Rubber Soul (Dr. Ebbett DBM-019)
Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), You Won’t See Me, Nowhere Man, Think For Yourself, The Word, Michelle, What Goes On, Girl, I’m Looking Through You, In My Life, Wait, If I Needed Someone, Run For Your Life
The first compact disc edition of Rubber Soul was released by EMI in 1987 using the stereo version of the LP. The first CD mono edition came out two years later on Rubber Soul (Original Monaural Recording PMCD 1267). More recently, Rubber Soul (Odeon MO 84 006) was released in Germany using the UK mono edition and the disc was supplemented by outtakes from the same sessions. The Millennium Remasters label issued the mono on four separate releases. The first is on the Millennium U.K. Collection (PMC 1267/MFSL 1-106) in 2002 with both mono and stereo. Mirror Spock issued this in 2003 on Rubber Soul (EAS 70135) that many claim is the best needle drop of the album. In 2004 they issued Millennium Remasters (U.K. Collection BM-1/BC-13) (PMC 1267/PCS 3075) with a transfer of the mono from the 1982 UK black box set. In the same year they issued the mono album alone on Millennium Remasters Original Monaural Recording series (PMC 1267) and again on Millennium Red Collection (EAS 70135/EAS 80555) from a Japanese pressing.
Dr. Ebbett first issued a transfer of the mono album in 2000 on Rubber Soul (PMC 1267). Many collectors preferred this to the other needle drops although there are some static ticks present in the music. The latest Dr. Ebbett release in the DBM series is a new transfer from a pristine vinyl copy of the mono edition and the sound quality is very good, natural sounding and warm. There are several mastering faults present on this release. There is a tick forty-eight seconds in “You Won’t See Me,” and two in “Nowhere Man” at ten seconds and the second one two minutes and twenty-six seconds into the track. The mono edition of this album is good to have and the only difference in the mix between this and the stereo is in “What Goes On,” where the mono version is missing some of the lead guitar at the end. The full lead guitar is present in the stereo edition. Although the sound quality is good, the mastering faults ought to be corrected by the label since they are an obvious blemish on what is otherwise a very solid effort.
N.B. Dr. Ebbett repressed this release to correct all of the faults mentioned above. If you have a defective copy, you can return it through your vendor.
