Just noticed that I'm almost at the 100-review mark - whew!
You might have come across me (as ...
Just noticed that I'm almost at the 100-review mark - whew!
You might have come across me (as cswann) on dooyoo
Member since:12.10.2000
Reviews:100
Members who trust:12
"Abbey Road" was the Beatles' final recording, the last time all four Fabs got together in the studio, the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. It's common knowledge that things were not going well between them, the four were going their separate ways… and I have to say that this shows in the music.
The album cover caused all kinds of rumours about Paul being dead (all the signs were there - his bare feet, the car registration number...?!?), all of which seemed to detract from the music itself at the time of release. It has been said that Lennon wasn't contributing very much to the Beatles' recordings at this point (spending all his time with Yoko). In fact on "Abbey Road" he only emerges as a prominent vocalist on three tracks. But where he does, it was worth him making the effort. "Come together" is an excellent song, in my opinion the best on the album. It's got a superb introduction, all reverb, and even now it sounds incredibly powerful and, well, different. The lyrics are not a strong point - there's obviously an attempt at politics, but lines like "one thing I can tell you is you got to be free" are a little simplistic. But there again, "she loves you yeah yeah yeah" wasn't that meaningful a lyric…
George Harrison wrote 2 songs on this album, both high quality tracks - "Something" is frequently cited as a classic song (by Sinatra, no less - and Lennon also claimed it was the best song on "Abbey Road"); and "Here comes the sun", which was aparrently written in Eric Clapton's garden. Ringo always had a song on every Beatles album, and here it's "Octopuses Garden", not a great song, a singalong in the style of "Yellow Submarine", but an improvement on many Ringo tracks. It's no worse than the plodding "Maxwell's Silver hammer", which seems very much like filler from McCartney.
The sequence of songs towards the end of the album is made up of some of the Beatles' less well known songs, possibly because all ran into one another and were not easy to play separately on the radio. The songs work well as a segue, but they I always do sound a little like unfinished snippets, that maybe no-one could be bothered to finish off properly. I love "Polythene Pam"s odd gender bending lyrics - shame that Lennon didn't make a longer song out it. To finish off, "The end", like many of the songs on the album, features some very nice three-part harmonies. It also includes a pretty awful drum solo, which goes on a bit - some kind of effort to respond to the supergroup era, possibly? The closing track, "Her Majesty" than comes in with a short burst of humour and irreverence - I don't like the song, but I like the way it's used.
Overall, the album sounds polished, and songs such as "Because" especially sound very orchestrated and slick. It contains a handful of excellent tracks, and the remainder are certainly not bad - and I'm so familiar with it that it's very hard to be objective about the music. But when it comes down to it, I have to admit it's not my favourite Beatles album, give me the raw enthusiasm of their earlier stuff any day.
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A very good option, I have yet to buy this album as I was a little iffy on some of the comments about it, but you have inspired me to go out and buy it. Keep up the good work :)
Davie123 15.02.2001 18:34
Sorry, my mistake I meant I Want You (She's So Heavy) instead of Sun King in my previous comment. I got a bit mixed up there. Sorry again, Davie.
Davie123 15.02.2001 18:32
I enjoyed reading your review. Abbey Road is probably my second favourite Beatles album after Rubber Soul. The weakest song on the album, in my opinion, is Sun King (it seems to drag on forever) but my particular favourite is Here Comes The Sun. Davie.
2007 Beatles 64p value on specially designed 'Abbey Road' design envelope. Bears the 64p ... more
'Abbey Road' stamp and a special 'Abbey Road' guitar shaped postmark for the first day of issue. Limited edition of just 1000 pieces worldwide, nice Beatles commem...
Postage & Packaging: £2.50 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: One of my favourite Beatles albums, full of life, soul and fantastic vocals Disadvantages: There isn't a big McCartney love song (we do get the next best thing though) and Ringo sings!
Feb 15th, 2001
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