Beatles album of the week: Abbey Road

[Brad]

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

While Abbey Road wasn't the final Beatles album to be released, it was the last recorded.

After the Get Back sessions ended in disaster, The Beatles decided to get back together with George Martin and give it one more go. The result was Abbey Road, released on September 26, 1969.

Abbey Road contained sixteen tracks:

Side One:
Come Together (Lennon/McCartney)
Something (Harrison)
Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Lennon/McCartney)
Oh! Darling (Lennon/McCartney)
Octopus's Garden (Starkey)
I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Lennon/McCartney)

Side Two:
Here Comes The Sun (Harrison)
Because (Lennon/McCartney)
You Never Give Me Your Money (Lennon/McCartney)
Sun King (Lennon/McCartney)
Mean Mr. Mustard (Lennon/McCartney)
Polythene Pam (Lennon/McCartney)
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Lennon/McCartney)
Golden Slumbers (Lennon/McCartney)
Carry That Weight (Lennon/McCartney)
The End (Lennon/McCartney)

A seventeenth track—a 23-second Paul McCartney tune called "Her Majesty"—closes the album. Originally uncredited (but now credited on the CD and even given its own track), the song is essentiallly what's now known as a "hidden track."

And now, a review of Abbey Road. One last time, here's Richie Unterberger of the All Music Guide:

The last Beatles album to be recorded (although Let It Be was the last to be released), Abbey Road was a fitting swan song for the group, echoing some of the faux-conceptual forms of Sgt. Pepper, but featuring stronger compositions and more rock-oriented ensemble work. The group were still pushing forward in all facets of their art, whether devising some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record (especially on "Because"), constructing a medley of songs/vignettes that covered much of side two, adding subtle touches of Moog synthesizer, or crafting furious guitar-heavy rock ("The End," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Come Together"). George Harrison also blossomed into a major songwriter, contributing the buoyant "Here Comes the Sun" and the supremely melodic ballad "Something," the latter of which became the first Harrison-penned Beatles hit. Whether Abbey Road is the Beatles' best work is debatable, but it's certainly the most immaculately produced (with the possible exception of Sgt. Pepper) and most tightly constructed.

Previous albums:
Week 1: Please Please Me (1963)
Week 2: With The Beatles (1963)
Week 3: A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Week 4: Beatles For Sale (1964)
Week 5: Help! (1965)
Week 6: Past Masters Volume One (1988)
Week 7: Rubber Soul (1965)
Week 8: Revolver (1966)
Week 9: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Week 10: Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Week 11: Yellow Submarine (1969)
Week 12: The Beatles (1968)
Week 13: Let It Be (1970)
Week 14: Past Masters Volume Two (1988)

Beatle Facts

[Brad]

Abbey Road back cover:

[Brian]

The only song I like from Abbey Road is "Mean Mr. Mustard."

[Brad]

Alternate versions of songs from Abbey Road:

Beatles:
"Come Together"
-Take 1; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Something"
-Acoustic demo; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
-Take 5; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Oh! Darling"
-Run-through from Get Back sessions; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Octopus's Garden"
-Edit of takes 2 and 8; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Because"
-A capella; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Mean Mr. Mustard"
-Demo; 1968 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"Polythene Pam"
-Demo; 1968 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window"
-Run-through from Get Back sessions; 1969 - The Beatles Anthology 3

"The End"
-Remix which includes ommited sections from album version, final chord from "A Day In The Life" flown in; 1969, 1967 - The Beatles Anthology 3

Solo:
"Come Together"
Live; New York City, 1972 - John Lennon - Live In New York City
Live; New York City, 1972 - John Lennon - The John Lennon Anthology

"Something"
-Live; New York City, 1971 - George Harrison - The Concert For Bangla Desh
-Live; Japan, 1991 - George Harrison - Live In Japan
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World
-Live; London, 2002 - Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton - The Concert For George

"Octopus's Garden"
-Live; New York City, 1998 - Ringo Starr - VH1 Storytellers

"Here Comes The Sun"
-Live; New York City, 1971 - George Harrison - The Concert For Bangla Desh
-Live; Japan, 1991 - George Harrison - Live In Japan

"You Never Give Me Your Money"
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 [performed as part of a medley with "Carry That Weight"] - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

"Golden Slumbers"
-Live; Toronto, 1990 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic

"Carry That Weight"
-Live; Toronto, 1990 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 [performed as part of a medley with "You Never Give Me Your Money"] - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

"The End"
-Live; Toronto, 1990 - Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic
-Live; venue unknown, 2002 [performed as part of a medley with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"] - Paul McCartney - Back In The U.S., Back In The World

[Steve M.]

I picked "Here Comes the Sun," though I could easily have gone for "Come Together" or "Because."

[Steve M.]

Various Abbey Road covers:

"Come Together" - Aerosmith, Bobby McFerrin with Robin Williams (Hey, why not? )

"Something" - Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker, Ray Stevens

"Octopus's Garden" - the Sesame Street Muppets

"Here Comes the Sun" - Richie Havens (I love this record!)

"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" - Joe Cocker, Ray Stevens

I'm not making up the Ray Stevens covers. They appear on his 1970 album Everything Is Beautiful, whose big hit was the song of the same name. My mother bought this LP back in 1970 and she still has it!

[musicradio77]

Originally posted by Steve M.
"Something" - Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker, Ray Stevens

What about other versions of "Something" like for example Jim Nabors did a version of that along with versions by Andy Williams and Engelbert Humperdinck? They all did versions of "Something".

[musicradio77]

"Abbey Road" was the last studio album the Beatles ever recorded. It was released back in August of 1969. The album was before "Let It Be" came out the following year because the album was planned to be released but it was shelved. One of the songs on the album was "Come Together" which is the opening number for the album and ended with "The End" (with "Her Majesty") closes the album. It was an excellent album. The song "(I Want You) She's So Heavy" reminds of a Bugs Bunny cartoon called "The Heckling Hare" remember the cartoon where Bugs fell off a million miles high and ended with an abrupted cut. "Here Comes the Sun" was a great song for the album. I have that version by Bob Kahleel off "The Parent Trap (1998)" soundtrack album. "Something" was a great song and the last song was a medley of "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight" and "The End". I heard that song on the radio the one that WPDH played some cuts off of "Abbey Road". The song "The End" by the Beatles might be the last song played on radio station, WNEW-FM back in 1999 after 32 years of rock programming before switching to a talk format. That FM talk station lasted 4 years before switching it to an classy pop station 102.7 Blink. That lasted about a year until they shifted its format WNEW-FM become Mix 102.7 FM by January 2004.

[dandelion wine]

"Come Together"

[Jrnygrl]

Originally posted by Steve M.
Various Abbey Road covers:

"Come Together" - Aerosmith, Bobby McFerrin with Robin Williams (Hey, why not? )

"Something" - Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker, Ray Stevens

"Octopus's Garden" - the Sesame Street Muppets

"Here Comes the Sun" - Richie Havens (I love this record!)

"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" - Joe Cocker, Ray Stevens

I'm not making up the Ray Stevens covers. They appear on his 1970 album Everything Is Beautiful, whose big hit was the song of the same name. My mother bought this LP back in 1970 and she still has it!

Steve M., glad you mentioned the cover that Sinatra is on "Something", I have told other Beatle fans that he did a cover of this song and they don't believe me. Sinatra said that this was the most beautiful song he had ever heard and recorded his version.

I also picked "Something." I think this is the most beautiful song ever written about a man's love for a women.

[dlemond]

Just too hard to vote with the continuity of You Never Give Me Your Money, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, and Golden Slumbers (other songs come into play, but these share the basic thread).

Beyond them, I think "Oh Darling" is my favorite.

[Brad]

George wrote "Something" for Ray Charles, who rejected it. When listening to George's demo on Anthology 3, you can still hear the soulful, Ray Charles-esque passage:

"You know I love that woman, mine
And I need her all of the time
You know I'm tellin' you
That woman, that woman don't make me blue"

These lyrics were deleted from the final version of the song.

By the way, Frank Sinatra referred to "Someting" as his favorite Lennon/McCartney song. Poor George!

[Dean Winchester]

Something, George Harrison was always my favorite Beatle

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by Steve M.
Various Abbey Road covers:

"Come Together" - Aerosmith, Bobby McFerrin with Robin Williams (Hey, why not? )

Michael Jackson did a not-so-good remake of Come Together as well

[Shine]

"Here Comes The Sun" is my favorite track off of Abbey Road. Next to The White Album, Abbey Road is my all time favorite Beatles album. I listen to this one all the time. I've read that both Ringo and George Martin consider Abbey Road to be the band's finest moment. It is amazing how the band was able to take little bits of incompleted songs and place them together.