Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

While the Beatles still largely stuck to love songs on Rubber Soul, the lyrics represented a quantum leap in terms of thoughtfulness, maturity, and complex ambiguities. Musically, too, it was a substantial leap forward, with intricate folk-rock arrangements that reflected the increasing influence of Dylan and the Byrds. The group and George Martin were also beginning to expand the conventional instrumental parameters of the rock group, using a sitar on "Norwegian Wood," and Greek-like guitar lines on "Michelle" and "Girl," fuzz bass on "Think for Yourself," and a piano made to sound like a harpsichord on the instrumental break of "In My Life." While John and Paul were beginning to carve separate songwriting identities at this point, the album is full of great tunes, from "Norwegian Wood" and "Michelle" to "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," "You Won't See Me," "Drive My Car," and "Nowhere Man" (the last of which was the first Beatle song to move beyond romantic themes entirely). George Harrison was also developing into a fine songwriter with his two contributions, "Think for Yourself" and the Byrdsish "If I Needed Someone."

Don Harrison, Amazon.com

Rank 'em how you like, Rubber Soul is an undeniable pivot point in the Fab Four's varied discography no matter where, or how, you first heard it. The album was softened up in its original 12-song American edition to jibe with the Dylan/Byrds folk-rock sound, as well as squeeze money from the Parlophone catalog. The 14-song U.K. edition--the version now available on compact disc--is a different, more dynamic, and ultimately more accomplished achievement. So many classics: "Drive My Car" and "Nowhere Man" (both omitted from the U.S. edition) merge the early combustible Beatifics to a burgeoning studio consciousness; "The Word" can be read as a pre-psych warning shot; the sitar-laden "Norwegian Wood" and the evocative "Girl" (the latter written on the last night of the sessions) stand as turning points in John Lennon's oeuvre. George finally emerges too, with the McGuinn-ish "If I Needed Someone."

Steve Simels, Barnes & Noble

Paul McCartney crooning in French, George Harrison playing a sitar, Ringo Starr crafting innovative drum parts, and John Lennon singing movingly about his childhood -- no rock album had ever sounded like RUBBER SOUL (1965). For that matter, the Beatles themselves were hardly recognizable as the energetic bar band that had recorded its debut effort barely three years earlier. Beach Boy Brian Wilson called RUBBER SOUL the first rock album without filler, and it certainly was the Beatles' first album with a consistent, organic sound and feel, despite its enormous stylistic range. There were nods to Dylan, the Byrds, and folk rock ("If I Needed Someone," "Nowhere Man"); early Elvis ("Run for Your Life"); and bluegrass ("I've Just Seen a Face"). But the glue, helped along by George Martin's intimate production gloss, was the uniformly first-rate songwriting by Lennon and McCartney, which still seems fresh as new paint today.

 

The Beatles: George Harrison (vocals, guitar, sitar); John Lennon (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Paul McCartney (vocals, guitar, piano, bass); Ringo Starr (vocals, organ, drums). Additional personnel: George Martin (piano); Mal Evans (organ).

Though some might argue that the Beatles' unprecedented evolution from British Invasion pin-ups to pop music visionaries began with BEATLES FOR SALE, RUBBER SOUL is without a doubt the first album to definitively put the Fab Four in the running for Greatest Band Ever. Virtually every aspect of the Liverpool quartet's incredibly diverse sound is in evidence here: the dark, irony-filled Dylanism ("Norwegian Wood," "Nowhere Man"), pop perfection ("In My Life"), the passion for classic tin pan alley balladry ("Girl," "Michelle"), and the love of good 'ol rock & roll music ("Drive My Car"). Peppered with nasty fuzz bass, exotic sitar, cartoonishly sped-up piano that sounds like harpsichord, and elements of country, Motown, and classical music, the album reveals a creative scope and willingness to experiment so revolutionary it can now only be termed "Beatlesque." Though the Fabs don't go as far out on a limb here as on the more overtly experimental REVOLVER, RUBBER SOUL is perhaps the Beatles' most finely crafted and accessible work, and consequently many fans' and critics' favorite.

Jesse Fahnestock, Ink Blot Magazine

Having already rewritten pop history over the course of two years and dozens of instantly classic singles, The Beatles set upon a higher goal: to write songs with better punch lines.

Despite the titular pun and the amusing tale-spinning on "Drive My Car" and "Norwegian Wood," Rubber Soul didn't turn out to be the Fab Four's comedy album, as they once hoped. And though "Drive My Car" and "The Word" parade a fat, Stax-like bottom end, it wasn't really a soul album either. It was, however, the opening volley of the album era, the first set of rock 'n' roll originals written, recorded and packaged as an album, and the foundation upon which the music industry would be based for the next 15 years.

And what of the songs? There's no cornerstone to Rubber Soul - no "A Day in the Life" or long medley - but as a collection of songs it's virtually faultless. McCartney's "You Won't See Me," "I'm Looking Through You" and "Michelle" are all delightful, immediate, and enduring, while Lennon's "Norwegian Wood," and "Girl" are two of the best ballads he ever wrote. The two collaborations, unsurprisingly, stand out - the punchy R&B of "Drive My Car" and the groundbreaking, misty-eyed reflections of "In My Life" are lasting classics of such different styles you can hardly believe one band recorded them. Only one band could have.

© Frank Steven Groen