The Beatles "Abbey Road"

I first heard the Abbey Road album when I was a senior in High School. A friend of mine had received the album of as a gift and he did not really care for The Beatles, he liked underground music I think solely because it was underground. Anyway he did not want the album and thus gave it to me, without the case which he lost the case somewhere along the line. Anyway I listened to it for the first time that day. I thought the album was excellent, sure I could do without "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "I Want You (She's so Heavy)," but other than that I thought the album was excellent. I still think it is excellent

By now most know the story of this album's creation, it was their last album to be recorded but not the last to be released. After the painful "Let It Be/Get Back" recording sessions the group was ready to break up but decided to record one last time and return to their earlier style of recording. Abbey Road is my favorite Beatles album and what I consider their most unified and concept oriented work. The first eight tracks (side one of the original record) are individual songs and the next eight tracks (side two) are one long song suite where individual songs link to make a larger piece of music.

The reason I call this their most complete album is that ideas and sounds from the album's previous songs appear in later parts of the album. The lyrics from "Here Comes the Sun" appear in "Sun King" although slightly altered and sung completely different. The lyrics and instrumentals from "You Never Give me your Money" appear in "Golden Slumbers" and "Carry That Weight." The harmonies from "Because" appear in "You Never Give me Your Money" and "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window." The characters in the songs also interact "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" are siblings, "You Never Give me Your Money," "She Came in through the Bathroom Window," "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight," and "The End" seem to all be about the same two people though they are never named. There are probably numerous other ideas and concepts in the songs that I have yet to find but whether you search for ideas of not the music is some of the finest ever recorded by the greatest group in Rock History. The Beatles certainly went out on a high note.

I love this album and like the Fab Four said, "In the End the Love you take is Equal to the Love you Make."