ABBEY ROAD

The last great album from The Beatles before it all went pear shaped (as opposed to Apple). The album cover may well be the most famous location in music history. The Abbey Road crossing has become a pilgrimage for fans worldwide. The eerie 'Paul is dead' fable is strong in the iconic imagery, Paul in bare feet, out of step, a weird number plate and a cigarette ? all point to his death, don't they? The music is another matter.

The album begins brilliantly with the masterful 'Come Together', perhaps the best on the album. The nonsensical lyrics sum up the shakey era it was created 'got to be a joker he just do what he please'.

We have some other highlights on side one such as 'Octopuse's Garden', a childish romp into aquatic excess, and the brilliant 'She's So Heavy'. The guitar work on this track is sublime and features one of the best lead solos from the group. Lennon's vocals are full of angst and it has many time shifts and metrical signatures. The end goes on repetitively and very metal like in a sense and then it ends so abruptly it's a shock. Check out the version by metal warlords, Coroner!

However, the real joy is on side two. It begins with 'Here comes the sun', such a great melody and I adore 'Because' with its overlayered vocal harmonies, but the real treasure, as far as progressive territory, is the multi movement suite of the last few tracks. They all blend one into another seamlessly and are really like one lengthy track rather than a series of short tracks less than 2 minutes each. None of them feel complete and seem to be parts of unfinished songs, which in reality they were. 'Polythene Pam' is memorable and 'She came in through the bathroom window' has a wonderful guitar motif in the verses and 'carry that weight' blends into the finale 'the end'. In fact it was the end for the Beatles, at least the end of their greatness. A flawed album certainly but still worthy of any musicologists collection.

Share this THE BEATLES review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to AtomicCrimsonRush
• Report this review (#228550)
• 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