60 years ago today: The Beatles released Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul – the first Beatles record to be written and recorded under the influence of marijuana. The weed certainly worked wonders, as for many it’s their greatest, most enduring collection of songs.

Great upbeat pop tunes of the calibre of ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘You Won’t See Me’ contrast with much more folk-influenced compositions like ‘Norwegian Wood’.

The poignant ‘In My Life’ saw them reflecting on past friends and lovers with breathtaking songwriting skill, while ‘Nowhere Man’ was a supreme song of dislocation.

Here are some reflections on the album, selected from the Hot Press archives...

Pat Carty:

"Rubber Soul was recorded in the winter of 1965 and landed in the shops for Christmas on December 3rd, the same day as the double A-sided single ‘We Can Work It Out’/’Day Tripper’, which is tantamount to gifting someone a new house and then casually leaving them a car in the driveway while you're at it.

"That album is seen as a turning point in pop, marking, with Bob Dylan’s 1965 albums, the changeover from singles to albums as the dominant artistic form.

"Brian Wilson was dazzled, didn’t sleep for two nights after hearing it, and began planning Pet Sounds, while Jagger and Richards responded with 1966’s Aftermath, the first Stones album they wrote in its entirety, prompting Ringo to suggest the next Beatles album be called After Geography. Dylan even, allegedly, responded directly to ‘Norwegian Wood’ with ‘Fourth Time Around’ on Blonde On Blonde..."

Kraftwerk's Wolfgang Flür:

Reflecting on his younger years, playing with his school friends in his band The Beathovens:

“We covered The Beatles and other songs we heard on our mono radio every Saturday afternoon from 4pm on Radio Luxembourg. My favourite album then was The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. It provided the accompanying melody and atmosphere to me falling in love for the first time, aged 17, to Brigitte!”

Questlove:

"My father had a record collection of around 5,000 albums... He was very big on The Beatles, particularly Rubber Soul... He was the guy who thought music died after 1973..."

Revisit Rubber Soul below: