I think the interesting fact about listening to old Beatles LP’s is that there is always something new to hear. Top track for me on Side One is ‘The Word’. Yes ‘Michelle’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’ we’ve all heard a million times. But tracks like ‘The Word’ were to me where the artistry was. Ringo’s drumming on here just shows what a fine drummer he was/is and it’s a great track, but one I could not have recalled before listening to this again.
But I think with Rubber Soul, whereas you still get the value for money you got with earlier LP’s, you can hear they are moving on. Even with the sitar on Norwegian Wood, it was a kind of pre-cursor to their Indian dabbling a few years later. And I’m not sure I would even recognise ‘What goes on’ as a Beatles song. Yes perhaps the lyrics are a clue, but even they are somewhat veiled from the normal melodies on tracks such as ‘Girl’. And ‘Girl’ itself is such a simple rhythm but such a great song.
You know what you will get with ‘The Beatles’ but I still feel, even after all this time, there are surprises. It still sounds fresh in a pure pop sort of way. And I challenge anyone to find anything better than ‘In my life’.
