170-569: Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles . It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom on EMI 's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single " Day Tripper " / " We Can Work It Out ". The original North American release, issued by Capitol Records , contains ten of the fourteen songs and two tracks withheld from
340-660: A Sony/ATV consortium for around $ 2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium include the estate of Michael Jackson , the Blackstone Group , and the Abu Dhabi –owned Mubadala Development Company . EMI's locations in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada were all disassembled to repay debt, but the primary head office located outside those countries is still functional. EMI Music Publishing
510-521: A folk rock album, particularly in its Capitol configuration, Rubber Soul incorporates a mix of pop , soul and folk musical styles. The title derives from the colloquialism " plastic soul " and was the Beatles' way of acknowledging their lack of authenticity compared to the African-American soul artists they admired. After A Hard Day's Night (1964), it was the second Beatles LP to contain only original material. The songs demonstrate
680-420: A "live" sound. Recordings, including live, may contain editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology , artists can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones ; with each part recorded as a separate track . Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of
850-458: A brown heavy paper sleeve with a large hole in the center so the record's label could be seen. The fragile records were stored on their sides. By the mid-1920s, photo album publishers sold collections of empty sleeves of heavier paper in bound volumes with stiff covers slightly larger than the 10" popular records. (Classical records measured 12".) On the paper cover in small type were the words "Record Album". Now records could be stored vertically with
1020-534: A category of Beatles " 'coming home' songs", while Riley pairs it with " It Won't Be Long " but adds that, relative to that 1963 song, in "Wait" "the lovers' reunion has more anxiety than euphoria goading the beat." The band completed the track on the final day of recording for the album, overdubbing tone-pedal lead guitar, percussion and a new vocal by McCartney onto the June 1965 rhythm track. MacDonald writes that, although Lennon and McCartney would most likely have viewed
1190-412: A collection of pieces or songs on a single record was called an "album"; the word was extended to other recording media such as compact disc, MiniDisc , compact audio cassette, 8-track tape and digital albums as they were introduced. An album (Latin albus , white), in ancient Rome, was a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts, and other public notices were inscribed in black. It
1360-403: A compilation of songs created by any average listener of music. The songs on a mixtape generally relate to one another in some way, whether it be a conceptual theme or an overall sound. After the introduction of Compact discs, the term "Mixtape" began to apply to any personal compilation of songs on any given format. The sales of Compact Cassettes eventually began to decline in the 1990s, after
1530-458: A conscious debt" to the Miracles' contemporary hit " The Tracks of My Tears " and thereby served as "the most recent installment in the lively cultural exchange between Motown's Hitsville Studios and EMI's Abbey Road". Martin's Bach-inspired piano solo was overdubbed in the Beatles' absence, over a section that they had left empty. Womack says that the baroque aspect of this contribution furthers
1700-435: A creative entity unto themselves". In 1995, Harrison said that Rubber Soul was his favourite Beatles album, adding: "we certainly knew we were making a good album. We did spend more time on it and tried new things. But the most important thing about it was that we were suddenly hearing sounds that we weren't able to hear before." During the sessions, McCartney played a solid-body Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar, which produced
1870-424: A current or former member of a musical group which is released under that artist's name only, even though some or all other band members may be involved. The solo album appeared as early as the late 1940s. A 1947 Billboard magazine article heralded " Margaret Whiting huddling with Capitol execs over her first solo album on which she will be backed by Frank De Vol ". There is no formal definition setting forth
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#17327808789362040-561: A customer buys a whole album rather than just one or two songs from the artist. The song is not necessarily free nor is it available as a stand-alone download, adding also to the incentive to buy the complete album. In contrast to hidden tracks , bonus tracks are included on track listings and usually do not have a gap of silence between other album tracks. Bonus tracks on CD or vinyl albums are common in Japan for releases by European and North American artists; since importing international copies of
2210-454: A deal licensing EMI's catalogue in a digital format for their online streaming music service. This was the first time EMI had licensed any of its catalogue to a streaming music website. Pop star Robbie Williams signed a six-album deal in 2002 paying him over £80 million ($ 157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history at the time, but also
2380-461: A few hours to several years. This process usually requires several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or " mixed " together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation , to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", have reverberation, which creates
2550-510: A fuller sound than his hollow-body Hofner . The Rickenbacker's design allowed for greater melodic precision, a characteristic that led McCartney to contribute more intricate bass lines. For the rest of his Beatles career, the Rickenbacker would become McCartney's primary bass for studio work. Harrison used a Fender Stratocaster for the first time, most notably in his lead guitar part on " Nowhere Man ". The variety in guitar tones throughout
2720-443: A guitar solo by Harrison that represents "one of Jean-Paul Sartre 's existential café workers". The Beatles had attempted to record an early version of Lennon's " What Goes On " in 1963. With little time to complete Rubber Soul , the song was reworked by Lennon and McCartney as a vocal spot for Starr, who also received his first songwriting credit, as co-composer. The song is in the country style favoured by Starr, and in its lyrics
2890-653: A key work in the creation of styles such as psychedelia and progressive rock . Among its many appearances on critics' best-album lists, Rolling Stone ranked it fifth on the magazine's 2012 list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ". In 2000, it was voted at number 34 in the third edition of Colin Larkin 's book All Time Top 1000 Albums . The album was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1997, indicating shipments of at least six million copies in
3060-717: A loss of £260 million in 2006/2007, in August 2007 EMI was acquired by Terra Firma Capital Partners for £4.2 billion. Following the transition, several artists including Radiohead left EMI, while other artists such as Paul McCartney had left ahead of the takeover. At the same time, the Rolling Stones signed a one-album deal with Interscope Records / Universal Music Group outside its contract with EMI, which expired in February 2008, and then in July 2008 signed
3230-526: A mysterious girl, where she goes to bed and he sleeps in the bath; in retaliation at the girl's aloofness, the singer decides to burn down her pine-panelled home. Arranged in 12/8 time, and in the English folk style, the song has a Mixolydian melody that results in a drone effect in the acoustic guitars, complementing the sitar part, though switches to parallel scale of E Dorian during its middle eight. The narrative draws heavily on Dylan's style through its use of ambiguity. In author Jonathan Gould's description,
3400-442: A new long-term deal with Universal Music Group . The Terra Firma takeover was also reported to have been the catalyst behind a lawsuit filed by Pink Floyd over unpaid royalties. In January 2011 Pink Floyd signed a new global agreement with EMI. Around the same time, Guy Hands , CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners, came to EMI with restructuring plans to cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs and to reduce costs by £200 million
3570-440: A new, growing Beatles to the world", adding: "For the first time we began to think of albums as art on their own, as complete entities." It was the final Beatles album that recording engineer Norman Smith worked on before being promoted by EMI to record producer. The sessions were held over thirteen days and totalled 113 hours, with a further seventeen hours (spread over six days) allowed for mixing. The band were forced to work to
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#17327808789363740-514: A pair of lead guitar parts that are soon rendered off- metre by the arrival of McCartney's bass. " Drive My Car " is a McCartney composition with substantial contribution from Lennon with the lyrics. Harrison, as the Beatles' most knowledgeable soul-music enthusiast, contributed heavily to the recording by suggesting they arrange the song with a dual guitar–bass riff in the style of Otis Redding 's contemporary single " Respect ". In their joint lead vocals, McCartney and Lennon sing dissonant harmonies,
3910-477: A punitive harassment meant to scare other musicians. The band's troubles with the label resonate through their third studio album This Is War (2009) and were the subject of the 2012 documentary Artifact . In 2008, EMI withdrew from the South-East Asian market entirely, forcing its large roster of acts to search out contracts with other unaffiliated labels. As a result, the South-East Asian market
4080-468: A quality that is furthered by Harrison's entrance and signifies what Everett terms a "new jazzy sophistication … in the vocal arrangement". The lyrics convey an actress's desire to become a film star and her promise to the narrator that he can be her chauffeur. According to Riley, the song satirises the "ethics of materialism" and serves as a "parody of the Beatles' celebrity status and the status-seekers they meet". Author and critic Kenneth Womack describes
4250-577: A single artist, genre or period, a single artist covering the songs of various artists or a single artist, genre or period, or any variation of an album of cover songs which is marketed as a "tribute". EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries , also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI ) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At
4420-522: A single case, or a triple album containing three LPs or compact discs. Recording artists who have an extensive back catalogue may re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design, often containing one or more albums (in this scenario, these releases can sometimes be referred to as a "two (or three)-fer"), or a compilation of previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets . Some musical artists have also released more than three compact discs or LP records of new recordings at once, in
4590-433: A solo album for several reasons. A solo performer working with other members will typically have full creative control of the band, be able to hire and fire accompanists, and get the majority of the proceeds. The performer may be able to produce songs that differ widely from the sound of the band with which the performer has been associated, or that the group as a whole chose not to include in its own albums. Graham Nash of
4760-414: A studio. However, the common understanding of a "live album" is one that was recorded at a concert with a public audience, even when the recording is overdubbed or multi-tracked. Concert or stage performances are recorded using remote recording techniques. Albums may be recorded at a single concert , or combine recordings made at multiple concerts. They may include applause, laughter and other noise from
4930-406: A theme such as the "greatest hits" from one artist, B-sides and rarities by one artist, or selections from a record label , a musical genre , a certain time period, or a regional music scene. Promotional sampler albums are compilations. A tribute or cover album is a compilation of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may involve various artists covering the songs of
5100-423: A tight deadline to ensure the album was completed in time for a pre-Christmas release. They were nevertheless in the unfamiliar position of being able to dedicate themselves solely to a recording project, free of touring, filming and radio engagements. The Beatles ceded to two interruptions during this time. They received their MBEs at Buckingham Palace on 26 October, from Queen Elizabeth II , and on 1–2 November,
5270-453: A trend of shifting sales in the music industry , some observers feel that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album . An album may contain any number of tracks. In the United States, The Recording Academy 's rules for Grammy Awards state that an album must comprise a minimum total playing time of 15 minutes with at least five distinct tracks or a minimum total playing time of 30 minutes with no minimum track requirement. In
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5440-430: A way of promoting the album. Albums have been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished " demo " recordings. Double albums during the seventies were sometimes sequenced for record changers . In the case of a two-record set, for example, sides 1 and 4 would be stamped on one record, and sides 2 and 3 on
5610-537: A year. As a result, the UK chief executive Tony Wadsworth left EMI after 25 years in January 2008. The cuts were planned to take effect over the year 2008, and would affect up to a third of EMI's 5,500 staff. Thirty Seconds to Mars tried to exit their contract with EMI following the layoff of its staff and due to unpaid royalties, prompting the label to file a lawsuit for $ 30 million citing breach of contract. The suit
5780-469: Is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music ) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette ), or digital . Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records (78s) collected in a bound book resembling a photo album ; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm . The album
5950-509: Is a folk rock album; he cites its incorporation of baroque and Eastern sounds as examples of the Beatles' "nascent experimentalism and eclectic power of appropriation", aspects that he says suggest an artistic approach that transcends the genre. According to The Encyclopedia of Country Music , building on the Beatles' 1964 track " I Don't Want to Spoil the Party ", the album can be seen in retrospect as an early example of country rock , anticipating
6120-580: Is any vocal content. A track that has the same name as the album is called the title track. A bonus track (also known as a bonus cut or bonus) is a piece of music which has been included as an extra. This may be done as a marketing promotion, or for other reasons. It is not uncommon to include singles, B-sides , live recordings , and demo recordings as bonus tracks on re-issues of old albums, where those tracks were not originally included. Online music stores allow buyers to create their own albums by selecting songs themselves; bonus tracks may be included if
6290-713: Is love" anticipates the ethos behind the counterculture's 1967 Summer of Love . The lyrics focus on the concept of universal love as a path to spiritual enlightenment, with what Decker terms "proselytizing zeal" on the narrator's part. Author Ian MacDonald recognises the "distant influence" of Wilson Pickett 's " In the Midnight Hour " and James Brown 's " Papa's Got a Brand New Bag " on the song's rhythm, and highlights Starr's drumming (for its "feast of eccentric 'backwards fills ' ") and McCartney's dextrous bass playing. The arrangement also includes seven vocal parts and Martin playing suspended chords on harmonium. " Michelle "
6460-555: Is not necessarily just in MP3 file format, in which higher quality formats such as FLAC and WAV can be used on storage media that MP3 albums reside on, such as CD-R-ROMs , hard drives , flash memory (e.g. thumbdrives , MP3 players , SD cards ), etc. The contents of the album are usually recorded in a studio or live in concert, though may be recorded in other locations, such as at home (as with JJ Cale's Okie , Beck's Odelay , David Gray's White Ladder , and others), in
6630-482: Is now operated exclusively throughout the world by Sony Music Entertainment; except in Japan where the trade mark is owned by Columbia Music Entertainment . EMI released its first LPs in 1952 and its first stereophonic recordings in 1955 (first on reel-to-reel tape and then LPs, beginning in 1958). In 1957, to replace the loss of its long-established licensing arrangements with RCA Victor and Columbia Records (Columbia USA cut its ties with EMI in 1951), EMI entered
6800-1057: Is now owned by Sony Music Publishing , the music publishing division of Sony Music which bought another 70% stake in EMI Music Publishing. Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company , with its " His Master's Voice " record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound . The new vertically integrated company produced sound recordings as well as recording and playback equipment. The company's gramophone manufacturing led to 40 years of success with larger-scale electronics and electrical engineering . In October 1979, EMI merged with Thorn Electrical Industries to create Thorn EMI . On 16 August 1996, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerging Thorn from EMI again:
6970-633: Is now owned by Warner Music . EMI was listed on the London Stock Exchange , and was also once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index , but faced financial problems and US$ 4 billion in debt, leading to its acquisition by Citigroup in February 2011. Citigroup's ownership was temporary, as EMI announced in November 2011 that it would sell its music arm to Vivendi 's Universal Music Group for $ 1.9 billion and its publishing business to
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7140-402: Is recorded on both the "A" and "B" side of the tape, with cassette being "turned" to play the other side of the album. Compact Cassettes were also a popular way for musicians to record " Demos " or "Demo Tapes" of their music to distribute to various record labels, in the hopes of acquiring a recording contract . Compact cassettes also saw the creation of mixtapes , which are tapes containing
7310-549: The BBC 's second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC. The commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi . Their best-remembered piece of broadcast television equipment was the EMI 2001 colour television camera, which became
7480-551: The Choir of King's College, Cambridge . During the era of the long-playing record (LP), very few American and Canadian orchestras had their principal recording contracts with EMI, one notable exception being that of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra , especially during the tenure of William Steinberg . From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the company enjoyed huge success in the popular music field under
7650-805: The EMI Laboratories in Hayes, Hillingdon developed radar equipment (including the receiver section of the British Army's GL-II anti-aircraft fire-control radar), microwave devices such as the reflex klystron oscillator (having played a crucial role in the development of early production types following on from the British Admiralty Signal School's pioneering NR89, the so-called "Sutton tube"), electro-optic devices such as infra-red image converters, and eventually guided missiles employing analogue computers. The company
7820-630: The OKeh label. RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935, but due to its 1929 takeover of Victor, RCA retained the North and South American rights to the " His Master's Voice " trademark. In other countries, the Nipper logo was used by the EMI subsidiary label HMV, even though the "His Master's Voice" slogan itself would be retained by RCA along with the logo. In 1938 ARC-Brunswick was taken over by CBS , which then sold
7990-502: The Rubber Soul sessions for release as a single accompanying the album. To avoid having to promote the single with numerous television appearances, the Beatles chose to produce film clips for the two songs, the first time they had done so for a single. Directed by Joe McGrath , the clips were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios in south-west London on 23 November. [On Rubber Soul ] the Beatles demonstrated an ability to reach beyond
8160-522: The Rubber Soul sound. According to musicologist Walter Everett , some of the vocal arrangements feature the same "pantonal planing of three-part root-position triads" adopted by the Byrds, who had initially based their harmonies on the style used by the Beatles and other British Invasion bands. Riley says that the Beatles softened their music on Rubber Soul , yet by reverting to slower tempos they "draw attention to how much rhythm can do". Wide separation in
8330-520: The iPod , US album sales dropped 54.6% from 2001 to 2009. The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and play-back the recorded music. Most recently, the MP3 audio format has matured, revolutionizing the concept of digital storage. Early MP3 albums were essentially CD-rips created by early CD- ripping software, and sometimes real-time rips from cassettes and vinyl. The so-called "MP3 album"
8500-475: The "primary" version of the Beatles' albums was always the monophonic mix. According to Beatles historian Bruce Spizer , Martin and the EMI engineers devoted most of their time and attention to the mono mixdowns, and generally regarded stereo as a gimmick. The band were not usually present for the stereo mixing sessions. While Martin recalled the sessions as having been "a very joyful time", Smith felt "something had happened between Help! and Rubber Soul ", and
8670-524: The 1970s. Appraising the concept in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said most "are profit-taking recaps marred by sound and format inappropriate to phonographic reproduction (you can't put sights, smells, or fellowship on audio tape). But for Joe Cocker and Bette Midler and Bob-Dylan -in-the-arena, the form makes a compelling kind of sense." Among
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#17327808789368840-443: The 25-minute mark. The album Dopesmoker by Sleep contains only a single track, but the composition is over 63 minutes long. There are no formal rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as "albums". If an album becomes too long to fit onto a single vinyl record or CD, it may be released as a double album where two vinyl LPs or compact discs are packaged together in
9010-547: The American Brunswick label to American Decca Records , which along with its other properties, Vocalion Records and Aeolian Vocalion Records, used it as a subsidiary budget label afterward. CBS then operated Columbia as its flagship label in both the United States and Canada. EMI retained the rights to the Columbia name in most other territories including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It continued to operate
9180-534: The American market by acquiring 96% of the stock for Capitol Records USA. From 1960 to 1995 their "EMI House" corporate headquarters was located at 20 Manchester Square London, England, the stairwell from which was featured on the cover of the Beatles' Please Please Me album. In addition, an unused shot from the Please Please Me photo session, featuring the boys in short hair and cleancut attire,
9350-667: The Beatles into the EMI fold. When the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company (including Columbia's subsidiary label Parlophone ) in 1931, the new Anglo-American group was incorporated as Electric & Musical Industries Limited. At this point, the Radio Corporation of America had a majority shareholding in the new company due to RCA purchasing the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929. Victor owned 50% of
9520-536: The Beatles drew inspiration from soul music acts signed to the Motown and Stax record labels, particularly the singles they heard on US radio that summer, and from the contemporary folk rock of Dylan and the Byrds . Author Robert Rodriguez highlights the Byrds as having achieved "special notice as an American act that had taken something from the Brits, added to it, then sent it back". In doing so, Rodriguez continues,
9690-441: The Beatles returned the compliment paid to them earlier in 1965 by the Byrds, whose jangly guitar-based sound McGuinn had sourced from Harrison's playing the previous year. In MacDonald's view, the song is influenced "far more" by Indian classical music than by the Byrds, through Harrison's partly Mixolydian melody and the presence of drone. The latter aspect is furthered by McCartney's arpeggiated bass line in A major continuing over
9860-482: The Beatles' approach to making the album. Performed in the country style, it was the first track recorded for the album and features a descending guitar riff played by Harrison and slide guitar parts. Adhering to the company's policy for the Beatles' albums in the United States, Capitol Records altered the content of Rubber Soul for its release there. They removed "Drive My Car", "Nowhere Man", "What Goes On" and "If I Needed Someone", all of which were instead issued on
10030-467: The Beatles' artistic peers during this period, he says that on Rubber Soul these two acts "inspire rather than influence their sound". Two years after the start of Beatlemania , the band were open to exploring new themes in their music through a combination of their tiring of playing to audiences full of screaming fans, their commercial power, a shared curiosity gained through literature and experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs , and their interest in
10200-512: The Beatles' increasing maturity as lyricists, and in their incorporation of brighter guitar tones and new instrumentation such as sitar , harmonium and fuzz bass , the group striving for more expressive sounds and arrangements for their music. The project marked a progression in the band's treatment of the album format as an artistic platform, an approach they continued to develop with Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The four songs omitted by Capitol, including
10370-419: The Beatles' next North American album, Yesterday and Today , in June 1966. The four songs were replaced with " I've Just Seen a Face " and " It's Only Love ", which had been cut from Help! as part of Capitol's reconfiguring of that LP to serve as a true soundtrack album, consisting of Beatles songs and orchestral music from the film. Through the mix of predominantly acoustic-based songs, according to Womack,
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#173278087893610540-400: The Beatles' sessions were routinely booked to finish at 3 am each day. After A Hard Day's Night in 1964, Rubber Soul was the second Beatles album to contain only original material. As the band's main writers, Lennon and McCartney struggled to complete enough songs for the project. After a session on 27 October was cancelled due to a lack of new material, Martin told a reporter that he and
10710-516: The British affiliated Gramophone Company, giving RCA chairman David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. However, EMI was subsequently forced to sell Columbia USA due to anti-trust action taken by its American competitors. By this time the record industry had been hit hard by the Depression and in 1934 a much-diminished Columbia USA was purchased for just US$ 70,500 by ARC-BRC ( American Record Corporation –Brunswick Record Company), which also acquired
10880-421: The Byrds had joined the Beatles and Dylan in "a common pool of influence exchange, where each act gave and took from the other in equal measure". According to music critic Tim Riley , Rubber Soul served as a "step toward a greater synthesis" of all the elements that throughout 1965 represented a "major rock 'n' roll explosion", rather than just the emergence of folk rock. Citing Dylan and the Rolling Stones as
11050-468: The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. Further to Lennon's more introspective outlook in 1964, particularly on Beatles for Sale , the lyrics on Rubber Soul represent a pronounced development in sophistication, thoughtfulness and ambiguity. According to music critic Greil Marcus , "the Beatles were still writing about love, but this was a new kind of love: contingent, scary and vital", and so, while
11220-601: The Christian music market by acquiring Sparrow Records . Due to the increasing divergence of business models, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerger proposals on 16 August 1996. The resulting media company was now known as EMI Group PLC. In 1997, EMI Records USA was folded into both Virgin and Capitol. Since the 1930s, the Pathé Records label headquartered in Shanghai , China had been published under
11390-518: The EMI banner and since then, EMI had also been the dominant label in the cantopop market throughout Greater China until the genre's decline in the mid-1980s. Between the years 2004–2006, EMI then completely and totally divested itself from the c-pop market, and after that, all Hong Kong music artists previously associated with EMI had their music published by Gold Label , a concern unaffiliated with EMI and with which EMI did not yet hold any interest. On 21 November 2000, Streamwaves and EMI signed
11560-563: The EMI imprint. On 1 July 1973 the Gramophone Company subsidiary (The Gramophone Co. Ltd.) was renamed EMI Records Ltd as well, and in 1978, EMI launched EMI America Records as its second label in the United States after Capitol. EMI Music Worldwide was also formed in 1978 with Bhaskar Menon as chairman and CEO. In February 1979, EMI Ltd acquired United Artists Records and with it their subsidiary labels Liberty Records and Imperial Records . Eight months later, Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd. to form Thorn EMI . Sometime in
11730-497: The February 1966 single " Nowhere Man ", later appeared on the North American release Yesterday and Today (1966). Rubber Soul was highly influential on the Beatles' peers, leading to a widespread focus away from singles and onto creating albums of consistently high-quality songs. It has been recognised by music critics as an album that opened up the possibilities of pop music in terms of lyrical and musical scope, and as
11900-459: The French phrases in the lyrics accentuate the premise whereby a language barrier separates two lovers, and the narrative conveys an acceptance that their relationship is doomed to fail, such that the singer is already looking back nostalgically at what could have been. Gould describes the performance as "sentimental … French cabaret" which, following McCartney's declaration of "I love you", leads into
12070-496: The Hollies described his experience in developing a solo album as follows: "The thing that I go through that results in a solo album is an interesting process of collecting songs that can't be done, for whatever reason, by a lot of people". A solo album may also represent the departure of the performer from the group. A compilation album is a collection of material from various recording projects or various artists, assembled with
12240-519: The Japanese EMI branch, remains unchanged from the reflection of Toshiba 's divestiture to the business by EMI buying the whole branch way back July 2007, making it a full subsidiary. In July 2009, there were reports that EMI would not sell CDs to independent album retailers in a bid to cut costs, but in fact only a handful of small physical retailers were affected. In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for
12410-630: The Middle East and Africa as well as in Canada , Russia , India , China , Japan , Australia and New Zealand . Gramophone's (later EMI's) Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries dominated the popular music industries in those countries across the Asia-Pacific region from the 1920s until the 1960s, when other locally owned labels (such as Festival Records ) began to challenge the near monopoly of EMI. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around
12580-446: The North American release "takes on a decidedly folk-ish orientation". Capitol sequenced "I've Just Seen a Face" as the opening track, reflecting the company's attempt to present Rubber Soul as a folk-rock album, and "It's Only Love" opened side two. Gould writes that the omission of songs such as "Drive My Car" provided a "misleading idea" of the Beatles' musical direction and "turned the album title into an even more obscure joke", since
12750-562: The UK's first commercially available all- transistor computer, was developed at EMI's Central Research Laboratories in Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield , an electrical engineer at EMI. In the early 1970s, with financial support by the UK Department of Health and Social Security as well as EMI research investment, Hounsfield developed the first CT scanner , a device which revolutionised medical imaging . In 1973 EMI
12920-623: The US. In 2013, Rubber Soul was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for UK sales since 1994. Most of the songs on Rubber Soul were composed soon after the Beatles ' return to London following their August 1965 North American tour . The album reflects the influence of their month in America. Aside from setting a new attendance record when they played to over 55,000 at Shea Stadium on 15 August,
13090-527: The United Kingdom, the criteria for the UK Albums Chart is that a recording counts as an "album" if it either has more than four tracks or lasts more than 25 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs . Albums such as Tubular Bells , Amarok , and Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield , and Yes's Close to the Edge , include fewer than four tracks, but still surpass
13260-413: The album can be cheaper than buying a domestically released version, Japanese releases often feature bonus tracks to incentivize domestic purchase. Commercial sheet music is published in conjunction with the release of a new album (studio, compilation, soundtrack, etc.). A matching folio songbook is a compilation of the music notation of all the songs included in that particular album. It typically has
13430-519: The album was also aided by Harrison and Lennon's use of capos , such as in the high-register parts on " If I Needed Someone " and " Girl ". On Rubber Soul , the Beatles departed from standard rock and roll instrumentation, particularly in Harrison's use of the Indian sitar on " Norwegian Wood ". Having been introduced to the string instrument on the set of the 1965 film Help! , Harrison's interest
13600-526: The album's artwork on its cover and, in addition to sheet music, it includes photos of the artist. Most pop and rock releases come in standard Piano/Vocal/Guitar notation format (and occasionally Easy Piano / E-Z Play Today). Rock-oriented releases may also come in Guitar Recorded Versions edition, which are note-for-note transcriptions written directly from artist recordings. Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one-half of
13770-463: The album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles , they were conventionally placed in particular positions on the album. During the sixties, particularly in the UK, singles were generally released separately from albums. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as
13940-424: The amount of participation a band member can solicit from other members of their band, and still have the album referred to as a solo album. One reviewer wrote that Ringo Starr 's third venture, Ringo , "[t]echnically... wasn't a solo album because all four Beatles appeared on it". Three of the four members of the Beatles released solo albums while the group was officially still together. A performer may record
14110-510: The audience, comments by the performers between pieces, improvisation, and so on. They may use multitrack recording direct from the stage sound system (rather than microphones placed among the audience), and can employ additional manipulation and effects during post-production to enhance the quality of the recording. Notable early live albums include the double album of Benny Goodman , The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert , released in 1950. Live double albums later became popular during
14280-496: The band filmed their segments for The Music of Lennon & McCartney , a Granada Television tribute to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. According to author Christopher Bray, this intensive recording made Rubber Soul not just unusual in the Beatles' career but "emphatically unlike those LPs made by other bands". From 4 November – by which point only around half the required number of songs were near completion –
14450-584: The band's Help! (1965) album. Rubber Soul was described as an important artistic achievement by the band, meeting a highly favourable critical response and topping sales charts in Britain and the United States for several weeks. The recording sessions took place in London over a four-week period beginning in October 1965. For the first time in their career, the Beatles were able to record an album free of concert, radio or film commitments. Often referred to as
14620-406: The best selling live albums are Eric Clapton 's Unplugged (1992), selling over 26 million copies, Garth Brooks ' Double Live (1998), over 21 million copies, and Peter Frampton 's Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), over 11 million copies. In Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 18 albums were live albums. A solo album , in popular music , is an album recorded by
14790-446: The cassette tape throughout the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s before sharply declining during the 1990s. The cassette had largely disappeared by the first decade of the 2000s. Most albums are recorded in a studio , although they may also be recorded in a concert venue , at home, in the field, or a mix of places. The time frame for completely recording an album varies between
14960-416: The chord change to a ♭ VII triad . The detached, dispassionate tone in the lyrics has invited alternative interpretations. Gould refers to it as "a rueful rain check of a love song" directed to the "right person at the wrong time"; according to Jackson, "the lyrics address all the women of the world, saying that had he met them earlier [before committing to Boyd], it might have worked out, but now he
15130-548: The company became EMI Group plc, and the electronics and rentals divisions were divested as Thorn plc . The company broke up in 2012. In 1934, an EMI research team led by Sir Isaac Shoenberg developed the electronic Marconi-EMI system for television broadcasting, which quickly replaced Baird's electro-mechanical system following its introduction in 1936. After the Second World War , EMI resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing
15300-441: The composition as "a tour de force of altered scale degrees ". He adds that, such is the ambiguity throughout, "its tonal quality forms the perfect conspirator with the text's and the rhythm's hesitations and unexpected turns." Gould writes that, in its dialogue with Harrison's vocal, McCartney's fuzz bass suggests "the snarls of an enraged schnauzer , snapping and striking at its lead". ["The Word" is] all about gettin' smart. It's
15470-427: The confines of acceptable rock and roll techniques and bring to the studio truly innovative ideas such as layering bass and fuzz-bass guitars, creating rhymes in different languages, mixing modes on a single song, utilizing tape manipulation to give instruments entirely new sounds, and introducing the sitar – a most unusual instrument for a rock band. – Music journalist Chris Smith Lennon recalled that Rubber Soul
15640-459: The earth to me and I believe her/After all this time I don't know why'). It's the sympathetic side of the anger in 'Norwegian Wood. ' " Like "You Won't See Me" and "We Can Work It Out", " I'm Looking Through You " focuses on McCartney's troubled relationship with Asher. Gould describes it as the "disillusioned sequel" to McCartney's other 1965 songs centring on "a face-to-face (if not necessarily eye-to-eye) encounter between two lovers". Decker likens
15810-498: The family atmosphere that had once characterised the relationship between the Beatles and their production team was absent. He said the project revealed the first signs of artistic conflict between Lennon and McCartney, and friction within the band as more effort was spent on perfecting each song. This also manifested in a struggle over which song should be the A-side of their next single, with Lennon insisting on "Day Tripper" (of which he
15980-624: The field – as with early blues recordings, in prison, or with a mobile recording unit such as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio . Most albums are studio albums —that is, they are recorded in a recording studio with equipment meant to give those overseeing the recording as much control as possible over the sound of the album. They minimize external noises and reverberations and have highly sensitive microphones and sound mixing equipment. Band members may record their parts in separate rooms or at separate times, listening to
16150-425: The first time. Pop historian Andrew Grant Jackson describes Rubber Soul as a "synthesis of folk, rock, soul, baroque, proto-psychedelia, and the sitar". According to author Joe Harrington, the album contained the Beatles' first "psychedelic experiments", heralding the transformational effect of LSD on many of the original British Invasion acts. Author Bernard Gendron dismisses the commonly held view that Rubber Soul
16320-500: The form of a prototype. Compact Cassettes became especially popular during the 1980s after the advent of the Sony Walkman , which allowed the person to control what they listened to. The Walkman was convenient because of its size, the device could fit in most pockets and often came equipped with a clip for belts or pants. The compact cassette used double-sided magnetic tape to distribute music for commercial sale. The music
16490-480: The form of boxed sets, although in that case the work is still usually considered to be an album. Material (music or sounds) is stored on an album in sections termed tracks. A music track (often simply referred to as a track) is an individual song or instrumental recording. The term is particularly associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks; the term is also used for other formats such as EPs and singles . When vinyl records were
16660-502: The group "hope to resume next week" but would not consider recording songs by any other composers. The Beatles completed " Wait " for the album, having taped its rhythm track during the sessions for Help! in June 1965. They also recorded the instrumental " 12-Bar Original ", a twelve-bar blues in the style of Booker T. & the M.G.'s . Credited to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr, it remained unreleased until 1996. The group recorded " Day Tripper " and " We Can Work It Out " during
16830-446: The hallucinogenic drug LSD ; he said the drug had revealed to him the futility of the band's widespread fame by "open[ing] up this whole other consciousness". Author Mark Prendergast recognises Rubber Soul as "the first Beatles record which was noticeably drug-influenced". Lennon called it "the pot album". Marijuana appealed to the band's bohemian ideal. Paul McCartney , who was the only Beatle still living in central London, said it
17000-615: The hissing sound as he drew breath – an effect that also suggested he was inhaling on a marijuana joint . McCartney recalled that he and Harrison sang "Tit-tit-tit" on the middle eights to capture the "innocence" of the Beach Boys singing "La-la-la" on one of their recent songs. Riley likens the musical arrangement to a "scene from the old world" and he concludes of the song: "The old-fashioned atmosphere conveys desire and deception, and Lennon sings it as much to console himself as to make sense of its bewildering proportions ('And she promises
17170-725: The iTunes Plus category). Tracks were to cost $ 1.29/€1.29/£0.99. Legacy tracks with FairPlay DRM would still be available for $ 0.99/€0.99/£0.79 – albeit with lower quality sound and DRM restrictions still in place. Users would be able to 'upgrade' the EMI tracks that they had already bought for $ 0.30/€0.30/£0.20. Albums were also to be available at the same price as their lower quality, DRM counterparts and music videos from EMI would also be DRM-free. The higher-quality, DRM-free files became available worldwide on iTunes on 30 May 2007, and were expected to appear on other music download services soon thereafter. Following this decision, Universal Music Group also announced sales of DRM-free music (which
17340-596: The label with moderate success until 1973, when it was retired and replaced by the EMI Records imprint, making records with the Columbia Records label manufactured outside North America between 1972 and 1992 rare. In 1990, following a series of major takeovers that saw CBS Records acquired by the Sony Corporation of Japan, EMI sold its remaining rights to the Columbia name to Sony and the label
17510-523: The label, but that these audits rarely result in legal action. A legal settlement was announced on 12 April 2007 and terms were undisclosed. On 2 April 2007, EMI announced it would be releasing its music in DRM -free formats. These were to be issued in AAC format, which gave higher quality for the same bitrate compared with the ubiquitous MP3 format. The music would be distributed via Apple's iTunes Store (under
17680-407: The last, frantic day of the Rubber Soul sessions. In its final form, the song gained a middle eight where previously there had been a twelve-bar blues jam. Lennon credited a remark made by BBC journalist Kenneth Allsop , who had asked why his songs appeared to lack the wordplay and childhood focus evident in his 1964 book In His Own Write , as the catalyst for " In My Life ". Lennon considered
17850-628: The late 1980s, EMI America merged with sister label Manhattan Records , founded in 1984, becoming EMI Manhattan and eventually EMI USA when Capitol absorbed it in 1989. Also in 1989, Thorn EMI bought a 50% interest in Chrysalis Records , completing the buyout two years later. Six months after completing the buyout of Chrysalis, Thorn EMI bought Virgin Records from Richard Branson in one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions in record music history. In 1992, Thorn EMI entered
18020-588: The later '30s, record companies began releasing albums of previously released recordings of popular music in albums organized by performer, singers or bands, or by type of music, boogie-woogie , for example. When Columbia introduced the Long Playing record format in 1948, it was natural the term album would continue. Columbia expected that the record size distinction in 78s would continue, with classical music on 12" records and popular music on 10" records, and singles on 78s. Columbia's first popular 10" LP in fact
18190-492: The longer 12-inch 78s, playing around 4–5 minutes per side. For example, in 1924, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of his new seventeen-minute composition Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The recording was issued on both sides of a single record, Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. By 1910, though some European record companies had issued albums of complete operas and other works,
18360-410: The lyrics as being "loaded with sexual innuendo", and he says that the female protagonist challenged the gendered expectations of a mid-1960s pop audience, as an "everywoman" with ego and a clear agenda. Lennon said he wrote " Norwegian Wood " about an extramarital affair and that he worded the narrative to hide the truth from his wife, Cynthia . The lyrics sketch a failed meeting between the singer and
18530-406: The lyrics to a less philosophical version of "Think for Yourself" in which "the narrator has grown, yet the woman has failed to keep up." The composition contrasts acoustic-based verses with harsher, R&B-style instrumental sections, suggesting a combination of the folk rock and soul styles. The Beatles had taped two versions of the song before achieving the final version, which they recorded during
18700-410: The lyrics, he also expresses his disdain for Christian moral values. The song was the final track recorded for the album. The composition incorporates aspects of Greek folk music , while the arrangement includes an instrumental passage set as a German two-step and an acoustic guitar part played to sound like a Greek bouzouki . High equalisation was applied to Lennon's vocal over the choruses to capture
18870-431: The mainstay of much of the British television industry from the end of the 1960s until the early 1990s. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, and EMI left this area of product manufacture. EMI engineer Alan Blumlein received a patent for the invention of stereophonic sound in 1931. He was killed in 1942 whilst conducting flight trials on an experimental H2S radar set. During and after World War II ,
19040-487: The management of Sir Joseph Lockwood . The strong combination of EMI and its subsidiary labels (including Parlophone , HMV , Columbia and Capitol Records ) along with a roster of stellar groups such as the Hollies , the Shadows , the Beach Boys and the Beatles along with hit solo performers such as Frank Sinatra , Cliff Richard , and Nat 'King' Cole , made EMI the best-known and most successful recording company in
19210-473: The marijuana period ... it's the love-and-peace thing. The word is "love," right? It seems like the underlying theme to the universe. Everything that was worthwhile got down to this one, love, love thing. – John Lennon In his book 1965: The Year Modern Britain Was Born , Bray recognises " The Word " as marking the start of the Beatles' "high psychedelic period". Lennon's exhortation that "The word
19380-483: The mid-1930s, record companies had adopted the album format for classical music selections that were longer than the roughly eight minutes that fit on both sides of a classical 12" 78 rpm record. Initially the covers were plain, with the name of the selection and performer in small type. In 1938, Columbia Records hired the first graphic designer in the business to design covers, others soon followed and colorful album covers cover became an important selling feature. By
19550-487: The mid-1960s to the late 1970s when the Compact Cassette format took over. The format is regarded as an obsolete technology, and was relatively unknown outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Stereo 8 was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation , along with Ampex , Ford Motor Company , General Motors , Motorola , and RCA Victor Records . It
19720-509: The music was "seduction, not assault", the "emotional touch" was tougher than before. Author James Decker considers it significant that Rubber Soul "took its narrative cues more from folk crossovers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds than from the Beatles' pop cohorts". In particular, the relationships between the sexes moved from simpler boy-girl love songs to more nuanced and negative portrayals. In this way, Lennon and McCartney offered candid insights into their personal lives. The album opens with
19890-443: The other parts of the track with headphones to keep the timing right. In the 2000s, with the advent of digital recording , it became possible for musicians to record their part of a song in another studio in another part of the world, and send their contribution over digital channels to be included in the final product. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing or multi-tracking are termed "live", even when done in
20060-414: The other. The user would stack the two records onto the spindle of an automatic record changer, with side 1 on the bottom and side 2 (on the other record) on top. Side 1 would automatically drop onto the turntable and be played. When finished, the tone arm's position would trigger a mechanism which moved the arm out of the way, dropped the record with side 2, and played it. When both records had been played,
20230-468: The people who have shut themselves off from life". Heavy equalisation was applied to the electric guitar parts through a series of faders, giving them a treble-rich texture that, as with the harmony vocals, recalls the Byrds' sound. In Prendergast's description, the track "burst[s] forth with all the gusto of newly discovered psychedelia", as Lennon's lead vocal "luxuriates in an opiated haze of production and Harrison's Fender Stratocaster solo fuzzes with all
20400-556: The potential of the recording studio. According to Ringo Starr , Rubber Soul was the Beatles' "departure record", written and recorded during a period when, largely through the influence of marijuana , "We were expanding in all areas of our lives, opening up to a lot of different attitudes." The album was especially reflective of John Lennon 's maturation as a songwriter, as he was encouraged to address wider-ranging issues than before through Dylan's example. George Harrison 's outlook had been transformed by his and Lennon's experiences with
20570-464: The practice of issuing albums was not widely taken up by American record companies until the 1920s. By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than
20740-406: The primary medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves and many album covers or sleeves included numbers for the tracks on each side. On a compact disc the track number is indexed so that a player can jump straight to the start of any track. On digital music stores such as iTunes the term song is often used interchangeably with track regardless of whether there
20910-404: The record industry as a standard format for the "album". Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums. The term "album" was extended to other recording media such as 8-track tape , cassette tape , compact disc , MiniDisc , and digital albums, as they were introduced. As part of
21080-623: The record not touching the shelf, and the term was applied to the collection. In the early nineteenth century, "album" was occasionally used in the titles of some classical music sets, such as Robert Schumann 's Album for the Young Opus 68, a set of 43 short pieces. With the advent of 78 rpm records in the early 1900s, the typical 10-inch disc could only hold about three minutes of sound per side, so almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. Classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on
21250-451: The recording, and lyrics or librettos . Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage, the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78s were bundled in book-like albums (one side of a 78 rpm record could hold only about 3.5 minutes of sound). When LP records were introduced,
21420-497: The records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78s by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight compositions per album. By
21590-452: The release and distribution Compact Discs . The 2010s saw a revival of Compact Cassettes by independent record labels and DIY musicians who preferred the format because of its difficulty to share over the internet . The compact disc format replaced both the vinyl record and the cassette as the standard for the commercial mass-market distribution of physical music albums. After the introduction of music downloading and MP3 players such as
21760-435: The result was the band's least soul- or R&B-influenced album up to this point. The stereo mixes used by Capitol contained two false starts at the beginning of "I'm Looking Through You", while "The Word" also differed from the UK version due to the double-tracking of Lennon's lead vocal, the addition of an extra falsetto harmony and the panning treatment given to one of the percussion parts. Studio album An album
21930-497: The right hallucinatory sparkle". Harrison's lyrics to " Think for Yourself " suggest the influence of Dylan's September 1965 single " Positively 4th Street ", as Harrison appears to rebuke a friend or lover. The song's accusatory message was unprecedented in the Beatles' work; Jackson identifies it as the band's contribution to a "subgenre" of protest songs that emerged in 1965, in which artists railed against "oppressive conformity itself" rather than political issues. Everett describes
22100-469: The same pattern in their composition " I Can't Help Myself ". Lennon recalled that " Nowhere Man " came to him fully formed one night at his home in Surrey, after he had struggled to write anything for several hours. The song reflects the existential concerns raised by his experiences with LSD, and, like " I'm a Loser " and " Help! ", his self-loathing during a time he later called his "fat Elvis period". It
22270-437: The second biggest in music history behind that of Michael Jackson. Apple Records , the record label representing The Beatles , launched a suit against EMI for non-payment of royalties on 15 December 2005. The suit alleged that EMI had withheld $ 50 million from the record label; however, an EMI spokesman noted that audits of record label accounts are not that unusual, confirming at least two hundred such audits performed on
22440-432: The sessions, the Beatles typically focused on fine-tuning the musical arrangement for each song, an approach that reflected the growing division between the band as a live act and their ambitions as recording artists. The album was one of the first projects that Martin undertook after leaving EMI's staff and co-founding Associated Independent Recording (AIR). Martin later described Rubber Soul as "the first album to present
22610-533: The singer laments his lover's deceit. In Everett's description, the arrangement includes Harrison's rockabilly -inflected lead guitar, played on his Gretsch Tennessean, contrasting with Lennon's " Steve Cropper -styled Memphis 'chick' rhythm part". Lennon said he wrote " Girl " about an archetypal woman he had been searching for and would finally find in Yoko Ono , the Japanese artist he met in November 1966. In
22780-593: The song as the third consecutive track in which the narrative conveys miscommunication. McCartney described its music as "very Motown-flavored", with a "feel" inspired by Motown bassist James Jamerson . The verses use the same chord sequence as the Four Tops ' hit " It's the Same Old Song ", which was titled by its writers, the Holland–Dozier–Holland team, in acknowledgement that they had already used
22950-407: The song is an "emotional black comedy", while Decker recognises it as a continuation of the "interrogation of sexual ambiguities" and "muddled sense of power" displayed in "Drive My Car". Written by McCartney, " You Won't See Me " reflects the difficulties he was experiencing in his relationship with actress Jane Asher due to her refusal to put her acting career second to his needs. Gould identifies
23120-510: The song to be his "first real major piece of work". The lyrics evoke his youth in Liverpool and reflect his nostalgia for a time before the onset of international fame. McCartney recalled writing the melody on his own and said that the song's musical inspiration came from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles ; according to Lennon, McCartney merely assisted in writing what he called "the middle-eight melody". In Gould's description, "In My Life" "owed
23290-402: The song's nostalgic qualities, a point also made by Gould, who adds that, by revisiting the past and presenting emotional themes that are resolved in the narrative, "In My Life" serves as the album's only song that "sounds the Beatles' original ground theme of happiness-in-relationship". " Wait " was a Lennon composition to which McCartney contributed a middle eight. Gould includes the song among
23460-423: The sped-up sound gave the illusion of a harpsichord. In this way, the Beatles used the recording studio as a musical instrument , an approach that they and Martin developed further with Revolver . In Prendergast's description, "bright ethnic percussion" was among the other "great sounds" that filled the album. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison's three-part harmony singing was another musical detail that came to typify
23630-493: The stereo image ensured that subtleties in the musical arrangements were heard; in Riley's description, this quality emphasised the "richly textured" arrangements over "everything being stirred together into one high-velocity mass". McCartney said that as part of their increased involvement in the album's production, the band members attended the mixing sessions rather than let Martin work in their absence. Until late in their career,
23800-505: The studio itself" and Martin's skills as a classical arranger, "Implicitly, from the very start, this [music] was not stuff intended to be played live on stage." According to Barry Miles , a leading figure in the UK underground whom Lennon and McCartney befriended at this time, Rubber Soul and its 1966 follow-up, Revolver , were "when [the Beatles] got away from George Martin, and became
23970-496: The subject matter as dated even in June, the group's performance gives the song the required "drive and character" for Rubber Soul , particularly Starr's approach to the rhythm changes between its contrasting sections. Harrison wrote " If I Needed Someone " as a love song to Pattie Boyd , the English model to whom he became engaged in December 1965 and married the following month. In the song's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar riff,
24140-433: The time of its acquisition by Universal Music in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry , and was one of the "Big Four" record companies (now the " Big Three "). Its labels included EMI Records , Parlophone , Virgin Records , and Capitol Records , which are now referenced under Universal Music due to their acquisition with the exception of Parlophone, as it
24310-532: The tour allowed the band to meet with Bob Dylan in New York and their longtime hero Elvis Presley in Los Angeles. Although the Beatles had released their album Help! that same month, the requirement for a new album in time for Christmas was in keeping with the schedule established with EMI in 1963 by Brian Epstein , the group's manager, and George Martin , their record producer. In their new songs,
24480-464: The user would pick up the stack, turn it over, and put them back on the spindle—sides 3 and 4 would then play in sequence. Record changers were used for many years of the LP era, but eventually fell out of use. 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8: commonly known as the eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, or simply eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology popular in the United States from
24650-513: The world are held in EMI's temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, some of which have been released on CD since 2008 by Honest Jon's Records . In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at London 's Abbey Road . During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini , Sir Edward Elgar , and Otto Klemperer , among many others. During this time EMI appointed its first A&R managers. These included George Martin , who later brought
24820-519: The world at that time. In 1967, while shifting their focus on pop and rock music roster to Columbia and Parlophone, EMI converted HMV solely to a classical music label exclusively. For the emerging progressive rock genre including Pink Floyd , who had debuted on Columbia, EMI established a new subsidiary label, Harvest Records , two years later. In 1971, Electric & Musical Industries changed its name to EMI Ltd. and on 1 January 1973 EMI phased out most of its heritage labels and replacing them with
24990-442: The year ended March 2009, including write-downs on the value of its music catalogue. In addition, KPMG issued a going concern warning on the holding company's accounts regarding an ability to remain solvent. Citigroup (which held $ 4 billion in debt) took 100% ownership of EMI Group from Terra Firma Capital Partners on 1 February 2011, writing off £2.2 billion of debt and reducing EMI's debt load by 65%. The group
25160-592: Was Frank Sinatra's first album, the four-record eight-song The Voice of Frank Sinatra , originally issued in 1946. RCA's introduction of the smaller 45 rpm format later in 1948 disrupted Columbia's expectations. By the mid-1950s, 45s dominated the singles market and 12" LPs dominated the album market and both 78s and 10" LPs were discontinued. In the 1950s albums of popular music were also issued on 45s, sold in small heavy paper-covered "gate-fold" albums with multiple discs in sleeves or in sleeves in small boxes. This format disappeared around 1960. Sinatra's "The Voice"
25330-495: Was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge created by Earl "Madman" Muntz . A later quadraphonic version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and first known as Quad-8, then later changed to just Q8. The Compact Cassette was a popular medium for distributing pre-recorded music from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. The first "Compact Cassette" was introduced by Philips in August 1963 in
25500-688: Was a joint venture between EMI itself and Pied Piper Records Corporation. The physical audio and video products of the label have been distributed in South-East Asia by Warner Music Group since December 2008, while new EMI releases in China and Taiwan, were distributed under Gold Typhoon which was previously known as EMI Music China and EMI Music Taiwan, respectively. Meanwhile, the Korean branch of EMI (known as EMI Korea Limited) had its physical releases distributed by Warner Music Korea. EMI Music Japan ,
25670-545: Was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer of photomultipliers . This part of the business was transferred to Thorn as part of Thorn-EMI, then later became the independent concern Electron Tubes Ltd. The EMI Electronic Business Machine, a valve and magnetic drum memory computer, was built in the 1950s to process the British Motor Corporation payroll. In 1958 the EMIDEC 1100 ,
25840-668: Was awarded a prestigious Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for what was then called the EMI scanner , and in 1979 Hounsfield won the Nobel Prize for his accomplishment. After brief, but brilliant, success in the medical imaging field, EMI's manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies, notably Thorn (see Thorn EMI ). Subsequently, development and manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley and Wells. Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes , Scotland,
26010-420: Was conceived by McCartney in the late 1950s. During a writing session for Rubber Soul , Lennon added a new middle eight, part of which was taken from Nina Simone 's recent cover of " I Put a Spell on You ". MacDonald identifies the song as another example of the Beatles' "comedy song" approach, which, in a contemporary interview, McCartney had suggested was a possible new direction for the group. In Womack's view,
26180-426: Was described as an experiment). In May 2006, EMI attempted to buy Warner Music Group , which would have reduced the world's four largest record companies ( Big Four ) to three; however, the bid was rejected. Warner Music Group launched a Pac-Man defense , offering to buy EMI. EMI rejected the $ 4.6 billion offer. After a decline in the British market share from 16% to 9%, and the announcement that it had sustained
26350-500: Was entitled Let It Be . The photo was used instead for the cover of the Beatles' second greatest-hits double-disc compilation entitled 1967–1970 (also known as "The Blue Album"). (The two compilations were released in 1973.) EMI's classical artists of the period were largely limited to the prestigious British and European orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra as well as
26520-414: Was from this that in medieval and modern times, album came to denote a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item. The first audio albums were actually published by the publishers of photograph albums. Single 78 rpm records were sold in
26690-473: Was fuelled by fellow Indian music fans Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds, partway through the Beatles' US tour. Music journalist Paul Du Noyer describes the sitar part as "simply a sign of the whole band's hunger for new musical colours", but also "the pivotal moment of Rubber Soul ". The Beatles also made use of harmonium during the sessions, marking that instrument's introduction into rock music. The band's willingness to experiment with sound
26860-464: Was further demonstrated in McCartney playing fuzz bass on " Think for Yourself " over his standard bass part, and their employing a piano made to sound like a baroque harpsichord on " In My Life ". The latter effect came about when, in response to Lennon suggesting he play something "like Bach ", Martin recorded the piano solo with the tape running at half-speed; when played back at normal speed,
27030-399: Was issued in 1952 on two extended play 45s, with two songs on each side, in both packagings. The 10-inch and 12-inch LP record (long play), or 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. A single LP record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and it was adopted by
27200-526: Was later settled following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Jared Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros. " Many industry watchers viewed the suit as
27370-553: Was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft , of California, US, and 49% by EMI. It manufactured integrated circuits , electrolytic capacitors and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, hand-held calculators under the Gemini name. Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established its subsidiary operations and branch offices in a number of many other countries inside and outside of the British Commonwealth , including Europe,
27540-426: Was put up for sale and final bids were due by 5 October 2011. On 12 November 2011, it was announced that EMI would sell its recorded music operations to Universal Music Group (UMG) for £1.2 billion ($ 1.9 billion) and its music publishing operations to Sony/ATV Music Publishing -for $ 2.2 billion. Among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was Warner Music Group which
27710-411: Was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era . Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983, being gradually supplanted by
27880-457: Was the first Beatles song to completely avoid boy–girl relationships, and through Lennon conveying his feelings of inadequacy in the third person, the first example of a literary character in the Beatles' work. Riley views the message as a precursor to the "I'd love to turn you on" theme of " A Day in the Life " and, aided by the band's performance, optimistic in tone as Lennon "sings for the unsung,
28050-443: Was the first album over which the Beatles took control in the studio and made demands rather than accept standard recording practices. According to Riley, the album reflects "a new affection for recording" over live performance. Author Philip Norman similarly writes that, with the Beatles increasingly drawn towards EMI's large cache of "exotic" musical instruments, combined with their readiness to incorporate "every possible resource of
28220-457: Was the only region in the world where EMI was not in operation, although the record label continued to operate in Hong Kong and Indonesia (which was named Arka Music Indonesia). The Chinese and Taiwanese operation of EMI as well as the Hong Kong branch of Gold Label, was sold to Typhoon Group and reformed as Gold Typhoon . The Philippine branch of EMI changed its name to PolyEast Records , and
28390-402: Was the primary writer) and publicly contradicting EMI's announcement about the upcoming release. In addition, a rift was growing between McCartney and his bandmates as he continued to abstain from taking LSD. The revelations provided by the drug had drawn Lennon and Harrison closer, and were then shared by Starr when, during the band's stay in Los Angeles that August, he had agreed to try LSD for
28560-528: Was too much in love (but give me your number just in case)". Lennon wrote " Run for Your Life " based on " Baby Let's Play House ", which was one of Presley's early singles on the Sun record label. Lennon retained a line from the Presley track – "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man". The lyrical theme is jealousy, betraying an overtly misogynistic quality that Decker finds at odds with
28730-546: Was typical of a move away from alcohol and into "more of a beatnik scene, like jazz". Rubber Soul was a matter of having all experienced the recording studio, having grown musically as well, but [getting] the knowledge of the place, of the studio. We were more precise about making the album, that's all, and we took over the cover and everything. – John Lennon Recording for Rubber Soul began on 12 October 1965 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London; final production and mix down took place on 15 November. During
28900-483: Was used for the cover of the Beatles' first double-disc greatest-hits compilation entitled 1962–1966 (also known as "The Red Album"). In 1969, Angus McBean took a matching group photograph featuring the boys in long hair and beards to contrast with the earlier cleancut image to show that the boys could have appeal across a wide range of audiences. This photo was originally intended for the Get Back album which later
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