Critical response to "Rubber Soul" was highly favourable. Allen Evans of the "NME" wrote that the band were "still finding different ways to make us enjoy listening to them" and described the LP as "a fine piece of recording artistry and adventure in group sound". While outlining to American readers the differences in the UK-format release, "KRLA Beat" said "Rubber Soul" was an "unbelievably sensational" work on which the Beatles were "once again ... setting trends in this world of pop". "Newsweek" lauded the Beatles as "the Bards of Pop", saying that the album's combination of "gospel, country, baroque counterpoint and even French popular ballads" lent the band a unique style in which their songs were "as brilliantly original as any written today". Like "Newsweek", "The New York Times" had belittled the group when they first performed in America in February 1964, but following the release of "Rubber Soul", entertainment critic Jack Gould wrote an effusive tribute in the newspaper's Sunday magazine. In "HiFi/Stereo Review", Morgan Ames wrote that, like other supportive professional musicians, he recognised the devices the band employed as "they tromp on the art of music", and while he viewed their formal musicality as limited, he expressed joy at its effectiveness. Having opened the review by saying, "The Beatles sound more and more like music", he concluded of the album: "Their blend is excellent, their performance smooth, and their charm, wit and excitement run high."