ABBEY ROAD

After struggling to record the sub-par and rough-edged "Let it Be" the Beatles realized that it would not be a fitting or appropriate testimony to their glorious legacy and made amends with George Martin to help them create another great LP. The result is an album that is topped only by "Sgt. Peppers" and equalled only by "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul." Starting with the brilliant mood of the surreal "Come Together," they set the music world on its ear once again. The only things that keep this from being their best effort are the silly "Maxwell" and "Octopus' Garden" which are way too whimsical to appeal to me over the long haul. They are brilliantly produced and recorded but they just don't belong alongside the other magnificent compositions that surround them. Starting with "I want you (she's so heavy)" the Fab Four created their most progressive music ever. (I hear shades of this musical refrain as Dream Theater fades out of "Scenes from a Memory"). Harrison's "Here comes the sun" is a delight in its simplicity. The medley of songs that close out the album fit together so well that it defies description. If there was a Grammy for multiple-song editing it would be named for Mr. Martin and his engineering crew just because of this effort. It has no reason to flow so well but somehow it just works like a charm. Every song is great and lasts just long enough to make an indelible impression. Nothing else in rock music history even comes close to it. In retrospect this was, indeed, "The End" of a miraculous era in music and the tunes they gave us througout their career have stood the test of time as if they were carved from granite. The cover pictured them walking out of our lives but they will never leave our hearts and our memories. What a great way to exit stage left! Bravo!