ABBEY ROAD

Abbey Road is the last album the Beatles would ever record, despite being released before "Let it Be". It has one of the most iconic images ever as the cover, but the music...

It's ok. It's certainly not prog (but the medley gets close), but that's not to say it's bad.

Lennon's contribution's to the album - outside of the medley - were "Come Together" (which had some lyrics copied of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me"), "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", coming in at 8 minutes and only a couple more words, and the last track before the medley "Because", which is a very simplistic song. Overall, only one song, that being "Come Together", I really enjoy, although I do enjoy some of the vocal harmonies that are in "Beacuase", although it ends up coming of as boring and weird, and the medley after it. And "I Want You" is a long, repetitive mess, and for eight minutes, the lyrical, and musical content is really missing, in place of it, useless repetition.

Harrison's contributions to the album are "Something", and one of the Beatles most recognisable songs "Here Comes the Sun". "Something" features what I'd say is McCartney's best bassline, ever, and one of the greatest love songs ever (for me, it's only beaten by the Beach Boys "God Only Knows"). And "Here Comes the Sun" is a wonderful way to begin side 2, and a beautifully calming and relaxing track.

Ringo Starr makes his second ever composition (and last) for the Beatles, in his one contribution to the album "Octopus's Garden", and a much better one than his previous "Don't Pass Me By".

Paul's contributions - apart from the medley - are "Oh! Darling" and the comical "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", the former of which provides some of Paul's best vocal work.

Finally, the medley. It opens with "You Never Give Me Your Money", a somber tune, that quickly turns into rock n' roll, once a minute rolls around, and is the most complete song in the medley (although it somewhat feels like two). "Sun King", once again features the three part vocals from "Because", but this time, a slightly less strange sounding melody. "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" are both rock n' roll songs written by Lennon, the former being slower, and less interesting, and the latter being stronger, and deserving a fully finished track, which unfortunatley would never happen. The last songs are all McCartney songs, "Golden Slumber" being a song based of a 17th century poem, with powerful orchestration, and "Carry That Weight" reprises some parts of "You Never Give You My Money". "The End" is ok, somewhat depressing, but also beautiful in its own unique way. And finally, "Her Majesty" is a beautiful short song to end the album, after 20 seconds of silence.

Overall, the best part of "Abbey Road" is it's cover. Other than that, it's a fairly forgettable album, with the strange medley being the most notable part musically, along with the first two tracks being number ones, and "Here Comes The Sun" becoming their most popular song.