ABBEY ROAD

The weakest track on the album is "Oh! Darling," and I think that says something, too: while it's by no means a great song, each of the other sixteen* is better. My only other criticism is that nearly eight minutes, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a bit long. I do appreciate the need for the song to be longer than the usual track, by the way; I think in particular that the three-minute coda gets a little monotonous. But overall, the songwriting here is excellent. In fact, among all Beatles LPs, Abbey Road represents the best balance among the group's songwriters. Although Paul McCartney doesn't have a standout track, his contributions to the Side Two medley are pretty good - - especially "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Golden Slumbers," and "Carry That Weight." Ringo Starr's contribution, "Octopus's Garden" is delightful, and John Lennon turns in both "Because" and "Come Together," the latter being one of his best Beatles songs. The real star, though, is George Harrison, as his best two songs, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun," are both here.

While few bands have produced a song as incredible as "Here Comes the Sun," "Something" is in another league. Among Beatles songs, "Something" is only equaled by "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "Eleanor Rigby," and is surpassed only by "Penny Lane." Of course, to be fair to Lennon and McCartney, Harrison learned from the best. Every compositional aspect of "Something" is fantastic, from the way the verse-chorus melody builds and resolves to the contrast the bridge provides to the incredible guitar solo. And the hopeful but ambivalent the lyrics ("you're asking me, 'will our love grow?' / I don't know; I don't know") are on a par with the writing of Lennon or McCartney.

In addition to the compositions, the instrumental and vocal performances (and in particular the choral performances on "Because" and "Sun King") are superb. As the group's bass guitarist, McCartney outdoes himself, so to speak, on "I Want You (She's So Heavy);" surprisingly, the appropriately conventional bass line on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is played by Harrison, the lead guitarist. In turn, McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison play successive guitar solos on "The End," the song which also features a drum solo by Starr.

While I still consider Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to be the Beatles' best LP, Abbey Road and Revolver are also strong contenders. It's particularly remarkable that the band produced Abbey Road after two relatively weak albums (The Beatles and Let it Be, the latter finalized and released after Abbey Road).

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*counting each track on the 2009 CD as a separate song.

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