Beatles’ “Rubber Soul”: Best Remixes (As We Await the Official Remix)

Revolver (5 August 1966), the album that followed Rubber Soul(3 December 1965), was released on 28 October 2022 in a state-of-the-art remix by Giles Martin. It’s spectacular and has been receiving rave reviews (including my own). Many believe that Rubber Soul will be brought out of the “audio stone ages” next. It’s the current “buzz” in the gigantic Beatles fans community.

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The technology now exists — it’s called “de-mixing” and was developed just in the last few years — to distinguish and separate instruments and voices that are on a single track. This will be vital for remixing earlier Beatles albums that were recorded using four tracks (1964-1966) or two (first two albums in 1963), in order to create satisfying “full” and “spacious” remixes.

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I can’t wait. But until that happens, we have to make do with what we have, and I will suggest 14 stereo tracks of Rubber Soul, remixed by Beatles fans (and in three cases, on current “official” albums) in what I believe is the best sound currently available. It took some work and searching to do, but I have saved you the trouble if you want to hear this album without the widely separated, annoying left vs. right speaker characteristics that the “standard” remaster from 2009 is “notorious” for. It sounds great.

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You have to know a few “tricks” and “secrets” to do it, but I’ll walk you through that. Nothing is illegal or unethical (or too technical to figure out). The tracks from YouTube or Clyp or Google are already “out there” for anyone to listen to. No one’s making any money doing this. They simply enjoy producing new remixes (and I have great fun finding and collecting them).

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All Beatles fans will go buy the official (Beatles-sanctioned / EMI) Rubber Soul remix when it comes out, just as they are now doing with Revolver (and as I did). We simply can’t resist doing so. So no royalties are being lost by The Beatles (or their surviving spouses and children), for sure.

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01 Drive My Car (m3rcmusic Remix, May ’22). Wav file: able to be converted to mp3 and burned to CD. As with most of the YouTube files, listeners are directed to a separate link (this one at Google), where they can then download the sound file.

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02 Norwegian Wood (Rongo Remix, April ’22). YouTube, with additional Google link.

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03 You Won’t See Me (TheOneBeatleManiac Remix, ’19); YouTube, with link to Clyp.

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04 Nowhere Man (Yellow Submarine Songtrack remix, ’99). YouTube. It sounds absolutely wonderful, with glorious vocals on both sides.

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05 Think for Yourself (Yellow Submarine Songtrack remix, ’99). YouTube. Ditto, from #4. This album has a very warm, appealing, almost “analogue”-like sound. It’s one of the very best (maybe the best) of all the Beatles’ “official”  remixed albums, even after 23 years.

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06 The Word (J K Remix, May ’20).YouTube, with link to Google.

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07 Michelle (Stereo Classics Remix, ’21). YouTube, with link to Google. It has to be converted from FLAC to mp3, in order to burn onto a CD.

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08 What Goes On (Rongo Remix, Oct. ’22). YouTube, with link to Google.

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09 Girl (Love album, 2011 version with additional bonus tracks). YouTube.

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10 I’m Looking Through You (Miguethor remix, ’17). Reddit (a page where the entire remixed album can be downloaded — but unfortunately in a lower quality 128 kbps), with link to Clyp.

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11 In My Life (Miguethor remix, ’17). Reddit, with link to Clyp.

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12 Wait (Stereo Classics remix, Feb. ’21). YouTube, with link to Google. It has to be converted from FLAC to mp3, in order to burn onto a CD.

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13 If I Needed Someone (Miguethor remix, ’17). Reddit, with link to Clyp.

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14 Run for Your Life (Miguethor remix, ’17). Reddit, with link to Clyp.

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15 Day Tripper (Remixed 1 album, ’15). YouTube.

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16 We Can Work it Out (Remixed 1 album, ’15). YouTube.

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Lastly, two songs from the Help! album sessions in early 1965 were included on the different 12-song US version of the album, and have a similar “feel”:

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1) Tracks from existing albums can either be “ripped” from a CD (look that up, to learn how to do it if you don’t know how) or purchased individually online at Amazon, etc. (they usually cost a little over a dollar). But I have provided YouTube links for all of those.

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2) YouTube tracks can be converted to mp3 format. This opens up endless possibilities for obtaining songs (I just did a huge 12-CD collection of psychedelic music from 1966-1968, mostly by this method). I use a free converter page called getmp3 to do that. It allows you to preserve your converted mp3 file in the high quality 320 kbps.

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3) In cases where YouTube sends you to a separate link, you can usually download the file (look for a download icon). If it’s mp3, you’re all set to be able to burn the song and the whole album to a CD (you can look that up, too, if you’ve never done it). Some are FLAC files (#7 and 12 above), which can’t be burned (it’ll come out as white noise on the burned CD). You can then downloaded a FLAC file first and convert it to mp3, using the Zamzar conversion service. The same process can be used for a wav file (#1 above)

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Photo credit: cover of the album Rubber Soul by The Beatles. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Parlophone/EMI, or the graphic artist(s), Robert Freeman/David Julian Beard. [Wikipedia / qualifies as fair use under the copyright law of the United States]

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