Rubber Soul at 60: The New Remix and Vinyl Box, Weighed by the Reviews

By most reviewers' reckoning, the most important record in the new Rubber Soul box was cut in 2014. LP4, the original UK mono, comes from the all-analogue metal parts made for The Beatles in Mono, and on new vinyl it is sold only in the five-LP Super Deluxe set. That one fact frames every Rubber Soul vinyl choice. The Special Edition, out since 2 October 2026, costs about $30 as a single LP, $40 as a double and $230 as the box (US prices as of October 2026).

Six reviews, the Discogs run-outs and early buyers' complaints tell one story. Giles Martin and Sam Okell's new stereo mix wins most critics over, with reservations about compression and texture. The mono is the prize. And pressings that pleased the professionals have drawn warp and non-fill reports from buyers.

Rubber Soul vinyl editions: what each one holds

Every format carries the new stereo mix, "sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes" per the official announcement, and de-mixed with technology from Peter Jackson's WingNut Films. The single LP holds that mix alone, on black vinyl, limited orange vinyl or a Zoetrope picture disc. The double adds a 16-track LP of session highlights, including both sides of the 1965 single, "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out".

The box adds 26 tracks of sessions and demos over two LPs, among them "Little Girl", a Lennon song outline never released or even rumoured. Then come the UK mono (LP4), the 12-track Capitol US album (LP5), a 7-inch single and an 88-page hardback book introduced by Paul McCartney. Missing: the original 1965 stereo mix and George Martin's 1987 CD remix.

Sources: Apple Corps and Universal announcement, Tracking Angle, AnalogPlanet, Discogs; Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds prices.

Giles Martin's Rubber Soul remix: four tracks, untangled

Rubber Soul was recorded in about a month from 12 October 1965 on four tracks: typically drums and bass on one, John's and George's guitars on another, voices and overdubs on the rest. The 1965 stereo mix, writes Joe Marchese of The Second Disc, "generally placed instruments to the left and voices to the right"; Mark Smotroff of AnalogPlanet never liked the "inevitably loud cowbell" it parks in one channel on "Drive My Car".

De-mixing lifts that constraint. Software that Michael Fremer of Tracking Angle calls MAL (Machine Audio Learning) pulls apart instruments sharing a track, letting Ringo Starr's drums lock in with Paul McCartney's bass in true stereo.

The praise is specific. Smotroff hears a mix that "appears to be modeled after the preferred original UK mono mix", with bass and drums "so much more present" but "not un-naturally so", and rates LP1 9.5 for sound. Fremer hears "life, drive, and high frequency energy and sparkle" that earlier de-mixed Beatles remixes lacked, and ranks this one "the best of the lot".

The reservations are as specific. Fremer hears "a bit of compression" that makes the picture "flatter and more 'in your face'", and a "solidity price": Ringo's matchbox on "I'm Looking Through You", tapped close to the microphone, now "has very little textural character and occasionally seems to disappear", and George Harrison's Gretsch comping on "What Goes On" "goes soft and rhythmically indistinct". Smotroff concedes some might find the vocals a bit "too hot". The verdict, for most critics: the most persuasive stereo Rubber Soul yet, bought with a little texture.

Rubber Soul mono vinyl: the 2014 analogue cut returns

LP4 is not a new cut. Fremer reports it is pressed from "the all-analog 2014 metal parts" that Sean Magee and Steve Berkowitz cut "with reference to the original mastering notes", and Discogs confirms the 2014 matrix, BD14114-01, in the dead wax.

It is the mix the band cared about. Fremer calls its inclusion a "genius decision" that lets you hear "what The Beatles themselves and others around them considered the most important mix"; Smotroff calls it "the definitive benchmark", Far Out "the definitive and greatest mix of the album".

Doug Collette of Glide alone dissents: after praising the new mix's presence, separation and depth, he writes that "the mono mix simply cannot compare". The louder complaint is access. The mono comes only in the five-LP and four-CD boxes, which Far Out finds "a little disappointing" for fans who will not pay for the full set.

Half-speed cuts and the Capitol LP: who cut what

Miles Showell half-speed mastered the new mix and the sessions LPs at Abbey Road; half speed, in the studio's words, gives "the cutting stylus as well as the whole system twice as long to record the mechanical groove". His run-outs read, with small variations, "MILES. ABBEY ROAD ½ SPEED. ROOM 30", and Discogs shows one lacquer number, BQ55554-01, on the box's LP1 and the orange and Zoetrope single LPs. The cut is shared; the pressing plant can differ by market.

The Capitol LP comes from another room and another engineer: Kevin Reeves cut it at East Iris, "from tape, I was told," Fremer writes. Capitol's 12-track running order drops "Drive My Car", "Nowhere Man", "What Goes On" and "If I Needed Someone" for two songs from the UK Help!, "I've Just Seen a Face" and "It's Only Love". Fremer finds "It's been compressed, or at least sounds as such", with the left-right spread sounding, he says, "narrowed a bit". Smotroff calls it "arguably several generations down from the original master".

Six reviews side by side

Six verdicts, different scales, one pattern: praise for the remix, respect for the mono from all but Glide, and cool words for the Capitol LP from both hi-fi sites.

Sources: the five written reviews and The 'In' Groove's video notes, 30 September to 5 October 2026; scores on each outlet's own scale.

Pressing reports: warps, non-fill and what to check on your copy

The reviewers' copies were good: Smotroff found "thick, dark 180g vinyl that is quiet and well-centered", and Fremer credits "the well pressed records from Optimal", the German plant that pressed the box.

Buyers' copies vary. Under Fremer's review, one reader wrote on 4 October that "the entire album was terribly warped as are all the albums in the box set"; another, on 12 October, that "All 5 albums in my set were warped as well". A US buyer of the double LP reports Vantiva pressings with "plenty of no-fill on side D" and "perfect" sides A and B. These are individual accounts, not a failure rate, but they cut against the odds.

In The Sound Lab's April film New Vinyl Is a Scam?, KD warned that premium anniversary editions mostly "get routed through the high volume pipeline" and named Optimal among the plants that "produce exceptional vinyl". This box took the better route and still drew both warp reports: a good plant guarantees no single copy.

The side-D report echoes KD's April test, in which one album's side four was clean while sides one and two were defective. Each side is pressed from its own stamper, so one good side proves nothing about the next.

I'm not telling you to stop buying vinyl. I'm telling you to stop buying blindly. (KD, New Vinyl Is a Scam?, April 2026)

What to check on arrival:

1. Sight along each disc's edge and watch the tonearm for a steady rise and fall.
2. Play the outer grooves first: non-fill, KD explained, "is almost always worst on the outer grooves".
3. Listen for a tick once per revolution. If other owners hear it in the same spot, it is the stamper, and every copy from it carries the fault.
4. Note the run-out. Reading the dead wax gives the plant, the cutting engineer and sometimes the stamper; a GZ or MRP code calls for caution, not a verdict.
5. Match the return to the fault. Warps and non-fill come from the press cycle (rushed cooling; too little heat, time or pressure), so a replacement can be clean. For a stamper tick, ask for a refund or a different stamper: "buying another copy of the same pressing will not fix the problem," KD said.

Which Rubber Soul to buy: single LP, double, box or an original

The single LP, about $30, is the value pick: the same remix, half-speed mastered by Showell, that opens the box. Buy it if your Rubber Soul is a hard-panned stereo copy, or if you have none.

The double, about $40, is the awkward middle: sessions highlights, no mono and, like the box, early pressing complaints.

The box, about $230, is the only new vinyl route to the mono, plus the Capitol LP, the full sessions and a book Fremer says "is worth a healthy chunk of the $229 retail price". The 'In' Groove, a record-store channel on YouTube, calls the mono LP "a $100+ disc on its own", which makes the box fair for anyone who wants both mixes.

Or buy an original. Fremer's advice on the Capitol LP is blunt: "If you like it, find an original and you'll like it more." KD's April rule for classic catalogues agrees: a near-mint original, pressed when quality control was tighter, "can significantly outperform a modern reissue".

The Sound Lab's call: the single LP if the remix is the point, the box if the mono is. Either way, trust the first play over the plant's reputation.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Rubber Soul remix better than the original stereo mix?

The reviewers who compare the two prefer the remix to the hard-panned 1965 stereo mix. Fremer, who ranks it the best of the de-mixed Beatles remixes, still hears some compression and lost texture.

Which Rubber Soul vinyl edition has the mono mix?

Only the five-LP Super Deluxe box has the mono mix, pressed from the 2014 all-analogue metal parts.

Are the Rubber Soul special edition pressings good?

Reviewers' copies were quiet and well pressed, but buyers have reported warped box sets and non-fill on a US double LP.