Customer Reviews
Good condition, and cheap!
Good condition, other than the corner being bent from shipping. This was a good deal on a fairly well-kept album. For the price, a great deal.
Oh, we're gonna need more stars than five...
Nothing compares to this one: the songwriting, the instrumental performances, the innovation, and the feeling that went into the music. Quite simply, this is the greatest album ever made, by the best band ever to walk the earth, containing my favorite song ever. This was one of the first albums to use synthesizers, and arguably the first to do anything that made musical sense with them: in fact, they play key roles on key songs such as Here Comes the Sun, Because and Maxwell's Silver Hammer. That's not all that's good about it, though: it's also the best collection of material the Beatles ever recorded, which is saying a lot. After showing all kinds of potential, George Harrison finally matured into a full-fledged songwriter, penning the aforementioned Greatest Song Ever, Here Comes the Sun. I cannot begin to describe how much I love this one: the lyrics, the melody, the mood, and the quirky but charming synthesizer all blend together perfectly. Also found here is George's lone #1 hit with the Beatles, his tender ballad Something, which is my second-favorite on the album. My favorite part of it is George's guitar solo: time and again he proves himself to be the one of most underrated lead guitarists I can name you. Do you think Jimmy Page could've equalled the emotion put in that solo? I don't.
It's not just a one-man show, though. For one, Ringo puts in his best song with the Beatles, Octopus' Garden, a charming country-rocker. And of course Lennon and McCartney were still delivering the goods too: John gives us the slightly funky, stream-of-conscienceness Come Together, with a solid groove and a cool organ solo from Billy Preston; the haunting, melodic, near-a capella Because; the soothing nonsense of Sun King (part of the famous "Abbey Road Medley" - I'll explain that in more detail later); the brief, brass-driven Mean Mr. Mustard (more of the medley), and the punkish, acoustic Polythene Pam (which is also part of the medley). And Paul came up with the Side Two medley I've mentioned before: I'm not quite sure what inspired them to take several fragmentory songs and string them together (I assume John's similarly composed I Am the Walrus had something to do with that), but it was a brilliant idea regardless. The medley takes on a wide variety of styles, starting with You Never Give Me Your Money (another highlight), which is a medley unto itself: part one is a piano ballad a la the then-unreleased Let It Be; part two is a rocker; part three is a smoothly harmonized climax which has a guitar jam that would be reprised later on. I already discussed the next three songs, or rather fragments; next up is the catchy rocker She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, a humorous tale of an obsessive McCartney fan who once crawled through his window for an autograph. Its follow-up is something totally different: the classically influenced, almost lullaby-like Golden Slumbers, which in turn becomes the soccer-stadium chant Carry That Weight, containing a huge horn fanfare and a reprise of You Never Give Me Your Money. This is followed by another one of my favorite bits: The End. This is really the only jam track the Beatles ever recorded, starting with an all-too-rare Ringo drum solo and continuing into a series of guitar solos that mimic the one found at the end of You Never Give Me Your Money. It sounds great, and they keep it short rather than going completely overboard with longwinded, indulgent soloing. The funny, lighthearted Her Majesty (a hidden track! Maybe the first!) closes things out in a fine way. Paul also gets a couple tunes in on side one, and they're both great: his Maxwell's Silver Hammer could almost be a bouncy jingle if it weren't about a topic as happy as a serial killer, while Oh! Darling is almost like an hard-rock Little Richard: Paul sure screams like the guy, while John pumps out loud, crude, distorted rhythm guitar riffs. This also contains an early metal song, the simple-but-effective I Want You (She's So Heavy). This one's a real love-it-or-hate-it track, but I enjoy all of its eight minutes, even the infamous repetitive fadeout, simply because I love how they drown out the guitar riffs with white noise and howling wind. And the suprisingly restrained, down-tuned guitar solo is awesome; so is the organ-bass interplay found right after the chorus. Needless to say, this is one of John's songs.
Amazingly, this was the Beatles' last recorded work together, and even though they were all sick of each other at this time, they really did pull it together and make a true work of art that will never be forgotten. If you only want to buy one Beatles album (though if that's the case, I do recommend you get help), make it this one. No Beatles album is bad, and quite a few are masterpieces, but this outshines them all.
. You can see a complete list of all Beatles discography, or go back to the Beatles tabs
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