On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, greeted by scores of screaming, swooning fans who rushed the gate to catch a glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they took their first steps on American soil. Two nights later, on Sunday, February 9, 73 million viewers in the U.S. and millions more in Canada tuned in to CBS to watch The Beatles make their American television debut on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ In what remains one of the world’s top-viewed television events of all time, The Beatles performed five songs on the live broadcast and ‘Beatlemania,’ already in full, feverish bloom in The Beatles’ native U.K., was unleashed with blissful fervor across America and around the world. The British Invasion had begun. The U.S. albums were originally issued between 1964 and 1970 by Capitol Records, Apple Records, and United Artists in the United States. These new releases seek to replicate the unique listening experience heard by Americans at the time by preserving the sequences, timings, and artwork found on the albums. Capitol’s engineers in the 1960s took great care to produce what they believed to be the best possible sound for the playback equipment in use at that time. Due to the limitations of the record players of the day, engineers often compressed the sound by raising the volume of the softer passages and lowering the volume for the louder parts of the songs. They also reduced the bass frequencies since too much bass could cause the record to skip. In some cases, reverb was added to the tracks to make them sound more “American.” This CD is packaged in a miniature vinyl sleeve that faithfully recreates the original U.S. LP release down to the finest detail, including the inner sleeve. RUBBER SOUL was originally released December 6, 1965 in the U.S. It spent six weeks at No. 1. This album is a limited edition release.
J**O
CD was in perfect condition.
Perfect condition !
W**N
The BEATLES Folk Rock Masterpiece
For fifty years Beatles fans have obsessed about the differences between the American and British releases, or the stereo and mono versions. Do you wanna know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? The Beatles hated how Capitol records chopped up their Parlophone releases, and who can say their opinion doesn't matter? However, from the standpoint of an American fan who only knew the Capitol releases of the pre-1967 albums until the advent of CDs, I have to make the exception for the Capitol records version of RUBBER SOUL. (And possibly the Capitol records "Meet the Beatles", for removing the covers, and throwing in the hits.) The year was 1965, and the newly minted tag FOLK ROCK ruled the US airwaves, with The BYRDS and BOB DYLAN leading the charge. You cant overestimate the importance of The Byrds and Dylan in the mythology of the Beatles....Dylan turned the Beatles onto pot, and The Byrds gave the Beatles their first planned acid trip in LA, which resulted in some of the REVOLVER songs. Besides the Fab Four's friendship with Dylan and the Byrds, they also loved the new sound and lyrics coming out of their American buddies. Lennon's new found lyrical expressionism, owes much to Dylan, as well as the Byrds fusion of Dylan and Beatles, which in turn influenced changes in the Beatles sound. Starting with HELP, The Beatles first steps towards Dylanesque folk reared it heads, especially with McCartney's YESTERDAY, and Lennon's YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY. When Capitol Records saw the layout of the British RUBBER SOUL, some marketing guru's light went on, and Capitol re-sequenced RUBBER SOUL as a folk rock album, to match the nascent folk rock craze of the American Public.Capitol's RUBBER SOUL track listing was genius, superior to the Beatle's own vision for the album, in so far as providing a cohesive sound. Out the door went many of the rock songs---DRIVE MY CAR, NOWHERE MAN, WHAT GOES ON, and IF I NEEDED SOMEONE, while two songs were flown in from HELP, the folk songs I"VE JUST SEEN A FACE, and ITS ONLY LOVE, both chosen to open album sides, so the fans knew as soon as the needle hit the groove, "The Beatles went FOLK!" The re-envisioned RUBBER SOUL focused on acoustic guitars, maracas, harpsichord, sitar, adds a bit more reverb to the vocals, and even throws in a couple false starts for a "live-in-the-studio" vibe with I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU. The entire Capitol version only has maybe three songs, that don't scream folk, tho those songs are nowhere near the hard blues-rock of 1965 era Who or Stones. Even the album cover suggests a sort of pastoral, campfire gathering, with deep green trees being the only thing recognizable, behind the Beatles warm brown leather jackets, and the walnut colored title lettering. Yet the perspective is all twisted and distorted, a THC sunshine daydream if there ever was one.Naturally, this being the age of CDs, Capitol filled up the US version of RUBBER SOUL with all kinds of extras, to entice the collectors who are the obvious target market. As with the MONO BOX, you're getting the original album cover replicated in cardboard, housed in a resealable clear plastic protector. If you've already bought the Mono Box set, and Capitol Albums vol.2, then there isn't much here to recommend buying the album, other than the badly cropped album cover photo, with CAPITOL RECORDS written across the top on a white strip, instead of being superimposed on the photograph. Since I never bought the RUBBER SOUL CD remastering from 2009, nor Capitol Records vol.2, I felt I owed it to myself to pick this up. The first 12 songs are the mono version, followed by the Capitol Stereo album. They even threw in a 1965 era rendition of an LP paper inner sleeve, that advertises all the other offerings from Capitol's 1965 catalogue of artists. Somehow looking at what else was out there in 1965, hammers home how revolutionary this album was for the times, far more than one more essay in a CD tray. (Peggy Lee? Bobby Rydell? Wayne Newton? Out of the 30 albums, the hippest album on the inner sleeve is probably the Beach Boy's TODAY.) Obviously the Capitol Records versions are nostalgia for an age that disappeared with vinyl. Over the years, I've almost forgotten the original American sequences for their vinyl, but this version of RUBBER SOUL haunts me still. I welcome this folk rock masterpiece's return to my CD collection.
L**C
Finally, the U.S. albums done right!
This is great! I bought the Capitol releases of the US albums when they came out several years ago, and waited in vain for them to complete the job. I'm so glad this was finally accomplished. Everyone goes on and on about the superiority of the UK releases, which are great, but I grew up with the US releases in the 60s and resented being pushed aside when it came to CD releases. I especially wanted Rubber Soul in the US release because it was my first Beatle album, which I got for Christmas when I was 9 years old.The original Capitol CD release was fine, but this is much better, in my opinion, because it has the mono tracks first instead of second. My LP is mono and I wanted the same sound. The remastering is good too, although I won't get into the uproar about these being the British remasters. I don't care! I have what I want. I also purchased Revolver, Hey Jude and Yesterday, Today and Forever and appreciate them just as much. Thanks to whoever finally got these people on the stick and got these released. About time!
G**K
The Beatles best album......IMO
For me, the Beatles best album was Rubber Soul, followed closely by Revolver. To me, this was a transitional period from the early period to the more experimental period with parts of both in both albums. Michelle and What Goes On possibly could have shown up in Beatles '65 or Help, while several could have shown up in Magical Mystery Tour. I'm just saying that they were really learning how to use the studio and were taking advantage of it. An album of great songs, stylistically all over the place, and created at just the right time in history...
C**.
Mono is just a novelty. Stereo sounds incredible.
I thought it was interesting to read that this album was considered their "folk" record. I think it IS kinda folk in tenor after thinking about it. There are more rockers on subsequent albums.As for the mono mixes, I was curious about them since audiophiles always cite their more correct representation of the artists intent. I have to call BS on that. My opinion is that if you have to listen to these songs on an AM radio then you have those mixes. Since no one will do that, they're only a novelty and the stereo mixes are here for a superior listening experience.I love you Beatles!
J**J
A really great Beatles album
A great Beatles album. UK version is even better. Best songs for me are Norwegian Wood ,Michelle, I'm Looking Through You, and In My Life being one of the best Beatle songs of all. So sad to watch the beginning of anthology while they are playing In My Life and seeing pictures of John. I'm STILL mad about it. Hope Mark Chapman dies in prison. He should never be released. Love you John Lennon
T**S
Rubber Soul as I first heard it.
I have always liked the Beatles. I appreciate that the American albums are now available on cd as individual discs. I am enjoying both mono and stereo versions. The false start on "You Won't See Me," is how I first heard the song and, not knowing it was a mistake, thought how creative the group was and prepared me for future albums. However, the greatest joy is hearing the songs in mono for the first time as I usually prefer stereo. It is nice to hear how the cuts have depth and balance. I can hear each instrument clearly and marvel at the amount of time it took to master each cut. John was correct when he said you really haven't heard the Beatles until you hear the mono versions.
A**R
I've Just Seen a Face
I had not realized that the English version (the real original) didn't include I've Just Seen a Face, which, admittedly, was not one of Paul or John's favorite compositions. But I loved it! And have been playing it on my 12 string for over 50 years, on stage and off. So I had to have the American version too. Both stereo and mono versions in one disc is all the better.
É**E
Muito interessante
A intenção da Capitol foi de tornar esse álbuns vendável aos fãs americanos de Folk Rock, não concordo que algumas faixas tenham ficado de fora mas o formato em mini vinil é as mixagens em Mono valem a pena a aquisição!
C**N
Un buen cd
Soy fan de ellos por eso me encanta
J**Z
El 5to mejor album de la historia.
Este album es estupendo. Cabe destacar que es la versión de Capitoll Records y así como vienen canciones que no vienen en el álbum original también faltan algunas como "Drive My Car" pero es porque es la reproducción de la edición de Capitol. Esta representado como cuneado se vendía en esos tiempos, viene con todos los detalles de la edición original aparte de que es álbum doble, con la versión Mono y Estéreo y si, si incluye ese detalle que se encuentra en "I'm Looking Trough You". En cuanto a Amazon, sus envíos son siempre magníficos.
A**N
Rubber Soul
Average audio quality
鈴**介
なかなかいい（マニア向き）
オープニング曲が違ったりしてUK盤を聴きなれているせいか、かなりの違和感があるが当時のアメリカの方は、この流れの方がしっくりするのかな？なんて想像しながら聴くのが楽しいです。アルバムの曲を何曲かカットしたり差し替えられていますがアコースティック色が、より強くなった印象を受けます。アメリカ編集盤CDないいところはモノラルとステレオが両方収録されているのとアメリカ独自のミックス違いとかが魅力です。ミッシェル（モノラル）、ザ ワード（ステレオ）、アイム ルッキング〜（ステレオ）が UK盤と違います。UK編集のラバーソウル持ってる方も楽しめると思います。
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