Spin #122 : Rubber Soul : The Beatles

SUNDAY DROP - SPIN # 122 FROM THE R'NR WITH RYLO RECORD COLLECTION

Welcome back to R'nR with Rylo for another record from our collection. It has been a bit of a subdued week here due to some sickness, but it hasn't stopped us throwing our daughter a small party at home for her 3rd birthday. The weather seems to have calmed down a bit after getting some rain yesterday and the colder temperatures make it easy to cuddle up together with some hot chocolate. We aren't loving the wind though! It's been fun showing our kids another album from the 'Fab Four' and this album would be my personal favourite. I might show the kids the original pressing that we have and then the remastered version.

The photograph taken by Robert Freeman on the front cover, shows all four members of The Beatles, somewhere on the grounds of John Lennon's house in Weybridge. At first there isn't an awful lot to think about, except for what could they possibly be looking at? By the time you ask yourself this question, you may have now realised that Lennon is the only one staring right back at you. The colours used, hair cuts and text chosen for the title - 'Rubber Soul', instantly transports you to the mid-60's. I have included the original photograph taken below by Freeman because I feel it gives you a different perspective of the band. Would it have suited the title of the album having the straight photo? When doing the album mock ups, they came across this distorted look by accident and loved what they saw. For whatever reason, 'Rubber Soul' always stands out to me and shows us the journey they had been through in such a short amount of time. There is an awful lot of growth seen on their faces. This was their second album released in 1965, as 'Help!' was released only a few months earlier, on 6 August 1965. Click the link if you'd like to read our Spin#21.

All songs included on 'Rubber Soul' are original material and I was surprised that it was for only the second time in their career (up until that moment anyway). I remember back when I was in the car picking up our son from his after school care. 'DRIVE MY CAR' came on the radio and our almost three year old daughter (birthday on Monday) said, "I like this song. Beep Beep, Beep Beep". It was a nice moment to hear her happy. I was off work a couple of days this week with some stomach issues and haven't had a lot of time to reflect with the kids. We also lost our television to the tech-graveyard this week, after it finally decided to stop working. It had been giving us signs that it would stop for a while and it decided it wasn't going to make it to the Paris 2024 Olympics coverage. That didn't matter though, as we made the most of board games and story time before bed.

At first glance, the back of the album shows The Beatles showing a bit more character and freedom in their photographs. The track listing has hit after hit and not every song is about love. Some songs are about sadness and hard times, which made this album a bit more honest, regarding life. Not everything goes to plan all the time and the boys were definitely maturing at their young ages of roughly 24-26 years old. 'NORWEGIAN WOOD' is the first time they used the Indian instrument, the sitar and love the use of it by George Harrison. Lennon and Paul McCartney share a lot of the writing across this album and they tended to help each other get through moments of writers block. McCartney got inspired by his relationship struggles and Lennon with his first time use of LSD. Harrison is credited for writing 'THINK FOR YOURSELF' and 'IF I NEEDED SOMEONE'. Both songs, standouts in their own right and show how much Harrison was growing and coming to the foreground. I think the 'Help!' movie assisted in bringing out their personalities and confidence to try different things. They didn't want to stagnate their careers and always kept evolving their sound. This album also has Ringo Starr singing on 'WHAT GOES ON', a Lennon number that was forgotten about until this album. The boys tweaked it a bit and it sounds like a country number that really suits the album.

I think the saddest and most powerful track on this album would be on the B-side, 'IN MY LIFE'. The overall sense is that the song is a long poem, written about a lost childhood. Acceptance of the people that have been lost throughout the course of a lifetime and was so profound. The kids were up and about dancing to this album, but seemed to stop and want hugs during this track. The opposite song on the album that is quite dark, would be 'RUN FOR YOUR LIFE'. If you look at the lyrics and study them, you'd see that they are quite disturbing and probably more suited to be sung by Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates. I wish that they could have found space to add 'DAY TRIPPER' and 'WE CAN WORK IT OUT' to the album, considering they were written as a double A-side single.

The kids have been learning how to tell the time on the clocks given as presents by Grandma and Grandpa (thank you) and growing up so fast. It's sad that some schools have taken away analogue clocks, choosing to use digital ones instead. Yes, its easier but they will never learn the life skills required if everything is overly simplified. I love it when our kids ask Night Kat Kiz and I to spin records or play music in the kitchen. Even nicer when I walk around the house to see where they have run off to, and notice that they are sitting in the front room sunshine reading their books. The stylus has hit the dead wax and we have enjoyed listening to this classic album as a family. Hopefully it brings back some memories for you as you listened along. If the super deluxe LP versions of their albums every come below $150, I'll be adding them to the collection. 'Rubber Soul' hasn't gone through the special treatment yet.

Make the most of the sunshine today and keep out of the wind. Let me know what other albums by The Beatles you love in the comments below or on our social pages. A couple of you guessed it this week and we appreciate it when you get involved in the MWSP. As our kids get older, they will get more involved in it too and will keep doing this on a weekly basis for as long as I can. Make yourself a cuppa and hug your loved ones. We will be singing Frozen songs all night because our little girl wanted a snowman party theme - Olaf. Happy 3rd Birthday for tomorrow little one, we Love You!

Until our next Spin.....