UMG and Apple Corps’ new special edition adds Giles Martin’s stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes, 20 unreleased takes and a John Lennon song outline nobody even knew existed.
You would think there’s nothing left to discover about a Beatles album. You would be wrong, and Rubber Soul just proved it.
On Friday (Oct. 2), Universal Music Group and The Beatles’ Apple Corps released an expanded special edition of the band’s 1965 album. Producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell created new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes, and the set also includes the original mono mix and the original Capitol U.S. version of the album, plus the “Day Tripper” / “We Can Work It Out” double A-side single from the same period.
The Super Deluxe editions include 24 early session recordings, 20 of them previously unreleased, and three home demos no one had heard before, among them early versions of “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work It Out.” The biggest surprise is “Little Girl,” a John Lennon song outline that, according to Digital Music News, was never released and never even rumored. For Beatles collectors, that’s like finding a new room in a house you’ve lived in for 60 years.
The first preview is “I’m Looking Through You (Second Version – Take 3),” released with a visualizer. The band tried the song three different ways. This take, from a six-hour session on Nov. 6, 1965, still has two instrumental 12-bar sections. Paul McCartney later replaced them with a bridge in the final version. You can hear the song changing shape in real time.
The 2-CD and 2-LP Deluxe editions offer a selection of session highlights, demos and the single. The 4-CD and 5-LP Super Deluxe editions come with an 88-page hardcover book that includes a new introduction by McCartney and a foreword built from John Lennon’s own words about the album, collected from across his life.
Rubber Soul came out on Dec. 3, 1965, and is often described as the moment The Beatles stopped being a pop group making singles and started making albums. Ringo Starr called it “the departure record.” George Harrison said it was his favorite, and Lennon remembered it as the first album where the band took full control.
Sixty-one years on, the record still has something to say. It just needed a few extra takes to say it.
Source: Digital Music News
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