ABBEY ROAD

It's true. I really disliked them, especially their so-called "masterpiece" Sgt.Pepper, and i thought that everybody who did were simply brainwashed. I always had a soft spot in my heart for "Octopus' garden" though, and because of that i once desided that i should give Abbey Road a try. So one day when i was at my sister's, we took out the album and played a few songs, her trying to explain to me why the Beatles WRE as good as everybody said, me trying to resist the temptation to dig in on the music. I failed. Miserably. By the time it had come to "The End" i had completely given up pretending that "Okay, maybe that one was good, but the next is probably not", and just told her that i needed to listen to the album again, as soon as possible. So an hour or so later, i lay down on the floor, alone in the apartment, and let the Beatles speak to me through her stereo, and as i lay there i had what some refer to as a "moment". I felt the true essence of music filling me for 49 minutes straight, telling me that everything i had ever felt was wrong, and that this is the way i need to live my life from now on. It sounds stupid, and of course i'm exaggerating, but it IS true that, after listening to Abbey Road (twice, and then digging upp sgt. pepper the same day and listening to it 3 times in a row) that day, my whole perspective on what music is changed. Before Abbey Road i was all about ELP and Genesis, and all music which could be considered "simpler" than that, i did not consider worth listening to. Abbey Road made me appreciate music, it opened my eyes, and no music did ever sound the same afterwards.

Now i know that it was only a matter if time before i dropped my silly notion of what i considered "music", and what was important, and i know that if the Beatles hadn't been there, it might as well have been any other good cd in my sister's collection, but i also remember the intensity of the outro of "i want you", how the notes fell on my head like soft raindrops a hot summer day when "here comes the sun" started playing directly after, and the whole section from "you never give my your money" through the end struck me as absolute musical genius, each new section turning my stomach in anticipation while my heart screams "never stop!"

Abbey Road is the album where the Beatles took every good element from their past and distil them into their absolute masterpiece, their swansong. And since i even like the goofy numbers (maxwell's silver hammer, octopus' garden), it's all good to me! Some may consider it an uneven album, and while i can understand that, to me it's gold from start to finish, and the majority of my favourite Beatles moments are found in here as well (when the piano comes in in "the end", "here comes the sun", the "carry that weight/you never give me your money" medley...) The most "Prog" of the Beatles' albums as well, and with more triple vocal harmonies than you could ever need (but it's all good). It is varied, stylistically, and doesn't have that "plastic" studio feel that Sgt.Pepper sometimes does.

No matter if it fits the site's agenda or not, there is no way i can give this seminal album anything less than masterpiece rating. So that's exactly what i'm going to do.

Share this THE BEATLES review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Evans
• Report this review (#126267)
• Buy THE BEATLES music online with PA partners
• Show all THE BEATLES MP3/Stream
• Go to THE BEATLES page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Abbey Road page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE BEATLES related discussions