Abbey Road
by The Beatles

Most great bands have at most one or two great songwriters, the Beatles had three! And I think no other album represents the Moptop Lyricist Trinity better than their seminal 1969 album 'Abbey Road', where the Fab Four for once put their differences aside to record a farewell worthy of their legacy —even though they later decided to complete and release 'Let It Be', a not-so-great but still decent farewell. And what better way to culminate the story of one of the most influential and iconic artists of all time than with this little rock number aptly titled 'The End', which works as a little epitaph for the band.

And it's in that song, when Paul, George and John begin to jam, that you can see how brilliant they were. Not because of their technical skills, because the Beatles were never about virtuosity. But it's rather because of their ability to complement each other that they were so great. Even though each solo showcased how fundamentally different their personalities are, the whole thing flowed so beautifully. They saw each other's ideas and took it to the next level.

John's last solo gives way to a last sentence sung in their trademark vocal harmony fashion, 'And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make', a final statement that perfectly captures their message and essence. And with George Harrison's final solo, the Fab Four announce their end, and with them, the end of an entire decade. (Edited)

From Romanelli TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/29/2011 23:36 | #19702 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

But the main thing for me is this...it's rock & roll. It doesn't matter how many big fancy sentences you can wrap around the medley on side 2 of Abbey Road...what matters is does it move you or not? It's cool either way, but no one wants to hear someone turn it into an incomprehensible scientific wordfest. Listening to and finding out from others what albums might be good to listen to (or what might be good to avoid) shouldn't be painful and overbearring. The reason why people don't like music critics is that they won't shut up! Just tell me if the record is any good or not, and in plain English, why. A site like this, IN MY OPINION, should be a sanctuary from all of that. Music fans talking about the music they've discovered and sharing it with like minded people in a language they can all understand. I don't want to hear that this album is a seminal work, or that this is turgid, or whatever. Do you like it? Does it rock you? Would you reccommend it to others? Is it really fair to consider people who like a band that you don't "irrational obsessives"? Or would it be better to just say that it's cool that you don't get them, just as many of the same people won't get Captain Beefheart?

From Romanelli TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/29/2011 23:21 | #19701 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I think that the thing we forget is that rock & roll is not rocket science. Rock is very derivitave. Everything that The Beatles did came from someone else, just like everything before them came from elsewhere. Sure, The Beatles came out singing "I Want To Hold Your Hand"...we can't lose sight of the fact that in 1964, that was about as deep as it got. And you may not like them, but fair is fair. Before The Beatles, most bands didn't have their own songwriters. The Beatles changed that. Albums were simply collections of filler quickly wrapped around a hit single, with pretty much no input from the artist. The Beatles changed that. Fair is fair...they recorded 13 albums in 7 years, plus another two full albums worth of singles that didn't make it onto albums, most of it original material. Most bands don't have 13 albums in them, and if they do, it takes them 20+ years to squeeze them out. And they didn't just record "Please Please Me" over and over for 7 years. They had the good fortune of having a great producer...and they took full advantage of it. Most bands change producers like they change underwear...and it shows. Fair is fair...The Beatles were influenced by many...and they influenced a huge number of artists, and still do to this day. What they did was pop rock, and there's nothing wrong with that,,,just as there is nothing wrong with your love for music by people like Beefheart & Zappa & Eno, even though people may not find it listenable. To be fair...you also have albums by The Band & Bob Dylan, both of whom influenced and took elements from The Beatles. Fair is fair. (Edited)

From tbakeman 12/21/2012 04:49 | #58429 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The world should be grateful the Beatles were ever in its presence. After years of misery, the Beatles said farewell they only way they knew how... releasing an explosion of a creativity onto the world.

When I was curious about The Beatles I asked a friend who absolutely loves them where I should start. Without question he handed me Abbey Road and now I understand why. This album is the culmination of The Beatles' long and winding road together. It represents what each of the members brought to the band and how when they put it all together so that the whole is better than the sum of the parts. Classic song contributions from each of the four members. The second side medley is just purt genious. It also includes the first hidden track. It's like they took the concept of the white album and were able to focus it better. Pure Genious. Classic. Essential.