The Beatles – Rubber Soul

I have a Rubber Soul CD that comes in a mini record sleeve. The disc itself looks like a mini-record released by Capitol, and the disc surface is black (like an old PlayStation disc). I can't figure out what it is. Does anybody know? Was it part of a box set. Is it a bootleg, or official release. Any help would be appreciated.

Good evening,
I have a version that I can't find. From the Netherlands, with the label code PCS 3075 below Stereo and below that Kant 1, on the left the code (YEX 178), record company Parlophone, black label and BIEM in a rectangle at the bottom center. Do I need to create a new contribution?

Many look for this “loud cut” and it’s not very cheap… but I bought mine at my local record store for 70kr (7$)!

I have no objections to this allegedly "hot" press. It is a loud mono master, but I used to work in radio with mono 45s from the rocknroll era, and it sounds like them to me. If I didn't know this were allegedly "loud," I'd simply, cheerily take it for a really cool pressing of this record. Nothing distorts or smashes into a brick-wall sonically speaking. I also play mono from this era with Stanton or Pickering radio-ready, period-correct mono styli, which are themselves a bit hot in their output. It's loud, but I feel like I am in the 60s with this.

The Beat phenomenon dies in April 1965, when Fab Four's "Ticket to ride" is released as a single, anticipating the forms of rock to come, through a revolutionary, dissonant and instrumentally heavy tune about uncaring mercenary love. A little later is issued their last naive commercial reassuring record, "Help!". In the summer of 1965 the band inaugurates a new period of inspiration drawing on marijuana and first LSD trips, to conceive a new musical development, searching for further emancipation, lyrical truth and expressive depth. The new style is devoted to "really say something", elevating their songwriting beyond the mere pop that was before. The lp title, "Rubber Soul", serves the idea of re-imagining, stretching the bounderies of ordinary genres, to new communicative accomplishments. Connoted by their most explicit lyrics to date, "Drive my car" homages Stax and Motown captivating r'n'b, reporting showbiz bad stories from the inside. Another crude confessional tune is the foreigner folk of "Norwegian wood", in which sitar debutes as a new lead instrument and the lyrics evoke an occasional adultery from the star point of view ("or should I say, she once had me"). "Nowhere man" is Lennon's second existential angst lament after "Help!", coming from the narcotized dimension of its plain, monotone musical structure to which is pinned the double-tracked vocals of the obsessive chorus, outcome of the author's drug-induced break with reality. Harrison delivers the tepid sulking fuzz tone milestone "Think for yourself" and, far better, the jingle-jangle Byrds emulative "If I needed someone", that's a mini-epic in its own semplicity. "The word" is a somewhat anticipation of the 1967's 'summer of love', actually ironic, as the Beatles are a bunch of northerns who come from a workers-not-intellectual milieu (add to that Lennon's gusto for enjoying misinterpretation). Originally written as a show stopper for Jane Asher's parties, "Michelle" is a by-the-book harmonic exercise with a french mood, whose recording had Paul layering all the instruments by himself. Lennon extends the euro trip with the teutonic flavoured "Girl", maybe a retrievel of a long lost Hamburg memory, a tune that indulges in an indolent sorrow about an unapprecieted affection laid bare on a cold weariness of living. The theme of the memory is again at the core in John's masterpiece "In my life", one of his best songs ever. After having tried unsuccessfully to bundle up a great amount of childhood images and references expecting to condensate them in one descriptive song (Paul will achieve this with the future "Penny Lane"), Lennon decided to let the reminiscence arise clearing the mind from any detail or specificity, obtaining a more universal result. 4/5.

I love how all the "loud cut" pressings nowadays have become desirable and demand prices when originally they were recut for good reasons like poor sound quality.

Okay, so reading the other comments here, it is very clear that opinions are torn on this. Is it worth the price? Is it distorted or lacking? In my experience, this "loud" cut isn't exactly what we would think of as loud today, after years of the loudness wars and so on. Overall, having played this on my Project/One with an AT3600L Cartridge, it is what I would describe as far more "present" than say, my Capitol 1st press Mono or my Capitol 69 green label stereo pressing. Mind you, my copy of this -1-1 loud cut is VG borderline VG+, so I would say that anything below a VG, you'll start to hear more groove wear and distortion which would not be worth the price. Overall, I'm sure the Hazel Yarwood -5-5 is an even better pressing, but as a collector, you don't always go for better audio fidelity as you do go for collectability. There's something to be said for having a very first pressing, released they day of. It's more for historic preservation than anything else. In fact, I hardly play my copy. If I really want to hear Rubber Soul, usually I'll go for my Capitol mono, believe it or not. I've Just Seen A Face is a far better opener, and Dave Dexter Jr for once actually made a better Beatles record than Parlophone.

Hi y'all. I am trying to find out which copy of Rubber Soul that I own. I am worried that it might be a bootleg. Any info helps!

Here is the Matrix / Runout info:

Side 1: T1-2442-F17 #4
Side 2: T1-2442-G18 #3

I appreciate all the work that the encyclopedians have done but I find it still difficult to identify the correct issue for albums like these. I wish there would be filters for the "tiny" details.

JUST received my first "loud cut" pressing of Rubber Soul. I'm impressed. The clarity of the kick drum in "Drive My Car" ALONE is reason enough to seek out a copy if you dont already own one.