Abbey Road.
| The Beatles
Abbey Road.
Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969 by Apple Records. Named after the location of EMI Studios in London, the cover features the group walking across the street's zebra crossing, an image that became one of the most famous and imitated in popular music. The album's initially mixed reviews were contrasted by its immediate commercial success, topping record charts in the UK and US. The single "Something" / "Come Together" was released in October and topped the US charts. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The perfect ending to a recording career, this LP shows a band still in its prime, capable of songwriting and recording feats others could only envy.
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Billboard
From the iconic opening bass line of "Come Together" to the ambitious Side 2 medley to the solemnity-subverting "Her Majesty," The Beatles' 'Abbey Road' is an unqualified triumph.
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BBC
The Beatles’ work was done. They'd come to symbolise the 60s, taken youth culture to the world, and ultimately collapsed under the responsibility, the weight they had to carry. Abbey Road is the soundtrack to it all.
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Consequence
Abbey Road is hands down thee greatest piece of musical work on this godforsaken planet, and you know what, it actually makes us look like decent human beings. Hey, in the end, the love you make is equal to the love you take.
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AllMusic
As good as these individual moments are, what makes Abbey Road transcendent is how the album is so much greater than the sum of its parts. While a single song or segment can be dazzling, having a succession of marvelous, occasionally intertwined moments is not only a marvel but indeed a summation of everything that made the Beatles great.
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neonmoderntimes
As the last recorded album, this really should have been released last too. It is much better overall than ‘Let It Be‘ and from beginning to end is an absolute joy to listen to as the Beatles really rallied to make something special despite the tension that had built-up. The only sadness is that there is not more, that these talented four guys didn’t go on to produce more music as a band after this, but then the albums they created in this time are truly remarkable. An absolute show of the pure talent John, Paul, George and Ringo had, and what they leave as a musical legacy has never been matched.
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Classic Rock Review
The songs on this album lean on each other much as the Beatles needed to lean on each other to produce the quality and quantity of music they made throughout their career. There are a few outstanding singles, but the medley only shines because they put together pieces of songs that weren’t quite complete on their own and created something unique, special and fleeting as the Beatles rode off into history shortly after Abbey Road was released.
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The Guardian
"Abbey Road" contains talent comparable with any other Beatles album, but nevertheless is a slight matter. Perhaps to their own relief, the Beatles have lost the desire to touch us. You will enjoy "Abbey Road." But it won't move you.
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Something Else
As such, Abbey Road would always have a twilit romanticism about it, a lasting talismanic power. One sweet dream, it’s true, came true that day. Still, its very complexity, as the album explores both the Beatles’ strengths and how those strengths tore the group apart, is what brings us back to this album again and again.
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Glide Magazine
On top of that, the tones and performances on Abbey Road are the most mature and complex of any of their work. The guitars sound like bells one minute, like a Hammond organ the next, the drums are chunky as a jar of peanut butter and the vocal deliveries and harmonies are those of musicians at the absolute top of their game. And, if one more reason is needed, Abbey Road also contains one of the first instances of a synthesizer on record.
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The Avocado
Abbey Road is one of the Beatles’ best albums, and although it works better as a whole than as a collection of strong songs, it still captures them reclaiming their status as the greatest rock band ever. Yes, you’re gonna be in my dreams tonight.
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Mark Prindle
Their last recorded effort. Goofy but spectacular. Like a shorter, tighter White Album, still full of silly novelty tunes and weird rock originals, but ending too damn quickly for my personal tastes. What's there is great, though. "Come Together" is the most bizarre blues rock song I've ever heard, thank you very much to Paul's el weirdo bass line and John's druggy vocal, lyrics, and guitar solo (unless that's George). Likewise, "I Want You" may not seem like much at first, but ends with about three minutes of this noisy guitar riff being repeated over and over and over again like a rock and roll mantra until it finally just cuts off dead. Cool.
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The Orion
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.
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Icon Fetch
Paul’s solos are clean, George’s slinky, and John’s primitive, yet full of emotion. I’m not sure you can name another band that knew this was their last effort, yet still was able to make it a great one.
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The Solute
Taken as an album driven by a knowledge of its group’s end, Abbey Road stands in the highest echelon, and taken as a Beatles album, even more so. But the thing about finality is that it is never so. Especially when your a band that has given so much to culture, legacy, hearts and minds as The Beatles.
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