Three days after its UK release, Capitol Records issued The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album in the US.
It was considerably different from how The Beatles had intended it to sound, however, as Capitol reconfigured its tracklisting to create a ‘folk rock’ album to please the US market. They added ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’ and ‘It’s Only Love’ from Help!, and omitted ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Nowhere Man’, ‘What Goes On’, and ‘If I Needed Someone’.
Additionally, the stereo mix sent from England to the US had a false start at the beginning of ‘I’m Looking Through You’; this version can be heard on the box set The Capitol Albums Vol. 2, which also contains minor variations in ‘The Word’.
Rubber Soul was a huge hit with the American public, spending 59 weeks in the US charts from 25 December 1965. It topped the Billboard chart on 8 January 1966, and sold 1.2 million copies in its first nine days on sale.
And still one of the greatest albums ever.
George Martin said this is their best album & his favorite one. Can’t argue with Sir George…
6pm… Sitting here playing my original US mono pressing of Rubber Soul. Just for shiggles, I’m also playing the extra tracks from my ’66 mono pressing of Yesterday And Today. Gotta love that vinyl. Maybe later I’ll put on my mono copy of Beatles VI… Blast out “What You’re Doing” & piss off the neighbors…
Probably because I grew up with it, but I prefer the US version. I would have liked Nowhere man to have been included. What Goes On and If I Needed Someone were decent songs, but expendable. I never got the fuss over Drive My Car, I always considered it one of their worst songs. The beep-beeps made it sound like a novelty song, or a Roadrunner cartoon.