Okay, first review...
Abbey Road
Pedestrian was kind enough to send me this one and I have to say I think it was a pretty good place to start for me. Unlike several other Beatles albums, I'm not entirely sure I had ever listened to this all the way through until a few days ago and I was actually unfamiliar with most of the songs. As Lisnaholic guessed a few posts ago, one of my biggest problems getting into the Beatles has been overexposure so starting of with a bunch of tracks that were new to me was a nice, fresh place to begin.
The album began auspiciously for me with "Come Together", one of the few Beatles tracks I've always acknowledged enjoying even if I didn't like the band. There's just something about that sinewy bass line and reverby shoot me rhythm that I really dig. This is quickly followed up by "Something", a song I had completely forgotten even existed but which I also have always liked, a pattern that has repeated itself quite a few times for me while listening to the albums I've been sent. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was another similar experience—a song I had forgotten I knew. Though it's not quite as good as the preceding two tracks, I still like it and enjoy the contrast between the super-poppy sound and the fairly dark lyrics. I had a similar reaction to "Octopus's Garden" as well—just a silly song but really fun. The two weakest points on side one were "Oh! Darling" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", for very different reasons. "Oh! Darling" seemed kind of ho-hum compared to some of the other tracks. It's not bad but as a stab at middle-of-the-road R&B it was a little bland. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", on the other hand, I found kind of directionless, but even though I don't think it's particularly satisfying overall, I really like the last three minutes or so of the song. It almost sounds like some kind of proto doom metal to my ears, which was surprising but very cool.
Side two opens with "Here Comes the Sun", a song I've always had slightly positive but mostly neutral feelings toward. I have to say, though, listening to it on headphones for the first time ever has given me a new respect for it. I really enjoy all the subtle details that are mixed in here, especially those sweet analogue synths. The rest of this side is interesting. Honestly, on first listen I found it really weak and uneven, but after listening to the album four or five more times it's really grown on me, though I still think it's a little uneven. I found the heavy Beach Boys influence on "Because" and "Sun King" of particular interest since I've been listening to a hell of a lot of Beach Boys' music lately and I really enjoyed both songs. A few of the tracks, namely "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Polythene Pam", "Golden Slumbers" and "The End" were just sort of there for me, not bad songs really but nothing too exciting. The remaining songs, however, I loved. "Carry That Weight" is another song I knew and liked but had forgotten about. "Mean Mr. Mustard" is cuddly fun in a Nilsson-esque way (he was actually present for the recording of a bunch of this album, interestingly enough). "Her Majesty" is brief but cool. And "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is probably my favorite song on this side. I love the lead guitar, and having listened to most of their discography at this point, I'm fascinated by how much better the guitar playing is here than on some of their older stuff, a point which I'll probably be revisiting in other reviews.
Anyway, thank again for sending this, Ped. I'm not sure it won over to the band completely but listening to
Abbey Road many times over the past few days was certainly no chore. I do enjoy it and it's definitely something I'll continue listening to.