The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

Quite simply, my favorite Beatles album. Of course, I may say that again when I get to Rubber Soul or Revolver.

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Abbey Road at #5 while in 2017, it was ranked at only #16 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "The Beatles have produced another great record. What else is new?"
• CashBox: "a witty and charming set of sixteen tunes"
• Record World (Album Pick of the Week): "The Beatles may have produced their finest album to date"
• Billboard (Pop Spotlight Pick): "potent and commercial"
• Rolling Stone (John Mendelsohn): "Simply, side two does more for me that the whole of Sgt. Pepper"
• Rolling Stone (Ed Ward): "Side two is a disaster"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #1 (11 weeks between Nov 1, 1969 - Jan 24, 1970)
• Billboard R&B: #38
• Billboard Pop CD: #1
• CashBox CD: #1

Tracks: To be honest, the album opener, Come Together, is one of my least favorite Beatles tunes, but the album bounces back immediately with my favorite George Harrison tune, Something. Urban legend has it that Frank Sinatra called Something his favorite Lennon/McCartney tune. Another favorite from side one of the album (tracks 1-6 on CD) is Oh! Darling. However, the true beauty of this album is side two (tracks 7-17). If you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, what planet have you been living on?!?

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This was one of the first CDs I purchased in the late '80s. Unfortunately and embarrassingly, I was introduced to much of this music through the 1978 movie, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (my sister owned the 2 LP soundtrack album, below). I watched that movie last fall and it is so campy as to be mildly enjoyable.

When I visited London in 2010, I made the trek to Abbey Road Studios and walked across the famous crosswalk. The road is actually quite busy (see live webcam from the studios here), but I guess the locals have grown accustomed to knuckleheaded tourists trying to recreate the album cover.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Love (2006)
Anthology 1 (1995)
1967-1970 (1973)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Help! (1965)