as geniuses. Would you have preferred Don Arden as Beatles manager? The Beatles trusted Epstein. They trusted him precisely because he wasn't that kind of manager. Not being that kind of manager meant that he was perhaps prone to mistakes, but hey, The Beatles became the biggest band in the world, so he didn't do too badly. George Martin was paid by EMI to do a job. He did it well.

 

Hey, I really appreciate your sentimentality and "let's let the guys take a chance and see what happens" approach here. That naivety was part of what led to the Beatles success, after all.

So how about you extend that same courtesy to Dave Dexter Jr. You know, for taking a chance and seeing what happens with Rubber Soul. It turned out pretty good. Perhaps Epstein and Martin weren't the best song sequencers at EMI. Perhaps someone with a golden ear for the American market took the right chance. Perhaps I've Just Seen A Face is a better song than What Goes On. Perhaps breaking the formula found on prior UK albums was the right thing to do here in the Colonies. Perhaps Dave Dexter Jr. isn't the villainous buffoon biographers have made him out to be. Perhaps he was just another guy in the industry like Martin and Epstein experimenting and seeing what the Beatles actually could be.

 

Well I would do, normally. But you've got such a bee in your bonnet in putting all English things down, and all things non-Dexterized, so I'm not going to.

 

Come on, mate. Throw Mr. Dexter a bone on Rubber Soul and let's shake hands and move on to a subject you'll really like- how he (kinda sorta) ruined Revolver.

 

Evethingandnothing said he hasn't heard the American Capitol album. He's merely going on principle.