Album Review: Piano In The Last Collective Recording Studio Album Of The Beatles, Abbey Road (1969)

Album Review: The Beatles, Abbey Road (1969)

I’m going to write the last collective recording studio album before the dissolution of the Beatles：Abbey Road. The Beatles is the world-famous rock band. This album is the 11th album of the Beatles. It was released on September 26, 1969, and was ranked 14th by Rolling Stone Magazine as the ‘500 greatest albums in history’. When I first listened to this album, I felt attracted. The mood of the album songs is diverse, with cheerful and relaxed parts, and intense parts.

The Beatles is a rock band founded in Liverpool in 1960. Members include John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most important and influential bands in the rock age (Enis, etc., 2020). John Lennon is responsible for vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass, percussion. Paul McCartney is responsible for vocals, bass, guitar, keyboard, percussion. George Harrison is responsible for guitar, vocals, bass, percussion. Ringo Starr is responsible for drums, percussion, and vocals. In different tracks, they are responsible for different parts according to the actual situation. The Beatles’ music style originated from the rock music of the 1950s and developed the style of psychedelic rock, pop-rock and so on. The Beatles released their first single Love Me Do in 1962 and was dissolved in 1970. It is one of the most famous and great bands in the world. The Beatles have the highest record of various record sales in the world. It has hundreds of millions of record sales worldwide, and there is still an increase of nearly 10 million records every year. According to IMDb, as a band as a whole, the Beatles have also won eight Grammy Award (“The Beatles.”). Paul McCartney’s outstanding contribution to the music industry also earned him a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1990. On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed, and on November 29, 2001, member George Harrison died of lung cancer.

I think the concept behind Abbey Road is cohesion and unity. This album is the culmination of the Beatles’ achievements and fully demonstrates the mature skills of the band members. As a summary of their cooperation for many years, the album includes the work of each member, a variety of different styles melted in one furnace. All band members have created and imported into the album, and each work is a good proof of their unique talent. All the tracks in the album consist of vocal singing and instrumental accompaniment or solo of specific instruments.

The first track Come Together is a rock song with Andantino tempo, contains vocals, guitar, drums, electric piano, and bass. This track was originally written by John Lennon to help American psychologist, writer, and psychedelic drug admirer Timothy Leary run for California governor. The second track is Something by George Harrison. This is a folk song with Adagio tempo, contains vocals, bass, drums, electric guitar, and piano. This is one of George’s most outstanding works, inspired by James Taylor’s Something in the Way She Moves, a love song by George for his wife Pattie Boyd. The third track is Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, a pop song with drums, vocals, electric guitar, and bass. This song was written during the time that the Beatles were in India. Paul tells a strange story with a light joke of tunes and lyrics. The fourth track is a rock song Oh! Darling by Paul contains piano, vocals, electric guitar, bass and drums, Andante tempo. The fifth track, Octopus’s Garden, originated from Ringo’s imagination by the sea. When he heard that octopuses would collect all kinds of shells, he instantly got inspired. This rock song is Andante tempo, contains bass, drums, vocals, and guitar. The sixth track, rock song, I Want You is written by John to Yoko. It’s a blues-rock, the lyrics are very simple, but it reaches to the highest point in repeated singing. This song is Moderato tempo and contains vocals, two guitars, drums, and bass. The seventh track is George ’s other masterpiece Here Comes the Sun, this rock song was written in the garden of Eric Clapton ’s house, perhaps George ’s happiest song during the band. This song was used by the Trump campaign in 2016. This track is Allegro moderato tempo, contains vocals, wooden guitars, bass, and handclaps. The eighth track Because is created by John, inspired by Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. This folk song demonstrates the Beatles’ harmony technology. Paul, John, and George each recorded their vocal parts three times, and finally stacked the nine recordings together to form a nine-person harmony. It is Adagietto tempo and contains vocals and bass guitar.

The remaining rock tracks You Never Give Me Your Money (Allegro, contains vocals, piano, drums, electric guitar, and bass), Sun King (Adagio, contains vocals, guitar, bass, and drums), Mean Mr. Mustard (Andante, contains bass, vocals, and guitars), Polythene Pam (Allegro, contains vocals, guitars, bass, drums), She Came In Through the Bathroom Window (Andante, contains vocals, bass, and piano), Golden Slumbers (Andante, contains vocals, drums, bass, electric guitar, and piano), Carry That Weight (Andante, contains vocals, electric guitar, and brass instruments ) and The End (Allegro, contains electric guitars, vocals, and drums), are created by Paul and John respectively, many songs were created before Abandoned tracks, but stitched together by George. The first track of the suite is Paul’s You Never Give Me Your Money, which explains the bankruptcy of the Apple company founded by four people. The melody of this song is poignant and sad. Sun King has a similar style to Because and is also John’s work. Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam are John’s previously written works, which are placed in the middle of the suite after a clever combination. Next is She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, an extremely spiritual work written by Paul. Golden Slumbers is a local nursery rhyme, and Paul recomposed the music based on the words, writing a much bigger section than the lullaby. The final track of the suite, The End, comes from Paul who has been painstakingly not letting the band go. In the song, Ringo contributed his only drum solo during the band, ending with the solo guitar solo of Paul, George, and John.

There are some lyrics in this album leave me a deep impression. In the track Here C0omes The Sun, the lyrics “Here comes the sun, it’s alright.” as if to symbolize the difficult time of the band is coming to an end. This is an optimistic and relieved attitude. For the track Come Together, this is John, the uninhibited soul, calling out ‘Come Together!’, and ‘One thing I can tell you is you got to be free’ to the world and himself. Although named ‘Come Together’, John said goodbye to the past with this song. Also, the lyrics in the last track The End make me feel touched. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. The Beatles bring people the most exciting music in the world, leaving a heavy stroke for the entire music history, and also leaving the most beautiful thing for anything: love.

I like the second track Something on the album the most. This is a love song that George did for his wife Pattie Boyd. It is called ‘the greatest love song in the world’ by Frank Sinatra. The song is soft and the melody is catchy, but with some sad emotions, it is very attractive. However, I am not that attracted by the track Carry That Weight. I think the connection of the different passages in this song is a bit rigid, the emphasis of the piano is unnecessary, and the melody is not very attractive to me. Besides the tracks, it is worth mentioning that the cover of this album has become a special cultural symbol. It is imitated and imitated by people in various fields. It is the cover of the music album that is imitated most. The cover was designed by designer Kosh. There is no word on this album, no band name, no album name, only four bands, lined up across the abbey road. Overall, it is a great album and it gathers all the hard work of all members, each song is very exciting and classic. Abbey Road has long been not just a music album, but also a culture and a spirit. The dissolution of Beatles represents the end of an era in which they ruled and participated in the creation. It may be said that it is difficult to have bands like them before or after.

References

1. “Abbey Road.” The Beatles. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road.
2. Enis, Eli, Lake Schatz, Ben Kaye, Wren Graves, Anne Erickson, and Nina Corcoran. “The Beatles – Albums Reviews, Concerts, Livestreams and Tour Dates.” Consequence of Sound. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://consequenceofsound.net/artist/the-beatles/.
3. “The Beatles.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm1397313/awards.