Albums I Wish Existed: The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Mike's Mix) (1965)

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Mike's Mix) (1965)

Mike's next post is his unique take on the Beatles' classic 1965 album 'Rubber Soul'

Hi! I'm back with more of my coolest remixes of Beatle tracks culled from over 300 shows I produced for a now defunct internet station called Beatles-a-rama. I’m hoping that this new take on the music will allow you to appreciate the greatest band in the world in a whole new way. Here's a brief track by track summary of what I’ve included in this batch.

Enjoy!!

Michael

By the way, did you notice John’s frayed coat (just below Georges ear, in the photo in the pdf)… before it was retouched and stretched for the final cover version? Cool huh!

01 Drive My Car - All sorts of fun buried treasure here including a solid bass line from Paul, great keyboards and a neat guitar solo!

02 Norwegian Wood - A revealing look at Paul’s unexpected presence on this classic song.

03 You Won’t See Me - Cool bass, along with awesome usually hidden backing vocals from George, John and Paul. OHH LAA LAA indeed!

04 Nowhere Man - More hidden harmonies brought to the fore.

05 Think For Yourself - These guys obviously loved each other and were having so much fun during the sessions for this track. I included some classic Beatles interplay from those sessions as they tried to work out the very intricate harmonies that I then highlight in the main cut.

06 The Word - More hidden harmonies here including some unbelievably high stuff from George. Some sweet bass runs from Paul too!

07 Michelle - When these guys did three-part harmony nobody could touch them ( see 'Yes It Is' or 'This Boy' for even more proof). I left this almost totally acappella because sometimes…who needs music anyway!

08 What Goes On - A great tribute to Carl Perkins… a personal hero of the Beatles and a gentleman they performed with many times during their career. Harrison provided the classic lead guitar. Unfortunately this was the last time the Beatles wrote anything in this rockabilly style.

09 Girl - My favorite Greek song by the Beatles, and one of the first songs to include a subliminal message in the background. We can easily guess what John’s favorite part of the female anatomy was from those backing vocals.

10 I’m Looking Through You - More hidden harmonies and a lovely bass line revealed.

11 In My Life - Starts with a new piano intro played at the original recorded speed, followed by a mostly instrumental version of the song including the original organ solo , that was later replaced by that piano (sped up) in the intro.

12 Wait - I wanted to focus on all those hidden Paul harmony parts that are buried in the released version of the song.

13 If I Needed Someone - The Byrds influenced the Beatles… nope! It’s the other way around. This was released before the Byrds started using this lovely 12 string that George uses throughout this song. More harmonies… YAY!

14 Run For Your Life - Paul’s bass work and George’s lead guitar work are the key here.

15 Day Tripper - Recorded during the 'Rubber Soul' sessions as part of a double A-side 1965 single. A pure acappella version here… with slight editing to limit the silent sections.

16 We Can Work It Out - The other side to the above mentioned single. 'We Can Work It Out' is a comparatively rare example of a Lennon-McCartney collaboration from this period in the Beatles' career, in that it harkens back to the level of collaboration the two songwriters had shared when writing the group's hit singles of 1963. Said Lennon, "In 'We Can Work It Out', Paul did the first half, I did the middle eight. But you've got Paul writing, 'We can work it out / we can work it out' – real optimistic, y'know, and me, impatient: 'Life is very short, and there's no time / for fussing and fighting, my friend." Great harmonies, bass work and acoustic guitar on this one.

More fun remixed albums coming soon but in the meantime… please comment on this one if you dig it… or hate it! I love feedback either way!!