CD Odyssey Disc 441: The Beatles

Writing is a time commitment.  It’s one I enjoy, but today I am feeling the pinch more than usual.  I’ve got to get my finished work off to a new agent (I came close on my last pitch, and got some good feedback as well, so I’m re-invigorated for the challenge).

I’ve also got the next chapter of my new book burning away in my head, and it needs to get out.  My book is always bubbling away in my mind, partly because of a technique I read about on Dan Simmon’s writer’s site (he learned it from Hemmingway).  Basically, when you finish each writing session, make sure you finish in the middle of a thought, not at the end of one.  That way the thought will keep fermenting in your head until the next session (and maybe even change for the better). When you sit down to start again, you won’t be starting cold.  It’s amazingly effective.

Finally, after a series of average to good albums, I’ve got a review that I’m really excited about.  Add it all up, and I’ve got the opposite of writer’s block.  I’ve got too many words in my head and too little time to get ‘em out.  Here’s a few, anyway.

Disc 441 is… Abbey Road

Artist: The Beatles

Year of Release: 1969

What’s up with the Cover?  This cover needs no introduction.  It is so famous tourists go to this spot just to have their picture taken recreating it.  One thing that always catches my attention is that Paul is the one going barefoot, and smoking a cigarette.  You’d think that would be John.

How I Came To Know It: It’s “Abbey Road” and I haven’t lived my entire life in a cave in the Himalayas.  I expect one out of every three Himalayan cave dwellers would know this album as well.

How It Stacks Up:  We have seven Beatles albums (really, they’re Sheila’s and I’m along for the ride).  Of the seven, “Abbey Road” is far and away my favourite.

Rating:  5 stars

Those who know me know that I think the Beatles generally get a level of hero worship from critics and fans far in excess of their importance to rock and roll history.  “Abbey Road” however, is an example where this hero worship is richly deserved.  From the bass line that starts off “Come Together” through to the cheeky salute to the Queen at track seventeen this album is essentially perfect.

“Abbey Road” features some of the most iconic pop songs of all time.  The aforementioned “Come Together” jumps out front, inviting listeners to join in a celebration of music (despite wanting to have my usual misgivings, I quickly found myself RSVPing an enthusiastic ‘yes’).  “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” are two of the most touching and romantic love songs I’ve ever heard.  “Here Comes the Sun” in particular has always made me feel like everything is going to be alright.  I can remember hearing this song on AM radio as a kid, and thirty-five years later it had exactly the same effect on me.  I could play it a hundred times and not get tired of hearing its sweet, beautiful melody.

There are a couple of songs that have a bit of a novelty feel (“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and “Octopus’s Garden”).  When I hear these songs as singles outside of the context of the whole “Abbey Road” experience I tend to not enjoy them as much.  Within the context of the album, however, and separated by the bluesy “Oh! Darling” they fit right in.  I could probably live without “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” but then what would keep the romantic “Something” from the break-up beauty of “Oh! Darling”?  And once you start moving those around, you’d have to start moving other songs around to compensate. After about two hours of bumping the tracks around you’d come to realize that he Beatles ordered them perfectly, and you’d grudgingly put “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” right where it is, resplendent in all of its homicidal goofiness.

Part of the beauty of an album (as opposed to a collection of singles) is song order.  It helps that “Abbey Road” has an amazing collection of classic tracks, but they are made even better by their perfect connection with one another.  It’s the auditory equivalent of picking up your poker hand and finding not only a Royal Flush, but one that is already arranged in sequential order.  All you’ve got to do at that point is not look too smug when you place your opening bet.

This brings me to a very important point about this record, as opposed to lesser efforts like “Magical Mystery Tour.” “Magical Mystery Tour” loads so much innovative production into the songs that it becomes a hot mess.  “Abbey Road” also has great and innovative production, but it is toned down so that it can serve the songs, rather than its own cleverness.  Something as simple as putting the light guitar plucking at the beginning of “Here Comes the Sun” out of the left channel only, and then bringing in the voice on the right to create a warm handshake in the middle of the room is the kind of simple, smart decision that I wish the Beatles would always make.

What struck me on this listen overall was how prog-tastic this record is as well.  “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is a sixties prog classic, with its wacky organ, dope fiend ambience, and the way it seems to switch between two totally different, yet totally connected songs.  “Medley” is also kind of proggy, advertised on CD version as eight separate short songs starting with “You Never Give Me Your Money” and ending – fittingly – with “The End”. 

This is the best part of this record, even though it makes it impossible to enjoy “Abbey Road” properly on shuffle.  I have so many favourite parts of this mega-song.  The raucous and scandalous “Polythene Pam” (who’s so good looking that she looks like a man), the melodic and subtly insulting “You Never Give Me Your Money,” and the angst-ridden inspirations of “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry that Weight.” All great, but if you take only one thing away from the whole medley, then you should take the final words of “The End”

“And in the end the love you take

Is equal to the love…you make.”

Even the most maligned Beatle, Ringo Starr, delivers the goods.  The drumming on “Abbey Road” is excellent, engaging and goes well beyond the derisive “he kept time” jibes that are often directed Ringo’s way.  My vision of Ringo as a bumbling oaf hanging out with musicians makes me want to believe the drum bits are written for him (I have no idea) but either way, you can’t deny he delivers.

This record breaks my usual rule of no more than 14 tracks, but you can do that when you make a great record, and “Abbey Road” is a great record.  So much has been written on it over the years that this review won’t have uncovered any new ground, except to say that every time I feel like getting on my “the Beatles weren’t that great” soap-box, just put on this record to shut me up.  Every time I hear it, I like it more, and it even makes me appreciate the rest of their albums a little more.

Best tracks:  All tracks (even “Octopus’s Garden” as long as it isn’t taken out of context).  I particularly like Come Together, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Here Comes the Sun, and the entire Medley from “You Never Give Me Your Money” through to “The End”