Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Rich Milk Chocolate—with a Kic... | Sculptr on Flickr »

Friday, January 5, 2007

Question for New Staffer Eric Grandy: Revolver or Rubber Soul?

posted by on January 5 at 12:48 PM

The Stranger’s new staffer Eric Grandy (best known as DJ Fits) has been asked the question that has been asked of many others before him. You remember, don’t you? The Great Revolver Vs. Rubber Soul Debate of Fall ‘05? Amy Kate Horn just said: “Not that old discussion again.” Yup! It’s baaaaack!

(For those of you who weren’t alive a year ago, a recap: erstwhile music editor Dave Segal stated that Revolver is the best Beatles album. I dissented, because the best Beatles album is Rubber Soul. Segal told me to grow up. Sean Nelson said we were both wrong. David Schmader rejected the premise. Josh Feit yawned.)

Quoth the new guy:

I’ll say Revolver.

That’s not the right answer, Mr. Grandy. I don’t think this is going to work out.

RSS icon Comments

1

You're both wrong. It's either "Yesterday"...And Today (the infamous "butcher cover") or Magical Mystery Tour (US LP version, with all the good singles on side two). Or maybe Beatles For Sale.

Posted by Fnarf | January 5, 2007 12:53 PM
2

Rubber Soul.

Posted by DOUG. | January 5, 2007 12:54 PM
3

Bullshit. They are all wrong. The best Beatles album is Sgt. Pepper's.

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | January 5, 2007 12:55 PM
4

I should've elaborated. I'll say Revolver, but what I will really mean is I don't care. Sorry, Chris, but we'll always have Comeback.

Posted by djfits | January 5, 2007 1:04 PM
5

Damn, you're all WAY off. Oasis' 2nd album, "What's the Story, Morning Glory" is the greatest Beatles album of all time. duh.

Posted by longball | January 5, 2007 1:06 PM
6

I'm not even close to drunk enough to have this discussion. HOWEVER, between those two the obvious answer is Revovler. BUT, the real answer is Abbey Road.

Posted by A-Train | January 5, 2007 1:11 PM
7

So now we know the real story on Segal's departure. Frizzelle just can't handle dissent.

Posted by Gabriel | January 5, 2007 1:14 PM
8

i'm still shocked that no one ever says abbey road. the side b suite is the greatest thing they recorded.

Posted by dna | January 5, 2007 1:19 PM
9

You never asked me this question, Frizzelle. You probably don't care to hear my opinion. But- the answer is the White Album. So whatevs.

Posted by Ari Spool | January 5, 2007 1:21 PM
10

Plastic Ono Band

Posted by christopher hong | January 5, 2007 1:27 PM
11

the correct answer is:

the beattles suck.

surely eric's real intended answer.

Posted by terry miller | January 5, 2007 1:29 PM
12

I am going to play the role of "troll" with this.....

*cough* *beatles suck* *cough*

Posted by Monique | January 5, 2007 1:30 PM
13

Selecting a favorite Beatles album is like picking your favorite child: hard to do at Christmastime. You love them all, right? Right. But for different reasons.

still -- Revolver, then the White Album.

Posted by matt garman | January 5, 2007 1:32 PM
14

dna called it. the correct answer is that the question is a false choice between two inferior albums. abbey road is the best album. however, revolver is second.

I should state for the record that rubber soul was forever tainted and forever ruined for me by a torrid affair gone horribly wrong. Personal grudges not withstanding, "I'm looking through you" remains acceptable. as does "run for your life".

Posted by bitter as fuck | January 5, 2007 1:34 PM
15

Hmm, I think for me it's always going to be Past Masters Volume Two.

Posted by Scotto | January 5, 2007 1:39 PM
16

This will probably be answered with calls for my hanging, but is it culturally possible to just not really like the Beatles? My musical tastes were cemented in the halcyon days of 80's punk and before I even knew what it meant, I hated hippies and all things associated with them. Unfortunately, the Beatles fell into that association to my young psyche. Now that I have matured, I have just never been able to get into the Beatles. Is that okay?

Posted by The_Pope_Of_Chili_Town | January 5, 2007 1:40 PM
17

Abbey Road - then Revolver.

Posted by Alicia | January 5, 2007 1:42 PM
18

There's two different debates going on here, one between Rubber Soul vs. Revolver and one between all their albums. Overall, the White Album. Between the two, I'll take Revolver. They're both great, but Revolver was a big advance.

Posted by Gabriel | January 5, 2007 1:42 PM
19

FNARF,

I'm shocked that a Squirrels co-conspirator (I missed my chance to out myself in the post the other day, but does the name Leo Slayer ring a bell?) doesn't apparently know that Yesterday and Today is in fact the US version of Revolver and Rubber Soul (it's got tracks from both that never made it onto the US versions).

Shocked, I tell ya!

(Personally, I think the US versions are pretty much tied for my favorite Beatles records, but I'd give the edge to Revolver if I had to choose one over the other)

Posted by Mr. X | January 5, 2007 1:43 PM
20

Fuck the Beatles. Pet Sounds kills anything the Beatles put out. Revolver is indeed better than RS, but it still has that godawful \"Yellow Submarine.\" Game, set, match. Pet Sounds.

Posted by Zach | January 5, 2007 1:57 PM
21

I was sure Christopher was correct (and Sean Nelson absolutely wrong. Why? Rocky Raccoon, that's why!) But I think the Abbey Roaders might have it.

Posted by Eric F | January 5, 2007 2:01 PM
22

I guess I'll get in on this.

The White Album, Abbey Raod, Revolver, & Rubber Soul are interchangable. Like the "Kids at Christmas" analogy.

Pope> no, it is not ok to not like the Beatles. You HAVE to like them, at least the aforementioned works. You don't have to like "I wanna hold your hand", but you have to like "Happiness is A Warm Gun."

Posted by Mike in MO | January 5, 2007 2:02 PM
23

As to whether it's possible not to like the Beatles, ask Steve Humphrey, as he has claimed to hate them for as long as I've known him. I learned something on the subject as a sophomore in college when I believed that I hated the Beatles. Then a friend played me side two of, yes, "Rubber Soul." My resistance crumbled at the organ break of "I'm Looking Through You." In short: You can hate them, but you're wrong. Actually, the same thing is true of Shakespeare.

Posted by Eric F | January 5, 2007 2:04 PM
24

DNA-you're right, the side B suite on Abbey Road is so so so great. But as far as this debate goes...Revolver, without a doubt.

Posted by Joey | January 5, 2007 2:06 PM
25

Uh, Mr. X, "Yesterday"...And Today is NOT the US version of Revolver and Rubber Soul. The US versions of those albums are called, respectively, Revolver and Rubber Soul. YAT is, as you point out, a butcher of a record, taking songs off of both R and RS and a few others besides. Those songs are the best ones, and the others besides are great, too, which makes YAT a great, great record, sort of a middle-period Greatest Hits. The US LP versions of R and RS, as they are both stripped of their best songs, are both hugely inferior to the UK ones.

So you don't have to be all that shocked. I know my stuff, Mr. Slayer. BTW, I loved your big hit "You Make Me Feel Like Corpse Grinding".

Posted by Fnarf | January 5, 2007 2:08 PM
26

@The_Pope_of_chili_town:

It is fine to not like the Beatles. I dont think they are that special. Did they have an impact on music? Sure. Do I like em? Not really. I think too many people are afraid to say they dont like the Beatles cause anytime you do, everyone gets their panties in a bunch. I say, preach the word.. "the Beatles are overrated."

Posted by Monique | January 5, 2007 2:08 PM
27

i actually didn't like the beatles. at all. and then one day during a long drive in the middle of the rain, by myself, i listened to a beatles record from beginning to end and it was only then that i really understood the BRILLIANCE of some of their songs. Mostly paul's. I tend to lump lennon.. especially LATE lennon with the hippie dippie love the world stuff that pope is talking about. Paul's songs are the best, in my eyes, because they're simple songs that don't have any metaphysical airs. they're accessible and real.

Posted by bitter as fuck | January 5, 2007 2:09 PM
28

abbey road is easily the best beatles record and one of the top ten of ALL TIME.

oh, yes i did.

Posted by kerri harrop | January 5, 2007 2:17 PM
29

I'm actually pretty much in a boat similar to Monique's. I can see they were doing something different when they did it. It’s just that the music has just never gotten my pants dancy.

I also feel that for all the people who irrationally love the band (not that I’m accusing sloggists of this, more like the 13 year old kids whose parents teach them to worship at the alter of John and Paul), there has to be a few who irrationally hate them. Kind of a ying-yang balance of the universe thing.

Posted by The_Pope_Of_Chili_Town | January 5, 2007 2:31 PM
30

White Album - Revolution #9 + Lady Madonna & Inner Light.

Posted by elswinger | January 5, 2007 2:53 PM
31

My favorite Beatles song lately: I Dig A Pony

The best Beatles album: Abbey Road

At naptime in first grade, we got to pick which album was played as background music. I don't remember any of the other records (maybe Free to Be You and Me?), because the "cool kids" always picked Abbey Road, and in first grade, I was actually in the popular crowd. (By third grade, I was out, and never got back in. TMI, I know.) That year, we heard Lennon was shot, the teachers were crying, and at home the parents were crying. By contrast, when Reagan was shot, we were all angry because he lived. No nukes. Abbey Road rules.

Posted by jessiesk | January 5, 2007 3:19 PM
32

Can we all at least agree that Steely Dan sucks?

Posted by Conejo | January 5, 2007 3:40 PM
33

Mike in MO @22 -- I always owned super-dooper headphones even as a tiny kid. I'd listen to "Happiness is a Warm Gun" as loud as I could stand, picking up the needle and going back to Lennon's "When I hold you in my arms..." part over and over with the amp's balance knob either hard left or hard right, or zig-zag. Blew my tiny-kid mind. Stereo Beatles, therefore, is the best.

And Zach @20 -- Pet Sounds, yes, though I didn't care about it till fairly recently. Bee Gees "First" is a good wild card to throw onto that pile, too.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | January 5, 2007 4:09 PM
34

FNARF,

OK - I misstated my point, which you made much better than I did. I was just thrown by your reference to Y & T (and I don't mean the one that played "Black Tiger") as a stand-alone album.

Just don't tell the critics you like MMT, as they're apt to flog ya with a wet noodle (as critics are wont to do).

BTW - did you miss my Squirrels/Leo Slayer reference?

Posted by Mr. X | January 5, 2007 4:54 PM
35

White Album.

I'm sorry but I like Sgt Pepper! #2

Revolver is great but too self concious for me to put up top.

I never think about listening to Rubber Soul so I must not like it so much, but I don't have an opinion. Maybe it's the best and I don't know it.

Honorable mention: the live cuts on Let it Be ROCK!

Posted by mirror | January 5, 2007 5:14 PM
36

Let's talk about Dylan.

Posted by Jude Fawley | January 5, 2007 5:31 PM
37

Of course it is possible to not like the Beatles, but Eric F's comparison to Shakesphere is most apt. You simply must acknowledge their contribution to music.

Many people slag early Beatles as too pop, but early songs like "Drive My Car" are tight pop songs that still have an timeless quality that many don't. Remember, you have heard the Beatles probably more than any other band.

Revolver is the better choice, but Rubber Soul is the best of the early albums.

Personally, I think Abbey Road is hard to beat. The White Album is 2/3 good, but any double album is padded by nature. Sgt Pepper is probably the weakest, but still not bad and a fair amount of fun.

My 10 year old loves the Beatles and they have helped him to like Spoon, the Shins and countless other bands.

Posted by savoy truffle | January 5, 2007 8:55 PM
38

Having been there at the time, and purchased them all as soon as they came out, I'd say Revolver - I guess because it seems a bit edgier and more matured. And more explicitly druggy. I think it most closely reflects what was in the air at the time, as LSD use kicked in among hipsters and wannabes. Rolling Stone quotes George Harrison as saying "I don't see too much difference between Revolver and Rubber Soul. To me, they could be Volume 1 and Volume 2". Rolling Stone's book "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" lists: 1) Sgt. Pepper, 2) Pet Sounds, 3) Revolver, 4) Highway 61, and 5) Rubber Soul. "Freak Out!" is # 240 :)

Posted by MarkyMark | January 6, 2007 4:06 AM
39

Rubber Soul is a more solid, cohesive set of songs, but Revolver hits higher heights.

Highway 61?!! Everyone knows that Blonde On Blonde is the better album!

Posted by T-Bone | January 6, 2007 9:15 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).