Is the Beatles Rubber Soul overlooked?

Snow Dog wrote: chopper wrote: hobocamp wrote: One point no one has raised- are we talking about the album as released in the UK or the USA? . The UK version is how The Beatles intended the album to be. The US versions were always tailored up till Revolver. Up to and including Revolver. Which has three tracks missing in the US version. You probably know this.

All three of which are John Lennon-sung tracks, oddly enough.  That means on the US version John only sings two songs instead of five on the UK version.  Quite a difference.


Edited by HolyMoly - April 11 2012 at 11:38

I'm not sure which version i have, but i think the album have some nice songs and some i really don't care about.
The songs were starting to be a little more interesting, but nothing special just yet, i consider it a transitional album.
The big leap was Revolver, where the writing was much interesting and adventurous, they left behind their happy clappy days and moved towards somewhere they have never been before. But this is just my opinion i understand why people like it more than i do.

Beatles for Sale is overlooked, IMHO. Despite a few clunkers on that record.

earlyprog wrote: Overlooked (underestimated) relative to what?   Relative to:   - no. ratings? Yes, this is "first grade" prog - more PA members should know/rate this. - no. of special collabs and Prog Reviewers rating the album? IMO, Yes. How would it alter the rating? possibly upwards. - the year released? A pure 5.0 rating as - IMO - it is the best popular/mainstream album released up to 1965. - subsequent releases by The Beatles? No, not IMO. - innovation? yes! - overall rating? no. - my personal view? yes, it's better than Revolver as opposed to the ratings

I grew up with the US version of "Rubber Soul" as one of the earliest records I had, I used to play it on a toy Fisher Price record player.  It's very different - instead of opening with the rocking "Drive My Car", it instead opened with the country folk of "I've Just Seen a Face" (which was on "Help" in the UK).  It gives the whole album a more rustic feel.  Plus, side two opened up with the subtle, pensive "It's Only Love" instead of the Ringo-sung "What Goes On".  In fact, if the UK Rubber Soul didn't have the superb "Nowhere Man" on it, I'd be tempted to give the US version the upper hand here.

One point no one has raised-
are we talking about the album as released in the UK or the USA?

I have always considered Revolver with the track listing released in the UK as a solid contender for the first prog album.

I love Rubber Soul. It is not overlooked in my peer group.
It's one Beatles album we all know of.

My favorites are The Word and Looking Through You.

Rubber Soul is a great album. Might not be up there with Dylan, at the time, but certainly as groundbreaking. In the original configuration (not the American version) we've got, amongst many others, Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, Girl, In My Life, and of course Michelle. I don't see how it'd be underrated, expect by those who just don't like The Beatles.

^  when I say 'better' I mean the real article - in this case folk musicians primarily in the US but also Britain - were better at writing the kind of ironic, cautionary and even grim folk-style lyrics than the Beatles [e.g. 'Norwegian Wood'] ; and yes in many ways better at blending folk music with pop.   Are you going to tell me that Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote Folk lyrics superior to Dylan, Seeger, Guthrie, Collins, Stills, and Mitchell, or that Lennon/McCartney better ushered authentic folk into a pop market?   I don't think so.

It seemed when I first heard "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party" from Beatles For Sale it dawned on me that this new style which was acoustic was developing into what they wrote  later which was Rubber Soul. To an extent songs like "No Reply" and "I'm A Loser" are examples of this change. Early acoustic songs like "Till There Was You" and "This Boy" were based off chord progressions that were used mostly in the 50's. "I'll Be Back" obviously was not. On Rubber Soul with songs like "I'm Looking Through You" and "Girl" it sounded like they had made a huge leap into a different style. Originally on the American release of Rubber Soul it opened with "I've Just Seen A Face" and left quite an impression on American kids who heard it for the first time. Although the song was not meant to appear on the English version of Rubber Soul and instead was found on Help, it fit the style of Rubber Soul. I wasn't fond of the Beatles American "Rock N' Roll" covers except for John Lennon's "Twist and Shout" and "Rock N" Roll Music". But with Rubber Soul's release and the influence it had on all the great writers of that day,,,it would be logical to assume that the Beatles had created a style of their own which involves surpressing their own personal influences and although sometimes incorporating the influences which are not to be indicated by the human ear and in result of this they sound more original to the listener. For example ,,,they might have written a song which had the obvious 1920's Big Band or dixieland style. But it had no reflection on their creative song writing. It was just an addition to their song. "Cry Baby Cry" and 30 others have chord progressions that just don't enter the minds of other great songwriters.   

Edited by TODDLER - January 26 2012 at 18:20