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![Revolver [UK]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002UAR.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
 I am a huge Beatle fan, and if I were to recommend one album to a listener not quite educated on The Beatles yet, it would be this one. No doubt, Rubber Soul provided the greatest collection of hit songs of any other Beatles' album...In My Life is my personal favorite, showcasing Lennon and McCartey's unmatched ability to collaborate wonderfully on songs and Nowhere Man has all three frontmen singing together in classic Beatles' harmony. Michelle is one of their all-time great ballads and Girl is Lennon at his songwriting best. There are some great sleepers on this album too. I'm Looking Through You and You Won't See Me are McCartney's bitter, but playful sounding songs about relationships on the verge of break-up and Think For Yourself is Harrison's sleeper also about a strained relationship. This album was really a breakthough for the Beatles in that it showed they had far more musical capabilities than when they first stormed onto the seen. Rubber Soul has a little bit of everything for everybody. My only knock is that it lags a little in the end, stumbling towards the finish line after a fantastic start. Still, it should be regarded as one of their best albums, behind Revolver and Abbey Road.
I believe that the record company would better serve the buying public by making available reissues of the original Beatles albums such as "The Beatles Second Album", "Something New", "Rubber Soul", etc.. For many of us, it would really make a difference.
Though it doesn't contain any #1 singles it is a great album.
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Everytime I go snooping for a Rubber Soul review, it's really a desperate attempt to help me find whatever it is that the rest of you fanatics see in this trite and incessantly boring album. "Boring" is important as by definition alone, The Beatles should NEVER be a bore to us! This album just drives on and on to what sounds like pretentious dabblings in "folk" music. Why the quotes you say? It's like this: people refer to Rubber Soul as some kind of introspective turning point, in which their Dylan-esque fandom somehow led to a greater legitimacy. For one, I see very LITTLE of Dylan's sophistication in this LP (with perhaps the exception of Norwegian Wood and In My Life). The songwriting feels like a bunch of callow attempts at this level of art. It truly reveals a large amount of conceit on The Beatles part to call this one of their best albums. They may have thought they were finally moving to intellectual art, which is what makes this album so awkward and uneven. "Drive My Car" is helplessly addictive girl-swooning Beatles and as the first track, all too representive of the kind of shallow, bouncy fun that was perverted when a little too much grass lingered in their brain while a Bob Dylan record droned on in the background. Honestly though, I WISH the rest of the album was this much fun. Everything that can be said about "Norwegian Wood" has been said. Though I feel this is a mediocre Beatles record, Norwegian Wood and In My Life are perfection. Too bad Norwegian Wood's thick arrangement, and truly peeled-away lyrics are the sole representatives of this supposed Higher State (along with In My Life of course). And don't let George be ignored: "If I Needed Someone" is one of the best tracks on the album, and one of the best arrangements. But as for the rest of the album, self-obsessed pop never sounded this dull. It infuriates me when people lob this record up with Revolver, as Revolver is the true breakthrough. And more importantly, it's actually FUN to listen to. I think a lot of the praise that goes to this album derives from all of you baby boomers who were duped into believing that what you were hearing at the tender age of 12 or 13 was musical "poetry." Less biased critics can look back, extract a few good tracks from the album, and completely disregard the rest.
