Abbey Road

Abbey Road is the last album recorded by The Beatles, which was released in 1969. It was produced and orchestrated by George Martin, for Apple Records.

After the near disastrous sessions for the Get Back album (later retitled Let It Be for release), the Beatles decided to get together and make an album that they would be more happy with. The two album sides were quite different in character; side one was a collection of singles, while side two contained several medleys of short compositions that segued together.

The album is notable for George Harrison's songs "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" which fully established him with the public as being the creative equal to Paul McCartney and John Lennon in composing. The song "The End" features the only Ringo Starr drum solo to make it to tape, as well as alternating blistering lead guitar solos from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.

The song "Her Majesty", tacked on the end, was originally part of the "side 2" medley. McCartney did not like the way the medley sounded with "Her Majesty" included, so he had the medley re-edited to remove it. However, engineer Geoff Emerick had been instructed never to throw out anything the Beatles created, so he placed it at the end of the medley after 20 seconds of silence. The Beatles liked this seemingly random effect and left it on the album.

"At one point the album was going to be titled Everest, after the brand of cigarettes I used to smoke," recalls Geoff Emerick. The idea included a cover photo of The Beatles in the Himalayas, but by the time the group had to take the photo, they decided to call it Abbey Road and take the photo outside the studio during a coffee break from recording. That cover photograph has since become one of the most famous and most imitated album covers in recording history. The cover also supposedly contains several clues adding to the "Paul Is Dead" phenomenon.

One imitation cover came with a unique tribute. Booker T. & the MG's, famed soul combo, covered most of the songs on the Abbey Road in their 1969 album McLemore Avenue, named after the street address of the Stax records studio. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have also imitated the album cover, on their Abbey Road EP, with the band appearing nude, apart from strategically placed socks.

1. "Come Together" (Lennon/McCartney)
2. "Something" (Harrison)
3. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (Lennon/McCartney)
4. "Oh! Darling" (Lennon/McCartney)
5. "Octopus's Garden" (Starkey/Starr)
6. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (Lennon/McCartney)
7. "Here Comes the Sun" (Harrison)
8. "Because" (Lennon/McCartney)
9. "You Never Give Me Your Money" (Lennon/McCartney)
10. "Sun King" (Lennon/McCartney)
11. "Mean Mr. Mustard" (Lennon/McCartney)
12. "Polythene Pam" (Lennon/McCartney)
13. "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" (Lennon/McCartney)
14. "Golden Slumbers" (Lennon/McCartney)
15. "Carry That Weight" (Lennon/McCartney)
16. "The End" (Lennon/McCartney)
17. "Her Majesty" (Lennon/McCartney)