Digging deep into the Beatles’ transformative era with Rubber Soul
By NICK TAVARES
STATIC and FEEDBACK Editor
It’s fall of 1965, and the Beatles are back in the studio, buckling down to recording their sixth album. They’d just returned from another triumphant stretch on the road, they had hits in the singles chart and at the box office. They could do no wrong, so the natural inclination should’ve been to follow the formula.
Instead, after a furious couple of weeks of writing, the band pivoted, beginning in earnest the trajectory that would take them from the simple, fleeting glories of fame to a musical stratosphere that has yet to be matched. After less than two months, Rubber Soul was in the can, and the reverberations from that record are still felt.
So it’s only fitting that, now, that album is finally getting the deluxe treatment that other Beatles albums have received. There’s a new stereo remix, two LPs of session outtakes, the original mono mix and even the mangled U.S. edition, along with all the goodies that come with box sets like this.
I’ve gone in detail on the history of this album before, including the breathtaking speed at which it was written and recorded, but it’s worth revisiting how sophisticated this record was for its time, and remains to this day. Rubber Soul and the double A-side single for “Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out” appeared in UK shops on the same day in December 1965, and demonstrated a remarkable step forward from the band’s early singles and first five LPs.
This is arguably the most subtle of all the remix projects to emerge so far. Where elements of Abbey Road or The White Album sounded almost transformed via Giles Martin’s interpretation, this feels like a spatially spread version of the mono — which, likely, was the end goal to begin with.
And a benefit here is that, unlike Abbey Road, there was no single, definitive stereo edition of Rubber Soul. The original 1965 album had the hard split of instruments on one side, music on the other, while George Martin’s 1987 dedicated stereo mix for the first Beatles CDs has its fans and detractors. Mastering differed between the 1987 and 2009 CDs as well. This was an album that was ripe for the remix treatment.
So, as someone who’s had multiple editions of the album (a well-loved 1965 first edition mono LP, a 1970s Parlogram UK stereo copy, a 1970s US pressing with the altered tracklist, the 1987 CD, the 2009 remaster on CD and, circa 2012, on LP), I can say that this sounds incredible. I haven’t gone back and compared this one side-by-side to the others yet, of course, so this could all be a figment of my imagination. Dive into the depths of the audiophile internet and you’ll find champions and detractors of every edition of this record available. In my experience, this album always sounds amazing. This remix lets new textures bubble to the surface, including Paul McCartney’s bass, which just bounces out of the speakers and sounds fuller than ever. One listen to “I’m Looking Through You” should be enough of a litmus test in that regard.
A huge draw for this set is its analogue-pressed copy of the album in mono, previously available in their The Beatles in Mono box set, released in 2014 and again in 2025. As stated earlier, I have a worn UK copy on my shelf, but not the version from that celebrated set. Finally getting to listen to that was incredible, and the hype it’s been receiving all these years is well warranted. As is the case with most of the mono catalog, of course.
These were the mixes that the band listened to and approved, the closest form of direct approval these songs will ever have. And here? The vinyl is flat and quiet and the music jumps out — and at a noticeably louder volume than any of the other discs in this collection. It’s quite incredible how spacious the mix sounds as well. This was designed to sound full and complete out of a single speaker, but the soundstage creates an almost enveloping effect. It’s a wonder of how the brain interprets what the ear receives.
Meanwhile, collected sessions outtakes are for the hardcore listener and the appeal to casual fans will always be limited. Still, there are a number of revealing moments, as on the surviving demo for “We Can Work It Out,” where John Lennon clearly interrupts the tape with his own eternal goofiness. Elsewhere, McCartney loses track of his solos on “I’m Looking Through You” and Lennon forgets a part they’ve just written for “Michelle.” There’s also an unheard, unfinished Lennon demo, “Little Girl,” that had yet to surface in any form until now. These two LPs are here to demonstrate the process that led to the final product.
There are just fun moments that wouldn’t have otherwise seen the light of day. An early version of “I’m Looking Through You” seems to take a Yardbirds-style rave-up towards the end, with the guitars, organ and vocals all ratcheting up their energy into the kind of noise San Francisco bands would make their own two or three years later. The seeds of all of that were here. Once again, the Beatles set the precedent and the music world followed their lead.
But there’s a real joy in listening to “Norwegian Wood” slowly build up until the near-complete third take, propelled by George Harrison’s sitar and the combined harmony of their voices. Or hearing the rhythm section lock in together on early takes of “Drive My Car,” before the vocals were laid to tape. Of course, the remarkable first take of “In My Life” is represented here, which first surfaced on Anthology 4 last year. It’s at home here on this set, and it’s takes like this that justifies all the time spent combing the vaults.
Another curiosity is the inclusion of the U.S. Capitol version of the album which, like all Capitol Beatles albums until Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is dramatically reworked from the band’s original vision. Gone are “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” “What Goes On” and “If I Needed Someone,” replaced with “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “It’s Only Love.” Along with a heavy dose of reverb applied by Capitol’s mastering engineers, it’s enough of a departure to radically change the album.
But there’s a segment of fans who grew up with this version of the album, and weren’t made aware of the proper LP until the Beatles’ discography was standardized with the launch of the CD catalog in the late 1980s. It’s certainly a different listening experience, with clarity traded for atmosphere. And this was the version of the album that Brian Wilson heard when he propelled the Beach Boys towards Pet Sounds. So for historical reasons, it’s a worthy addition to this set. And you get to hear McCartney’s little false start on “I’m Looking Through You” without digging through your local record store’s used bin.
This was the second proper Beatles album to enter my life, after Abbey Road. And that might have more than a bit to do with the fact that it’s my second favorite album after that swan song. Its mix of romance and wisdom and reflection was central to their growth and specific to that moment, when they began to move away from simply aiming for the top of the pop charts and towards creating more meaningful music.
So, this is an album that was always worthy of the same lavish treatment as their other celebrated albums. And as the record that launched them from a pop sensation to the more rarified air of musical genius, it takes its rightful place along side the albums that followed.
E-mail Nick Tavares at nick@staticandfeedback.com