| Seven years on from their first recordings at the Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles returned from what proved to be their final sessions together. Back in June 1962, they were wide-eyed provincial lads keen to make their mark on the music business. By July 1969, they had become world-weary sophisticates, their lives blighted by power and money struggles.
The songs on Abbey Road reflected their frustrations. They're about legal negotiations, unpaid debts, being ripped off, bad karma and generally bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders. There was even a mock-jolly song about that silver hammer (namely Maxwell's) that is there waiting to come down hard on you just when things are starting to get better. Despite this mood &endash; or perhaps because of it &endash; Abbey Road was an outstandingly inventive farewell offering. It features two of George's best songs, 'Here Comes The Sun' and 'Something'; and a fascinating medley of half-finished songs skilfully woven together by Paul. George Martin remembered that after Let It Be, Paul came to him and asked him to produce a Beatles' album with the kind of feeling they used to generate together. Martin agreed to help out if the Beatles were prepared to give him their co-operation. "That's how we made Abbey Road. It wasn't quite like the old days because they were still working on their old songs and they would bring in the other people to work as kind of musicians for them rather than being a team". In Britain, Abbey Road was released in September 1969 and stayed at Number 1 for 18 weeks. In America, it was released in October and was at Number 1 for 11 weeks. |
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