Rubber Soul

And now we start a new phase in the recording history of the Beatles. This is was I consider to be the "second phase" of the recording career. The first phase being the timeline from September 1962 when "Love Me Do" was recorded until the release of the "Help!" LP on August 06 1965. I always consider all of the above songs recorded during the early sixties to mid sixties and the "Help!" LP to be the "Early Beatles" phase.

The second phase of Beatles recordings are - to me - considered the "psychedelic" phase of the Beatles recording career. This "psychedelic" phase would be considered all tunes recorded starting October 12 1965 (the Rubber Soul sessions) until the release of the "Magical Mystery Tour" EP on December 08 1967.

The third and last phase of the Beatles recordings are what I consider the "roots rock" era which would include the recording output starting in January 1968 up until the release of the "Let It Be" LP on May 08 1970 ( all release dates and configurations are UK versions, of course ).

Anyhoo..."Rubber Soul" was released in the UK on Parlophone PMC 1267 (mono) and PCS 3075 (stereo). The UK LP was released on Friday December 03 1965. This would be the last time tha the Beatles would release two complete separte LPs of original material in one year. In 1966, only one LP was released although the other LP released in the UK was a compilation (or "greatest hits" LP). The following year (67), the release was one LP and a double EP set. In 68, only one double-LP was released while in 69, one LP and the last one released the following year in 70. It was also the last time that the Beatles would be using Norman Smith as engineer for their recording sessions. After the "Rubber Soul" sessions, Mr. Smith would be moving on and engineering for such greats as Pink Floyd, etc.

"Rubber Soul " was released in North America three days after the release of the UK version on December 06 1965. This was also available in mono and stereo. Mono being Capitol T-2442 and stereo being Capitol ST-2442.

The front and back cover of the LP features photographs by Robert Freeman. The front cover is an elongated "stretched out" type photo which was created when the photo proof was projected onto an LP sized cardboard backing - all of the sudden , the background cardboard slided slightly downward and out which created the effect. The Beatles liked the result and that is the why the front cover photo was printed. There is a difference between the colour of the "Rubber Soul" logo on the UK and North American version of the LP. The UK has a rust/dark,dark reddish tint while the North American version has a brown tint of the front logo.

The UK version of "Rubber Soul" contained fourteen songs in it's configuration. The North American version contained twelve songs in it's configuration. In the posts ahead, I'll be looking at each individual song as well as the double A-side single that was released on the same day as the LP. "We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper" was released December 03 1965 (UK) and December 06 1965 (North America).