Abbey Road - Beatles (The) > Reviews > The Beatles' farewell

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Excellent songs and an innovative medley
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

After the sometimes self-indulgent, often fractious Beatles 'White Album' and the delayed 'Let It Be' (which had already been recorded and was sitting on the shelf awaiting Phil Spector's salvage job), 'Abbey Road', the last they recorded before the final bust-up, came as quite a relief. Although it was still partly a case of Paul and John working as soloists with the others as session men, leaving George Martin as producer to join the dots together, it was amuch better, more concise album, the best since 'Sergeant Pepper'.
John's heaviest contributions to the band's catalogue yet, "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", have that air of edginess without being too left-field, and his soothing "Because" is a real slow burner. Between them they easily outshone Paul's not unlikeable but mildly irritating "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", but Macca redeemed himself with the soulful "Oh! Darling", and masterminding the superb medley on what was side two of the original vinyl album, from "You Never Give Me Your Money" (a riposte to the notorious Allen Klein) to the gutsy "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" (check out Joe Cocker's version) and the astonishingly simple but effective "The End". At last Ringo got to give us a drum solo!
Yes, don't let's forget the other two. Ringo's "Octopus Garden" was an absolute gem, while at last George's long-suppressed talent was allowed to break out of the cage with "Here Comes The Sun" and "Something". And they anticipated the 70s by introducing a synthesiser on a couple of tracks.
To rephrase Leonard Cohen, 'Hey, what a way, to say goodbye'.