Abbey Road Is 45 Years Old
Friday was the 45th anniversary of the release of the classic Beatles album Abbey Road. Where has the time gone?
This was the final recorded Beatles album and came after all the infighting of the Let It Be sessions. That album almost led to the breakup of the band.
Paul McCartney was so disturbed that he got together with their longtime producer George Martin. McCartney knew this was going to be their finale and he wanted it to be special. He was also tired of all the internal conflict.
Martin got the four men together and read them the riot act. We're making an album like we did in the old days. We do it my way or we aren't doing it at all. They all bought in and the magic reappeared. Abbey Road is a special piece of music.
It's special on many levels. There are the songs that stand on their own.
"Here Comes The Sun" and "Something" are two of George Harrison's greatest. "Come Together" and "I Want You" are classic John Lennon tunes.
But what makes Abbey Road great is Side Two and the medley.
Both Lennon and McCartney had a bunch of half done songs that they didn't know how to finish. It was Paul's idea to put them together. George Martin's production skills made it work...and man, does it work!
It starts with "You Never Gave Me Your Money" and closes with "The End." Sixteen of the greatest minutes in popular music history.
"The End" has Ringo Starr's only Beatle drum solo and then has McCartney, Harrison and Lennon trading guitar riffs. McCartney has been closing his concerts with this song for three decades.
What about the influence of Abbey Road? Less than a month after it's release, Jazz guitarist/singer George Benson covered the entire album in "The Other Side of Abbey Road." Booker T. and the M.G.'s did the same thing with their album "McLemore Avenue."
Harrison's "Something" has been covered by more than 150 artists. Frank Sinatra called it the greatest love song ever written.
In 2011, the band Further played Abbey Road in it's entirety during their Spring Tour.
This is the Abbey Road album cover. People from all over the world go to England to walk across the street and take that picture. It's on my bucket list.
On almost all lists of the greatest albums of all-time you'll find Abbey Road in the Top Five.
Put all this together along with the fact that it's the biggest selling of all the Beatles original albums and you have a truly iconic record.
Happy 45 birthday to Abbey Road. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."