Rubber Soul (Enhanced, Limited Edition, Original Recording Remastered)

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The Beatles

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Rubber Soul is the sixth UK studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. Unlike the five albums that preceded it, Rubber Soul was the first Beatle album recorded during a specific period without being interrupted by tour dates (though the group's debut album Please Please Me was technically recorded in a single day, four of the tracks were recorded several months before). All of the Beatle albums after Rubber Soul (except Magical Mystery Tour) followed this process. The album was described as a major artistic achievement, attaining widespread critical and commercial success, with reviewers taking note of The Beatles' developing musical vision.

The original UK release shows the "soul" influence of the album's title. Track list changes to the US release, including two acoustic songs held over from the previous UK album, Help!, gave the US version a folk rock feel that critics attributed to The Byrds and Bob Dylan.

Rubber Soul is often cited as one of the greatest albums in pop music history. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted it the 40th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same publication placed it at number 21 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2001, VH1 placed it at number 6. In 2003, the album was ranked number 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, the album was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. Except for the UK album "A Hard Day's Night" (all songs attributed to Lennon-McCartney), this is the first Beatles album (both UK and US) to have only songs composed by Beatles.