What do you get when four guys cross a road? ........... One of the most famous album covers of all time it would seem. Low Standards ah-hoy!

Abbey Road is the last album the Beatles recorded together though not the last released, as thus it seems to show signs of the deterioration of the relationships in the band. John Lennon in particular appears to have totally lost interest in the band. His grit is sadly missing at times when it's needed to save us from that Paul McCartney, but at least George Harrison puts in a good performance. And lets give Ringo the benefit of the doubt, he's rubbish but hey not that rubbish!

My favourite Beatles album is Sgt Peppers followed by the overly bloated White Album. This album shows signs of both those albums and yet is nothing like either. It lacks the coherency of Sgt Peppers and it lacks the band-wide determination for experimentation of The White Album. Yet it is still a great album, how they manage to ride this fine line between appalling and tremendous is beyond me but they pull it off, somehow they pull it off most likely by sheer fluke.

~~*~~The Music Part~~*~~
1- Come Together
Come Together flows so effortlessly and captivates the mind via it's slinky soothing slippery bass line. The gentle guitar tone is sublime. The lead guitar that comes in during instrumental breaks has a heavenly quality. The drums are remarkably good in an understated manner and the vocals are really excellent. The production of this song and the sound they achieve is just amazing and a perfect example of just why we're still talking about The Beatles all this time later. This is a very 'Beatles' song, it's not rock and it's not r'n'b and it's not anything in particular, it just has that inconceivable sound. It's a great song; this album version is awe-inspiring and keep an eye out for the Live in New York 1972 John Lennon and Yoko Ono version which is very earthy and more powerful. Keep an ear out for the occasional 'mistakes' such as when you can hear John Lennon shouting "look out" in the background, they add to the textured feeling. Texture is what this song is all about and I feel privileged to even be able to think of playing this song never mind playing it on loop. When you go scrabbling around for a quick fix you often find pathetic vitamin tables and weak cough medicine if you're lucky, the medicine cabinet always seems to remain locked and secure on the wall. Only this time somebody has accidentally left their Prozac out, it's good stuff, good stuff.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

2- Something
Something is one of the greatest songs to have the Beatles name attached to it, and it was written by the most talented of Beatles (in my opinion natch) George Harrison. His vocals are pretty good though you feel could do with a little more confidence. The guitar work is quite solid and the bass filling. The best part of the song comes with the "I don't know" break, it soars and you can hear a real sense of energy in the song all of a sudden. This is a great switch in the dynamics as the song is much more gentle in the main hence the swing is empathized.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
After two sublime songs to start with we are now presented a rather toothless attempt at a post-modernist song. I suppose it has it's charms, it has a cute beat and some cuter vocals. The piano is wheeled out for a fairly half-hearted ballroom spin but the man Harrison provides some nice guitar tone. I somehow see this being one of Ringo's favourite songs to drum on, it just seems so him even if Lennon-McCartney are the guilty parties (the latter more than the former I dare say).
Padders Concise Score: 2/5

Oh! Darling
Uninspiring silly little love song. The screaming parts are the best by far, the rest of the time we are given a fairly pedestrian and rather wimpy beat from many other songs of this nature. Although at least I think it's already been used but perhaps the Beatles invented this tune, either way they need shooting.. oh right. I see. Sorry. But wrong one. I'm probably being unfair because it seems a well-constructed song, there's something that just nags my head though.
Padders Concise Score: 2/5

Octopus's Garden
Ringo's contribution to the album comes in for much criticism yet I've always felt a certain affection towards it. Ringo's vocals may well not be too hot, but I honestly think he sounds great on this song. Harrison contributes some excellent lead guitar and in fact all the guitar work is pretty good. The main beat from bass and drum is quite endearing in a childlike fashion, hey it's pop music after all and the Reach bass line from S Club7 is very catchy. The underwater vocal effects are often not mentioned, and so the trend shall continue. The harmonies are surprisingly nice and sweet, no sign of grit or irony.. is Lennon feeling well?
Padders Concise Score: 4/5

I Want You (She's So Heavy)
I can see this fitting well on The White Album but it isn't, it's here. And most glad I am for this is a truly brilliant piece of music. The words may be slightly uninspired but the music certainly isn't and neither is the manner in which the words are delivered. The organ comes out and delivers an epic and mystical performance.
The main guitar led instrumental break is very Cream inspired; it has a smooth and gently grooving texture. You can almost taste this song and it slips right down the throat and leaves behind a warm feeling as it goes on caressing your insides. The bass tone and performance is on the level of God status, as much as I hate to give that little oik McCartney too much credit he is in fantastic form musically. The song ends with a massive waltzing and slightly menacing repeating tune with winds of steels blowing through. It marches onwards and onwards for seemingly ever and ever and then mid flow it abruptly cuts off. It has dramatic effect- oh yes indeed it does.
Upon listening to songs like this it makes you realise that though Nihilism is the only true way to live a life there is in fact an overall reason to live.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Here Comes The Sun
After the dark and slightly evil tones of the previous song Here Comes The Sun lives up to it's name. The clouds rapidly part and the brightest of sunbeams falls upon your mortal flesh. You all know the tune I'm sure, that sweet sugar coated acoustic guitar, those soft and happy vocals, the driving beat. It's a beautiful song, that's really all there is to it. Harrison my boy, you are a god.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Because
The first thing that strikes me about this song is that it must have been an inspiration to Queen, it has similar features as a few of the early Queen tracks. There is also a quite spooky vibe tucked away with the melancholy sound. The tones used show a bit of experimentation though not White Album or Sgt Peppers standard. The whole thing is a slow harmony song pushed forward by a sparse bass line. The lyrics are great and crap rolled into one, written by Lennon-McCartney, but I'm not suggesting anything.. really.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

You Never Give Me Your Money
This is the bees knees and elbows rolled in one. Bees do have elbows, I've asked them and they said so. It all begins with gorgeous piano work and then some very intelligent sparse bass work to support the vocals. The vocals are sublime and in harmony and you begin to think it's a lot like the last song when suddenly the whole thing does a U-turn and takes-off. It's charming and delightful all the way through. The guitar is shag on legs and the ever-changing structure of the song is brilliant. It's like a rapid journey where you're constantly seeing wonderful things out of the window and by the time you realise what you've just seen there is something else grabbing your attention equally as wonderful.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Sun King
This feels so good to play through your head. At the time of reviewing I have a headache from getting up too early and doing too much on too little food (and not drinking Vodka), and this song is acting like a genuine tonic. It's soothing my head. The guitar tone is so laid back and chilled and supported likewise by the bass and then the vocals too. And I suppose it goes without saying the drums are quite laid back. They start singing in a foreign language just to remind me how ignorant I am, a bit mean really.
Padders Concise Score: 4/5

Mean Mr Mustard
The album begins to take a very strange and silly turn around here. I say silly, but that isn't a bad thing I love the twist in this album. Without pause after Sun King comes an absurd and farcical drum and in particular bass line along with some bizarre lyrics. You know what though, as I've said earlier this is pop and it flipping rocks to death. I'm throbbing at this odd little avenue the album is taking, I dig it man.
Padders Concise Score: 4/5

Polythene Pam
Wow. It's a simplistic but darn fine beat rocker with a wonderful chord progression that I often enjoy indulging in myself. It rocks along and then really takes off and as it does Harrison pulls out a blinding lead performance. At first the chords and drum hold the thing together for the 'interesting' gender bender lyrics to be delivered. Then after a shout from Macca the whole darn thing explodes. Ringo does a fantastic job, the drums sound great in an accidentally kind of way. Harrison is scorching. Oh just check this thing out and feel sorry The Beatles didn't stay together and do live gigs in the 70s! It's not very long as a whole and turns into the next song.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
So this is part three in this breathless rocking twist in the album, and though not up to Polythene Pam it's still fantastic. It's cool but sadly there is an end this time and the album shall hence soon resume it's more regular of paths.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Golden Slumbers
This is an ambitious song and you can hear there is potential there, but it isn't a mustard cutter. The string section added is actually quite awful sounding. It's still quite a solid number though and it turns out to be the prelude to the better things to come..
Padders Concise Score: 3/5

Carry That Weight
This song is in fact the previous song part two and you won't notice the change over between track 14 and 15 unless you are watching the numbers on your CD player. I still think the string section is over-kill and ruins the song, though Harrison provides a brief but excellent lead guitar and the "carry that weight" chorus line is utterly sex.
Padders Concise Score: 4/5

The End
This is like the official end of The Beatles. All I can say is that they're going out on a high for this is one of the post playable songs ever laid down. The beat is rock and the lead guitar is possibly the most rock that the Beatles ever got. It's shaggadelic to the highest degree. It rocks away on the line "love you, love you" and has a real vigour for progress. Oh and I forgot to mention Ringo. Not only does Harrison provide a startlingly good solo but there is a quick drum solo too and the man he done good (for him, which is actually still quite poor)! It has a final message of love though the era has now passed, "and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" are the final words. What a way to go out, it brings a tear to the eye and I'm not even a massive Beatles sucker.
Padders Concise Score: 5/5

Her Majesty
This is more of a tag on after a gap of silence; it's a little silly snippet of song. It's very nice but pretend it isn't there because The End is the greatest way to end the band.
Not included in scoring.

~~*~~Conclusions~~*~~
Maths: 68/80, 85% - FIVE STARS.

It's an interesting album that shows the Beatles at their best and near their worst, but then quality control was always the Beatles' only major flaw. Well, that and having a rat faced pretentious brat called Paul McCartney involved. Yes I know he was a good musician in the Beatles. But he's a prat. And I suppose having a drummer not up to fast rock beats didn't help. Anyway, the nature of this album is what's important here. The pace is changed all of a sudden mid way through. It's all quite a slow album -but a good slow- and then suddenly all hell breaks lose and they rap through three songs without even a pause between them. It adds a real sense of character to the album. I always seem to fall in love with eccentricities and the bizarre lurch this album takes makes it that little bit more than merely a disc with a collection of songs on it.

Though the band were no longer getting on and things were falling apart this turns out to be a very good album indeed. Togetherness though is shown to be lacking, there is constantly a lurching and slightly disjointed feel to much of the album. Normally this is a bad thing but I personally believe they get away with it pretty well here. It's a timeless classic because it's a Beatles album, but even if it weren't by those Scouse gods it would still be considered a darn fine album.