My first eight albums were made by the Beatles - and the first one I ever bought was "Rubber Soul". This happened in December, 1978, so my romance with this LP has been going on for 40 years - and I still count it as one of the best pop albums ever made. It was recorded at a stage when the four young men from Liverpool had perfected the art of the two-and-a-half-minute pop song, but not yet succumbed to the lure of gurus and such, so in a way it represents the pinnacle of their career for me, and it is the most timeless of their albums.
In 1965, albums weren't thought of as artistic entities; rather, they were put out when there was enough stuff to fill the sides, and questions such as choice and sequencing of tracks were less important. The Beatles had good songs in abundance; they released more than 30 tracks in 1965 alone, a good number of which were self-penned originals to boot. Against this background "Rubber Soul" stands out even more - in my opinion it is one of the most brilliant collections of pop ever released.
There are the hits, of course - the romantic "Michelle", the Greek-flavoured "Girl", the feast of well-synchronised vocals that is "Nowhere Man", the Sharp "Drive My Car" and the atmospheric "Norwegian Wood". Each one of these songs is a classic in its own right, but they don't stand out on the album. In my ears, there are just as many album tracks worth mentioning: The ominously driving "Run For Your Life" - whose lyrics sound quite off today, so not all of the album has aged brilliantly - the soulful "The Word", the early Harrison-penned gem of "Think For Yourself", the majestically flowing "You Won't See Me".
The true crown of the record, though, is "Wait". This song has many of the hallmarks of a Beatles classic - the great melody, the well-arranged and -sounding vocals, the small hooks like the tambourine in the breaks, and the dynamic - in short, it's a song that many a group would have given an arm and a guitarist for, but the Fab Four could hide it somewhere on the flipside.
All over the record there are small pleasures like unusual instruments - starting from the sitar, but so far only in a supporting role, and Paul's lovely basslines, the vocals, of course - and the undisputed fact that there's a new, good song every three minutes, all different from each other but still parts of an unmistakable entity; the Beatles managed, at this stage, to sound personal and varied yet distinct. That, for me, is the formula for the perfect pop album; there's not a track too much - something that some of their later albums didn't match, great though they were.
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