Album of the day (#1934): Rubber Soul by The Beatles - Music

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Applerill wrote:

it inhabits this awkward well-balanced (and ultimately superior to both more extreme modes) halfway-point between the early and late Beatles

FTFY

bestdressed

It's a good album but very overrated.

denmarkman

Gender: Male
Age: 30

Funny this should pop up now, I've been digging on this quite a bit lately. I used to hate this album with a fiery passion but it's really grown on me.

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

denmarkman wrote:

Funny this should pop up now, I've been digging on this quite a bit lately. I used to hate this album with a fiery passion but it's really grown on me.

denmarkman in 2013 wrote:

It is all subjective, of course. I disagree completely about the pacing. There is virtually no variation in song length (the songs range from 2:05-3:20; this is also one of the biggest problems with Revolver, which features songs ranging from 2:00-3:00), which to me creates a feeling of repetitive and predictable pacing.

As for the songwriting, once again, all subjective, but I can't seem to grasp what is so high-quality about the songwriting here. Every now and then a nice riff or melody will surface, but nothing more. The verse of "Drive My Car" consists of a single note (or pair of notes, rather) until the line leading into the chorus (which itself could be described in a similar fashion), "The Word" and "What Goes On" are so repetitive I literally get a headache listening to them, etc. Also, as much as I enjoy the melody of "Michelle", the gratuitous French is plain obnoxious. There is also the shameless recycling of verses, though it is much less cumbersome here than on Revolver.

The album's biggest fault for me, however, is the aforementioned redundant feeling it instills. There is a decent amount of variation in style, tone, etc., but just about every song "feels" the same, if that makes sense. Following similar (I hesitate to say near-identical because it's been a while since I listened to the album intently) structure and lasting virtually the exact same length, every song here looks the same on paper.

Also, "Run for Your Life" is not only musically uninteresting, but incredibly misogynistic (and, as John himself once put it, semi-autobiographical), which destroys pretty much any appreciation I would have otherwise had for the album.

So what changed?

denmarkman

Gender: Male
Age: 30

Gowi wrote:

denmarkman in 2013 wrote:

It is all subjective, of course. I disagree completely about the pacing. There is virtually no variation in song length (the songs range from 2:05-3:20; this is also one of the biggest problems with Revolver, which features songs ranging from 2:00-3:00), which to me creates a feeling of repetitive and predictable pacing.

As for the songwriting, once again, all subjective, but I can't seem to grasp what is so high-quality about the songwriting here. Every now and then a nice riff or melody will surface, but nothing more. The verse of "Drive My Car" consists of a single note (or pair of notes, rather) until the line leading into the chorus (which itself could be described in a similar fashion), "The Word" and "What Goes On" are so repetitive I literally get a headache listening to them, etc. Also, as much as I enjoy the melody of "Michelle", the gratuitous French is plain obnoxious. There is also the shameless recycling of verses, though it is much less cumbersome here than on Revolver.

The album's biggest fault for me, however, is the aforementioned redundant feeling it instills. There is a decent amount of variation in style, tone, etc., but just about every song "feels" the same, if that makes sense. Following similar (I hesitate to say near-identical because it's been a while since I listened to the album intently) structure and lasting virtually the exact same length, every song here looks the same on paper.

Also, "Run for Your Life" is not only musically uninteresting, but incredibly misogynistic (and, as John himself once put it, semi-autobiographical), which destroys pretty much any appreciation I would have otherwise had for the album.

So what changed?

That was swedenman who said that.

Lol. Seriously, though, my musical tastes have just matured a lot, I think. I'm not irked by really minor things as much anymore. Repetition in particular doesn't really bother me anymore. Also I don't really feel like "Run for Your Life" is as misogynistic as I thought it was, as the intention seems to be that it's narrated by a fictitious psychopath as opposed to by Lennon himself.