Eventually Ill finish all these reviews! Slowly but surely! Number 4 on my list: Abbey Road (1969): youtube/watch?v=eGekiVEhFCA Similar to Revolver, I listened to this entire record much later (while in high school) compared to when I started listening to the Beatles hits (while in kindergarten). My relationship with the songs are not long, but it is rich. For like a two-three week span, this was the only album I could listen to. Perhaps because it is regarded as a happy album? Whatever it is, there was something magical about it. And this magic begins with Come Together. The track is an expansion on Lennons song Lets Get It Together, which was written for the Timothy Leary campaign. Leary lost to Ronald Reagan, but that is beside the point. Anyway, the songs lyrics sound quite nonsensical at a first listen. But, rumor has it, Lennon either wrote each verse as a portrait of a Beatle or as a self-portrait. If either one is true, the lyrics are almost avant-garde. The lyrics shouldnt work with the bluesy beat in the background, but it does. The result is a different, original, and good song. However, when the Beatles released their first single for the album, they had Come Together as the side-B to Harrisons Something. This track, along with Here Comes the Sun, are the easiest songs to commercialize on Abbey Road. That does not mean Something is a bad song. Quite the opposite actually! Like in most Harrison songs, there is a peaceful, reflective vibe. The lyrics themselves may be more on the simplistic side, but that does not take away from it beauty. Love for someone should be simple. That is what I take away from the song; therefore, I can call it one of best love songs of all time. Maxwells Silver Hammer deviates from the bluesy, soft rock vibe in the previous songs into something more reminiscent of an oldie. Lennon and Starr would later describe this track as a granny song, but the latter was more sympathetic to it than the former. Lyrically, the song tells the story of Maxwell who is a murderer. Its a strange blend of granny music and twisted lyrics, and for the most part it works because of its sing-along-ability. Oh! Darling is more reminiscent of Come Together only because it has blues elements to it, but with a hard edge to it. Vocally, McCartney matches the lament of the songs lyrics to the point where it sounds like he is destroying his vocal chords. Musically, it has the structure typically found in blues songs, but the guitar creates a harder sound for the track. Overall, it is a good song because of McCartneys vocal performance. Octopuss Garden, I feel, is often regarded as one of the worst Beatles songs. Sure the lyrics are corny, simplistic, and odd (I mean who would feel safe in an Octupuss Garden in the shade?). However, like Yellow Submarine, this song seems to meant for children; if so, then it does a great job. Musically, the track transports its listeners into the ocean due to the aquatic sounds along with the vocals that sound as though someone is talking underwater. It is a pleasant, happy song. And what is wrong with that? Lyrically, it may be silly (at least compared to other songs the Beatles produced), but, nonetheless, it is a pleasant song for children. Speaking of simplistic lyrics, the next track, I Want You (Shes So Heavy), repeats Lennons desire to love Yoko Ono. No matter how much that disgusts me, the song itself is bluesy and has progressive rock elements in it. The song is definitely one of the longest the band has ever produced. It sounds more like a jam session than anything. However, the song is groovy. Not in a disco or Austin Powers sort-of-way, but in a bluesy sort-of-way. Overall, the band feels together in this song; each one is contributing something within the jam session sound. Therefore, it is something unique, at least in the latter years of the band. Side B opens with the beautiful Harrison track “Here Comes the Sun”. The voices in the background create this happy, angelic-esque sound that resonates well enough to be caught in your head and transports you into a sunny field. Similarly, “Because” sounds like an angelic choir that talks about nature in conjunction with love. But unlike “Here Comes the Sun”, it is slower paced. It isn’t as catchy as a song, but it is worth a listen because of the beautiful meshing of the members’ voices. But what this album is mostly known for, and one of the reasons I love it, is due to the Medley, which consists of eight short songs. I won’t be going into each song, because that would be too long. Anyway, the Medley is not thematically intertwined. It is not a concept album within an album. Most of the songs are not about the same thing. John Lennon was called these junk songs just smashed together because they didn’t know what else to do with them. He is right in a way though. One their own, the songs seem to be missing something. But put together, and listened to in the proper order, there is this musical flow from one track to the track. There are themes of selfishness and love expressed within the music and the lyrics. But the last line in the Medley is evident of what the Beatles were all about: “The love you take is equal to the one you make.” It is so simple of a phrase to live by, but it is hard to live by. This is similar to the Beatles’ style of music. It appears easy to replicate at first, but the magic they captured with their music style is much more complex and harder to emulate than imagined. The Beatles capture lightning in a bottle. And they do so on “Abbey Road”. Therefore, I will give the album a 4.5 out of 5 stars Favorite Songs: The Medley, Here Comes the Sun, Something “Her Majesty” is also a decent, but quick song that was meant to be in the Medley, but they couldn’t fit it in that wouldn’t interrupt the flow. Is it memorable? Not so much, but it is cool that the Beatles had a secret song on the album.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 00:44:39 +0000
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