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Rubber Soul: Notes

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Purple Chick's Deluxe Edition of Rubber Soul is three discs long: the
first two comprise "Volume One", the recordings from the late-1965
sessions as released commercially (or that could have been released
commercially), and alternate mixes of the same takes. Volume Two is
outtakes from these sessions.
The stereo LP of Rubber Soul was mixed in a very weird way (at least to
my ears): everything is mixed full left or full right, with nothing in
the very centre. This was apparently an attempt by George Martin to
have a stereo mix that, if played on a mono record player, would still
sound good (and as a consequence of the REDD.51 mixing console, which
was limited in how stereo mixes could be made when in its default
configuration). Because of this, many people prefer the mono mix of
this album, and it lead Dr. Ebbetts to "remix" it by digitally panning
some parts to the centre (as he did with the twintrack stereo mixes of
Please Please Me and With The Beatles). It also lead George Martin
himself to make new mixes for the CD release in 1987 (as well as, for
some reason, Help!). Several of the alternate mixes, especially the
outtakes on Volume Two, are mixed in a more usual way.
Volume One
---------Disc 1
......
The first two tracks are the We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper single,
the Beatles first double A-sided single. The stereo mixes are the UK
mixes made for A Collection Of Beatles Oldies in 1966 and used for just
about everything else since then (including compilations and Past
Masters 2). Even though these mixes were made a year after the songs
were recorded (and months after Revolver was released), they still
follow Rubber Soul's mixing method of everything either full left or
full right.
The next fourteen tracks are the original (1965) stereo mix of the
Rubber Soul album itself, taken (by Dr. Ebbetts) from the "Blue Box"
remaster vinyl.
Track 17 is the Anthology 2 mix of 12-Bar Original. It's in stereo, but
has been edited from its original 6m41s to 2m53s. There's a complete
stereo version on Volume Two (track 18).
Tracks 18 and 19 are the US stereo mixes of We Can Work It Out and Day
Tripper, used in 1966 on Yesterday And Today. These differ noticeably
from the UK mixes (tracks 1 and 2): We Can Work It Out has one of the
harmonium tracks mixed to the centre, and the other (with vocals on the
same track) to the right, while they're both in the right on the UK
mix. Day Tripper begins with only a single guitar in the US mix; the UK
stereo mix has a double-tracked guitar. The UK mix also has a second
dropout, when John says "yeah" too early just as the song begins to
fade out.
Track 20 is the US stereo mix of The Word, with double-tracked vocals

throughout instead of just during the refrain. At least one of the

tracks mixed to the left in this version (bass, maracas, falsetto
harmonies) is mixed to the right in the UK stereo mix.
Track 21 is the "false start" version of I'm Looking Through You from
the US release of the album, which left untrimmed two false starts from
Paul at the beginning of the song. This is listed as RS2 by Purple
Chick, but aside from the opening is the same as RS1 (the version on
the UK album). Also, RS1 was made on November 15 and no other mix is
listed (and there probably wouldn't have been time after that to rush
another mix to the US), so this is probably just an untrimmed version
of RS1.
Tracks 22 and 23 are the 1999 remixes of Nowhere Man and Think For
Yourself (respectively) made for the DVD re-release of Yellow Submarine
and released (in stereo) on Yellow Submarine Songtrack. These are
*probably* fold-downs of the 5.1 mixes, made in a Dolby Pro Logic
II-compatible way, since they sound pretty good when played through a
decoder.
Tracks 24-26 are mixes of In My Life, We Can Work It Out, and Day
Tripper made for the Anthology DVD release. Track 27 is a medley of
different mixes not used in their entirety on the Anthology DVD.
The alternate mixes of Norwegian Wood and Girl used in 1977 on the
"Love Songs" compilation aren't included here. In fact, they're
probably not remixes at all, since they sound like the regular UK mixes
with the stereo image narrowed.
The stereo remixes made of the album tracks in 1987 by George Martin
are not included here: Purple Chick expects that we all own the
official CDs already...
Disc 2
......
The original mono single was used as the source for We Can Work It Out
and Day Tripper, via Dr. Ebbetts.
Tracks 3 through 16 are the UK mono mixes of the Rubber Soul album
tracks, sourced from Dr. Ebbetts' mono transfer (which might be
identical to Millennium Remasters' Original Monaural Recordings tape
transfer, although I'm not sure who had it first).
Track 17 is a mono mix of 12-Bar Original. Unlike the stereo mix used
on Anthology 2, this is unedited. It could be a copy of the mono mix
made on November 30, the last Beatles session that engineer Norman
"Normal" Smith worked on before his promotion (to George Martin's
former position) at EMI.
Track 18 is the US mono mix of Michelle, with a slightly longer ending
than the UK mono mix and a few other mix differences.
Tracks 19 and 20 are mono mixes of We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper
made for Granada Television's The Music Of Lennon And McCartney (both
are listed as RM1 by Purple Chick, but Barrett indicates that RM2 of
both songs were used for TV). These were lip-synced to on November 1
and 2. Canned applause was added later (there was no studio audience).
The mix of Drive My Car used on Yesterday & Today is not included here.

It's distinct from the UK mono mix, but is probably a fold-down of the
stereo track since no other mono mix is known to have been made.
Volume Two
---------Volume Two begins with take 1 of Run For Your Life ("Run For Your
Lives, You..." according to the announcement), the first song recorded
for Rubber Soul (onto tape E57714 on October 12, 1965). This is
followed by part of take 5 of the same song (used as the master), then
take 1 of Norwegian Wood (still titled only "This Bird Has Flown" at
this point).
Tracks 4-6 are all three takes of Day Tripper, recorded October 16 onto
tape E57715. Take 3 was used as the master, and the dropout heard
around 1:49 on the released mixes of this song is revealed to be an
intentional coverup of a tape noise (possibly the guitar or something
else on that track was punched in at this point). Although Brennan says
that the mono mix of Day Tripper has been repaired, it actually has the
longest dropout of any of the pre-1980s mixes of this song (listen to
the tambourine that was recorded to the same track as the guitar). The
UK stereo mix (on Volume One) from 1966 is possibly made using
artificial double tracking (which didn't exist until the Revolver
sessions) to strengthen the guitar sound.
Track 7 is the original Hammond organ overdub to In My Life, taken from
a monitor mix of the recording either on October 18 or October 22
(Lewisohn isn't clear on when the organ overdub was recorded). It's
also unclear what the source of this is; supposedly it's a recording
found on one of John Lennon's tapes (which could rule out an October 22
recording, as Lewisohn assumes the Beatles weren't present in the
morning that day when the halfspeed piano overdub was recorded). Or it
could be someone else's outfake...
Tracks 8 and 9 are both takes of We Can Work It Out, from tape E57716
recorded on October 20. Take 1 is instrumental-only, and seems to have
been halted due to a rare flub from Ringo.
The next two tracks are takes 2 and 4 of Norwegian Wood. Take 2 is very
heavy, driven by drums and bass (and sitar). Take 4 was ultimately used
for the released version. No bootleg of take 3 exists (recordings
purporting to be it that circulate on the Internet are apparently
fakes).
Tracks 12 and 13 are the piano overdub from In My Life, easily
digitally extracted since the piano is the only thing heard solely in
the right channel of the common stereo mix. Track 12 is at half-speed,
as it would have been recorded; 13 is at normal speed.
Track 14 is the rear channels from the surround mix of Nowhere Man from
the Yellow Submarine DVD. This mostly consists of the song without
vocals (although a bit of vocal reverb can occasionally be heard), and
gives a good approximation of what the song would have sounded like
before the vocal overdubs were recorded.
Track 15 is take 1 of I'm Looking Through You, an excellent complete
version of the song that the Beatles thought could have been improved
upon. It was recorded on October 24 onto tape E57717. Unlike the mix of
this song used on Anthology 2 (track 26 on this album), this has some
volume variations and no fade at the end.

Track 16 is take 2 of We Can Work It Out, with additional harmonium and

vocals recorded on October 29. (After a mono mix was made for The Music
Of Lennon And McCartney the day before, it was decided some
improvements could be made.)
The next three tracks are 12-Bar Original, a completely unoriginal but
completely accurate name for the Beatles' first instrumental recording.
These were recorded on November 4 onto tape E57719. Take 1 quickly
broke down, but take 2 is over six minutes long -- here it is presented
in its entirety, and in stereo. Track 19 is the rehearsal that was
taped first but then taped over by proper takes 1 and 2 (this segment
follows them on tape E57719).
Track 20 is take 4 of I'm Looking Through You, the second remake of
this song (takes 2 and 3 were the first but haven't been bootlegged).
This includes not only the false starts (see track 21 on disc 2 of
Volume One) but the take announcement, and lacks a fadeout. This and
the following track were recorded onto tape E57720 on November 11
(actually very early in the morning of the 12th), the last recording
session for Rubber Soul.
Track 21 is a monitor mix of the backing tracks for Girl. It's
supposedly from a tape John made, but Purple Chick believes it could be
an outfake (listening to it I hear evidence the vocals have been
digitally removed and the sound degraded to hide that fact).
Track 22 was recorded onto tape E57722 (mono) during the session for
Think For Yourself on November 8, and is titled by Barrett as "Odd
snippets of Beatles talking during recording sessions - recorded
between takes". It was intended to be edited into the Christmas message
recorded later that evening, but also includes rehearsals and
in-between-recording speech for Think For Yourself. (From the sounds of
it, the mono recorder was shut off while the proper takes of the song
were recorded, probably to save tape.) Lewisohn reports that the tape
was unused until a brief portion of the Beatles practicing their
harmonies for Think For Yourself was included in the movie of Yellow
Submarine (I think this segment is around 10:57 into the recording).
Tracks 23-27 are alternate mixes of the outtakes. Track 23 is take 1 of
This Bird Has Flown from Another Sessions: Plus. Track 24 is a monitor
mix of take 3 of Day Tripper. Track 25 is Purple Chick's mix of In My
Life incorporating the organ solo from track 7 of this album. Tracks 26
and 27 are alternate mixes of take 1 of I'm Looking Through You: track
26 from Anthology 2 and 27 a segment of the song from the Abbey Road
Video Show with far less reverb (Rubber Soul was intentionally recorded
very "dry" -- most of the reverb heard on the masters and outtakes was
added during mixing).
Bibliography
-----------The Beatles Deluxe Editions By Purple Chick
http://x3mkungen.mine.nu/wogev/beatles/pc/index.html
The BeatleSource
http://www.beatlesource.com/
BootlegZone
http://www.bootlegzone.com/

Brennan, Joe. The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations

http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beatles/
Lewisohn, Mark. The Beatles Recording Sessions
Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Chronicle
Ryan, Kevin and Kehew, Brian. Recording The Beatles
Spizer, Bruce. The Capitol Albums - Duophonic Delights & Mono Mishaps
http://www.whatgoeson.com/features/the-beatles/the-capitol-albums-duophonic-de
lights-and-mono-mishaps.html
Winn, John C. (ed.). John Barrett's Notes