ABBEY ROAD

Abbey Road has a first side of songs that characterize the styles of their authors: two remarkable Lennon rock- blues; two by McCartney, a pop song (the usual Macca song that takes the Beatles out of rock and in light music for families and children) and a remarkable rock and roll; a Harrison melodic classic and a tasty Ringo country. A second side follows where almost all the songs are mixed together, to form a suite that anticipates those of progressive rock (Colosseum's Valentyne Suite will be released shortly after). Both sides are very thick and, in particular, the second side of Abbey Road is the most innovative and certainly the best of all the second sides of the Beatles albums (average 8.00) since in this case there is no , as happened in practice in each previous album, no drop in quality: the compositions intended for facade B are not "minor", compared to those of side A - however, it may also be that the three central segments, by Lennon, if developed into real songs, they would have given rise to minor pieces. Slow, atmospheric love songs are missing from the album, there is not the usual honeyed retro song by McCartney, on the other hand there is a sweet and vocal song by Lennon. Abbey Road, as well as Let It Be, printed later but recorded earlier, marks a return of the Beatles to rock, after the psychedelic hangover of 1966-67, in which McCartney mainly recorded vaudeville and retro songs of every possible musical genre, with orchestral arrangements more than rock, and Harrison raga songs with Indian arrangement.

Abbey Road is a rock album with a much smoother sound than the White Album, but also much more 70s, and in fact the synthesizers appear, the only case in the Beatles discography. In this album, Lennon signs two little Beatlesian rock songs, which place the Beatles on the same level as the rock-blues bands of the time (Rolling Stones, Cream), and two very original melodic and atmospheric songs; Harrison writes his two most famous songs: a melodic classic, and a folk classic; McCartney does not write any of his true classics (but the weakest song on the album) but, in reality, he places on the second side two piano songs, with a beautiful intro, which then evolve into two mini rock suites that constitute the avant-garde peak of the album. The disc opens with Come Together, which for bass and drums constitutes a unicum in the Beatles discography. It is a very refined rockblues ballad, with dark and sensual atmospheres which brings the Beatles towards much more "heavy" music than pop music. On an instrumental level, it is excellent, each Beatles gives its best in the arrangement: bass, drums, solo guitar, singing.

Something is a much lighter song that however delights for the melody, and for the bridge, fantastic, one of the most evocative crescendo of the Beatles, which unfortunately has the defect of not being repeated a second time. Frank Sinatra will make it his own, dilate it and, of course, he will be able to emphasize bridge and repeat it. Something remains a small masterpiece, which could have been a great masterpiece with an extra bridge and greater pathos in singing. Maxwell Silver Hammer opens the Macca songs on the first side. It is a vaudeville goliardic pop, at a slow medium rhythm, which lowers the quality of the disc but which, at least, enjoys a good musical arrangement, suitable for a rock complex, with synths in the foreground, which does not make it appear a song too dated or for children. Oh Darling is a doo-woop song and you don't understand if it is a parodic, caricatural piece or just an emphaticpiece: in any case it's a great song, however retro. It is a rock and roll to listen to at full volume, where Paul stirs the listener between singing and bass. Great work also on drums and guitar. The song alternates the melodious voice with a hoarse voice, scraped up to the throat, which fills the refrain with an emphasis on the limit of excessive.

Ringo arrives (helped by Harrison in the composition) with his pop-country: an excellent solo of Fender guitar by Harrison with a clear sound, a beautiful singing, an excellent arrangement with noises of bubbles in the instrumental part. It is his second (and last) song for the Beatles, and fills the first side with freshness. In closing, I Want You - She's So Heavy, is a long, heavy, gloomy and obsessive song, which makes the most of its minimal text. Not loved by Beatles fans (because it's too rock and gloomy), on the contrary it is one of their absolute masterpieces. The depth and intensity that Lennon knows how to touch with his voice and the hypnotic guitar tour that goes on for 7 minutes is unsustainable for lovers of the cheerful and carefree Beatles of two minutes. The first side ends like this, with I Want You being cut (the recording tape ends, and the Beatles decide to leave this ending). As for the quality of the songs, and the refinement of the instrumental arrangements we are at very high levels (average above 8), however in terms of sequence, smoothness and sonic innovations, the first side of Sgt Pepper (and also of White Album) are superior to it.

1) Come Together 8,5 ; 2) Something 8+; 3) Maxwell Silver Hammer 6,5/7; 4) Oh Darling 8+; 5) Octopus's Garden 7,5; 6) I want you ' She's So Heavy 9;

The second side opens with a large melodic folk piece by Harrison. Just the phrasing of guitar and singing to delight, in this very simple song. In the middle, a one-sentence bridge repeated 5 times, with crescendo of synthesizers, then returning to the initial melody. A song that remains in mind. Follows Because, voices and synthesizers, a very beautiful melody reminiscent of Beethoven's Moonlight, dreamy choruses, an atmospheric song that lacks development. Here is finally McCartney, with You Never Give Me Your Money, a song little known to most but which represents one of his artistic peaks. Written as a response to Lennon's Happiness Is a Warm Gun, which was a condensation of changes in rhythm and melody, You Never ... is a minisuite, with a beautiful piano start, melodic, to then become a boogie, then return melodic and end with a country atmosphere at night, with the sound of crickets, which is mixed with the medley of three pieces of Lennon's songs. First there is the atmospheric instrumental of Sun King, very nice, it looks like a soundtrack, then the romantic voices arrive but soon transmute into the mocking goliardic of an Italian-Spanish language that it is not known where it could go to save unless the piece arrives by Mean Mr. Mustard (one minute), with a fast pace, which unfortunately ends too early in the guitars of Polithene Pam (a minute and a half), in which the sound of the voice seems distant and the excited rhythm has no time to unfold in something more accomplished. All in all these three pieces of Lennon are interlocutors, and they surprise, amaze with their changes in sound and rhythm but do not give time to be appreciated.

Polythene Pam results in a continuum of guitars in a better developed Macca song (two minutes), a good almost complete guitar rockblues piece (Joe Cocker will make a great cover), She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, which closes too quickly. Overall, so far this medley, made up of a real song by Paul (You Never ...), three pieces by John, and an almost song by Paul, after an excellent start suffers from an incomplete fusion of music and sound in its various passages : the pieces appear superimposed a little too quickly on each other (it would have helped if Lennon's had lasted longer), and before and after Mean Mr. Mustard there are no connecting phrases, however the sequence holds up well and the piece of Mr. Mustard serves to give a change of gear.

After She Came Trhogh The Bathroom Window there is a pause, a part of the medley finishes and another decidedly more compact begins, with Golden Slumbers, which has a great effect: it opens with a melodious and romantic piano line, it becomes serious in the vocal crescendo of Macca, who forgets that he is singing a lullaby, returns melodious with a beautiful background of strings, of a somewhat expressive romanticism, and then explodes in the chorus of Carry That Weight, which is halfway between the goliardic and the epic; then it takes refuge in a reprise with trumpets, beautiful, of You Never Give Me ... The choir of Carry That Way returns and then changes its pitch and rhythm to flow into the instrumental that sees first Ringo then the three Beatles grapple with a solo (always very simple compared to the jams of the rockblues complexes of the time). The three guitarists are called and respond to each other with the same number of guitar phrases per head. The solo of the three guitarists is a very genuine and amused solo, which reflects the Beatles' behavior in the studio: they were having fun, like in the old days. Ringo, on the other hand, did not perform a real solo, because he refused but his teammates fooled him: they removed the guitars from the mix channels and so almost only Ringo's drums remain, which perform a really simple and elementary rhythm, so much so that many criticized Ringo for this rudimentary solo: but he didn't know he was doing it! He was not doing any solo! Closes the percussive piano on which Paul sings the maxim of The End ("And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make"). It was supposed to be the end of the album but McCartney couldn't resist and inserted the acoustic piece by Her Majesty, which was a piece excluded from the previous medley.

7) Here Comes the Sun 8; 8) Because 7,5; 9) You Never Give Me Your Money 8,5; 10) Sun King/Mean Mr Mustard/ Polithene Pam 7+/7,5/7+/ 7,5; 11) She Came Through the Bathroom Window 7,5/8 ; 12) Golden Slumbers/Carry That Way/ The End 8,5/9/8+/ 8,5/9; 13) Her Majesty.

Overall, it is the most adult Beatles album, which leaves little space for cheerful and carefree songs, vaudeville, exuberance (even the rhythms are decidedly medium, not high), with retro arrangements: it is an album completely played by a rock complex (and it is the most refined musically, the Beatles show that they are also great instrumentalists), with the addition of orchestration to make some melodic moments memorable. Like Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road is a well-kept album, which is developed according to a precise idea (both albums have a song that is resumed, to sign a concluded circle, which for Abbey Road is valid only for the second side), however divided in two distinct parts; compared to Sgt Pepper does not have that festive and flowing and varied beginning, sometimes with pyrotechnic sounds and arrangements, which is maintained for most of Pepper, on the other hand Abbey Road is more reflective, homogeneous, deep; psychedelia is replaced by a greater romanticism alternating with blues gloom. Like Let It Be, it is less heterogeneous than the albums ranging from 1966 (Revolver) to 1968 (White Album), more compact, without Indian or retro or orchestral sounds but, compared to Let It Be, Abbey Road is finished with extreme precision and coordination in the studio between the various Beatles and George Martin (while Let It Be is recorded live, only to undergo posthumous orchestrations); moreover, it has better pieces.

Abbey Road, although not the album that has most affected in the history of the Beatles (and pop music), and although it is not the most innovative album in terms of sounds and arrangement (the palm of these peaks is up to Sgt Pepper), on the whole their greatest masterpiece, as the best rock album, containing the most mature and valuable songs, and as played with the best instrumental skill, and with the same care of Pepper's arrangements; and where Pepper is one of the first albums concept (however broadly speaking), Abbey Road is one of the first albums with suites that anticipate those of progressive. It is a masterpiece of composition and arrangement, with high quality songs, without any significant drop in tone, summa of the Beatles' styles but with an eye to represent it with contemporary rock sounds, without falling into light music, and with a second side that wants be experimental for the long sequence of pieces of tracks mixed together, the original and seminal solution of progressive.

Medium quality of the songs: 8,02: Rating: 9,5/10; Five stars.