Twang gathers Tiggerlion, Nigel T, Dai and occasional guest Simon for a discussion on the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and its recent remix/rerelease. A stimulating discussion ensues which has to be brutally cut short at 1hr 30m, lovingly represented here in stereo (the mono remix will be available shortly from specialist web shops). We cover the history of the album, where it fits in the Beatles universe, songwriting, recording, remix approaches… A wide spread of opinions are aired, context and judgement applied and in the end most of the team admit they’d buy it whatever it was like. Advice is offered for potential purchasers on the different formats available and Twang confesses it doesn’t sound much different to the 2009 remaster to him.
The Afterword #95: The Abbey Roadcast
by 43 Comments
I’m glad you said that about the 2009 master. It was the most immediately powerful example of the “great leap forward” in quality that that set represented. That and the revelatory stereo PPM, that is.
A couple of things we didn’t clear up. In the medley, what have yellow lorries got to do with anything and isn’t sucking a Golden Wonder simply wrong? Crisps are meant to be crunched.
I once went in through a bathroom window with a silver spoon, and the protection it offered was limited to say the least.
The lyrics that sum up Abbey Road for me are “one thing I can tell you is you got to be free” delivered with menace, almost as a threat, and “oh that magic feeling, nowhere to go” sung with wide-eyed wonder.
I bet there aren’t many albums you can reduce to two lines of lyrics and lots of people would recognise it enough to identify the album.
“Lots” would recognise the quotes from Abbey Road? Let’s think – lots on here admittedly, that weirdo down the bar, the busker outside Goodge St tube and…
Wel, yes, ‘lots’.
I’ve just had a word with the man on the street. 20% of him knew exactly what I was on about.
I admire your steadfast admiration of an album that by its very existence embodies the definition of “Why, what?”
You haven’t listened to the podcast, have you? You might be surprised by the opinions expressed.
I only find time to listen to podcasts late at night. I once lasted all of ten minutes before sleep offered its tender embrace (Jay Rayner and Jess Phillips since you ask). I therefore unreservedly apologise for conclusions leapt to
Try this on & see how far you get.
Quite, @tiggerlion.
Twill be duly listened to around eleven local time tonight. Can someone arrange for the volume to suddenly rise every ten minutes or so?
It’s that quiet verse/loud chorus thing again…
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2019/10/why-beatles-abbey-road-reigns-supreme-50-years
Ah….pressed play and that was it. Try again tonight I will
Have you considered listening to it at a different time of the day?
Look here – I’m a busy busy boy. Read The Guardian, have breakfast, gaze out over the vineyards, next thing it’s lunch and suddenly it’s Ovaltine time
Jesus F ! It’s like three days long!! Sorry and all that but Abbey Road really doesn’t deserve all this. Back to Lana I will go
See that old bloke over there with his head in an enormous humble pie? That’s me that is. A simply charming podcast with oodles of interesting and varying opinions. My many fans will be unsurprised by my total agreement with Highly Perceptive Simon
One caveat, Senor Twang – 90 minutes, however fascinating, is too long. Just think of us with short attention spans – so many vineyards to stare at, so many books to pick up and put back down, so many lost afternoons….
I’m impressed you sat through it all. In defence of Twang, it must be difficult to edit when four people just won’t shut up.
And I guess the other thing I should say is that whoever said you have to reference your opinion of Abbey Road to when you first heard it was spot on. In 1969 in the midst of everything else that was going this was the very first Beatles record that groovy guys like me and Jim Heatherwick used words like mainstream and throwaway
No spoilers!
It’s a fair comment Lodes and I do try to keep it to an hour (45 mins even better!) but there was no obvious filler in there so I left it in the end.
The Highly Perceptive Simon is now in the process of changing his name. What have you started!
Has anybody yet claimed that Come Together invented the quiet verse/loud chorus thing that the Pixies supposedly invented?
That Chumbawamba invented, you mean.
Talking of…..
Quiet verse/Loud chorus is it? Ah well, there’s allus this…
Dear God. Cleanse my ears….
Really good chat guys – when I saw there were 5 people involved I thought it could be a bit crowded in there but you all bounced off each other really well.
I was so inspired that I immediately played the album and thoroughly enjoyed it (bar the daft songs and McCartneys faux rock n roll screamy voice – no need Paul). I also played the old version and have to say the differences are minimal to my ears but I did notice the Moog and Billy’s organ. The 2nd side is glorious and whilst not an afficionado it surely has to be up there in the best Beatles albums. If only something like All Things Must Pass had been included rather than Maxwell or Octopus then maybe that would have sealed its reputation.
With the 2009 master, I remove Maxwell and replace it with Old Brown Shoe, which I position just before I Want You.
Works for me. Maxwell would have been OK as a B side
Really enjoyed the ‘Cast, even if at least one set of opinions was nonsense as this is my fave HJHs album and will be in my Desert Island Discs list when I’m famous /talented/special enough to be asked.
Any new mix was likely to be a marginal improvement but I think this one pulls it off and the revelations for me came in tracks like Sun King, which had washed over me a little before and in the space and clarity of some of the vocals. Come Together much better captures the venom in John’s vocal. I agree that “The Long One” is just wonderful.
Hoping to get to the 5.1 mix this weekend
Yes, it was the ‘lesser’ tracks that seem to benefit most, which I also noticed on Pepper and the White Album. I wonder if that is because I anticipated hearing the favourites and these then took me by surprise..? Sun King, Because, Oh Darling were the surprises on this one.
Glad people have enjoyed the chat – Some far more articulate people than me on there! I just enjoyed a good old music chat and often just sat back and listened to the others!!
Funnily enough the biggest improvement for me was on Something, which in my old CD version (and what I remember of the vinyl) was too muddy to be the work of towering genius everyone else seems to see it as. I might play this version as often as Here Comes the Sun (any version).
I agree. Giles should be rightly proud of what he’s done with Something. He has made a masterpiece even better. You can almost hear every string.
Tis amazing how opinions can differ. Giles IMHO has completely missed the mark with Something – I really don’t want to hear every string, I want to hear a song
He makes the song sound even more brilliant. 😀
No he doesn’t. He takes a lovely simple song and overcomplicates it and in the process diminishes it to just another pop song
By the way, nice to see Rod has added another 100 views
Clearly he takes a sad song and makes it better.
Tips hat and walks off muttering “Wish I had thought of that”
Just got round to listening to this since my usual pod choices haven’t got anything new out and I had a browse here.
Great knowledge and interesting thoughts on display, particularly Tigger, as usual, with his ability to articulate how music sounds and why it sounds. Impressive.
I don’t hear any lack of emotion here. George’s songs and then the medley are full of feeling. The latter because it seemingly is consciously referencing an ending, even it wasn’t necessarily meant to be the end, but we hear it that way, unavoidably. Paul’s vocal on Golden Slumbers seems to be full of hurt, which isn’t so common for him, often he is more detached. Then there’s the production, the strings, the horns on You Never Give Me, such a yearning melody.
Great album cover but how remarkable that this, like the rooftop concert, happened due to lack of ideas and inertia, and yet both ended up being some of the most iconic, enduring images of the band ever. Dave and Mark in their recent cast didn’t appear to know Jefferson Airplane did a rooftop show before. Apparently The Beatles didn’t invent everything after all. Seemingly, in the Abbey Road shot, they made no special effort to dress for the occasion and yet it is perfect. An album cover can become iconic through association with a classic album but in this case you can’t imagine anything better. Not doing the thing you were supposed to do leads to a better solution. So much serendipity in The Beatles career really.
That’s very kind of you, Diddley. Cheers!
Spot on about the cover as well.