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AlbumReview:AbbeyRoad

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1 The Beatles: Abbey Road
2 Intro
3 Abbey Road side A
- 3.1 Come Together
4 Abbey Road's side B
5 Track listing

The Beatles: Abbey Road

Intro

LOOK at the cover; the Beatles crossing Abbey Road, heading for the studios.........* Did they know, that this was going to be their last album ever ? (personally, I've stopped to search for clues about Paul's death on that cover a long time ago) ...

Abbey Road, is very special in the Beatles catalog, in many ways it's the last album they have recorded together (they will all meet in a studio just once again for the "You Know My Name" recording the "Let It Be" single side B ) "Abbey Road" is also the last Beatle album produced by George Martin.

We are in 1969, and it's safe to say that at that stage, the Beatles were already half split. John Lennon wanted Allen Klein in as their manager but Paul was adamant. John was involved with his own band, 'The Plastic Ono Band' along with Yoko, Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, Klaus Voorman (that mysterious bassist, who had so nicely drawn the 'Revolver' cover back in 66')

And Lennon, was also involved in a huge 'war is over' world peace campaign, he organized "happenings" with Yoko, (whom he had just married in Gibraltar) like the 'bed in' 'bed peace' in Amsterdam.

He recorded singles with his band, and had just released a live album from a rock festival in Toronto with the Plastic Ono Band.

George Harrison too was busy jamming with bands, and he even sponsored one which he had signed with 'Apple' the Radha Krishna Temple' and he had just signed James Taylor too.

George was no longer happy with the Beatles and Paul McCartney's bossy ways; we wanted to record on his own, and his own songs and produce his own albums ...

see All Things Must Pass

For Ringo, well he had already left the band the previous year, during the recording of the 'While Album' (and that's why Paul play drums on 'Back In The USSR').

Ringo, contemplated a career in movies; cinema called him (he starred in the'magic Christian' the year after, and will continue all the 70's.) Let's note here that he'll be the one to arrange to have the three others recording on his best album 'Ringo' in 1973 but never the four of them on the same track.

Paul McCartney, seemed to be the only one to want to keep the band alive but he obviously knew the task was becoming increasingly hopeless !

Abbey Road is special to me in another different way............

If you have a look at the White Album, released the year before, it was Paul with the band, John with the band, George with the band. Abbey road, thanks to George Martin's production, will put them together on that mythic side B

Abbey Road side A

Come Together

Come Together starts with it's CHEW CHEW we are directly into that Lennon world with lyrics as only he could write.

With Paul's elastic bass and George's subtle guitar, 'Come Together' is really one of the best Lennon song ever not to forget Billy "get back" Preston on keyboards

That song will be "Abbey Road's" hit number.

With the eight Ringo's drum beats and George's guitar intro of Something that's when I'd like to weep; not only because of George's demise but the incredible beauty of that song his voice had captured the kind of emotion needed , the chorus is just perfect and that little solo seems to say: "yes it's over but don't cry......no don't cry !

Arrives Paul, with one of those songs he seemed to enjoy to write for kids Maxwell Silver Hammer is in the same vein than'Obladi Oblada' or even 'Yellow Submarine' which he wrote for Ringo. That song will introduce the use of a VC3 synthetizer; and in the 'Let it Be' movie,we can see Mal Evans banging that hammer not on Maxwell's head, but on an anvil.

Paul will follow with Oh Darling when he tried to go Elvis, but only managed to be McCartney after all.He had a raucous voice on that one, and I've a got feeling that he thought that this number was going to be a hit.

Arrives Ringo with his Octopus's Garden so alive thanks to his singing and George's guitar and back vocals (they had written the song together he and Ringo)

The intro riff of I Want You (she's So Heavy) will send us once again into that Lennon world; very bluesy, with it's modest lyrics, that track will close the side one, with that George riff scratched to the bone ! Not to forget Mr Billy Preston on Hammond organ. Such a great track.

Abbey Road's side B

Here Comes The Sun

Here Comes The Sun is here to warm our bones, George is in a very good mood, and his acoustic playing sounds like some kind of magic to my ears. It's a great moment of optimism as if everything was alright.

Because and John send us back into his world and we are thrown deep into the Abbey Road's 'guts'. To me, that song, is one of the greatests musical treasure ever with the Heavenly melody and the "nine Beatles" ...

You Never Give Me Your Money is when we get a glimpse of what Paul is going through with the band; he was supposed to be the "pseudo-leader".

Since Brian Epstein's death. Apple was turning to be a kind of huge monster difficult to handle. George's Godly solo in the chorus makes of it a wonderful moment.

'1234567 all good children go to heaven' this announces the beginning of the end;

Sun King brings back Lennon to the front and the blessing of that 'Beatle sound' That intro, still gives me goose pimples with all that simple perfection. Here, Lennon invents a new language that sounds like Spanish, but is not.

When Mr Mustard comes out amid a Lennon/McCartney duo that reminds one of the good old day the listener is hypnotized.

Polythene Pam to me is the heart of Abbey Road; the sanctum sanctorum of that world of sounds that feed such wonderful images to our minds.

George is back with his Fender, and.. Oh ! Look out ! She Came In Through The Bathroom Window brings us back one real Paul McCartney with unconscious reminiscences of 'Sgt Pepper.

Paul sings incredibly well here "she could steal, but she could nor rob"; the three seconds of silence, and the little mythical rock symphony will begin; Paul is at the peak of his art here with Golden Slumbers (a song he wrote long ago) the violins, the pianos oh my god, if there is a paradise, that must be it ...

Carry That weight ; pure Beatles, with a melting pot , Paul is here with his 'You Never Give Me Your Money' melody. 'Carry That Weight', will give us the first and last Ringo's mini drum solo. Then came the three of them, for fantasic little guitar duel; George was the first, Paul second, and John came third.

The Beatles tickle electricity ! And in the end ...

The End

Yes ! The End ! It was finished, it was over, the Beatles had said it all. What a glorious way to end a career; ' and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love...........you make..........Ah aaaaaaaaaaaaah !

Her Majesty was this a joke from an engineer ? A mistake ? or Paul wanted the last word ? (he had it anyway) another one of those special Beatles secrets or mysteries.

Conclusion

I really wonder if this was an unconscious 'goodbye' from the Beatles to the world; the sixties were at an end, the 'dream' was over, (like john will sing it in his first real solo album the year after) Anyway, Abbey Road marked the end of an era, and the beginning of another. Let It Be will be released the year after, but that was already from the past !

Thank you Tracy ;)

Dorio

Track listing

CODE

1. Come Together
2. Something
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
4. Oh! Darling
5. Octopus's Garden
6. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
7. Here Comes the Sun
8. Because
9. You Never Give Me Your Money
10. Sun King
11. Mean Mr. Mustard
12. Polythene Pam
13. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
14. Golden Slumbers
15. Carry That Weight
16. The End
17. Her Majesty

Comment

Until recently I had never heard this album played right. I either heard it on ######ty tinny sound systems, or on good sound systems so quiet I never got the feel for it. So I put it on my sound system loud enough to feel the prescence of the music. Most. Beautiful. Ever.

The opening few tracks I don't have to much to say, I've heard them all a million times over, and they're really good but don't really stand out to my mind. For Harisson work I find "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" infinitely preferable to "Something." Maxwell's Silver Hammer is nicely quirky and a bit flipant, I like that. To me the true genius doesn't start until She's so Heavy.

Simple blues, but perfect in its simplicity. The ending build is just incredible. I sat there listening to it thinking "Is it even possible that you can repeat a phrase that many times and still each time has more impact than the last?" Apparently. After this huge wall of sound the sudden break into wind noises followed by Here Comes the Sun is awesome.

Because has haunting chords I don't think I will ever get out of my head. The opening clavinet riff reminds me of some other songs I can't place at the moment, I like the engineering on the sound.

You Never Gave me Your Money. I can't not describe the perfection and emotion in this song adequately enough. As only the Beatles could do, each word is the perfect word for the song. Part A is wonderful. Part B is great too, though the stereotypical 12bar blues piano riff in the background gets a little distracting to me. However, the more I ponder this the more I am of the conclusion that without that riff the song would be lacking its distinct flavour, so I learn to accept it as is. Words are still perfect, Paul's (it is Paul right?) singing is awesome. "Oh that magic feeling, nowhere to go" just resonates through the soul, especially with the music it's put over. The ascending guitar riffs leading into "One sweet dream, pack up your bags..." are a perfect transition. Bass work is as impecable as guitar and vocals. Ringo lays good beats that can't be beat. (badump-kish) Haunting song that will stay for me as long as I live. 12 out of possible 10 points.

After this huge welling of emotion, there truly is something magical in the opening of Sun King. Just this down home feeling of sitting in a rocking chair on the porch one warm and dark summer night. Very interesting muffled drum work, I dig it alot. The rest of the song doesn't captivate me as much but by this point in the album I am usually spellbound anyways.

The ensuing medley is not awesome by itself but is indespensible to the overall build of the album. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is a great culmination, with guitarwork similar to You Never Gave me Your Money. This is probably the reason why this album is so powerful, the themes keep coming back in interesting and varied ways.

Golden Slumbers has that potential to just make people cry. Extreme power and boy can the Beatles sing a sad song like no other. Given the fact you already have the haunting feelings lingering from You Never Gave me Your Money it is actually rather hard not to feel at least something out of this song.

Then comes Carry that Weight. In all the music I have ever heard, of the interseting and varied things, no song has ever scared me as much as this song. No experimental work of early Floyd nor no evil scraping noises by King Crimson has ever chilled me as the words "Boy, you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight a long time," has. It's like, okay thanks guys, I'm gonna go be manically depressed now, thank you. Then they decided to reiterate the feelings of You Never Gave me Your Money, and to close it off, return to the idea of carrying your heavy load (No the Moody Blues can't sing anything this sad either). It says to me, no matter what I do, whatever heartache life may give me I can never ever ever escape at all. Not a good song for people combating depression or dealing with unexpected grief and loss.

The End. Perfect culmination of the largest force the modern world has seen. The abrupt happiness carries you off with it, and gives you the last message ever from the Beatles. Perfection.

I think yesterday I called Led Zeppelin IV "God's gift to rock." If that's true then Abbey Road must be God's own Album. To my mind there has never been a musical compilation made by man that has been as good as this one, this is the crown of Man and of music, and I'm saying that even up against the classical geniuses Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, etc. This here, Abbey Road is it, the pinnacle.

Probably what impresses me more than anything is the maturity shown on this album. The Quintessential pop band proved that they had grown immeasurably as musicians. Most bands form at a certain level of musicianship and progress a bit with years of practice and stay at that new level. It seems the Beatles just kept developing as musicians, and sometimes I wonder what new heights they would have created if they had not disintergrated as a unit.

God has blessed this album and all mankind to be able to hear it. I salute The Beatles.

tdintbl