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EspañolABBEY ROAD (ALBUM)
'''Abbey Road''' is the eleventh official album recorded by The Beatles. Although its release preceded that of ''Let It Be'', it was the last album to be recorded. It was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom and 1 October 1969 in the United States. It was produced and orchestrated by George Martin for Apple Records. Geoff Emerick was the engineer and Tony Banks, tape operator. It is regarded as one of The Beatles' most tightly constructed albums,[1]http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifrxqw5ldse~T1 somewhat ironically, as the band was barely operating as a functioning unit by this time.
Genesis of the album
After the near-disastrous sessions for the proposed ''Get Back'' album (later retitled ''Let It Be''), Paul McCartney suggested to producer George Martin that the group get together and make an album "just like the old days. .. just like we used to", free of the conflict that began with the sessions for ''The White Album''. Martin agreed to this if the band would be "the way they used to be". In their interviews for the Beatles Anthology series, the surviving band members stated they knew at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles' product, and therefore they agreed to set aside their differences and "go out on a high note."
The two album sides are quite different in character. Side one is a collection of single tracks, while side two consists of a long suite of compositions, many of them being relatively short and segued together. Many sources say this was to accommodate the differing wishes of McCartney (side two) and John Lennon (side one). However, Lennon's creative involvement in the band at this time was minimal, and McCartney worked closely with George Martin in developing the suite on side two. The main impetus behind the suite approach was to incorporate the various short and incomplete Lennon and McCartney compositions the group had available into an effective part of the album.
The U.S. Sales for this album was approximately 12 million units.
Song information
Side one
"Come Together"
Main articles: Come Together
"Come Together", the album opener, was written by Lennon originally for Timothy Leary's 1969 campaign for governor of California, with the original title "Let's Get It Together". A rough version of this can be heard in outtakes from Lennon's second bed-in event in Canada. It was the subject of a lawsuit brought against Lennon by Morris Levy because one line in "Come Together" - "''Here come old flat-top ...''" is similar to a line of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me". "Come Together" was released as a double A-side single with "Something". "Come Together" was intended to be played on progressive album rock radio stations while the flip side "Something" was intended for Top 40, soft rock, and middle-of-the road radio stations.
"Something"
Main articles: Something
"Something" was Harrison's first A-side single. Originally written during the ''White Album'' sessions, the first line is based on the James Taylor song "Something in the Way She Moves" (Taylor was signed to Apple at the time). After the lyrics were refined during the "Let It Be" sessions (tapes reveal Lennon giving Harrison some songwriting advice during its composition), "Something" was initially given to Joe Cocker, but was subsequently recorded for ''Abbey Road''. "Something" was Lennon's favourite song on the album, and McCartney considered it the best song Harrison had written. Frank Sinatra once commented that "Something" was his favourite Lennon-McCartney song [2], unaware that it was written by Harrison. The song was released on a double-sided single.
Harrison was rapidly growing as a songwriter, and with ''Abbey Road'', he gave what are perhaps his most significant contributions to a Beatles album. He wrote and sang lead vocal on two of the three biggest hits of the album, (the third being Lennon's "Come Together"), including the first number-one single that was not a Lennon-McCartney composition. The song was sung by McCartney (who was playing ukelele and acoustic guitar) at Concert for George on the first anniversary of Harrison's passing.
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Main articles: Maxwell's Silver Hammer
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer", McCartney's first song on the album, was originally from the ''Let It Be'' sessions (as can be seen in the ''Let It Be'' documentary).
"Oh! Darling"
Main articles: Oh! Darling
When recording "Oh! Darling", McCartney attempted recording only once a day, so that his voice would be fresh on the recording.
"Octopus's Garden"
Main articles: Octopus's Garden
Starr wrote and sang one song for the album, "Octopus's Garden", his second composition released on a Beatles album. It was inspired by a trip to Sardinia that occurred when Starr left the band for two weeks with his family during the sessions for ''The White Album''. While there, he composed the song, which is arguably his most successful writing effort. While Starr had the lyrics nearly pinned down, the song's melodic structure was partly written in the studio by Harrison (as can be seen in the ''Let It Be'' film), although Harrison gave full songwriting credit to Starr. (A similar occurrence took place nearly a year later with Starr's "It Don't Come Easy".) ''Abbey Road'' is considered to feature some of Starr's best and most colorful drumming, work which is often listed as an influence by many drummers. The album features his only drum solo in The Beatles' catalogue, on "The End."
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Main articles: I Want You (She's So Heavy)
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)", is a combination of two somewhat different recording attempts. The first attempt occurred almost immediately after the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions in February 1969 and featuring Billy Preston on keyboards. This was subsequently combined with a second version made during the "Abbey Road" sessions proper and when edited together ran nearly 8 minutes long, making it The Beatles's second-longest released song ("Revolution 9" being the longest). It also features one of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer to create the white-noise or "wind" effect heard near the end of the track. During the final edit, as the repetitive guitar riff continued on and on, Lennon told engineer Geoff Emerick to "cut it right there" at the 7:44 mark, creating a sudden, jarring silence which concluded side one of "Abbey Road". The final overdub session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" would be the last time all four Beatles worked in the studio together.
Side two
"Here Comes the Sun"
Main articles: Here Comes the Sun
"Here Comes the Sun" is Harrison's second song on the album and one of his best-known songs, written in Eric Clapton's garden while Harrison was "sagging off" from an Apple board meeting (which he considered tedious). It was influenced by the Cream song "Badge" (which was co-written by Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr). While not released as a single, "Here Comes The Sun" was, and still is, widely played on soft rock radio stations as well as Top 40 and rock stations. Joe Brown would later sing it at "The Concert For George"
"Because"
Main articles: Because (The Beatles song)
"Because" features a Moog synthesizer, played by Harrison. The chords in "Because" were inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", which Lennon heard Ono play on the piano, after which, according to Lennon, he played the notes backwards. "Because" features three-part harmonies by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, which were then triple-tracked to sound like nine singers. The results of this have been compared in sound to the Beach Boys. As recalled by Geoff Emerick, during the recording of the harmonies, they sat on a bench around the microphone and Starr sat there along with the others, perhaps in an unconscious display of love and brotherhood, despite their increasing differences.
The medley
The climax of the album is the sixteen-minute medley consisting of several short songs, both finished and unfinished, blended into a suite by McCartney and George Martin. Most of these songs were written (and originally recorded in demo form) during sessions for ''The Beatles'' (aka ''The White Album'') and the "Get Back"/''Let It Be'' sessions.
"You Never Give Me Your Money" is the first song of the Abbey Road suite. It was written by McCartney and based loosely on The Beatles' financial problems with Apple. It is followed by three Lennon compositions, "Sun King" (which, along with "Because" from earlier on the album, showcases Lennon's, McCartney's, and Harrison's overdubbed harmonies), "Mean Mr. Mustard" (written during The Beatles' trip to India), and "Polythene Pam". These in turn are followed by four McCartney songs, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" (written after a fan came into McCartney's residence literally through the bathroom window), "Golden Slumbers" (based on lyrics but not the music of Thomas Dekker's 17th-century song of the same name), "Carry That Weight" which features chorus vocals from all four of The Beatles, although Lennon was in hospital at the time of the primary recording because of a car accident with Ono, his son Julian and Ono's daughter Kyoko—he recorded his vocals at a later date), and the climax, "The End". The latter is notable for featuring Starr's only drum solo in The Beatles catalogue. Starr hated solos and had to be persuaded to do it. It was even edited down for several bars from its original recorded version. Three extended guitar solos were performed in turn by McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon, then in tandem for nine measures. Each had a distinctive style which McCartney felt reflected their personalities; McCartney's playing was melodic, Harrison's was soaring and Lennon's was stinging.
An alternate version with Harrison's lead guitar solo played against McCartney's (with Starr's drum solo heard slightly in the background) appears on the ''Anthology 3'' album. The final line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make", captures for many fans the essence of The Beatles' message.
"Her Majesty", tacked on the end, was originally part of the side two medley, appearing between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". McCartney disliked the way the medley sounded when it included "Her Majesty", so he had the medley re-edited to remove it. However, second engineer John Curlander had been instructed never to throw out anything, so after the group left the recording studio that day, he picked it up off the floor, spliced 14 seconds of red leader tape onto the final mix reel, and then spliced in "Her Majesty" immediately after the leader tape. The box of the album's master reel had a notation stating to leave "Her Majesty" off the final product, but the next day when Malcolm Davies at Apple received the tape, he (also trained not to throw anything away) cut a playback lacquer of the whole sequence, including "Her Majesty". The Beatles liked this effect and left it on the album. On the first printing of the LP cover, "Her Majesty" is not listed; however, it is shown on the record label.
"Her Majesty" opens with the final, crashing chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard", while the final note of "Her Majesty" remained buried in the mix of "Polythene Pam". This was the result of "Her Majesty" being snipped off the reel during a rough mix of the medley. The cut in the medley was subsequently disguised with further mixing although "Her Majesty" was not touched again and still appears in its rough mix. Some consider it to be the first hidden track on an album.
Production notes
''Abbey Road'' was the only Beatles album exclusively recorded on an 8-track tape machine, as opposed to the 4-track machines that predated it at Abbey Road. This is noticeable in the better sound separation and mixing of the drum kit. This accounts for why this was one of the rare Beatles albums to be recorded at three different studios (Trident, Olympic, and Abbey Road), because initially, EMI's conservative management had not yet approved the use of the then-new 8-track Studer deck. The album was also the first to be recorded and mixed entirely on a solid state sound board, giving the album's sound a noticeably different "feel" from its predecessors; Harrison later remarked that the new sound was too "harsh" for his liking. Also, the burgeoning Moog synthesizer features on the majority of tracks, not merely as a background effect, but sometimes playing a central role, as in "Because" where it's used for the middle 8. It is also prominent on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Here Comes the Sun". The instrument was introduced to the band by Harrison after a stay in Los Angeles where he was introduced to the instrument. (The first song to employ the Moog was "Daily Nightly" by The Monkees.) Harrison released ''Electronic Sound'' on Apple's short-lived experimental label Zapple in 1968. The album featured dissonant sounds entirely made from a Moog.
Also of note, one of the assistant engineers working on the album at the time was a young then-unknown apprentice named Alan Parsons. He went on to engineer Pink Floyd's landmark album ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' and produce many popular albums himself as the Alan Parsons Project.
The famous photograph
"At some point, the album was going to be titled ''Everest'', after the brand of cigarettes I used to smoke," recalls Geoff Emerick. The idea included a cover photo in the Himalaya, but by the time the group was to take the photo, they decided to call it ''Abbey Road'' and take the photo outside the studio, on 8 August 1969. The cover designer was Apple Records creative Director Kosh. The cover photograph was taken by photographer Iain MacMillan. MacMillan was given only ten minutes around 10 that morning to take the photo. That cover photograph has since become one of the most famous and most imitated album covers in recording history, quite possibly only eclipsed by the likes of The Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' and ''White Album''. A second version by Iain MacMillan was used on McCartney's solo album ''Paul Is Live''.
"Paul is dead" clues
The cover also supposedly contains clues adding to the "Paul is dead" phenomenon: Paul is barefoot, with eyes closed, out of step with the others, and holds a cigarette in his right hand, though he is left handed, and the car number plate "LMW 281F" supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 years old if he were still alive. (McCartney was actually 27 when the picture was taken). "LMW" is said to stand for "Linda, My Wife," or "Linda McCartney Weeps".
The four Beatles on the album cover, according to the "Paul is Dead" myth, represent the priest (John, dressed in white), the undertaker (Ringo in a black suit), the corpse (Paul, in a suit but barefoot—like a body in a casket), and the gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim work shirt).
The man standing on the pavement in the background is Paul Cole, an American tourist who was unaware that he was being photographed until he saw the album cover months later.
The Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle parked next to the zebra crossing belonged to one of the people living in the apartment across from the recording studio. After the album came out, the licence plate was stolen repeatedly from the car.
The license plate on the car read "IF 21". In 1986, the car was sold at an auction for $23,000 and is currently on display at the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. Originally, the group wanted to move the Beetle, but as the owner was away on holiday, they were unable to do so.
Imitations and parodies
One imitation cover came with a unique tribute. Booker T. & the M.G.'s, famed soul combo, covered most of the songs on the ''Abbey Road'' in their 1969 album ''McLemore Avenue'', named after the street address of the Stax records studio. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have also imitated the album cover, on their ''The Abbey Road E.P.'', with the band appearing nude, apart from tactfully placed socks. McCartney himself revisited the famous album cover for his live album ''Paul Is Live'' and at the end of the video for the theme to ''Spies Like Us'' with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd.
The Shadows parodied the album cover on their ''Live At Abbey Road'' LP.
The Shadows Live At Abbey Road
Irvine Welsh's famous novel Trainspotting was adapted into a film by director Danny Boyle who incorporated a reverse of the cover, wherein the main characters walk towards a climatic drug deal.
The Beatles parody, by the Rutles, released an album called ''Shabby Road'', which shows the fictional band crossing the same street. However, in reference to the 'Paul is dead' urban legend, the Stig character is wearing no trousers, supposedly an indication of death in certain cultures.
Bob and Tom's second comedy album, ''Shabbey Road'', released Christmas 1987, parodied ''Abbey Road'' in both title and hand-drawn cover art—as opposed to photographed. The cover depicted a faithful re-creation of the ''Abbey Road'' cover, complete with VW bug parked askew, and traversing the crosswalk are the radio show's titular stars Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold, along with Richard Nixon and an unknown male of short stature at the back of the line (a member of the B&T troupe, named "Hadji"). Griswold wears a white armband lettered "IBB," standing for "I Buried Bob," and Hadji wears one lettered "HSBD," or "Hadji Says Bob's Dead." Bob himself, facing the viewer wide-eyed, wears an L. A. Dodgers baseball cap.) On the label of the record itself, Kevoian and Griswold appear in caricature on Side 1; on Side 2 only Griswold appears, with a mere outline of the Kevoian caricature. This is the second of two B&T compilations to be named after or parody Beatles albums (the other being their first release, ''The White Album''.) Both albums are out-of-print.
In the opening titles of the 2006 series of ''Grumpy Old Men'', Rick Wakeman, Tim Rice, Rory McGrath and Arthur Smith are walking across the crossing when they get run over by a speeding chav talking on his mobile while driving.
The promotional photo of the 2004–2006 Reebok home shirt of Liverpool FC (the last home shirt made by the company before the club resumed association with adidas in 2006) deliberate homage to the photo. It featured Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypiä, Harry Kewell and John Arne Riise. The original version of the advert, first featured on the club's website,[2] featured Michael Owen, but following his transfer to Real Madrid shortly afterwards, he was airbrushed out and replaced with Riise—at the same time, Gerrard's visible shirt number was digitally altered from 17 to the 8 that he had since been allocated.
In the video for Parklife by Blur, Phil Daniels suddenly stops the car as the band walk over a zebra crossing in the style of the Beatles.
The photo has also made the particular zebra crossing at Abbey Road a popular tourist destination, and each day visitors can be seen posing in the popular position.
In the television show ''The Simpsons'', Homer's successful barbershop quartet The Be Sharps' second album ''Bigger Than Jesus'' included a parody of the cover with the four band members walking on water.
On Kanye West's 'Live Orchestration' DVD (which was filmed at Abbey Road studios) the front cover shows the bear mascot, which is on the cover of West's other albums, walking across the famous zebra crossing.
In the video of their debut single, "5 Colours in Her Hair", the band McFly are seen walking across the zebra crossing in imitation of the picture.
The 1998 Walt Disney movie ''The Parent Trap'' featured a brief imitation when Annie (who is actually Hallie) James and her mother, Elizabeth, walk across Abbey Road while on an errand. During the walk, the movie does a freeze frame to make the imitation obvious.
The '' soundtrack, recorded at Abbey Road, has a picture of Peter Jackson (barefoot), the composer, and two producers crossing Abbey Road.
The Criterion Collection DVD of The Royal Tenenbaums features drawings on the back cover of the DVD case of the family featured in the film crossing a street in similar fashion as the cover of ''Abbey Road'', with some family members walking barefoot.
In 2006, a video of U2 and Green Day posing on Abbey Road doing a photo shoot was released onto the Internet. The video can be seen here [3]. An image of U2 standing in similar style to the cover can be found in the booklet of the Delux Edition of their greatest hits album, U218 Singles.
ONM issue 2 cover is and has three human characters and K.K. Slider walking across a zebra crossing, on a road with trees down the end, in the style of this album's cover.
There is an episode of The Powerpuff Girls called Meet the Beat-Alls, where four of the main villains unite as a super group of villains. At one point in the cartoon, they cross a street in Abbey Road cover art fashion.
The comedy programme Absolutely Fabulous also used the crossing in an episode in series 5. The boyfriend of character Edina 'Eddy' Monsoon is working on a 'lost' Beatles tape in the studio at Abbey Road. Both Edina and Patsy ridicule Japanese tourists for posing on the crossing.
In the back cover of Molecular Biology of the Cell, third edition. The authors in alphabetical order cross Abbey Road on their way to lunch. Much of this edition was written in a house just around the corner.
The very final shot of the Spanish movie "El factor Pilgrim" (The Pilgrim Factor) [4], a movie by Alberto Rodriguez [5] and Santi Amodeo [6] features the four main characters crossing that same street in that famous way.
The cover for Ren & Stimpy's "You Eediot!" album features Ren, Stimpy, Muddy Mudskipper and Mr. Horse, crossing Abbey Road in similar fashion.
American Choppper "On the Road - Europe 1" features Paul Sr., Paul Jr., Mikey, and another of the staff crossing Abbey Road in mock fashion and commenting on the Beatles.
Cover versions
★ One month after ''Abbey Road''
★ Zakk Wylde covered the song "Come Together" in 1994 on his ''Pride & Glory'' re-issue bonus disc.
★ Joe Cocker played a version of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" during his 1970 ''Mad Dogs and Englishmen'' tour.
★ As mentioned above, in 1970 Booker T. & the M.G.'s recorded ''McLemore Avenue'' which covered the ''Abbey Road'' songs and has a cover photo which mimicked the ''Abbey Road'' cover. Stax Records was located at McLemore Avenue.
★ Diana Ross covered "Come Together" in 1970 in her Album "Everything Is Everything."
★ The Supremes covered "Come Together" in 1970 in their album "New Ways But Love Stays."
★ Shirley Bassey covered "Something" in 1970, making #4 on the UK charts
★ In 1998, Phil Collins covered the medley "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" for the George Martin/Beatles tribute album ''In My Life''.
★ Ben Folds covered "Golden Slumbers" for the soundtrack to the 2001 movie, ''I Am Sam''.
★ Aerosmith has a particularly famous cover of "Come Together", recorded for the film version of The Beatles' earlier album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''.
★ Richie Havens had a top twenty hit with his cover version of "Here Comes the Sun" in 1971.
★ Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel had a British top ten hit with their version of "Here Comes the Sun" in 1976.
★ The Legendary Pink Dots covered a small portion of "Here Comes the Sun" in the song "I Love You In Your Tragic Beauty".
★ Elliott Smith covered the song "Because" on the ''American Beauty'' soundtrack.
★ Ominous Seapods covered the medley from Mean Mr. Mustard through The End on New Years Eve 2000-2001 at Ray's Downtown Blues in West Palm Beach, FLA.
★ Tenacious D have also been known to include the "You Never Give Me Your Money" part of the medley in their live performances. The band also covered "Something" during concerts shortly after George Harrison's death.
★ Coldplay, Rockapella, and Belle & Sebastian have all covered "Here Comes the Sun" in live performances. Travis performed the song at the first Top of the Pops awards on 30 November 2001, in tribute to George Harrison, who had died the previous day.
★ Dream Theater covered the "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" medley as part of their 1988 ''Xmas Demos''. The ''Live In Tokyo'' video also includes footage of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy joining countless tourists in mimicking the ''Abbey Road'' cover (barefoot, a la Paul).
★ Transatlantic also covered a large portion of the ''Abbey Road'' medley, as well as some other Beatles songs, on their ''Live in Europe'' DVD, which was released in 2003.
★ Trey Anastasio has covered the medley from "Mean Mr. Mustard" through "The End" with his band 70 Volt Parade. The first performance of this took place at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on 13 May 2005.
★ Coroner covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" as the closing track to their 1991 album ''Mental Vortex''.
★ On their album ''Paul's Boutique'', the Beastie Boys sample the guitar and drum solo from "The End" as the background to their song "Sounds of Science".
★ Noel Gallagher of Oasis would occasionally add "Octopus's Garden" to the end of "Whatever" at live performances. Also, the third album by Oasis, entitled ''Be Here Now's cover features a replica of the police car's license plate on a car inside a pool. The cover also features a number of other rock references, citing historical moments of The Beatles, and The Who to name just a few
★ On his album ''Whose Garden Was This'', John Denver covered "Golden Slumbers" along with his original composition "Sweet Sweet Life" and a reprise of a previous album track called "Tremble If You Must", before segueing into the last track on the album, a cover of "Jingle Bells".
★ The song "Come Together" was covered by Michael Jackson (who also owns the copyright to the song). It is performed in a mock up live performance at the end of the movie ''Moonwalker''. It also appears on his ''HIStory'' album.
★ "Something" was covered by Taylor Hicks on ''American Idol''.
★ The side B medley was covered by the Brain Damaged Eggmen, a group consisting of members from Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits on 8 August 2006.
★ Children's entertainer Raffi recorded "Octopus's Garden" on his album ''One Light, One Sun''.
★ Gov't Mule has covered the song in live performances.
★ For the 2006 animated movie Happy Feet, k.d. lang performs a cover version of Golden Slumbers and The End from the Long Medley.
★ The Kilner Advisory Board covered a blistering version of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" at the 2006 Foxstock Music Festival at the Kilner Ranch in Oshawa (Columbus), Ontario.
★ The band Gotthard recorded "Come Together' on their 1994 album ''Dial Hard''.
★ Frank Sinatra was particularly impressed with "Something". Calling it "the greatest love song ever written", he sang it hundreds of times at various concerts. But where the original lyrics went "You stick around now it may show", Sinatra sang "You stick around, Jack, she might show." This change was eagerly adopted by Harrison, who used the same lyrics whenever he performed "Something" as part of his touring repertoire.
★ Elvis Presley often performed "Something" in concert. One version is available on his album Aloha from Hawaii.
★ The Golden Ticket covers The Medley from Mean Mr. Mustard to The End at all their live concerts.
★ In the commercial for the Swedish mobile phone company featured a version of Come Together made by telephone noises.
★ Chris Farley on SNL with Paul sheepishly asks in an interview, "...you remember when you sang 'the love you take is equal to the love you make.'?" Paul responds affirmitivly, and Farley concedes, "that was awesome!"
★ Yes covered "Here comes the sun" live once, on 01/12/2001 in Brighton (Yes' first concert after George's passing). After the song, Jon Anderson said "Yeah! Thank God for George. Here Comes The Sun. Thank God for George. What can I say?".
Accolades
In 1997, ''Abbey Road'' was named the 12th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, ''The Guardian'' and Classic FM; it received the same ranking in a 1998 poll of ''Q'' magazine readers. In 2000, ''Q'' placed it at number 17 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it the 8th greatest album ever, and, in December 2003, it was named the 14th best album by ''Rolling Stone''. In 2006, ''Abbey Road'' was rated as Australia's fourth favourite album on ''My Favourite Album'', a television special done by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired on December 3, 2006 (it was the highest position for a Beatles Album on that list).[3]
Track listing
All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted.
Side one
#"Come Together" – 4:20
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon
#"Something" (George Harrison) – 3:03
#
★ Lead vocals: Harrison
#"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" – 3:27
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Oh! Darling" – 3:26
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Octopus's Garden" (Ringo Starr) – 2:51
#
★ Lead vocals: Starr
#"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" – 7:47
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon
Side two
#"Here Comes the Sun" (Harrison) – 3:05
#
★ Lead vocals: Harrison
#"Because" – 2:45
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison
#"You Never Give Me Your Money" – 4:02
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Sun King" – 2:26
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon
#"Mean Mr. Mustard" – 1:06
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon
#"Polythene Pam" – 1:12
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon
#"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" – 1:57
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Golden Slumbers" – 1:31
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Carry That Weight" – 1:36
#
★ Lead vocals: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr
#"The End" – 2:19
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
#"Her Majesty" – 0:23
#
★ Lead vocals: McCartney
Note: "Her Majesty" is regarded as the first ever hidden track.
Note: One cassette tape version in the US had "Come Together" and "Here Comes the Sun" swapped so that Harrison's composition actually opens the album. All subsequent versions (including the CD) have restored the track listing to its original order.
Note: "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight" and "The End" are sometimes noted as one song (medley) called "The Abbey Road Medley". This has also been loosely referred to as "The Rock Symphony" .
Personnel
★ John Lennon – lead and rhythm guitars, 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, lead, harmony and background vocals, electric and acoustic pianos, hammond organ, moog synthesizer, white noise generator, handclaps, percussion and sound effects
★ Paul McCartney – lead, rhythm, acoustic and bass guitars, fuzz bass, lead, harmony and background vocals, electric and acoustic pianos, hammond organ, moog synthesizer ribbon strip, handclaps, percussion and sound effects
★ George Harrison – lead, rhythm, acoustic and bass guitars, lead and second Spanish acoustic guitars, lead, harmony and background vocals, hammond organ, harmonium, moog synthetizer, handclaps, percussion and sound effects
★ Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, timpani, anvil, lead and background vocals, handclaps and sound effects
★ George Martin – piano, harmonium and percussion
★ Billy Preston – organ, keyboards
Production
★ "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (with George Harrison)
★ "Golden Slumbers" and "Carry That Weight" orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (with Paul McCartney)
★ Produced by George Martin (with The Beatles' involvement)
★ Recorded by Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald
★ Mixed by Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald, George Martin and The Beatles
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 26 September 1969 | Apple Records | LP | PCS 7088 |
| United States | 1 October 1969 | Apple, Capitol Records | LP | SO 383 |
| Japan | May 211983 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | CP35-3016 |
| Worldwide reissue | 10 October 1987 | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | CD | CDP 7 46446 2 |
| Japan | 11 March 1998 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | TOCP 51122 |
| Japan | 21 January 2004 | Toshiba-EMI | Remastered LP | TOJP 60142 |
See also
★ The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
References
1. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:58q3g4fttv3z
2. [1]
3. My Favourite Album
External links
★ Overview of Abbey Road
★ Beatles comments on each song
★ Recording data and notes
★ Speakers used throughout Abbey Road's control rooms
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