FEATURE:
“The Love You Take/Is Equal to the Love You Make”
PHOTO CREDIT: Iain Macmillan
Will The Beatles’ Abbey Road Receive the Celebration It Deserves?
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IT is not often that I revisit a subject…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles captured in August 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: Ethan Russell and Monte Fresco
a few months after the first post. I wrote a feature back in February that stated how important the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road is and why we need to give the album a lot of love. I shall try not to tread over the same ground as I did back then – although someone has just commented on one of my blog posts and said I repeat myself too often – but I think, given the gravity of Abbey Road, such a fine album warrants another spin. On 26th September, 1969, The Beatles released Abbey Road and it was the final album they recorded together. Their final photoshoot happened on 22nd August, 1969 and the band were very much about business after that point – they would not step into the studio again the great harmony they shared at the start of their career had definitely faded. The fact that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr recently played together means there is a lot of love between the two surviving Beatles. Back in 1969, the face and feeling of The Beatles was very different to the one in 1962/1963. Although the band were happy with a lot of Let It Be (recorded before Abbey Road but released in 1970), there was a lot of tension and there were some blow-ups in the studio. Abbey Road, sure, was not an entirely smooth process – at least George Martin was back as producer after Phil Spector helmed Let It Be – but there was a feeling of the band uniting for one final, stunning push.
I shall get to the good points regarding Abbey Road but, with any classic album, there were one or two kinks. Alongside the torturously long recording process of Paul McCartney’s Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and a few tensions, one has to look at the remarkable music made between February and August of 1969. Many fans debate as to which Beatles album is the best but, over time, Abbey Road has made its way near to the front of the pack – I think it is one of their most important albums and definitely one of the best albums the band ever produced. I know everyone will pick one or two songs that are not quite perfect and can be overlooked but I look at Abbey Road as a whole; a complete statement from the world’s greatest band – the final time they would do so. In a couple of months, we will see Abbey Road marked but I think most of the coverage will revolve around articles online; journalists marking fifty years of this gem; perhaps one or two little features on the radio. In 2017, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band received a lot of love and there were discussions on various stations – I even appeared on one for BBC Radio 5 live. Last year, BBC Radio 6 Music (and BBC Radio 2)’s Matt Everitt and a selection of musical peeps gave a very insightful and illustrative nod to The Beatles’ eponymous album.
Joined by musicians, journalists and Giles Martin (George Martin’s son remastered the album and dug up some demos and rarities), it was a great event that had a live studio audience (it was live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube). I can understand the need for an event like that because The Beatles is a double-album and there is a lot to unpack. Forgive me, as I say, for repeating myself – I have been told I do that too often – but I do wonder whether there is anything happening behind the scenes right now. I can imagine there was a lot of planning behind the scenes when it came to the Everitt-led stream regarding The Beatles; a lot when it came to marking fifty years of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, I would also assume. I think Abbey Road is the most important Beatles album and, as I said back in February, its fiftieth anniversary is monumental – I do not think we will see another anniversary as important this generation! Was Abbey Road a masterpiece? Was it seen as such in 1969? This article highlights some of the album’s reviews and, yes, the fact Abbey Road is not flawless:
“However, Chris Welch, writing in Melody Maker, felt just the opposite: “The truth is, their latest LP is just a natural born gas, entirely free of pretension, deep meanings or symbolism.” Similarly enthusiastic, The Record Mirror said that Abbey Road was “every bit as good as the last three” albums by the group. History, too, has been much kinder, with many now citing this as their favourite Beatles album.
What is it that makes Abbey Road a masterpiece? Well, the breadth of the musical vision, the sheer scale of the band’s collective musical imagination, and the audacity of it all, at a time when The Beatles were coming to the end of their time together.
And then there are the two George Harrison masterpieces, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Something’; both rank alongside the best songs the band ever recorded. Of the former, uDiscover’s Martin Chilton, writing in the Daily Telegraph, says “it’s almost impossible not to sing along to” – and he’s right.
Opinion is divided among some fans and critics about some of the remaining tracks. However, there is no disputing the power, no denying the magnificence, of two of John Lennon’s compositions. ‘Come Together’ is one of the great opening tracks on any album. Likewise, ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ just takes the band to a place they had never been before… towering”.
The Orion talked about the album last year and had their say:
“In two parts, this sprawling album represents how far The Beatles came throughout the decade. With such multifaceted work clear in each song, the amount of effort put in by all four members seems monumental. Even by today’s standards it represented yet another step forward for music from The Beatles.
Even on their way out, The Beatles were leaders to the future of music. The album covers a wider variety of topics and ideas, yet at the end, it is telling that the band concludes with a simple message about love (after all, so much of their catalog was concerned with the many facets of love). Perhaps we would all do well to remember their final line to the world, at the end of an incredible career, focused instead on that love: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”.
I shall bring in one or two reviews to end this feature but there are a number of reasons why Abbey Road warrants some big love and focus. Not only are there some of the best Beatles songs on that album – Come Together and You Never Give Me Your Money among them – but George Harrison reached his peak as a songwriter. He was always a great songwriter but Something and Here Comes the Sun are the best songs he ever created. Ringo Starr – a drummer that has very few equals – got his first solo on The End and the band even threw in a hidden track: Her Majesty is short and sweet but not many other artists were putting hidden tracks onto their albums. Abbey Road also has that conceptual suite in the second side where smaller songs are woven together into this elegant, diverse flow. Maybe Paul McCartney was exerting more influence in 1969 – I feel he took on the role of the band’s leader from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band onwards – but one cannot discount the efforts of John Lennon (his majestic I Want You (She’s So Heavy) is titanic!), George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Octopus’s Garden). From the lush and romantic Something to the harmony-golden Because; the brevity of Polythene Pam and the classic final few songs, Abbey Road has something for everyone and I actually like every track. Maybe Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Octopus’s Garden and Oh! Darling get unfair criticism but I feel all the songs work beautifully together.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ethan Russell and Monte Fresco
It is hard to say why Abbey Road has grown in stature since 1969 and moved up the ladder regarding the best Beatles albums but I do think that the fact it is the last album they recorded is a reason. Also, I think there is so much to enjoy in Abbey Road; it is a more complex and interesting album and you could tell that, although the band were ending their time together, they were still capable of producing these genius songs. The album cover alone has spawned endless parodies, replications and spoofs through the years. It is a simple shot of the band walking across a zebra crossing but is perfect. The fact Paul McCartney is bare-footed led many to assume he was dead; others just appreciate it for its sheer cool and class. It is a great shot to look at and shows a breeziness and calm that was not always evident during the recording of Let It Be and Abbey Road. Also, we have two surviving Beatles and the fact they will both be around the mark fifty years of Abbey Road is really important. I do think there will be some articles and features written about Abbey Road but I wonder whether we will see anything as good and authoritative as celebrations of other Beatles albums. I am drawn back to that stream last year where Matt Everitt and team unpacked and discussed The Beatles.
If anything, I think Abbey Road deserves an even longer discussion and, as I know I have said before, it could be a chance to hold a once-in-a-lifetime event where someone, maybe Everitt, and musicians/journalists/fans assemble at Abbey Road Studios and dissect all the great tracks. I would love to see the album cover analysed by photographers and other artists; maybe someone like Giles Martin returning and, if he is remastering Abbey Road, talking about this classic. It would be good to hear from journalists/artists and their experiences of Abbey Road; see some artists jam in the studios and play songs from the album. I would love to see a stripped-back version of I Want You (She’s So Heavy); I would love a new take on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer or a new cover of Something. Imagine an all-star group performing the song suite from the second side or witnessing the entire album being performed by a range of different artists. In that iconic studio, it is tantalising imagining which artists could perform the songs and how that would sound. I do think every major Beatles album deserves its moment in the sun and, when it comes to a fiftieth anniversary, Abbey Road’s should definitely get the full works. Maybe there is something happening right now and we might be treated to a televised show; maybe something on the radio or a big documentary. Rubber Soul is my favourite Beatles album but Abbey Road was a revelation. I listen to it now and it still sounds completely daring, ambitious and together.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ethan Russell and Monte Fresco
Each track has its own life and I adore the way the album makes you feel. It is hard to put into words but there is something magical about Abbey Road. Knowing Abbey Road was the final album The Beatles would record together adds emotional resonance and an extra sting. Rather than mourn the fact we would not see another Beatles studio album (recorded, not released), we should celebrate this album and give it all the love it deserves. The reviews for Abbey Road speak for themselves: there were very few who had a bad (or average) word to say about it. Pitchfork had this to say when assessing it back in 2009:
“Paul McCartney's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and Ringo Starr's "Octopus's Garden", two silly, charming, childlike songs in a long tradition of silly, charming, childlike Beatles songs, round out side one. But then, oh: side two. The suite that runs from "You Never Give Me Your Money" through "Her Majesty" finds the Beatles signing off in grand fashion. Gathering scraps of material that had piled up, McCartney and Martin pieced together a song cycle bursting with light and optimism, and this glorious stretch of music seems to singlehandedly do away with the bad vibes that had accumulated over the previous two years. From the atmospheric rip of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" that is "Sun King" to the sharp pair of Lennon fragments, "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" (the former given a line about "sister Pam" to join the pieces), and on through the explosive, one-climax-after-another run of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Golden Slumbers", and "Carry That Weight", the nine fragments in 16 minutes add up to so much more than the sum of their parts.
The music is tempered with uncertainly and longing, suggestive of adventure, reflecting a sort of vague wisdom; it's wistful, earnest music that also feels deep, even though it really isn't. But above all it just feels happy and joyous, an explosion of warm feeling rendered in sound. And then, the perfect capper, finishing with a song called "The End", which features alternating guitar solos from John, George, and Paul and a drum solo from Ringo. It was an ideal curtain call from a band that just a few years earlier had been a bunch of punk kids from a nowheresville called Liverpool with more confidence than skill. This is how you finish a career”.
I shall leave the Abbey Road celebration/speculation there but it is only just over two months until we mark fifty years of this great album. Naturally, people will play it and talk about it but I wonder whether there will be a party; a concert or documentary that introduces Abbey Road to a new audience. There is a generation that might not be aware of Abbey Road and I do hope that someone, somewhere will give it an anniversary bow. There are few albums ever recorded that deserve such a big celebration when they turn fifty but anything by The Beatles should be marked – Abbey Road, I feel, needs to be right near the top. On 26th September, the world will praise this remarkable album at fifty. It is amazing that Abbey Road got made and sounds so exceptional but the fact we are still talking about it shows what a magnificent swansong…
ABBEY Road was.