1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #144. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
Label – Apple
Producer – George Martin
Art Direction – Ian MacMillian
Nationality – UK
Running Time – 47:36

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Come Together
2. Something
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
4. Oh! Darling
5. Octopus's Garden
6. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
7. Here Comes the Sun
8. Because
9. You Never Give Me Your Money
10. Sun King
11. Mean Mr. Mustard
12. Polythene Pam
13. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
14. Golden Slumbers
15. Carry That Weight
16. The End
17. Her Majesty

Simply fantastic.
This is the Beatles final studio recordings. (“Let It Be” was the last to be released). Gone were the psychedelic sounds and experimentation of “Sgt Pepper” and the disjointed solo recordings on the White Album. “Abbey Road” was a BAND work with some of the finest music that has ever been recorded. PERIOD.
The story goes, Paul McCartney envisioned a record which each song flowed directly into the next. However, John Lennon wanted a regular type of record. A compromise was reached and side one features regular ‘songs’, while side two is mostly one piece of work with song fragments pieced together to make one longer track. The results are a masterpiece.
There is a lot to love here. From perhaps the greatest harmonies to ever be recorded ("Because"), to crunching heavy guitars ("The End," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Come Together") to the emergence of George Harrison as a songwriter to be reckoned with! ("Here Comes the Sun" and "Something,") the Beatles produced their finest work. Sadly it was to be their last as the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time.
Rolling Stone magazine named it the 14th greatest album of all time. In the UK the album debuted straight at number 1 and stayed for 17 weeks In all it spent 92 weeks inside the UK Top 75, and 16 years later on 31 October 1987, when it was released for the first time on CD, it reached number 30!! In the UK Abbey Road was the best-selling album of 1969 and the fourth best-selling of the entire 1960s, and the eighth best-selling album of 1970. In the US it spent 11 weeks at the top, and spent a total of 129 weeks in the Billboard 200, re-entering the chart at number 69 on 14 November 1987 when it was released for the first time on CD. It was the 4th best-selling album of 1970 in the US and is now certified 12x platinum by the RIAA. 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, the album was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. In 2006, it was rated as Australia's fourth favourite album on My Favourite Album, a television special done by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Oh - and it is recommended!!