RUBBER SOUL

Finally a Beatles release that here in Brazil was equal to the original, same title, same track listing and same track order. Hooray! Only the year was a bit different, since Rubber Soul was issued here in early 1966 instead of 1965 - we had to wait for their next album to see things definitely aligned.

And finally a Beatles album we can (even barely) place in the proto-prog section. Another hooray! And also with Rubber Soul we start to understand why The Beatles were so influential for the prog genre development - but they were not the only ones; around 1965 to blend rock with other genres was not a novelty although not mainstream and the first echoes of psychedelia were just arriving and many acts bought the tickets for the trip prior to them, but when the Beatles got the ship, it was huge and notorious.

Almost all songs are well-known but here goes an opinion based on my taste about them: we have good rocks like 'Drive my car' and 'Think for yourself', some fine ballads like 'Girl' and 'You won't see me', songs able to be tagged as proto-prog like 'In my life' and 'Norwegian wood' and the Dylan-inspired 'Nowhere man', a kind of continuation of 'I'm a loser' and 'Help!' from their previous albums. All other songs are typical Beatle-score and are nicely audible with the exception of the forgettable 'What goes on' (poor Ringo!).

Noticeable are the presence of producer George Martin and also other guest musicians that could share their experiences with the guys, influencing them heavily for the years and albums to come. As mentioned, Beatles showed an array of different spots going from erudite to folk and the pop-rock (and later prog-rock) scenario gained immensely with this direction. Rubber Soul isn't a masterpiece but an excellent addition to any music collection, including those collections settled on a progressive music foundation.