The Beatles: Abbey Road (Remastered)

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road, the last album recorded by a small, virtually unknown group from Liverpool called The Beatles. Now that their entire catalogue has just been re-released in re-mastered form, it seems only right to take a new look at the new Abbey Road.

 

Full disclosure – I’ve listened to Abbey Road hundreds of times.  I’ve listened to it in a car with the windows down going 70 on the highway; I’ve listened to it in a car parked outside of my apartment with the volume turned up as loud as it could go.  I’ve listened to it on an iPod with headphones; I’ve listened to it on a portable CD player with headphones.  I’ve listened to it on vinyl lying in bed; I’ve listened to it on vinyl sitting directly between giant speakers.  I’ve listened to it stoned; I’ve listened to it straight.  Hell, I’ve even performed the album in its entirety.

 

And, the first time I listened to the re-mastered version, I heard things I’ve never heard before.

 

There are only two groups of people who should shell out the dough for the re-master, though.  The first group is people like me – fanatics.  The second group is people who have never heard The Beatles.  If you’re just a casual listener, the difference won’t be worth the money.

 

It’s like the difference between the way your teeth feel after you brush them and the way they feel after you come home from the dentist.  The re-masters are cleaner, though they have lost no warmth.  You can hear every little inflection in the voices and each instrument seems to occupy its own world while blending into the world of the song. 

 

Perhaps the song that benefits the most is Lennon’s epic “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”  The bass, which had to be dealt with carefully to press on vinyl without making the record skip, is now heavier than all hell.  When it kicks in, that is the sound of The Beatles inventing heavy metal.

 

There is a lasting debate on which Beatles album is “the best” Beatles album.  One can make a convincing case for at least five or six of them.

 

But, after all of the bullshit about Beatlemania and the Summer of Love finally subsides and the albums are judged on the music they contain, Abbey Road just might come out on top.  It has the two best songs George Harrison ever wrote (“Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”), one of Lennon’s most iconic anthems (“Come Together”), one of Paul’s best vocal performances (“Oh! Darling”) and arguably the most famous album side in history (the B-side suite).

 

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.

 

The Beatles have never wanted for hyperbolic accolades.  As the re-mastered Abbey Road shows, they damn well deserve them.

 

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