In light of the Lennon "she's so heavy" thread and the new Paul McCartney album that pretty much brings him back to his invented roots.. I thought about how important this album is, and has become.

Album highlights.. the whole freaking album


John & Paul pretty much kicked ass all over the place. The entire sequence is magical sounding.
George brought two HUGE hits (perhaps he outshined his bandmates this go around).. he had so many things to release at the time... glad he was able to on his own.

Anyhow.. this album is a "winter" album for me.. simply cause I bought it then,, I dig the entire unified vibe they brought.. it really defined the team work of these bandmates.. I think this was a crucial album for them and a nice tip of the hat.. into the sunset..

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[Edited 9/9/05 22:58pm]

I think this is a pretty strong candidate for best album of all time, much more so than Sgt. Pepper. George Starostin, one of my favorite online record reviewers, considers it the Beatles' encyclopedia of human emotions (as opposed to the White Album being their encyclopedia of pop music genres). It really does cover just about all the bases an album can cover: triumphant, whimsical, dreamy, oppressive, bright, laid-back, rockin', jazzy, even funky.

I used to think that I don't like the Beatles very much but damn, this album is beyond incredible. I will get The White Album and Revolver as well but can do without the earlier stuff, I think. BTW, why is Hey Jude on none of their albums?

Anyway, this is about Abbey Road... I wish I could really understand how much of an impact the Beatles had back then. So many things they did are all too common in music now.

One more thing, the beginnign of "Because" sounds, uhm, strange. Is it in non-4/4 time?

calldapplwondery83 said:

wait a minute.. u dont have the white album?

Not yet, no...
Like I said, I'm just getting into them... Problem is, Beatles CD won't get cheaper in stores, they propably still sell too much. I'll try my luck on ebay.

calldapplwondery83 said:

Get to a record store fast.. get White Album

then get Anthology 2 & 3

not to mention Revolver, Magical Myster and Rubber Soul...

Personally, I think 'Abbey Road' is only 'very good'. It's let down by the god-awful blues 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'. That thing just never ends! I'm also no great fan of 'Oh, Darling' - hate it when McCartney did that awful scream-singing - never moves me.

Also,it's obvious Lennon's only a 'part-time Beatle' by this point. The record is effectively a McCartney/ George Martin project guest-starring the other three. The ending medley is good tho what does it actually mean? Other than being a bunch of song fragments stuck together. Tho Harrison delivers two of his greatest songs, and I love 'Come Together' and 'Because'. All three guitar players play well on this album. 'Golden Slumbers' into 'Carry That Weight' is prime McCartney too (apart from the grotesque over-singing here and there.

Much as I love the Beatles, I think every album they ever made has at least one poor or boring track (even 'Pepper').

Don't get me wrong, it's a good album - one of their best. But I can't overlook 'I Want You'. I just hate that track - sounds like a poor Peter Green Fleetwood Mac knock-off. It's below them.

I await the flames of destruction ...

Miles said:

Please wait just a little longer. I'll get some sleep and tomorrow morning (unless you edited your post) I'll be all ready to shred you to pieces. Online, that is.
Seriously, how can one NOT love "I want you"? OK, it IS long and superficially it doesn't have much variety throughout, but those little changes make it so interesting. His desire seems to slowly build up, so to speak. Until he leds out this scream.
And I also love the fact that there are no other lyrics besides those few words. Like it's all he can really think about.

calldapplwondery83 said:[quote] BTW, why is Hey Jude on none of their albums?

[quote]

Most of the Beatle's big singles--She Loves You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, We Can Work It Out, Day Tripper, Hey Jude--aren't on albums. They thought it was cheap to include music that people most likely had already bought as a single on the records. But Hey Jude is on lotsa compilations, for instance, "Hey Jude" (I don't think that's on cd though).

The American versions of the records had the singles though, they butchered the original British records badly until Sgt. Pepper. When they released the Beatles on cd they went back to the original British format.

Anyway, "Past Masters 1" & "Past Masters 2" have the non-album singles. 2 has Hey Jude.
[Edited 9/10/05 17:05pm]

oh lord! I love the harsh voice in Oh Darling. It sounds so perfect and emotive to me. Is that the correct use of that word?

The only song I don't care for is Octopus's Garden.

Miles said:

The only thin that irritates me about the production of Abbey Road is the synth solo in "Because". It's too dated for me.

I absolutely love "You Never Give Me Your money" and it's reprise in "golden slumbers" is tremendous.

ufoclub said:

Abbey Road made me a believer and the medley is too good to put into words. Paul McCartney's bass work on Coming Together and the opening of You Never Give Me Your Money is the most melodic I've heard outside of his bass hero, Mr. James Jamerson. Especially the opening licks of You Never Give Me Your Money, it's sick! Easily my favorite Beatles album.
[Edited 9/11/05 2:27am]

It so happens that i bought the cd yesterday. I've got the vinyl record and i just wanted a copy for in my car.
I really discovered this album, and my 'hatred' towards the Beatles is completely gone.
Abbey Road is now one of my all time favorite albums, the best Beatles album in my opinion. My favorite track is 'i want you', just great.

Yeah, this used to be my fave Beatles album for many years. George was the real winner on this one.