The making of the best Beatles album

MY favorite Beatles album is “Rubber Soul.” I did some research to collate some bits on how this gorgeous album was made and released. I found out that to make the story short is to make the story long.

It was done in a rush. Recording for Rubber Soul began on October 12, 1965, at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, with final production and mixdown taking place on November 15. It was released on December 3, 1965.

(If you are awed with the artistry, please note the short period it took them to make it.)

It’s a mix of pop, soul and folk musical styles. The Beatles’ 6th UK album and 11th US long-player, Rubber Soul showed the group maturing from their earlier pop performances, exploring different styles of songwriting and instrumentation, and pushing boundaries inside the studio.

The album consisted of 11 songs by John and Paul, two by George and one with the unique writing credit of Lennon-McCartney-Starkey.

While the band was forced to work on a tight deadline to ensure the album was completed in time for a pre- Christmas release, they were also in the unfamiliar position of being able to dedicate themselves solely to a recording project, without the interruption of any touring, filming or radio engagements.

Before the recording sessions, McCartney was given a new bass guitar, a solid-body Rickenbacker 4001, which produced a fuller sound than his hollow- body Hofner. Harrison used a Fender notably in his lead guitar part on “Nowhere Man.” The variety in guitar tones throughout the album was also aided by Harrison and Lennon’s use of capos, particularly in the high-register parts on “If I Needed Someone” and “Girl.”

In 1995, Harrison said that Rubber Soul was his favorite Beatles album, adding: “We certainly knew we were making a good album. We did spend more time on it and tried new things. But the most important thing about it was that we were suddenly hearing sounds that we weren’t able to hear before.”

release not to feature their name on the cover, an uncommon tactic in 1965. The “stretched” effect of the cover photo came about after photographer Bob Freeman had taken some pictures of the group wearing suede leather jackets at Lennon’s house. Freeman showed the photos by projecting them onto an album-sized piece of cardboard to simulate how they would appear on an album cover. The unusual Rubber Soul album cover came to be when the slide card fell slightly backwards, elongating the projected image of the photograph and stretching it. Excited by the effect, they shouted, “Ah! Can we have that? Can you do it like that?” Freeman said he could.

The distinctive lettering was created by photographer Charles Front, who recalled that his inspiration was the album’s title: “If you tap into a rubber tree then you get a sort of globule, so I started thinking of creating a shape that represented that, start rounded letters used on the sleeve established a style that became ubiquitous in psychedelic designs and, according to The Guardian, “a staple of poster art

McCartney conceived the album’s title after overhearing a musician’s description of Mick Jagger’s singing style as “plastic a 1970 interview, stating: “That was Paul’s title ... meaning English soul. Just a pun.”

They played a myriad of instruments in this album:

John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, Vox Continental organ, tambourine;

Paul McCartney: vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano;

George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Indian Sitar, tambourine;

Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, cowbell, tambourine, maracas, percussion, bells, Hammond organ;

Producer George Martin: piano, harmonium, tambourine; Mal Evans: Hammond organ; (This is the first time George Harrison experimented with an Indian sitar in “Norwegian Wood.”)

The tracks:

Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, You Won’t See Me, Nowhere Man, Think For Yourself, The Word, Michelle, What Goes On, Girl, I’m Looking Through You, In My Life, Wait, If I Needed Someone and Run For Your Life.

Just as George had never explored the sitar before, Ringo – “Drive My Car” looms large in his legend, up there with “Rain.” (Listen to him in the last bar before the chorus – every time it rolls around, Ringo slays with something different.) His drumming on “In My Life” is pure brotherly empathy – it sounds like he’s giving John the courage to push on to the next line. It’s impossible to imagine “In My Life” without Ringo in it, which is just one of the reasons credit for the throwaway “What Goes On.” Asked in 1966 what he contributed, he said, “about

With their backs against the wall, working under this pressure, the Beatles produced an album that was way ahead of what anyone had done before. Since these guys were more cylinders than anybody else had, they stumbled onto discoveries that changed the way music has been made ever since. It was an accidental masterpiece – but one that stunned the Beatles into realizing how far they could go. After that, they went full-time into the masterpiece-making business.

In their own words:

Ringo Starr: “Our whole attitude was changing – we’d grown up a little. I think grass was really especially with the writers. I felt we were progressing in leaps and bounds, musically. Some of the material on the 1965 Rubber Soul album was just brilliant and what was happening elsewhere was nothing like it.”

George Harrison: “We were get we certainly knew we were making a good album, then.”

John Lennon: “Finally we took over the studio. In the early days we had to take what we were given – we didn’t know how we could get more bass. We were learning the technique on Rubber Soul. We were more precise about making the album, that’s all.”

Paul McCartney: “We always wanted every single record to have a different sound. We never wanted to get trapped in the Mersey Beat.”

George Martin - “Rubber Soul was an indication of the ways things were going to go – it’s one of my favorite albums. I think it’s a great album. They were getting more and more interested in unusual sounds. They were trying out new instruments and always coming to me saying, ‘What, what ideas have you got for this?’”

Those four faces were peering out from record racks a few weeks later, in Robert Freeman’s classic distorted cover photo. For nowhere to be seen – only those cocky mug shots. The four scared kids who looked so miserable a year earlier, on the cover of Beatles for Sale are now noticeably brim belief in their new music. Using instruments with names nobody could pronounce. Not really caring if you liked the old songs better. Full grown men, full of emotion and on top of the world. This album is where you really “Meet the Beatles.”

Summary in George Harrison’s words:

“‘Rubber Soul’ was my favorite album, even at that time. I think it was the best one we made; we certainly knew we were making a good album. We did spend a bit more time on it and tried new things. But the most important thing about it was that we were suddenly hearing sounds that we weren’t able to hear before. Also, by other people’s music and everything was blossoming at that time; including us, because we were still growing.”

My parting shot is the traditional quip: “Nothing gets better than this.” Good work, good deeds and good faith to all.