“It’s been a long time
Now I’m coming back home“
At long last, the Rubber Soul – Special Edition is finally available to pre-order with a release date of 2 October, 2026! Over the last few years we’ve already been provided with some of the contents of this box set. The 2023 edition of The Beatles 1962–1966 (best known as the Red Album) gave us a whopping 9 of the 16 songs from the Rubber Soul period (including the We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper single). Then in 2025 we were treated to a couple of wonderful outtakes on Anthology 4: In My Life (Take 1) and Nowhere Man (First version – Take 2).
What I’d like to do in this post is look at the track lists for Discs 1 and 2 of the box set and break down which tracks are already available and which tracks will be brand new in October.
Disc 1 – Rubber Soul (Giles Martin Mix)
Release |
Release Date |
|
Drive My Car |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
You Won’t See Me |
||
Nowhere Man |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
Think For Yourself |
||
The Word |
||
Michelle |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
What Goes On |
||
Girl |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
I’m Looking Through You |
||
In My Life |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
Wait |
||
If I Needed Someone |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
Run For Your Life |
Disc 2 – Sessions, Demos and The Single
Release |
Official Release Date |
|
Wait (Take 3 – instrumental backing track) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
Run For Your Life (Takes 1-5 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (First version – Take 1) |
Anthology 2 |
18 March 1996 |
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Second version – Take 2) |
|
|
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Third version – Take 3) 1 |
|
|
Drive My Car (Takes 1 and 2 – instrumental backing track) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
Day Tripper (Songwriting work tape) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
Day Tripper (Take 1 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
Day Tripper (Takes 2 and 3 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
If I Needed Someone (Take 1 – instrumental backing track) |
✨UNHEARD✨2 |
|
In My Life (Take 1) |
Anthology 4 |
21 November 2025 |
In My Life (Extract with unused organ solo) |
|
|
We Can Work It Out (Paul’s demo) |
|
|
We Can Work It Out (Take 1 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
Nowhere Man (First version – Take 2) |
Anthology 4 |
21 November 2025 |
Nowhere Man (Second version – Take 5 – instrumental backing track) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
I’m Looking Through You (First version – Take 1) |
Anthology 2 |
18 March 1996 |
I’m Looking Through You (Second version – Take 2) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
I’m Looking Through You (Second version – Take 3) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
Michelle (Guitar rehearsal) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
Michelle (Take 1) |
|
NOW AVAILABLE |
What Goes On (Take 1 – instrumental backing track) |
✨UNHEARD✨ |
|
The Word (Takes 1 and 2 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
Girl (Take 2 – instrumental backing track) |
|
|
Beatle Talk (Think For Yourself vocal overdubs) |
|
|
Little Girl (John’s demo) |
✨UNHEARD✨3 |
|
Day Tripper (2023 mix) |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
We Can Work It Out (2023 mix) |
The Beatles 1962–1966 (2023 Edition) |
10 November 2023 |
Footnotes:
- I’m not quite sure why they’re calling this Third Version since there were only two dates recording Norwegian Wood: 12 October 1965 and 21 October 1965 ↩︎
- Unheard assuming this is the state of the track on 16 October 1965 before additional overdubs on 18 October 1965 ↩︎
- I have no idea what this is which is incredibly exciting ↩︎