How To Enjoy the Beatles Rubber Soul Album

In 1965, the Beatles began to slow down their touring schedule and were performing less live concerts. This allowed them to spend more time in the studio recording albums that would more fully express their ingenious song-writing skills and creativity. The album Rubber Soul was just such an album that helped set a new standard for what become known as "rock music".

1. Rubber Soul was the Beatles most diverse album of that time. Between both the American and British releases, the album contains, a number of rock songs including "Drive My Car", "You Won't See Me", "If I Needed Someone", "Wait" and "Nowhere Man". It also contains songs with a folk music sound to them including "I've Just Seen a Face" and "It's Only Love". Some of the most beautifully-written love songs created by the group also appear on the album including "Michelle", "Girl", "In My Life" and "Norwegian Wood".

   Some of the group's best rockabilly songs are also on the album. These songs include "What Goes On" (one of the few sang by Ringo Starr), "I'm Looking Through You" and "Run For Your Life".

2. The album contains George Harrison's first significant song-writing contributions. While Harrison was responsible for writing a song or two on each of the Beatles previous albums, Rubber Soul is the album in which his contributions became stronger. The songs to his credit on this album obviously match the writing ingenuity of the group's most contributing writers, being that of the Lennon-McCartney team (John and Paul).  From this point forward, Harrison would contribute to writing some of the groups most notable songs, throughout their remaining career as a group that ended in 1970.

   Harrison also contributed to the introduction of Eastern-Indian music influence in rock music on the album that would continue to be evident in occasional songs by the group from that time forward. He can be heard playing an Indian sitar (stringed instrument similar to a guitar) in the song "Norwegian Wood".
3. Other new rock music influences were evident on Rubber Soul.  The psychedelic and love movements were beginning to emerge and the Beatles were a major influence on those movements. The photo on the album cover of Rubber Soul shows the Beatles sporting longer hair and wearing Suede leather jackets. The photo appears at an angle with a stretched appearance to it with a background that has been rumored to be cannabis plants but that is more likely that of trees (cannabis plants do appear on the "Sergeant Pepper's" Album in 1967).

   One song in-particular that reveals the emergence of the new "younger generation movements" is found in the one titled "The Word" in which a new type of sound not found in Beatles music previously, is heard. They would take the psychedelic sound in-particular to new levels in albums that would follow.

The album can be an enjoyable listen for fans of rock, folk, love songs and the rockabilly sound. It has sophistication not previously found on Beatles' albums and will always be considered one of the best-recorded of the rock era.