I can't be certain, but it's possible that I've listened to Abbey Road more times than any other Beatles album. I discovered this one young, through my parents, who especially loved "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." (Why did they think that song was so hilarious? They couldn't listen to it without laughing. Boomer humor is weird.) As often happens, I got burnt out on this album after my teenage years, so I haven't sat down & listened to it in full for a long time. In all honesty, I wasn't really looking forward to it. What new insights could I possibly have about Abbey Road?
Well, 1st off, side 2 is superior. I'm not sure I knew what to make of the big medley in childhood, but today I recognize it as a masterpiece of shifting keys & moods. Unlike a lot of bloated 16-minute progressive rock efforts, every section is incredibly hooky & could have been a single on its own. Yet as opposed to, say, Green Day's song suites on American Idiot, this isn't just a sequence of 3-minute pop songs stitched together. The sections interact with one another, themes & instruments float in & out of the mix & return later--the most obvious is the "You Never Give Me Your Money" reprise in "Carry That Weight," but there are others. The medley is also buoyed by John, Paul & George's lovely 3-part vocal harmonies, which begin it & end it, adding Ringo for the finale. Speaking of Ringo, it also contains some of his best drum work--of course there's the solo in "The End," but also check the fills in "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window." The solo section where the 3 guitarists trade 2-bar licks right near the end is magnificent too, & manifests the personalities of each player: Paul fixates on jagged blues figures, George plays elegant glissandos, & John seems mostly interested in spewing out noise.
Side 2 is huge, but side 1 is no slouch either. "Oh! Darling" with its '50s doo-wop shuffle & throat-shredding wails from Paul set the stage for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," which I can only describe as proto-doom metal. Seriously, this entire song--including the jazzy midsection & abrupt, oops-we-ran-out-of-tape ending--could have easily been written by Black Sabbath a year or 2 later. The medley isn't the only time these songs communicate with one another--I love how "I Want You"'s arpeggios are answered in "Because," & the way the Moog lines in "Maxwell" return in "Here Comes the Sun" (I've heard that song a bajillion times & I've never really noticed how lovely the Moog figures are).
Of course, I can't write about a Beatles album without fawning over Paul's bass playing. Now that I can hear it over my parents' guffaws, when I listen to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" I zero in on the tasty bass runs, & that's keeping it relatively simple by Paul's standards. By the time we get to "Sun King," ironically a Lennon composition, Paul is officially playing "lead bass," & when the record slams into "Mean Mr. Mustard," I can't think of a nastier, more blown-out distorted bass tone from any record of this vintage, & I say that as the highest of compliments.
Finally, a word about George: are "Something" & "Here Comes the Sun" the 2 best Harrison compositions the Beatles ever recorded? Probably, though perhaps "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" gives them a run for their money. You can hear George's creative energy just bursting forward--though I don't think he was quite as repressed by the band as apocrypha would have you believe. Either way, the band dissolved & we got All Things Must Pass, so everything is right with the world.
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