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 rubber soul remastered cd: 2009 Feb 19, 2010
The Beatles were on to something here, and well on their way to becoming the great songwriters and performers that they eventually became. Rubber Soul proves that with it's collection of well-crafted pop songs.
0 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Beatles CD Review Jan 27, 2010
Shipper sent the CD through mail and it was shatttered into pieces by the time I got it. Not impressed with the service.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Talking 'bout the Mono version -- the essential "Rubber Soul" version Jan 21, 2010
It was an unexpected surprise when my wife and son presented me with the Mono Beatles remasters for my birthday earlier this month. I had always heard that the mono versions of many Beatles albums were considered to be better mixes, more what the band and producer George Martin intended and so forth. Plus, for every Beatles fan, it was hard not to notice the annoying distribution of instruments in some of the stereo releases, one plopped on the left, another on the right -- a particular liability in the iPod age when we hear so much music through ear buds, but bothersome even back in the LP era.
The Mono remasters are very good, but whether they are a superior listening experience to the stereo remasters is something that can only be answered on an album-by-album, and in some cases track-by-track basis. Some of it is also a matter of taste.
But one thing is, to me, undebatable. The mono version of "Rubber Soul" is the biggest revelation of the whole box set, and it should be the default version available for the ages.
The stereo separation was particularly problematic for "Rubber Soul," and now we can hear it was almost sabotage. Because the songs are so strong, fans loved it anyway and the album has always had a high reputation. But when you hear how it sounds in mono, you will realize you've been missing the intended experience, and have had to tolerate an inferior one.
"Rubber Soul" is a much bigger album than I knew. It had always seemed to be one of their quieter, lighter collections, and sonically a precursor to the "lo-fi" indie rock sound that started with REM. Forget all that. This album is every bit as powerful as "Revolver" or "Abbey Road." Not only does the remaster boost the hard-rocking sound of the more aggressive tunes like "Drive My Car" and "Run for Your Life," it also displays the richness of sound and large palette of musical colors you associate with their big production numbers from "Sgt. Pepper" or "Magical Mystery Tour."
I'm thinking in particular of "The Word." This was never a song I really focused on before. On the mono remaster, you realize what a big, multi-faceted recording this really was; full-bottomed with a driving beat, syncopated bass and propulsive piano, but dazzling on top with swirls of vocal harmonies and guitar sounds. Similarly, the classic song "In My Life," which always seemed kind of frail and gentle to me, turns out also to be much more explosive. And the more acoustic tunes, like "Michelle," "Norwegian Wood," and "I'm Looking Through You," sound much more fiery and urgent than before. I've always thought "Michelle" was just a sappy Macca love song -- no more. It's ingenious and complex and really satisfying.
The remastering obviously is one of the major reasons for the new dimensions of sound you can hear on "Rubber Soul." But I also think that, in this case, the effort to achieve stereo effects robbed the album of its muscularity, a problem that is corrected once and for all on the mono version.
As of now, you can only get the mono "Rubber Soul" in the box set. If you can, get the box set. There are lots of other reasons to own it: "Help!" and "Beatles for Sale" were clearly meant to be heard in mono, and you can make a strong case for the superiority of the mono mixes of "Sgt. Pepper" and "Revolver." It's great to hear some of the singles in mono again, like "We Can Work it Out," "Rain" and "Penny Lane" in mono. And the previously unheard mono version of the White Album is fascinating. That album was the first Beatles set that was recorded and mixed with stereo in mind from the beginning, but the mono versions of the harder-rocking songs like "Birthday," "Helter Skelter" and "Yer Blues" sound stronger to me.
But if the whole box set is too much, then at least keep an eye out for sales of used copies of mono "Rubber Soul." It's essential.
Way Ahead of Their Time Jan 06, 2010
Masterfully redone. Only wish they made a 24/96 version available. For a CD this is how it should be.
A tale of two B Sides Jan 05, 2010
The trans-Atlantic creative competition between the Beatles and the Beach Boys is legend, and I'll be darned if the British version of Rubber Soul doesn't suggest that the competition began with the March 1965 release of the Beach Boys' Today. That LP had an A-Side of poppy would-be singles and a B-Side that looked toward Brian Wilson's coming masterpiece of the following year, Pet Sounds. There, on the flipside of Today, Brian turned out five tunes of lushly sophisticated, highly introspective music that was head-and-shoulders above anything the Beach Boys had yet done, and check out the similar impact of the B-Side of Rubber Soul. From the chill-inducing effect of John Lennon drawing his breath through pursed lips on "Girl" through the dark emotional terrain of "I'm Looking Through You" to the melancholy of "In My Life," the B-Side of the British version of Rubber Soul was the most lyrically and musically sophisticated statement the Beatles had yet made over a sustained album side (and, arguably, ever would), and it clearly shadowed Wilson's achievement on Today. Brian Wilson has often said that he saw Rubber Soul, released later in 1965, as his challenge to better the Beatles with Pet Sounds, but the real story may be that the Beatles had already picked up Brian's thrown gauntlet.
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