Abbey Road

From TheBeatles.com:

First issued on 26th September, 1969 Abbey Road was the final Beatles album to be recorded but not their last to be released. Let It Be, though mainly recorded in January, 1969 was finally released in May, 1970 alongside the film of the same name.

Following the ‘live’ nature of the “Let It Be” recordings, for Abbey Road, The Beatles returned to the North London studios to create carefully crafted recordings with ambitious musical arrangements. Interestingly, 12 of the songs that appeared on the finished album were played during the filmed rehearsals and sessions for “Let It Be” back in January.

For the first time on a Beatles album, the front cover contained neither the group’s name nor the album title just that iconic photograph taken on the zebra crossing near the entrance to the studios in London NW8 in August 1969.

Abbey Road entered the British album chart at no.1 in October and stayed there for a total of seventeen of its 81 weeks in the chart. In the US, it spent eleven weeks at #1 during its initial chart stay of 83 weeks.

The final Beatles album was first released on 8th May, 1970, just prior to the launch of the cinema film of the same name.

Rehearsals and recording sessions for the album had taken place in January, 1969 first At Twickenham Film Studios and later in the basement and on the roof of their Apple headquarters in London’s Savile Row.

A single comprising of “Get Back” and “Don’t Let Me Down” was released in April, 1969 but as The Beatles focussed their energies on a new album mainly recorded at Abbey Road, The “Get Back” album as it was then called remained unreleased.

Once Abbey Road had been issued and the completion of the documentary film now imminent, it was noticed that rehearsals of George’s song “I Me Mine” featured prominently in the film but had not been recorded in the studio. This was remedied on 3rd January, 1970 when George, Paul and Ringo performed it without John who was in Denmark. A second single from the album, which was now titled Let It Be appeared on 6th March.

Up to now the idea behind the album had been to capture the group “live in the studio” without overdubs or effects but this changed when producer, Phil Spector was brought in to re-produce the tracks. The Long And Winding Road, which had been given a new musical arrangement featuring orchestra and choir, was released as a single in the US and other markets but not the UK and became the group’s final # 1 single.

The album reached no. 1 for a three week stay during its 59 week chart stay. In the US, the album enjoyed a four week stay at #1 during an initial chart life of 55 weeks.

“I don’t like people explaining albums. The only way you can explain it is to hear it, You can’t really use words about music, otherwise we’d do a talking album. The album is the explanation, and it’s up to you to make sure what you want of it. There is no theme to Abbey Road. There never is a theme to any of our albums, although some people saw one in Sgt Pepper.”

Paul McCartney – Badman, Keith. The Beatles: Off the Record . Music Sales. Kindle Edition.

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