Abbey Road is the eleventhstudio album by the Englishrock bandthe Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, byApple Records. It is the last album the group recorded,[2] althoughLet It Be (1970) was the last album completed before theband's break-up in April 1970.[3] It was mostly recorded in April, July, and August 1969, and topped the record charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Adouble A-side single from the album, "Something" / "Come Together", was released in October, which also topped the charts in the US.
Abbey Road incorporates styles such asrock,pop,blues, andprogressive rock,[4] and makes prominent use of theMoog synthesiser and guitar played through aLeslie speaker unit. It is also notable for having a longmedley of songs on side two that have subsequently been covered as one suite by other notable artists. The album was recorded in a more collegial atmosphere than theGet Back /Let It Be sessions earlier in the year, but there were still significant confrontations within the band, particularly overPaul McCartney's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", andJohn Lennon did not perform on several tracks. By the time the album was released, Lennon had left the group, though this was not publicly announced until McCartney also quit the following year.
AlthoughAbbey Road was an instant commercial success, it received mixed reviews upon release. Some critics found its music inauthentic and criticised the production's artificial effects. By contrast, critics today view the album as one of the Beatles' best and one of the greatest albums of all time.George Harrison's two songs on the album, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun", are considered among the best he wrote for the group. The album's cover, featuring the Beatles walking across thezebra crossing outside ofAbbey Road Studios (then officially named EMI Studios), is one of the most famous and imitated of all time.
After the recording sessions for the proposedGet Back album,Paul McCartney suggested to producerGeorge Martin that the group get together and make an album "the way we used to do it",[5] free of the conflict that had begun during sessions forThe Beatles (also known as the "White Album"). Martin agreed, but on the strict condition that all the group—particularly John Lennon—allow him to produce the record in the same manner as earlier albums and that discipline would be adhered to.[6] No one was sure that the work would be the group's last, thoughGeorge Harrison later recalled that "it felt as if we were reaching the end of the line".[7]
The first sessions forAbbey Road began on 22 February 1969, only three weeks after theGet Back sessions, inTrident Studios. There, the group recorded a backing track for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" withBilly Preston accompanying them onHammond organ.[2] No further group recording occurred until April because ofRingo Starr's commitments on the filmThe Magic Christian.[8] After a small amount of work that month and a session for "You Never Give Me Your Money" on 6 May, the group took an eight-week break before recommencing on 2 July.[9] Recording continued through July and August, and the last backing track, for "Because", was taped on 1 August.[10] Overdubs continued through the month, with the final sequencing of the album coming together on 20 August – the last time all four Beatles were present in a studio together.[3]
McCartney, Starr and Martin have reported positive recollections of the sessions,[11] while Harrison said, "we did actually perform like musicians again".[12] Lennon and McCartney had enjoyed working together on the non-album single "The Ballad of John and Yoko" in April, sharing friendly banter between takes, and some of this camaraderie carried over to theAbbey Road sessions.[13] Nevertheless, there was a significant amount of tension in the group. According toIan MacDonald, McCartney had an acrimonious argument with Lennon during the sessions. Lennon's wifeYoko Ono had become a permanent presence at Beatles recordings, and clashed with other members.[11] Halfway through recording in June, Lennon and Ono were involved in a car accident. A doctor told Ono to rest in bed, so Lennon had one installed in the studio so she could observe the recording process from there.[6]
During the sessions, Lennon expressed a desire to have all of his songs on one side of the album, and McCartney's on the other.[12] The album's two halves represented a compromise: Lennon wanted a traditional release with distinct and unrelated songs, while McCartney and Martin wanted to continue their thematic approach fromSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by incorporating a medley. Lennon ultimately said that he dislikedAbbey Road as a whole and felt that it lacked authenticity, calling McCartney's contributions "[music] for the grannies to dig" and not "real songs",[14] and describing the medley as "junk ... just bits of songs thrown together".[15]
An EMI TG mixing desk, similar to this one, was used in the production ofAbbey Road.
Abbey Road was recorded oneight-trackreel-to-reel tape machines[11] rather than the four-track machines that were used for earlier Beatles albums such asSgt Pepper, and was the first Beatles album not to be issued in mono anywhere in the world.[16] The album makes prominent use of guitar played through aLeslie speaker, and of theMoog synthesiser. The Moog is not merely used as a background effect but sometimes plays a central role, as in "Because", where it is used for themiddle eight. It is also prominent on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Here Comes the Sun". The synthesiser was introduced to the band by Harrison, who acquired one in November 1968 and used it to create his albumElectronic Sound.[11] Starr made more prominent use of thetom-toms onAbbey Road, later saying the album was "tom-tom madness ... I went nuts on the toms."[17]
Abbey Road was also the only Beatles album to be entirely recorded through asolid-statetransistor mixing desk, theTG12345 Mk I, as opposed to earlier tube (thermionic valve)-basedREDD desks. The TG console also allowed better support foreight-track recording, facilitating the Beatles' considerable use ofoverdubbing.[18] Emerick recalls that the TG desk used to record the album had individual limiters and compressors on each audio channel[19] and noted that the overall sound was "softer" than the earlier tube (valve) desks.[20] In his study of the role of the TG12345 in the Beatles' sound onAbbey Road, the music historianKenneth Womack observes that "the expansive sound palette and mixing capabilities of the TG12345 enabled George Martin and Geoff Emerick to imbue the Beatles' sound with greater definition and clarity. The warmth of solid-state recording also afforded their music with brightertonalities and a deeper low end that distinguishedAbbey Road from the rest of their corpus, providing listeners with an abiding sense that the Beatles' final long-player was markedly different."[21]
Alan Parsons worked as an assistant engineer on the album. He later went on to engineerPink Floyd's landmark albumThe Dark Side of the Moon and produce many popular albums himself withthe Alan Parsons Project.[22] John Kurlander also assisted on many of the sessions, and went on to become a successful engineer and producer, most noteworthy for his success on the scores for theLord of the Rings film trilogy.[23]
"Come Together" was an expansion of "Let's Get It Together", a song Lennon originally wrote forTimothy Leary'sCalifornia gubernatorial campaign againstRonald Reagan.[24] A rough version of the lyrics for "Come Together" was written at Lennon's and Ono's secondbed-in event in Montreal.[25]
The biographer Jonathan Gould suggested that the song has only a single "pariah-like protagonist" and Lennon was "painting another sardonic self-portrait".[26] MacDonald has suggested that the "juju eyeballs" has been claimed to refer toDr John and "spinal cracker" to Ono.[27] The song was later the subject of alawsuit brought against Lennon byMorris Levy because the opening line in "Come Together" – "Here come old flat-top" – was admittedly lifted from a line inChuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me". A settlement was reached in 1973 in which Lennon promised to record three songs from Levy's publishing catalogue for hisnext album.[28]
"Come Together" was later released as adouble A-side single with "Something".[29] In the liner notes to the compilation albumLove, Martin described the track as "a simple song but it stands out because of the sheer brilliance of the performers".[30]
Harrison was inspired to write "Something" during sessions for the White Album by listening to his label-mateJames Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" from his albumJames Taylor.[31] After the lyrics were refined during theLet It Be sessions (tapes reveal Lennon giving Harrison some songwriting advice during its composition), the song was initially given toJoe Cocker, but was subsequently recorded forAbbey Road. Cocker's version appeared on his albumJoe Cocker! that November.[32]
"Something" was Lennon's favourite song on the album, and McCartney considered it the best song Harrison had written.[33] Though the song was written by Harrison,Frank Sinatra once commented that it was his favouriteLennon–McCartney composition[34] and "the greatest love song ever written".[35] Lennon contributed piano to the recording and while most of the part was removed, traces of it remain in the final cut, notably on themiddle eight, before Harrison's guitar solo.[32]
The song was issued as a double A-side single with "Come Together" in October 1969 and topped the US charts for one week, becoming the Beatles' first number-one single that was not a Lennon–McCartney composition.[36] It was also the first Beatles single from an album already released in the UK.[nb 1] Apple'sNeil Aspinall filmed a promotional video, which combined separate footage of the Beatles and their wives.[38]
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer", McCartney's first song on the album, was first performed by the Beatles during theLet It Be sessions (as seen inthe film). He wrote the song after the group'strip to India in 1968 and wanted to record it for the White Album, but it was rejected by the others as "too complicated".[26]
The recording was fraught with tension between band members, as McCartney annoyed others by insisting on a perfect performance. The track was the first Lennon was invited to work on following his car accident, but he hated it and declined to do so.[39] According to engineerGeoff Emerick, Lennon said it was "more of Paul's granny music" and left the session.[40] He spent the next two weeks with Ono and did not return to the studio until the backing track for "Come Together" was laid down on 21 July.[24] Harrison was also tired of the song, saying "we had to play it over and over again until Paul liked it. It was a real drag". Starr was more sympathetic to the song. "It was granny music", he admitted, "but we needed stuff like that on our album so other people would listen to it".[40] Longtime roadieMal Evans played theanvil sound in the chorus.[41] This track also makes use of Harrison'sMoog synthesiser, played by McCartney.[39]
"Oh! Darling" was written by McCartney in adoo-wop style, like contemporary work byFrank Zappa.[42] It was tried at theGet Back sessions, and a version appears onAnthology 3.[nb 2] It was subsequently re-recorded in April, with overdubs in July and August.[42]
McCartney attempted recording the lead vocal only once a day. He said: "I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I'd been performing it on stage all week."[44] Lennon thought he should have sung it, remarking that it was more his style.[45]
As was the case with most of the Beatles' albums, Starr sang lead vocal on one track. "Octopus's Garden" is his second and last solo composition released on any album by the band. It was inspired by a trip with his family toSardinia aboardPeter Sellers's yacht after Starr left the band for two weeks during the sessions for the White Album. Starr received a full songwriting credit and composed most of the lyrics, although the song's melodic structure was partly written in the studio by Harrison.[46] The pair would later collaborate as writers on Starr's solo singles "It Don't Come Easy", "Back Off Boogaloo" and "Photograph".[47]
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was written by Lennon about his relationship with Ono,[2] and he made a deliberate choice to keep the lyrics simple and concise.[48] Author Tom Maginnis writes that the song had aprogressive rock influence, with its unusual length and structure, repeating guitar riff, andwhite noise effects, though he noted the "I Want You" section has a straightforward blues structure.[49][50]
The finished song is a combination of two different recording attempts. The first attempt occurred in February 1969, almost immediately after theGet Back /Let It Be sessions withBilly Preston. This was subsequently combined with a second version made during theAbbey Road sessions proper in April. The two sections together ran to nearly eight minutes, making it the Beatles' second-longest released track.[nb 3] Lennon used Harrison's Moog synthesiser with a white noise setting to create a "wind" effect that was overdubbed on the second half of the track.[2] During the final edit, Lennon told Emerick to "cut it right there" at 7 minutes and 44 seconds, creating a sudden, jarring silence that concludes the first side ofAbbey Road (the recording tape would have run out within 20 seconds as it was).[51] The final mixing and editing of the track occurred on 20 August 1969, the last day on which all four Beatles were together in the studio.[52]
"Here Comes the Sun" was written by Harrison inEric Clapton's garden in Surrey during a break from stressful band business meetings.[53] The basic track was recorded on 7 July 1969. Harrison sang lead and played acoustic guitar, McCartney provided backing vocals and played bass, and Starr played the drums.[51] Lennon was still recovering from his car accident and did not perform on the track. Martin provided an orchestral arrangement in collaboration with Harrison, who overdubbed a Moog synthesiser part on 19 August, immediately before the final mix.[53]
Though not released as a single, the song attracted attention and critical praise, and was included on the compilation1967–1970. It has been featured several times onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs, having been chosen bySandie Shaw,Jerry Springer,Boris Johnson andElaine Paige.[54]The Daily Telegraph's Martin Chilton said it was "almost impossible not to sing along to".[55] Since digital downloads have become eligible to chart, it reached number 56 in 2010 after the Beatles' back catalogue was released oniTunes.[56]
Harrison recorded a guitar solo for this track that did not appear in the final mix. It was rediscovered in 2012, and footage of Martin and Harrison's sonDhani listening to it in the studio was released on the DVD ofLiving in the Material World.[57]
"Because" was inspired by Lennon listening to Ono playingLudwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano. He recalled he was "lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play ... Suddenly, I said, 'Can you play those chords backward?' She did, and I wrote 'Because' around them."[58] The track features three-part harmonies by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, which were then triple-tracked to give nine voices in the final mix. The group considered the vocals to be some of the hardest and most complex they attempted. Harrison played the Moog synthesiser, and Martin played theharpsichord that opens the track.[10]
The medley of songs on side two finished with "The End"
The remainder of side two consists of a 16-minute medley of eight tracks consisting of a number of short songs and song fragments (known during the recording sessions as "The Long One"),[59][60][61] recorded over July and August and blended into a suite by McCartney and Martin.[62] Some songs were written (and originally recorded in demo form) during sessions for the White Album andGet Back /Let It Be, which later appeared onAnthology 3.[63] While the idea for the medley was McCartney's, Martin claims credit for some structure, adding he "wanted to get John and Paul to think more seriously about their music".[7]
The first track recorded for the medley was the opening number, "You Never Give Me Your Money". McCartney has said the band's dispute overAllen Klein and what McCartney viewed as Klein's empty promises were the inspiration for the song's lyrics.[64] However, MacDonald doubts this, given that the backing track, recorded on 6 May atOlympic Studios, predated the worst altercations between Klein and McCartney. The track is a suite of varying styles, ranging from a piano-led ballad at the start toarpeggiated guitars at the end.[65] Both Harrison and Lennon provided guitar solos, with Lennon playing the solos at the end of the track.[66]
This song transitions into Lennon's "Sun King" which, like "Because", showcases Lennon, McCartney and Harrison's triple-tracked harmonies. Following it are Lennon's "Mean Mr. Mustard" (written during the Beatles' 1968 trip to India) and "Polythene Pam".[67] These in turn are followed by four McCartney songs, "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" (written after a fan entered McCartney's residence via his bathroom window),[68] "Golden Slumbers" (based onThomas Dekker's 17th-century poem set to new music),[69] "Carry That Weight" (reprising elements from "You Never Give Me Your Money", and featuring chorus vocals from all four Beatles), and closing with "The End".[70]
"The End" features Starr's only drum solo in the Beatles' catalogue (the drums are mixed across two tracks in "true stereo", unlike most releases at that time where they were hard-panned left or right). Fifty-four seconds into the song are 18 bars of lead guitar: the first two bars are played by McCartney, the second two by Harrison, and the third two by Lennon, and the sequence is repeated two more times.[71] Harrison suggested the idea of a guitar solo in the track, Lennon decided they should trade solos and McCartney elected to go first. The solos were cut live against the existing backing track in one take.[7] Immediately after Lennon's third and final solo, the piano chords of the final part of the song begin. The song ends with the memorable final line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make". This section was taped separately from the first and required the piano to be re-recorded by McCartney, which was done on 18 August.[71] An alternative version of the song, with Harrison's lead guitar solo played against McCartney's (and Starr's drum solo heard in the background), appears on theAnthology 3 album and the 2012 digital-only compilation albumTomorrow Never Knows.[72]
MusicologistWalter Everett interprets that most of the lyrics on side two's medley deal with "selfishness and self-gratification – the financial complaints in 'You Never Give Me Your Money,' themiserliness of Mr. Mustard, the holding back of the pillow in 'Carry That Weight,' the desire that some second person will visit the singer's dreams – perhaps the 'one sweet dream' of 'You Never Give Me Your Money'? – in 'The End.'"[73] Everett adds that the medley's "selfish moments" are played in the context of thetonal centre ofA, while "generosity" is expressed in songs whereC major is central.[73] The medley concludes with a "great compromise in the 'negotiations'" in "The End", which serves as astructurally balancedcoda. In response to the repeated A-major choruses of "love you", McCartney sings in realisation that there is as much self-gratifying love ("the love you take") as there is of the generous love ("the love you make"), inA major and C major, respectively.[73]
"Her Majesty" was recorded by McCartney on 2 July when he arrived before the rest of the group at Abbey Road. It was originally included in a rough mix of the side two medley (and officially available in this form for the first time on the album's 3CD Super Deluxe edition box set), appearing between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". McCartney disliked the way the medley sounded when it included "Her Majesty", so he asked for it to be cut. The secondengineer, John Kurlander, had been instructed byGeorge Martin not to throw out anything, so after McCartney left, he attached the track to the end of the master tape after 20 seconds of silence. The tape box bore an instruction to leave "Her Majesty" off the final product, but the next day when mastering engineer Malcolm Davies received the tape, he (also trained not to throw anything away) cut a playback lacquer of the whole sequence, including "Her Majesty". The Beatles liked this effect and included it on the album.[74]
"Her Majesty" opens with the final, crashing chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard", while the final note remained buried in the mix of "Polythene Pam", as a result of being snipped off the reel during a rough mix of the medley on 30 July. The medley was subsequently mixed again from scratch although the song was not touched again and still appears in its rough mix on the album.[74]
Original US and UK pressings ofAbbey Road do not list "Her Majesty" on the album's cover nor on the record label,[75] making it ahidden track. The song title appears on the inlay card and disc of the 1987 remastered CD reissue, as track 17.[76] It also appears on the sleeve, booklet and disc of the 2009 remastered CD reissue,[77] but not on the cover or record label of the 2012 vinyl reissue or the 2019 remix of the album.[78]
Three days after the session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", Harrison recorded solo demos of "All Things Must Pass" (which became the title track of his1970 triple album), "Something" and "Old Brown Shoe".[79] The latter was re-recorded by the Beatles in April 1969 and issued as the B-side of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" the following month. All three of these Harrison demos were later featured onAnthology 3.[80]
During the sessions for the medley, McCartney recorded "Come and Get It", playing all the instruments. It was assumed to be ademo recording for another artist[81] but McCartney later said that he originally intended to put it onAbbey Road. It was instead covered byBadfinger, while McCartney's original recording appeared onAnthology 3.[82]
The original backing track to "Something", featuring a piano-led coda,[32] and "You Never Give Me Your Money", which leads into a fast rock-n-rolljam session,[65] have appeared onbootlegs.[83][84]
Apple Records creative directorKosh designed the album cover. It is the only original UK Beatles album sleeve to show neither the artist name nor the album title on its front cover. EMI believed that the record would not sell without this information, but Kosh said that "we didn't need to write the band's name on the cover [...] They were the most famous band in the world".[85] The front cover was a photograph of the group walking on a zebra crossing, based on ideas that McCartney sketched,[86][nb 4] and taken on 8 August 1969 outsideEMI Studios onAbbey Road. At 11:35 that morning, photographerIain Macmillan was given ten minutes to take the photo while he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up traffic behind the camera. Macmillan took six photographs, which McCartney examined with a magnifying glass before deciding which would be used on the album sleeve.[85][87]
In the image selected by McCartney, the group walk across the street in single file from left to right, with Lennon leading, followed by Starr, McCartney and Harrison. McCartney is barefoot and out of step with the others. Except for Harrison, the group are wearing suits designed byTommy Nutter.[88] A whiteVolkswagen Beetle is to the left of the picture, parked next to the zebra crossing, which belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio. After the album was released, the number plate (LMW 281F) was repeatedly stolen from the car.[nb 5] In 2004, news sources published a claim made by retired American salesman Paul Cole that he was the man standing on the pavement to the right of the picture.[91]
In mid-1969, Lennon formed a new group, thePlastic Ono Band, in part because the Beatles had rejected his song "Cold Turkey".[92] While Harrison worked with such artists asLeon Russell,Doris Troy, Preston andDelaney & Bonnie through to the end of the year,[93] McCartney took a hiatus from the group after his daughterMary was born on 28 August.[86] On 20 September, six days beforeAbbey Road was released, Lennon told McCartney, Starr, and business managerAllen Klein (Harrison was not present) that he "wanted a divorce"[94] from the group. Apple released "Something" backed with "Come Together" in the US on 6 October 1969.[95] Release of the single in the UK followed on 31 October,[96] while Lennon released the Plastic Ono Band's "Cold Turkey" the same month.[97]
The Beatles did little promotion ofAbbey Road directly, and no public announcement was made of the band's split until McCartney announced he wasleaving the group in April 1970.[98] By this time, theGet Back project (by now retitledLet It Be) had been re-examined, with overdubs and mixing sessions continuing into 1970. Therefore,Let It Be became the last album to be finished and released by the Beatles, although its recording had begun beforeAbbey Road.[3]
Abbey Road sold four million copies in its first two months of release.[99] In the UK, the album debuted at number one, where it remained for 11 weeks before being displaced for one week bythe Rolling Stones'Let It Bleed. The following week (which was Christmas),Abbey Road returned to the top for another six weeks (completing a total of 17 weeks) before being displaced byLed Zeppelin'sLed Zeppelin II.[100][101] Altogether, it spent 81 weeks on the UK albums chart.[102] The album also performed strongly overseas. In the US, it spent 11 weeks at number one on theBillboard Top LPs chart.[103] It was theNational Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) best-selling album of 1969.[104] In Japan, it was one of the longest-charting albums to date, remaining in the top 100 for 298 weeks during the 1970s.[105]
Abbey Road initially received mixed reviews frommusic critics,[106] who criticised the production's artificial sounds and viewed its music as inauthentic.[107]William Mann ofThe Times said that the album will "be called gimmicky by people who want a record to sound exactly like a live performance",[107] although he considered it to be "teem[ing] with musical invention" and added: "Nice as 'Come Together' and Harrison's 'Something' are – they are minor pleasures in the context of the whole disc ... Side Two is marvellous ..."[108]Ed Ward ofRolling Stone called the album "complicated instead of complex" and felt that the Moog synthesiser "disembodies and artificializes" the band's sound, adding that they "create a sound that could not possibly exist outside the studio".[107] While he found the medley on side two to be their "most impressive music" sinceRubber Soul,Nik Cohn ofThe New York Times said that, "individually", the album's songs are "nothing special".[109]Albert Goldman ofLife magazine wrote thatAbbey Road "is not one of the Beatles' great albums" and, despite some "lovely"phrases and "stirring"segues, side two's suite "seems symbolic of the Beatles' latest phase, which might be described as the round-the-clock production of disposable music effects".[110] John Gabree of the magazineHigh Fidelity wrote, of the album, "what's to say? If you like the Beatles, you'll like the record. If you have your doubts, this will do nothing to allay them. Of course, as someone just said, they do have 'something.'"[111]
Conversely,Chris Welch wrote inMelody Maker: "the truth is, their latest LP is just a natural born gas, entirely free of pretension, deep meanings or symbolism ... While production is simple compared to past intricacies, it is still extremely sophisticated and inventive."[112]Derek Jewell ofThe Sunday Times found the album "refreshingly terse and unpretentious", and although he lamented the band's "cod-1920s jokes (Maxwell's Silver Hammer) and ... Ringo's obligatory nursery arias (Octopus's Garden)", he considered thatAbbey Road "touches higher peaks than did their last album".[108]John Mendelsohn, writing forRolling Stone, called it "breathtakingly recorded" and praised side two especially, equating it to "the whole ofSgt. Pepper" and stating, "That the Beatles can unify seemingly countless musical fragments and lyrical doodlings into a uniformly wonderful suite ... seems potent testimony that no, they've far from lost it, and no, they haven't stopped trying."[113] Don Heckman ofStereo Review named the album one of the "Best Recordings of the Month" of January 1970, remarking that it was "better than 'The Beatles' or 'Magical Mystery Tour,' and probably the equal of 'Sgt. Pepper'", adding, "I suppose I haven't really come up with any new compliments for the Beatles-not that they need them. But I hope I have at least persuaded you to hear 'Abbey Road.' You'll find it a happy experience."[114]
Many critics have since citedAbbey Road as the Beatles' greatest album.[126] In a retrospective review, Nicole Pensiero ofPopMatters called it "an amazingly cohesive piece of music, innovative and timeless".[127]Mark Kemp ofPaste viewed the album as being "among the Beatles' finest works, even if it foreshadows the cigarette-lighter-wavingarena rock that technically skilled but critically maligned artists fromJourney toMeatloaf would belabor throughout the '70s and '80s".[122] Neil McCormick ofThe Daily Telegraph dubbed it the Beatles' "last love letter to the world" and praised its "big, modern sound", calling it "lush, rich, smooth, epic, emotional and utterly gorgeous".[119]
AllMusic'sRichie Unterberger felt that the album sharedSgt. Pepper's "faux-conceptual forms", but had "stronger compositions", and wrote of its standing in the band's catalogue: "WhetherAbbey Road is the Beatles' best work is debatable, but it's certainly the most immaculately produced (with the possible exception ofSgt. Pepper) and most tightly constructed."[116] Ian MacDonald gave a mixed opinion of the album, noting that several tracks had been written at least a year previously, and would possibly have been unsuitable without being integrated into the medley on side two. He did, however, praise the production, particularly the sound of Starr's bass drum.[11]
Abbey Road has received high rankings in several "greatest albums of all time" lists and polls by critics and publications.[128][129][130] It was voted number 8 in the third edition ofColin Larkin's bookAll Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[131]Time included it in their 2006 list of the All-Time 100 Albums.[132] In 2009, readers ofRolling Stone namedAbbey Road the greatest Beatles album.[128][133] In 2020, the magazine ranked the album at number 5 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the highest Beatles record on the list;[134] a previous version of the list from 2012 had ranked it at number 14.[135] The album was also included in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[136]
Imitating the cover ofAbbey Road has become popular with fans.
The front cover image of the Beatles on the Abbey Road crossing has become one of the most famous and imitated in recording history.[85] The crossing is a popular destination for Beatles fans,[85] and a webcam has operated there since 2011.[137] In December 2010, the crossing was givengrade II listed status for its "cultural and historical importance"; the Abbey Road studios themselves had been given similar status earlier in the year.[138]
Shortly after the album's release, the cover became part of the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory that was spreading across college campuses in the US. According to followers of the rumour, the cover depicted the Beatles walking out of a cemetery in a funeral procession. The procession was led by Lennon dressed in white as a religious figure; Starr was dressed in black as the undertaker; McCartney, out of step with the others, was a barefoot corpse; and Harrison dressed in denim was the gravedigger. The left-handed McCartney is holding a cigarette in his right hand, indicating that he is an impostor, and part of the number plate on the Volkswagen parked on the street is 281F (misread as 28IF), meaning that McCartney would have been 28 if he had lived – despite the fact that he was only 27 at the time of the photo and subsequent release of the record.[139][140] The escalation of the "Paul is dead" rumour became the subject of intense analysis on mainstream radio and contributed toAbbey Road's commercial success in the US.[141] Lennon was interviewed in London by New York'sWMCA, and he ridiculed the rumour but conceded that it was invaluable publicity for the album.[142]
The cover image has been parodied on several occasions, including byBooker T. & the M.G.'sMcLemore Avenue (1970),Kanye West'sLate Orchestration (2006) and by McCartney on his 1993 live albumPaul Is Live.[143][144] On the cover of its October 1977 issue, the satirical magazineNational Lampoon depicted the four Beatles flattened along the zebra crossing, with aroad roller driving away up the street.[145] TheRed Hot Chili Peppers'The Abbey Road E.P. parodies the cover, with the band walking near-naked across a similar zebra crossing.[146] In 2003, several US poster companies airbrushed McCartney's cigarette out of the image without permission from Apple or McCartney.[147] In 2013,Kolkata Police launched a traffic safety awareness advertisement againstjaywalking, using the cover and a caption that read: "If they can, why can't you?"[148]Yesterday (2019) is about a musician who suddenly finds himself as the only person who remembers the Beatles and becomes famous for performing their songs. One of the film's posters depicts him walking on a similar zebra crossing, alone.[149]
While matching albums such asSgt. Pepper in terms of popularity,Abbey Road failed to repeat the Beatles' earlier achievements in galvanising their rivals to imitate them.[107] In authorPeter Doggett's description, "Too contrived for the rock underground to copy, too complex for the bubblegum pop brigade to copy, the album influenced no one – except [Paul McCartney]", who spent years trying to emulate its scope in his solo career.[107] Writing forClassic Rock in 2014,Jon Anderson of the progressive rock bandYes said his group were constantly influenced by the Beatles fromRevolver onwards, but it was the feeling that side two was "one complete idea" that inspired him to create long-form pieces of music.[152][nb 6]
In June 1970, Allen Klein reported thatAbbey Road was the Beatles' best-selling album in the US with sales of about five million.[158] By 1992,Abbey Road had sold nine million copies.[99] The album became the ninth-most downloaded on theiTunes Store a week after it was released there on 16 November 2010.[56] A CNN report stated it was the best-selling vinyl album of 2011.[159] It is the first album from the 1960s to sell over five million albums since 1991 whenNielsen SoundScan began tracking sales.[160] In the US, the album had sold 7,177,797 copies by the end of the 1970s.[161] As of 2011[update], the album had sold over 31 million copies worldwide and is one of the band's best-selling albums.[162] In October 2019,Abbey Road re-entered the UK charts, again hitting number one.[163]
Abbey Road has remained in print since its first release in 1969. The original album was released on 26 September in the UK[164] and 1 October in the US on Apple Records.[165] It was reissued as a limited edition picture disc on vinyl in the US by Capitol on 27 December 1978,[166] while a CD reissue of the album was released in 1987, with a remastered version appearing in 2009.[167] The remaster included additional photographs with additional liner notes and the first, limited edition, run also included a short documentary about the making of the album.[168]
In 2001,Abbey Road was certified 12× platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[169] The album continues to be reissued on vinyl. It was included as part of the Beatles'Collector's Crate series in September 2009[170] and saw a remastered LP release on 180-gram vinyl in 2012.[171]
Asuper deluxe version of the album, which featured new mixes byGiles Martin, was released in September 2019 to celebrate the original album's 50th anniversary.
As of October 2019,Abbey Road has sold 2,240,608 pure sales in the United Kingdom with all consumed sales standing at 2,327,230 units. Post 1994 sales stand at 827,329.[172]
"Her Majesty" appears as ahidden track after "The End" and 14 seconds of silence. Later releases of the album included the song on the track listing, except some vinyl editions.
Some cassette tape versions in the UK and US had "Come Together" and "Here Comes the Sun" swapped to even out the playing time of each side.[173]
Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and background vocals; bass, rhythm, lead and acoustic guitars; acoustic and electric pianos, Moog synthesiser; sound effects;wind chimes, handclaps and percussion
George Harrison – harmony and background vocals; lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; bass on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Oh Darling" and "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight"; Moog synthesiser;harmonium; handclaps and percussion; lead vocals (on "Something", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Because"[179])
Ringo Starr – drums and percussion; background vocals;anvil on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer";[41] lead vocals (on "Octopus's Garden")
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
† BPI certification awarded only for sales since 1994.[280]
^In the 1960s, UK record industry protocol was that singles did not normally appear on albums.[37]
^In the version released onAnthology 3, Lennon can be heard singing the lead on an ad-libbed verse regarding the news that Yoko Ono's divorce from her previous husbandAnthony Cox had been finalised.[43]
^At 8:22, "Revolution 9" is the longest track to appear on a Beatles album.
^A working title of the album wasEverest, after a brand of cigarettes favoured by Emerick, but the band were reluctant to travel to the Himalayas for a photo session.[11]
^In 1986, the car was sold at auction for £2,530[89] and in 2001 was on display in a museum in Germany.[90]
^Anderson added: "[The Beatles] showed us that you can do anything ... That if you can do it with love, heart and honesty, it'll work."[152]
^Etherington-Smith, Meredith (18 August 1992)."Obituary: Tommy Nutter".The Independent. London. Archived fromthe original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved23 April 2010.
^abAnderson, Jon (October 2014). "'They were the leaders of everything, and everybody else slowly followed': Jon Anderson on why the Beatles were the original progressive rock band".Classic Rock. p. 37.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".ČNS IFPI.Note: On the chart page, select40.Týden 2019 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2006).Here, There and Everywhere My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. New York: Penguin Books.ISBN978-1-59240-179-6.
_and_Microphones%2c_Abbey_Road_Studios.jpg)
