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ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! One of rock's greatest albums by the Fab Four. It's one of my personal favorites & it's a rare thing when I don't play it. The album hit #1 on the charts & deservedly so. Without a weak moment, this album flows from beginning to end; the Beatles once again proving their prowess in the studio. This was actually the last album that the Beatles recorded but, due to the untimely disappearance of Phil Spector, Let It Be was the last album released.
Abbey Road had two incredible hits released from it, "Come Together" which topped the charts #1 & "Something" which peaked at #3 (what???). Somewhat of a surprise was that wasn't a McCartney penned tune released as a single, though Sir Paul tried everything he could to get "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" released as one. But, let's face it, as light as the song sounds, mass murderers isn't great subject manner for lyrics. "Oh! Darling" was the song that should have released as a single. It's in 6/8 time & is a kind of throwback to old rock 'n' roll. McCartney's vocals on this song are some of the grittiest he ever recorded. "Oh! Darling" was one of the best album tracks on any Beatles album. "Octopus's Garden", written by Ringo, is non-essential. Then, what was side 1 on the vinyl record, closed with Lennon's "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", a great bluesy riff & solid vocals makes this a must-hear song. With it's heavy riff-laden slow fadeout makes it a perfect song ending that side of the record. This part of the album was a concession to Lennon's desires to record a straight ahead rock album.
The other side of that coin is that side two was to be McCartney's side with his desire to make a more continuous rock-suite, this didn't quite happen but many of the songs do segue from one to the next. This side began with Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun". It's one of his best songs & could have been released as a single. "Because" is a slow song with a lot of three part harmony. It's some of their best harmony work ever recorded. It's amazing in light of the fact that when each one recorded his vocal, the other two weren't even present. The proper part of the rock suite begins with "You Never Give Me Your Money". This theme would recur on a later song on Abbey Road; this is where McCartney began incorporating this idea into his music, he would use it time & again in his solo recordings. "Sun King" follows next & was originally titled "Here Comes the Sun King", Lennon used some faux foreign language words to give it the feel that he wanted. Two more Lennon fragments follow, "Mean Mr. Mustard" & "Polythene Pam". Both have humorous lyrics, the latter one I found to be very comical. Lennon was a master of lyrics, able to be humorous & insightful at the same time. A McCartney song is next, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", it's a nonsensical title but the line "she could steal but she could not rob" is a classic. "Golden Slumbers" is a beautiful McCartney composition though he did nick some of the lyrics from a 400 year old poem by Thomas Dekker. "Carry That Weight" follow & is a great singalong, the musical & lyrical theme from "You Never Give Me Your Money" is repeated here. What was listed as the final song in the initial Abbey Road release is "The End". The title is a prophetical one & one of the most adventurous things they ever did. We get a short drum solo from Ringo, the only one that was recorded, there's an incredible three guitar lead where McCartney, Lennon & Harrison take turns playing their riffs, then we get to the slow ending. Lennon commented on the line written by McCartney, "the love you take is equal to the love you make", Lennon thought that was one of the best lyrics that McCartney ever wrote. This is all followed by "Her Majesty" the shortest Beatles song recorded. It was really a throwaway but was saved by an engineer & spliced on to the end of "The End" because it had been instructed to never throw away anything that had been recorded.
Unless you're from somewhere else (say, a galaxy far, far away) then you've heard this album. One of the most creative pieces of music in the annals of rock 'n' roll!
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The Royal Treatment
Apple Records pulled all the stops for the Beatles 50th Anniversary of Abbey Road. The set is contained in a thick cardboard sleeve and a 100-page detailed book with practically anything anyone would want to know about this period with the Fab Four. There plenty of photos (black and white as well as color – some by Linda McCartney), music sheets, personal notes, scraps of paper with lyrics and lots of narrative about the songs and the period. Paul McCartney sets the foreword, Giles Martin (George Martin’s son) and Kevin Howlett have entire sections describing the music in eloquent terms. Howlett also has a chapter on how ‘Abbey Road’ came about. David Hepworth goes into detail about the aftermath and fantastic reception of the album world-wide. The book brings the reader down to reality and who the Beatles really were at this young stage – even on their last album. It’s intimate. They were kids – incredibly talented kids! There are four CD’s in this set. The first is a 2019 mix of the original album and its stunning. Discs two ands three cover Sessions, Outtakes, Demos in various forms; some instrumentals only. All the songs are discussed in detail explaining how and why they came about and there are some real fun surprises! The fourth CD (Blu-Ray) is the ultimate in joyous listening. Perfectly mixed in 5.1 DTS and also High-Resolution stereo. This is the first disc I listened to and I’m so amazed. There are instruments I never heard before brought to the front. Actually, that’s true for all the discs, but 5.1 is magic. Every speaker brings out the music that was previously lost in the older mixes. Put your flat-screen on and you can not only see the song list but some mellow sky backdrop with occasional birds - all very mellow. The book is a coffee table style book and the narratives are great to read while listening to the songs. There is not much more to be said about this release. It’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime kinds of recordings. All of it Sound and Vision. In the most technical, glossy and pleasing way. Going back for another listen.
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2016
