So my Beatles Reclamation Project continues this month with Abbey Road. I have been looking forward to this one. I've been reading about how its really the finale of the Beatles, even though Let it Be was released later. I've read a lot about the Side 2 Medley and I have seen the album is on a lot of people's best lists. So this should be cool. I don't know much of it at all.

Songs I know.

Come Together...I know by heart. It is one of my all time favorite.
Something..I know well
Here Comes the Sun..I know well.

Octopus's Garden...I know the basic tune and the chorus.

and that's it. All the rest, I've either never heard at all, or maybe they sound vaguely familiar.

So here goes.

-T

the whole album is great and one of my all-time favorites since i first heard it back in high school. i think my favorite song on the album is "i want you (she's so heavy), one of the "heaviest" beatles songs and the last song that all four beatles worked on together in the studio. i think john wrote it for yoko, and if any man were to sing these words to me i'd be his! not really a love song but incredibly hot!

George Martin (Beatles producer/engineer) was interviewed and said that that Paul was not happy with the Let It Be sessions and didn't want that to be their last record, and asked if they could record another one 'the way they used to'. Martin was more than happy to do it.

Side 1 was recorded and presented more towards Lennon's liking...a collection of songs with no real common thread. Side 2 was recorded and presented more to the liking of McCartney, who wanted more of a connected feel for the songs.

As a side note, after Lennon came out of seclusion (right before his death) he did an extensive interview with Playboy magazine where he gave his reflections on many of the Beatles greatest songs. It's a must read for anyone who is interested in the Beatles.

Mean Mister Mustard, Polythene Pam, & She came in through the Bathroom Window medley.
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Sun King
are a few others. It was a great album.

Abbey Road? Good album. Far from the greatest. The turmoil of the bands relationship is evident in the over (studio) production needed to bring the album to market.

So I'm supposing that this is such a project to you because it was all before your time. Have you ever tried listening to the Rolling Stones? A lot of their music sounds more contemporary than the Beatles. I especially like their use of brass in some songs. I'd also suggest The Doors & or Credence Clearwater Revival. Maybe Led Zeppelin.

Anybody call?

I remember in elementary (early 80's) one of my classmates was discussing a rumor that Paul had died before the making of Abbey Road thus explaining their dress attire. Ringo Starr in a dark suit as the undertaker, Lennon in white as the priest and George Harrison as the grave-digger.

Bizarre and interesting, but I doubt anyone could've filled in for Paul as he continued a successful solo career and even contributed with Michael Jackson!

... or that a dead man's impostor would sue to break up the greatest band of all time! i'm sure that after some of paul's reviews after "tug of war" he probably wished he was dead...

Greatest band of all time? I hope you are not refering to the Beatles?

the beatles? absolutely! who would you call "the greatest" g2m?

Hi Frida,

I am not really sure if I could declare any single band the greatest of all time.

60's music is good. I'm not sure I relate to it as much as I do the Grunge Music of the 90's.

In my book Nirvana is better than any 60's band.

I agree that the Beatles were the greatest band of all time, however, imho the greatest album of all times was "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys and I understand most musicians would agree with me although non musicians would tend to back Sgt Pepper. In the end though, it is all a matter of taste, if someone grooves on the Partridge Family or the Jonas Brothers and that makes them happy far be it for me to dissuade them.-Hoss

"pet sounds" is one of my all-time favorite albums! it's gotten me thru two bad breakups (to date)!

I just have a hard time with "greatest" any thing that is art.

Frida maybe its time you fine tune your cooking and cleaning skills so you can drop those zero's and get with a hero (like me, but not me).

Remember good men like good women.

im sorry but your book need to be re-written.

nirvana isnt even the best band in th 90's.

the guy died, i get it. that does not make them the best.

next people will say heath ledger is better than deniro.

Heath Ledger reminds a little of the late James Dean, sad that both died tragically before they could really fulfill their promise as actors. I saw a few of Deans movies and i liked him a lot, i especially loved the way he worked with Natalie Wood, who might have been the most beautiful woman in cinema history. Incredible that his co-star in many of his movies, Dennis Hopper, is still alive and active in film/TV so many years after Dean's death.

"pet sounds"

ME-OW

Whose Dennis Hopper I never herd of him?

He was in Rebel Without a Cause, Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now amongst other movies. Not a huge star like Dean or Marlon Brando but he was a good supporting actor. Usually he would play the freaked out hippie in all his movies, lol.