UK release date: September 26, 1969
US release date: October 1, 1969

SIDE ONE
"Come Together"
"Something"
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
"Oh! Darling"
"Octopus's Garden"
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

SIDE TWO
"Here Comes the Sun"
"Because"
"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"
"The End"
"Her Majesty"


Up until the recording of ABBEY ROAD, each of the Beatles were keeping themselves busy with recording and writing for others, specifically for the acts being signed to Apple Records. George Harrison discovered a bond with Billy Preston, leading him to sit in and do the solo in "Get Back", making him the only one to ever be listed formally on a Beatles record, giving him the honor of being the first to be called "The Fifth Beatle". Harrison would help produce the great THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT, and at the same time Preston would sit in to watch the Beatles record ABBEY ROAD, enough to where he would sit in and play the organ in "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". At the same time, Harrison was getting experimental with discovering a love for electronic music, enough to where he released a full album of it on the very short-lived Zapple label.

John Lennon went everywhere with Yoko Ono, or should I say, Yoko Ono went everywhere with John Lennon. It was "Lenono", and while the general public and media hated the union for some reason, they were truly in love and had found something that they had both been looking for for years. Paul McCartney was in the studio recording and producing an album for Mary Hopkin. Ringo, no one knows where he went. Inbetween all of this, Harrison would write a song for Eric Clapton's band, Cream, which would end up being the last single for the group, "Badge". His spiritual side would help him record material with the Radha Krishna Temple of London. McCartney was the "band" for a young American musician named Steve Miller, and he would create "My Dark Hour" for him, which very much sounds like the solo album McCARTNEY would end up dojng in 1970. Lennon was in love and documented it whenever he could, leading many to wonder if he had gone nuts. Ringo... eh.

In all of this, John and Paul managed to record "The Ballad Of John & Yoko" together when George and Ringo were out on vacation (aah, so that's where Ringo went.) The song was about Lennon and his adventures with Yoko promoting peace and love, and Paul was moved enough to agree to release it as a single. The B-side was "Old Brown Shoe", a Harrison composition that brought Ringo back from wherever he was to play drums again. The song itself may have been a toss off for Harrison, as the title was referred to on one of the Christmas records the group had sent to fans. When they were singing a Four Tops song, Harrison yells out "copyright". Someone says what are we going to do if you don't gave a copyright. Lennon, in one of his many voices, says "we'll get the ly-lics out of an old brown shoe". Perhaps this was simply some "ly-lics", but the song would result in one of the few truly funky moments the group shared, from an intense bassline from Paul to the drum sound they were able to get from Ringo.

All of which lead to ABBEY ROAD.

A lot has been said about this, but for the group, it was the first time the band were able to record on something more than the 4-track they had used for most of their career. Their ideas outgrew the technology, and a few times they were able to work outside of EMI to play around with 8-track boards that other studios had. When it came time to record ABBEY ROAD, the group wanted George Martin to produce, since Martin had suggested he would never work with the group again. Martin said that he would, but that they would have to work under his rules, no questions asked.

The album was recorded on new equipment, and you can definitely tell by the ambience heard in the recordings, it's very different from that heard on THE BEATLES, REVOLVER, or RUBBER SOUL. What does it have that the other albums do not have? Some will say "warmth", as if it was made on a big brown couch. The album was meant to be recorded that way, and for the group there was no turning back. When they went into the studio, everyone knew that it was going to be their last, so they gave it their all.

The songs have been discussed many times before, but it's a very moving album if you keep in mind that it was the last time all four would be in the studio together. To hear the first and only drum solo from Ringo in "The End", followed by George, Paul, and John doing a solo each, in three sequences, equalling to 9 (read "9") distinct guitar solos. That gut wrenching guitar riff from Lennon lead to Paul playing the piano, leading to the line "and in the end/the love you take/is equal to the love... you make", before ending with a full orchestral arrangement courtesy of George Martin. It was truly the end... that is, until a song meant to be heard during Side 2's medley makes a surprise appearance at the end of the album. It too ends abruptly, and that's it.

A barefoot Paul holding a cigarette in his right hand, a license plate with the letters 28 IF, a crack in the words "The Beatles" on the back cover, the appearance of a skeleton-like shadow, did the group really push the "Paul Is Dead" rumors in the hopes of making people look and listen, as a way to make people feel that the group was relevant? While those dead rumors was another side of the phenomenon, there was much more to ABBEY ROAD than just clues. The cover showed a lot of growth from the same band who was looking over the railing six years previous on the cover of PLEASE PLEASE ME. The walk was a simple Sunday morning stroll, and that's all it was. The music that was recorded on the album represented the last music they would ever record, and that's all it was. The album moved EMI to rename their recording studio. That street in London is crossed on a regular basis, many taking off their shoes in honor.

Somehow, if the group had disappointed fans with their explorations of the unknown and occasionally bizarre, this was truly a time for celebration. There was a man on the moon, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair was three days of peace, love and music (the organizers had hoped to have The Beatles reunite for the crowd in Bethel, New York, and while they didn't, a number of groups ended up singing a few Beatles songs in honor, including Crosby, Still, Nash & Young doing "Blackbird", which was actually a song CS&N had submitted on their rejected demo to Apple).

At the end of 1969, The Beatles were no more. John and Yoko went to Toronto and had a bed-in, resulting in the recording of "Give Peace A Chance". John went through musical therapy and talked about heroin withdrawals in "Cold Turkey". John returned to Toronto and performed with Eric Clapton at a peace festival, followed by Yoko Ono screaming in a bag for 18 minutes. McCartney wrote and produced "Come And Get It" for Badfinger. George was at home writing material that would soon become what defined him as an artist. Ringo... probably listening to old standards and country music, considering the albume he would record in 1970.

But the announcement of their split would not happen until the release of their next album, which was assembled from the recordings they had done in a film studio in January of 1969.

ABBEY ROAD was very much the end, and if that time seemed to be magical, perhaps it was time to get out of the magic and live life. In many ways, that's what all of them did.










JOHN BOOK'S MYSPACE
http://www.myspace.com/crutmusic

THE RUN-OFF GROOVE
http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/114473

BOOK'S MUSIC Podcast
http://booksmusic.podomatic.com/

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?vst=45730