Album of the day (#3104): Rubber Soul by The Beatles

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DommeDamian
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  • #11
  • Posted: 06/15/2019 10:46
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I take RFYL as a joke, and a quiet weird way to end Rubber Soul. With that stated, I like the track, as well as adore the entire album. Wonderful folky, catchy stuff Applause Laughing
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CA Dreamin



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  • #12
  • Posted: 06/15/2019 18:27
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Ah Rubber Soul. This was the album that really got me into The Beatles. The luster has worn off a bit. I know I have it over-ranked on my chart. But it's still a great album overall.

Yes, the closing track does bring it down. I agree with raad that RFYL is a joke song. Maybe it was intended that way; Maybe it wasn't. If RFYL was a joke, it wasn't funny. If RFYL wasn't a joke, shame on them. But either way, it's just an awful song. Bad writing, bad lyrics, and easily forgotten.

What Goes On is really bad as well.

But everything else on Rubber Soul is somewhere between okay and perfection.

seth, I want to read your track-by-track review.
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baystateoftheart
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  • #13
  • Posted: 06/15/2019 19:38
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raadfactoryxny wrote:
I take RFYL as a joke, and a quiet weird way to end Rubber Soul. With that stated, I like the track, as well as adore the entire album. Wonderful folky, catchy stuff Applause Laughing


Not sure how a song about violence against women written and sung by a domestic abuse perpetrator can fall into the joke song category.
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Fischman
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  • #14
  • Posted: 06/15/2019 19:43
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baystateoftheart wrote:
Not sure how a song about violence against women written and sung by a domestic abuse perpetrator can fall into the joke song category.


Now that's a good point.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad



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  • #15
  • Posted: 06/15/2019 20:37
  • Post subject: Re: Album of the day (#3104): Rubber Soul by The Beatles
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StreetSpirit wrote:
seth, I want to read your track-by-track review.


The game is afoot! hehe (I assume you'll be returning the favor, StreetSpirit?)


1. Drive My Car - easily some of the most groovy guitar playing from the gents, and few other tracks have groovy guitar playing like this. More Cowbell!!! Dig the subtle piano playing and the guitar solo is a perfect example of how a pop guitarist should execute... well really most guitarists... less is nearly always better.

2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Somehow this song takes me places. Nice Sitar but then the acoustic guitar work is also fantastic- rhythmic and moody. It's almost as good the event itself... I love he slept in a bath. Some complain about the emotional depth of the beatles and really this is a fantastic example of actually how the subtle emotions are often the most real.

3. You Won't See Me
While Ringo's drumming is unique and the such, this is a weaker track for me. Stupid Paul and his granny music... hehe, totally kidding, I'm a huge Paul fan (in the Beatles). While there's some cool stuff going on here musically, it just doesn't execute and falls a bit flat for me. I wonder if it's the mix?

4. Nowhere Man
This one however totally jives musically. I dig this song mostly for it's thoughts, but musically is pretty good. Again another stellar guitar solo - the pick work and that ending with a pinched harmonic way before Van Halen, so suck it.

5. Think For Yourself
Dig the fuzz on this. This just feels like a groovy British invasion track. There's a tinge of dickery with these lyrics (I don't pay attention to lyrics 80% of the time) - I want to say it's actually a good message of logic, but eh. Another weaker track, but there's worse shit out there. Still probably an 80-85.

6. The Word
It's this kind of stuff that got the Beatles teased for having "rubber soul" by early soul artists. It was actually a bit of a jab at them, but honestly, this bass line is the shit. I dig this tracks vocals too, and that building pre-chorus.

7. Michelle
Another solidly subtle emotional track akin to Norwegian Wood. It's a bit campy cuz it's a love song, but that walking bass is solid, and the guitar work is stellar - and what I mean by that is something a lot don't realize about the Beatles is how with such a simple pop song like this how tonal they are. They make really complex chords and chord progressions sound like it's easy.

8. What Goes On
hahahaha - I dig in a Johnny Cash sort of fashion... I think this is a Ringo track and his don't give a shit attitude is my favorite.

9. Girl
This also has that same vibe you get from Michelle and Norwegian Wood - I don't really know how to explain what it is, but it's really something and really a sound I don't get anywhere else, even though I realize they are likely imitating a lesser known artist. And that "puppy love" girl chorus is infectious just like a motown track.

10. I'm Looking Through You
This isn't quite as a ding to the record as You Won't See Me, but something about it isn't as stellar, but again way better than most tripe. Probably the highlight of the track is the post chorus. The lyrics are a bit cutting for a pop song, but eh...

11. In My Life
Holy shit... easily top 5 Beatles song. That opening guitar melody, the drum beat, but mostly the euphoria of nostalgia and love this conjures up in me. It hits me like a ton of bricks even on the 10,000th time I've heard the track. Then there's the beginning of some rad studio trickery where the piano solo sounds like a mix between a piano and a harpsichord and you get this baroque pop vibe from it... simple yet brilliant.

12. Wait
It's super trippy how they mess with volume knobs while they are playing as well as
I like this cause it has a bit of a beat poet vibe to it.

13. If I Needed Someone
I feel like this should be the closer - it'd be perfect as a closer. I like how I feel like I'm traveling and standing still at the same time as I listen to this song. Dudes were sonic geniuses. I usually am not paying much attention to the harmonies, but this track really brings them to attention and play with that feeling. The guitar sounds/feels modern for it's time.


14. Run For Your Life
It musically and lyrically is garbage. One thing that I don't like about Beatles guitar work is when they do almost the ska beat thing and then yeah, just nothing on this track is appealing. I'm glad it isn't musically good, because then I might be tempted to listen to garbage lyrics or even worse not notice them and say, hey, check out this awesome track, and then walk away embarrassed. This track and the wall of sound guy's version of a long and winding road and the John Lennon song about the stay in in the hotel are easily their worst songs ever.



For me this is like the 6th or so best Beatles album - I dig Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album, Abbey Road, Magical Mystery Tour, and even Let It Be more than this mostly because I like their more mature musical style, but I do think this is the turning point for them and qualify it as their first "more mature" album.
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CA Dreamin



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  • #16
  • Posted: 06/16/2019 07:41
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baystateoftheart wrote:
Not sure how a song about violence against women written and sung by a domestic abuse perpetrator can fall into the joke song category.

I was not aware Lennon was a domestic abuser. But it makes sense now, given the lyrics of Getting Better two albums later. Hopefully by Sgt Pepper, he was changing his scene and doing the best that he can. Nevertheless, RFYL was a reflection/exaggeration of Lennon's dark personal side. Okay, that could add a layer to it. It's better to sing about domestic violence than it is to commit it. So maybe John wanted to overcome his character flaw, so the song RFYL was his way of venting? I don't know. Am I over-thinking it? TBH, I've never thought this deep about the song before. Ever. Because the song is a piece of crap anyway.

seth, sure I'll give a track-by-track review. I'm not sure when. I'm in the middle of busy work project. Hopefully tomorrow night.
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TimeLion





  • #17
  • Posted: 06/16/2019 13:27
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People like to idealize the suffering artist as only hurting themselves, but that’s almost never the reality. At some point you have to decide if morally sanitizing your playlists really makes the world a better place, or if it just makes you a self-righteous douche who sees people as fixed moral caricatures rather than complex, flawed and constantly evolving creatures.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad



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  • #18
  • Posted: 06/16/2019 15:36
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TimeLion wrote:
People like to idealize the suffering artist as only hurting themselves, but that’s almost never the reality. At some point you have to decide if morally sanitizing your playlists really makes the world a better place, or if it just makes you a self-righteous douche who sees people as fixed moral caricatures rather than complex, flawed and constantly evolving creatures.


The internet is not ready for your maturity. Laughing

Well said.
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baystateoftheart
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  • #19
  • Posted: 06/16/2019 16:22
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sethmadsen wrote:
The internet is not ready for your maturity. Laughing

Well said.


Nothing says maturity like creating a straw man of a view that's different from yours, and calling those who hold the opposing view self-righteous douches. God forbid someone simply doesn't like a song they find disturbing in context.
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RoundTheBend
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  • #20
  • Posted: 06/16/2019 16:24
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StreetSpirit wrote:
I was not aware Lennon was a domestic abuser. But it makes sense now, given the lyrics of Getting Better two albums later. Hopefully by Sgt Pepper, he was changing his scene and doing the best that he can. Nevertheless, RFYL was a reflection/exaggeration of Lennon's dark personal side. Okay, that could add a layer to it. It's better to sing about domestic violence than it is to commit it. So maybe John wanted to overcome his character flaw, so the song RFYL was his way of venting? I don't know. Am I over-thinking it? TBH, I've never thought this deep about the song before. Ever. Because the song is a piece of crap anyway.

seth, sure I'll give a track-by-track review. I'm not sure when. I'm in the middle of busy work project. Hopefully tomorrow night.


Look forward to it whenever you can. No rush.

I feel like this is a verbal process akin to TimeLion's point.

But yes, it's a crap song, regardless of the content.

I think another part of this is "social norms" - today this kind of behavior is atrocious (and rightfully so)... back then it really was common place. That doesn't excuse the behavior at all. But we are judging these people based on our social norms, not theirs. There's a nurture vs nature argument here. Are James Brown and John Lennon complete assholes in their own doing, or were there some ways they were brought up that affected their lyrics with women?
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