ESSENTIAL ALBUMS: The Beatles - "Rubber Soul"

In the discography of any other pop band, a collection that offers “Nowhere Man,” “Drive My Car,” and “In My Life” would rank as a never-to-be-surpassed career peak. Not so for the Beatles: What follows Rubber Soul (that would be Revolver, Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band, etc.) gives off such a zillion-watt glare it tends to render these last great bursts of Beatles earnestness somewhat slight by comparison.

That’s unfortunate, because Rubber Soul—which is the home of “Michelle,” “Norwegian Wood,” and the utterly perfect three minutes known as “You Won’t See Me”—is among the most historically significant of the group’s long- players. It’s the aftermath of the movie Help!, and the band slyly sidesteps Fab Four frenzy by bringing a more poignant swoon into the songs. Things don’t always work out, and there’s a touch of grownup bittersweetness running through even the joyful refrain of “In My Life.” It’s also the beginning of the serious studio adventuring, which brings with it more nuanced arrangements, trickier narrative entanglements, and trippier vocal harmonies (the serpentine slides of “The Word” foreshadow some of this). In addition, some Beatles scholars identify “In My Life” as the last true collaboration between principal writers John Lennon and Paul McCartney; though they continued to refine each other’s ideas, they didn’t cowrite many songs after this.

Above all, Rubber Soul is straight-up craft from a group of people who are at peak power but aren’t interested in reinventing the wheel, stars who’ve yet to feel the need to drop a protective veil. Its fourteen songs come drenched in an inescapable form of pop love—for the pure song as it takes flight, and the possibilities waiting. When this is playing, you can’t help feel some of that.