Music Notes: The Beatles, Rubber Soul

December 2nd, 2006

The Beatles: Rubber Soul

A break from touring resulted in extra studio time, making a huge difference. The Beatles’ sound evolves from straight-ahead rock-and-roll into something unique and new. Subject matter shifts from girls and love… to metaphors about girls and love. Rubber Soul also features increasing musicianship: Paul’s bass is more melodic and at times a new voice in its own right, Ringo’s drumming is tighter, and George chimes in with some incredible guitar work – his solo on Nowhere Man is note-perfect. There is Beatles gold here; songs I can’t imagine living without.

Drive My Car

= 5 stars

What’s not to like? Solid guitar lick, bluesy piano, gorgeous harmonies, and John acidly chiming in with “and maybe I’ll love you,” after the girl falls for the materialistic pick-up line.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

= 5 stars

Following You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, John slouches further into the laid-back Dylan thing, telling a complete story, loaded with sexual metaphors about spending a night in a girl’s bathtub. Also features a sitar, an Indian instrument that George discovered on the set of Help! causing an Indian influence in several of his songs.

You Won’t See Me

= 3 stars

Paul’s song features inventive piano, drumming, and bass. John, sounding bored with his background vocals, contributes “ooh la la las.” and a mumbled, contrasting “no, I wouldn’t.” Ultimately feels slightly slow and doesn’t take me anywhere.

Nowhere Man

= 5 stars

A shining example of everything I love about the Beatles: solid songwriting, interesting lyrics, magical harmonies, supporting background vocals, and a perfect guitar solo that adds another level to the song. Also love the neat way the middle builds through the bass, guitar, drums, and background vocals, finally collapsing back into the verse. The subject matter is also intriguing – John guiding someone towards inner happiness. Wish I had an extra star.

Think For Yourself

= 2 stars

George gets better, but not enough. The fuzzy guitar grates, as does the strange, meandering chords of the verse. There’s also a point where Paul seems to choke on his word-stream out of exhaustion. George would reassert this cutting, holier-than-thou lyrical stance in Revolver.

The Word

= 3 stars

An ode to the power of love, with a renewed, tightly wound beat. But although nice, I can’t help but think the future “love” odes like All You Need Is Love render this song a bit dull. The section where John sings alone also sounds oddly mean.

Michelle

= 5 stars

Some may disagree with a five star rating, but it’s not as schmaltzy as Paul’s later cheese-fests, and features truly gorgeous harmonies. I’m also continually fascinated by the guitar solo and outro with their meandering melodic lines of guitar, bass, over slowly sinking chords. How do mere mortals come up with this stuff?

What Goes On

= 2 stars

Ringo takes a turn into the “corn”-er store and I get off, here.

Girl

= 4 stars

A beautiful John song, nearly his equivalent of Michelle. Dislike the distracting drum part beneath the guitar solo, and the guitar line that appears about two thirds way through is just sub-par.

I’m Looking Through You

= 4 stars

Always liked this song, but not enough to slide into love – the hyper-organ and yanky guitar always struck me as inappropriate.

In My Life

= 5 stars

Can’t write even one paragraph objectively about this song, as it’s come to mean too many things, reaching down to my soul. I love the nostalgic subject matter matched with instrumentation, as the sped up piano sounds like a centuries-old harpsichord. Love the minor chord at song’s end, which John stunningly reaches for a high note, foreshadowing some of his solo work. Several times before I mentioned a “secret weapon” of John on lead with Paul and George behind – this song is another awesome example of this trinity.

Wait

= 4 stars

Like the cascading drum fill leading into the chorus and the tambourine hits; a variation on Ticket to Ride. Unfortunately, the Paul middle is the progenitor of schmaltzy-McCartney who sings “woah, woah, woah,” in My Love.

If I Needed Someone

= 4 stars

Finally, a great George song, if a bit obvious. A neat Byrds-y guitar lick, some nice harmonies from John and Paul, and a middle that doesn’t drive me up the wall. The only thing missing? A decent guitar solo.

Run For Your Life

= 1 star

No fan of John the stalker, threatening to hunt his lover down. The country feel should be relegated to Beatles For Sale. Sounds like an afterthought in comparison to the stellar stuff preceding.

Wikipedia: Rubber Soul

Next Album: Revolver
Previous Album: Help!

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