Perhaps The Best Beatles Album? (Abbey Road - The Beatles)

Member Name: Poonabester

Product:	Abbey Road - The Beatles
Date:	16/08/01 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Variation, Musically Great

Disadvantages: A few of slow, unexciting tracks.

If your a fan of modern music, then it is a crime not to own a copy of the 1969 Beatles album, Abbey Road. It may not contain many well known tracks, but in my opinion, the lesser known Beatles tracks are often the better ones.

On this album the Beatles showed sides that they had previously not shown, as well as a lot of very 'Beatles' stuff. Abbey Road starts off with the sultry, very bare and sharp rock song 'Come Together' which may be known for its vivid and obscure lyrics more than anything. You may find that this is the case throughout the album. I don't know whether the Beatles knew what they were singing about when they wrote Abbey Road, but the lyrics certainly fit in with the music, and it's always an adventure trying to figure out of the words actually have meaning. This slow-paced rock number is only the start of a journey through a very wide range of musical styles.

The second song is 'Something'- the first in a number of slow ballads, beautifully written. This is one where the words are actually very straightforward, and they actually are very poetic, telling of the infatuation with a woman.

The Beatles gained a reputation for writing light-hearted songs, especially around the time of Sgt. Pepper's, and 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' is the first of these on Abbey Road, very upbeat and happy. The same can be said of 'Octopus's Garden', one of Ringo's efforts, which is track five. Later on in the album are the tracks 'Mean Mr. Mustard' and 'Polythene Pam'. Im not sure whether much of the light-hearted Beatles stuff is much good, despite being popular (Yellow Submarine for example) but the latter two that i mentioned from Abbey Road are certainly musically and vocally sound.

As a direct contrast (the story of this album), 'Octopus's Garden' is followed by the slow soulful 'I want You (She's so heavy)' which displays great
vocals which are often very distressed but at the same time brilliant. 'Here comes the sun' is next, in another contrast, a beautiful acoustic guitar number written by George Harrison, very fresh and upbeat, even today.

As the album progresses to the latter of its 17 tracks, the boundaries between tracks gets hazy and it leads to an almost continous medley. It's true that during this, a couple of the tracks are a bit long and drawn out, and over-dramatic, for example 'Sun King' and 'Beacause', but theres also the amazing 'Carry that weight' and 'The End' with those great Beatles melodies and harmonies. 'She cam is through the bathroom window' is another of my favorites, due to the fine singing from Paul McCartney and the raw guitar sound achieved.

Just when you think you've had your lot, you are then treated to a wonderful 20-second long song 'Her Majesty', which was obviously knocked off in a couple of minutes by Lennon and McCartney, but displays their songwriting ability because its a wonderful song with great lyrics.

I don't know whether this album is as good as the 'White' album, but it certainly shares some of the characteristics. These are the Beatles albums where they reached their peak musically and creatively, and perhaps Sgt. Pepper's could be included there as well, though its not really one of my favorites. The music crosses so many boundaries and goes through so many styles, you can listen to in whatever mood you are in. If you haven't heard this album , i suggest that you make and effort to do so.

Summary: