Latest / Barber Cuts: Beats and Bars / Abbey Road - The Beatles - Part 1
Transcript
- 0:00Just a quick note to let you know that this recording went
- 0:03long, so we broke it up into two parts, so don't be alarmed at
- 0:06this one. We'll be back next week to
- 0:08finish off Abbey Road. Welcome to Barber Cuts, Beads
- 0:27and Barbs. We're a father to daughter music
- 0:29podcast that slices into some of the greatest albums, one cut at
- 0:32a time. With no industry ties or formal
- 0:34training, just a shared love of music, we explore albums across
- 0:38genres, rating favorites and skips while digging into what
- 0:42makes each one iconic. I bring the beats.
- 0:45And I bring the bars and together we deliver real talk
- 0:48and fresh takes from both sides of the sound.
- 0:50Hey everyone, I'm Riley. And I'm Todd, and welcome to
- 0:53this week's version of version that's a new one, this week's
- 0:57episode of Barber Cuts. And we are talking about Abbey
- 1:02Road by The Beatles 1969. And we have a new face for those
- 1:09that may be watching this, that's joining us.
- 1:13Our audio listeners will have to wait just a few moments, but
- 1:16this is Charles Mooney. So Charles, welcome to Bar Cuts.
- 1:22You are our official first guess, which is probably a way
- 1:28bigger deal than Abbey Road ever was or ever could dream to be.
- 1:32But. I'm honored to be here.
- 1:35It's a big deal to me. So Charles tell us, you know, we
- 1:40mentioned in the in the last episode Charles and our Co
- 1:43workers and so but that's how I know this about him.
- 1:49But Charles, tell us about your musical journey.
- 1:54I guess what you did before you became a programmer.
- 2:00OK, yeah, as far as my musical qualifications go, I guess Super
- 2:09fan is a cliche. But you know, I was the guy who
- 2:14spent all his money on CDs and albums.
- 2:18I had a job in the neighborhood cutting lawns.
- 2:22I'd finish a lawn and then I go get down to a place in Houston
- 2:25called Evolution Records and Tapes and this be like, I'll
- 2:28take that and that, then go cut another lawn, get another album.
- 2:32A huge. So I was a huge fan of a lot of
- 2:35groups, but one of the biggest was The Beatles.
- 2:41I was I'm of the generation that came after they broke up.
- 2:47I actually as a kid listened to Paul McCartney and Wings before
- 2:52I discovered The Beatles. I guess my first introduction to
- 2:55The Beatles was for years they had a Saturday morning cartoon
- 3:00where actors played The Beatles and kind of got into hijinks for
- 3:04their free episode. I was a record collector, music
- 3:09aficionado, all types of music, rock, punk, Hard Rock, some
- 3:15country. The only thing I didn't care
- 3:18for, which unfortunately my father loved, was opera and and
- 3:23bluegrass. I love country, bluegrass, not
- 3:26so much an opera. I've tried, but it's just not
- 3:32for me. At any rate, it's.
- 3:35Because it's in a foreign language, you can't understand
- 3:37it. True, so I was born in Memphis
- 3:43but grew up in Houston, TX and when it came time to choose a
- 3:48college I still had a ton of relatives in Memphis and applied
- 3:55at what was then known as Southwestern at Memphis and is
- 3:59now Rhodes College. So I came up here in the early
- 4:0480s. I guess one illustration of my
- 4:07fandom is my poor father agreed to let me bring my entire record
- 4:16collection, which was then probably 6-7 hundred album, not
- 4:21CDs albums. And so as we headed from Houston
- 4:28to Memphis to the Pontiac Bonneville, that was my 18th
- 4:34birthday gift used, it was like this going around the
- 4:38Interstate. And yes, eventually we had a
- 4:41flat tire It it was August and I think we were still in Texas
- 4:47when that happened. But August in Memphis, August in
- 4:51Texas, it's still awful. So without any complaints, dad,
- 4:56you know, changed the tire didn't say a single thing about
- 4:59look what you've gotten me into son and we continue on to
- 5:05that's. Because he was singing an opera
- 5:06in his head that was calming him down.
- 5:08That might have been it. It might have been like a
- 5:10mantra, A Pavarotti mantra of while while an undergrad I was a
- 5:20college DJ or just about every year I was there.
- 5:25And that was kind of fun being on being on the radio.
- 5:30After that, very briefly took a straight job working as a claims
- 5:34adjuster at an insurance company.
- 5:38I was an English major in college.
- 5:40So they're kind of the options of things to do were either
- 5:44teach, write or I don't know what, But I did write a little
- 5:50bit and mostly articles and almost always about music.
- 5:56After a couple of years of being in the insurance world, I
- 6:00realized I was really a fish out of water.
- 6:03Told my father that I was going to go to Business School so I
- 6:09could then leave work without getting in trouble for not
- 6:12having a job. But then I started writing for a
- 6:16local music magazine and occasionally going to class to
- 6:20learn how to be an accountant or whatever.
- 6:24The class part didn't last too long, but I enjoyed writing for
- 6:29this locally published magazine called the Memphis Star.
- 6:33They went out of business when desktop publishing became huge,
- 6:39and after a couple of years of just doing odd jobs, I came up
- 6:44with the idea of, well, if no one else is going to do anything
- 6:49for this music town in terms of music scene, let me get a
- 6:52computer. I borrowed my sister's old Mac
- 6:55Plus from 1987 and put out a monthly music magazine for
- 7:03almost 5 years from 91 to 95. It was a lot of fun and I made
- 7:09absolutely no way. But towards the end of my music,
- 7:15of my book publishing or magazine publishing days, I
- 7:18became interested in computer and that's kind of how I sort of
- 7:23pivoted into being in tech support and then programming.
- 7:29But all along the way, I never stopped collecting records,
- 7:34collecting CDs, you know, writing articles, like I said,
- 7:38about artists I liked or in some cases didn't.
- 7:43And that's kind of taken. We weren't, you know, it's very
- 7:47difficult in Memphis to make a living in the music industry.
- 7:52And if you're not a musician, it's really difficult.
- 7:54So at some point I realized that I was better served by getting a
- 8:01a job that was, you know, more in computers than entertainment.
- 8:06And I think my wife was really thrilled about that, too.
- 8:11So that's kind of where I switched careers but never
- 8:17stopped, you know, listening to music and having my favorite
- 8:23artists. And The Beatles are definitely
- 8:26one of my favourites. So it's it's 33 BS, right?
- 8:31So The Beatles What what? What are the what are the
- 8:34others? Yeah, back when vinyl records
- 8:41were supposedly extinct and not a thing, I had a guest room in
- 8:49in my house that had walls of bookshelves with nothing but
- 8:54vinyl out. And I'm looking at it.
- 8:56My magazine is gone. I've got tons of CDs.
- 9:00The one of the great things about having a publication
- 9:05dealing with music is I got on a bunch of record company mailing
- 9:08lists, so I was getting like stacks of CDs every week and
- 9:15some of them were really good. But anyway, that's all over
- 9:18with. I've got CDs and there's all
- 9:21this vinyl just sitting around taking up space.
- 9:25So I called my brother, who is a musician, and I didn't want the
- 9:30back and forth of of, you know, haggling with the used record
- 9:33store. So I said, why don't we just
- 9:36load these up in your van? We'll take them to the Public
- 9:39Library, we'll donate them. And then should I ever want to
- 9:44play one of these vinyl records again, they'll be sitting right
- 9:48there in the library waiting for you.
- 9:50So I took everything except The Beatles, The Beach Boys and
- 9:55Bruce, Bruce Springsteen. We one Sunday, we loaded up the
- 10:00loading dock for the Memphis Public Library with a crazy
- 10:04amount of albums. And as I discovered, like, right
- 10:08when we finished, my neighbor told me when I said, hey, we
- 10:13just donate all this stuff to the library, all these albums.
- 10:17He said, that's great, Charles. You know, they'll probably make
- 10:19a good deal of money off that. I was like, make money.
- 10:23What do you mean? He goes, oh, they sell those,
- 10:27you know, the Friends of the Library sales that they have.
- 10:30Oh, yeah. Well, they take all those
- 10:33records or books that people donate and they sell them.
- 10:37And I'm like, Oh no, But I was not about to try and get them
- 10:43all back and load them home. So yes, I I have my favourites
- 10:49and it's a three BS Beagles, Beach Forest, Bruce and still
- 10:53listening. And actually I bought a Beatles
- 10:56box set not too long ago, the Sergeant Pepper 1.
- 10:59So they're still finding ways to get money out of me even though
- 11:04all this stuff is streaming down.
- 11:06Very good. So we, I, I can also attest that
- 11:12before we really went hybrid, Charles was always fun to see
- 11:17how how close you could walk into his office and stand behind
- 11:22him and start doing things before he realized you were
- 11:25there because he had his earphones on over the years so
- 11:30he couldn't hear anything. And so we would then, then we
- 11:35would try to go in and have two people go in and like, carry on
- 11:39a conversation to see if he ever heard us and would turn around.
- 11:42So I, I, I can't attest that Charles was still listening to
- 11:46music. Or go in and steal.
- 11:49A popsicle. Yeah, Yeah.
- 11:51So. Yeah, did we?
- 11:55Y'all did do that to me. I remember once having an entire
- 11:58conversation like this, looking at the screen, headphones on,
- 12:02and Todd is contributing, saying what about this, What about
- 12:05that, that, And then he goes, finally, I'm sitting right
- 12:08behind. You.
- 12:09And it was like a 15 or 20 bit conversation.
- 12:12I guess that that was on Slack carried on a whole conversation
- 12:15sitting in the chair behind him. So all right, so here we go.
- 12:24Let's, I guess, let's let's start with our least favorite
- 12:29albums from or least favorite albums and least favorite songs
- 12:35from Abbey Road Rally. Do you wanna kick start us?
- 12:40Sure I can. One of my least favorites was
- 12:43Sun King. It just felt like an it.
- 12:46Well, OK, I'm nervous. I'm saying I don't like songs.
- 12:51To to a Beatles super fan, I know it hurt his feelings.
- 12:56I'm already offended. But one of them was Sun King.
- 13:02It just seems like an intro song.
- 13:05Like it's kind of like with Pink Floyd we were talking about.
- 13:08I wouldn't necessarily listen to the song by itself, but when
- 13:12like leading into other things, it kind of works.
- 13:16But it just didn't stand out to me the way a lot of their other
- 13:20songs can be stand out an individual, even when they sound
- 13:24better in a list of songs, if that makes sense.
- 13:28And then my other least favorite was Polythene Pam as the lyric
- 13:34person. The lyrics just kind of catch
- 13:35you off guard on this song. And it's it's also not like a
- 13:40super standout song where you can kind of like ignore the
- 13:43lyrics. So it just kind of ended up
- 13:46being down there just because it it catches you off guard.
- 13:52And and so also in Full disclosure, you know, Riley and
- 13:57I started these before and talking about them just before
- 14:01we ever started recording. And I'll be curious, do you
- 14:05remember if those were the same two from the first time we
- 14:07actually talked about this before we recorded?
- 14:10I know polythene Pam was OK, but the other one I have no clue
- 14:16what has changed. Because I, I know, I know one of
- 14:19mine. One of mine changed and but I
- 14:25was just curious if if yours was too.
- 14:27Charles, do you have least favorites?
- 14:31Yes, I do. A least favorite?
- 14:33A least favorite, and I kind of thought that the both of you
- 14:39might pitch in on this one. Maxwell Silver Hammer No.
- 14:44No, no, no. I do, I do remember this.
- 14:47I do remember this conversation from the first time we taught
- 14:49that that is as well my least favorite, Charles.
- 14:52So thank you for for providing confirmation.
- 14:59Silver Hammer is like in my top five.
- 15:01I love that song. I'll say this, it is a great
- 15:06song, it just happens to be the worst song off of a great album
- 15:10and and actually all the other Beatles except Paul felt the
- 15:16same way. That song took the longest for
- 15:20them to record cause Paul wanted to get the take just right and
- 15:26George later was like, oh, I couldn't stand that song over
- 15:30and over again. Paula just keep making us, you
- 15:33know, Bang Bang and and we just all thought it was the liver
- 15:39puddly and slang was fruity, which I I think just means it
- 15:44was corny. Yeah, I.
- 15:46Think I think Ringo called it the quote, the worst track we
- 15:50ever had to record. This is just, I mean, there's
- 15:57something about it that's so charming to me.
- 16:00I think that's what gets me. It's like it's it's it is like a
- 16:04childish song almost like it without any context to what the
- 16:09lyrics are. It sounds like the kids song
- 16:12almost. And I think it's just charming.
- 16:15Like the Bang Bang is very annoying, but at the same time
- 16:18it's like it's kind of precious. It kind of makes me like just
- 16:22love them. 33 out of four Three out of four Beatles disagree
- 16:26with you, Riley. OK, well, they continue They.
- 16:30What do they know? I'll I'll take them on it all.
- 16:33Right, Charles, What else about the old Maxwell Silver Hammer?
- 16:36Anything else? And see, that's where it's
- 16:39tough. I'm like, least you know that
- 16:42one. And that's more because I've
- 16:44heard it enough. I hate to say it, but in terms
- 16:48of least favorite, can that be #1 and #2 I I don't have another
- 16:55song that that I shy away from that I maybe I want you.
- 17:01She's so heavy, which I feel guilty of saying.
- 17:04Yeah. So, so I being a super fan, as
- 17:11you know of Pearl Jam, I only picked one on that one, so I'm
- 17:13not going to force you to pick any others.
- 17:16Maxwell's Silver Hammer is good enough for me.
- 17:21Just because you know you, you had a music magazine.
- 17:25You agree with me. As do three of the four Beatles.
- 17:29And Riley is standing alone on this one.
- 17:33He said it was a good song still just not the Best Song.
- 17:37I could make an I could make an argument for the fact that it is
- 17:40actually a great song. It's it's catchy, it's poppy,
- 17:45it's almost a nursery rhyme, but there's this subversive story
- 17:49behind it about. It's about.
- 17:53A. Serial killer.
- 17:55And so it's, it's what they call dark humor and, and it's, you
- 18:01know, it's amusing. The first.
- 18:04The first 100 times. I don't, I, I don't know if
- 18:08you've heard any of these when I mentioned these trials, but
- 18:13there's an album that I or an EP that I really like called Music
- 18:17City Murder Ballad. And it's 3 songs about murderers
- 18:21set in Nashville and it follows the murderers or in one, it's
- 18:25like the police officer. So it's kind of right up my
- 18:28alley. It's talking about a serial
- 18:30killer. Unfortunately, they just they
- 18:33find me. They find yeah, they you know,
- 18:36this is another one that we we we've we've talked about artists
- 18:40that do this is that you have a dark subject matter and then
- 18:45there's happy music on top of it.
- 18:47I I think they as dark as serial killer is, I think they tried to
- 18:55match that with the music and almost went whimsical to me.
- 19:01So but I am personally, I'm going to blame the song for the
- 19:05downfall of The Beatles, but that that's just me.
- 19:10So just so I, I'm, I'm not going to force Charles into another
- 19:14least favorite, but the I my other one.
- 19:20And and I'm not really considering Her Majesty a song
- 19:25because it really wasn't listed. It was a hidden track, But man,
- 19:31that's, that's disappointing. They should have just left that
- 19:34off, but it should have ended with the end.
- 19:39It was so, so well named. But my other my other least
- 19:43favorite song, and this kind of goes back to last week's episode
- 19:48is because I was just it was just slow.
- 19:51That's the one that actually swapped out on me listening to
- 19:55it this time. And maybe because a couple times
- 19:58I listened to it on the drive to Knoxville, on the drive home
- 20:01from Knoxville. And so driving and that slow
- 20:05song coming on like that wasn't a good combination.
- 20:08So maybe maybe it's a recency bias on it.
- 20:12So, but So the Cause and Maxwell Silver Hammer.
- 20:18And and like Her Majesty, but at least on Spotify, it's it's like
- 20:24the only one on this album that I mean, it doesn't even have a
- 20:28million streams. So like it may be the only
- 20:31Beatles. I'd be curious.
- 20:33Maybe the only Beatles song that doesn't have a million streams.
- 20:37But anyway, so favorites. So Riley, what are your
- 20:44favorites? OK, so one of my favourites is I
- 20:49want you. She's so heavy.
- 20:53I I like the bluesy feel that kind of gives and I I don't
- 21:02know, I just I enjoyed it every time I listen to it.
- 21:06I like the random like slow down beat and then going back.
- 21:09I just liked how they played with that.
- 21:12But my favorite is this time listening was Oh Darling, I it's
- 21:20just a sweet song and it's we talked about it last week.
- 21:24I'm not a big fan of like a sappy sweet song that's like
- 21:28your classic love song. And this is not that.
- 21:31It's still a sappy, sweet song, but doesn't sound like your
- 21:34classic, for lack of better words, obnoxious love song.
- 21:40And just the way they sing. Oh, darling.
- 21:44Just fits with you can picture someone singing it to someone or
- 21:49like singing it to someone and singing their heart out.
- 21:52And I just really liked that visual that this song kind of
- 21:56provided along with the lyrics. Yeah, really sweet.
- 21:59Yeah, I like that one too. It's a good song.
- 22:03I really like the the clean cut of the chorus and then when he
- 22:07gets in, you know, I'm a I'm a sucker for a raspy voice and
- 22:10that raspiness comes in and the and the chorus is nice.
- 22:14So Charles, whatever, what about?
- 22:18Well, I'll go ahead and go and then that way I can, I can, I
- 22:21can pass it over to you So and you can, you can maybe tell us
- 22:25where we're wrong. So my second favorite song is
- 22:29actually a three song. So it's the combo there of
- 22:34Golden Slumbers, carry that weight and the end.
- 22:38And and I maybe it's that way because that's that's the way I
- 22:43always heard it on the radio. It seemed like those three were
- 22:46always, always together. And so they're the last three
- 22:51songs of the the huge medley that that ends the album.
- 22:57And so Golden Slumbers is like a minute and a half, carry that
- 23:02weights a minute and a half. The end is 2 minutes.
- 23:04So all together right around out of that five minute song.
- 23:06But they just seem to go together in the shifts in the
- 23:10way that they make, you know, and, and one of the neat things
- 23:15that I saw about the end was where somebody said that this
- 23:20was the last known new recording that involved all four members
- 23:25of the group. Which if that is actually the
- 23:28case, that is quite apropos that it was the end that they did it
- 23:34on, you know, and, and so so I guess so those three really go
- 23:40together for me, even though they are three separate songs.
- 23:45And much like Riley, my favorite song was I Want you.
- 23:48She's so heavy. And I I just liked it.
- 23:52The the had more guitar in it, more bluesy.
- 23:58And it seems like it's and I guess it is two different songs
- 24:03that keep competing back and forth with with each other And,
- 24:09and you know, written by Lennon about his relationship with Yoko
- 24:13Ono. And it and it almost, again, I
- 24:18don't know if this is the case, but the, the it's almost as if
- 24:22he's fighting that internal battle of I want you, you know,
- 24:29And then in the other side, she's so heavy of just the
- 24:33weight of what, you know, their relationship was and then going
- 24:38back and forth to the way I want you.
- 24:40Wait, it's a lot. I want you.
- 24:42It's a lot, you know, the the guitar solo in and is is really,
- 24:47really good. And then it always gets me the
- 24:50first time I listen to it after that.
- 24:52I remember, but it's got the unusual ending where it just
- 24:55cuts off mid, you know, and every time I like, Oh, I skipped
- 25:01something, I hit something to make it go to a next song and I
- 25:04was like, Oh, Nope, that's just the way it wait, wait, it ends.
- 25:07So so that's that's my favorite too.
- 25:10So Charles, favorites from you or where did we go wrong in
- 25:15ours? Or did we?
- 25:17Did we get something right? Neither of you went wrong, even
- 25:22though I kind of started to say if I had to pick a second least
- 25:26favorite, it was I want you. Yeah, I know, I know.
- 25:29That song's an song's an absolute screamer.
- 25:33It's it's if you, if you want the anger, if you want the
- 25:39sarcasm intensity, John Lennon's your guy.
- 25:43Yeah, Paul could do the sweet stuff.
- 25:47He could do the rough stuff too. He wrote Helter Skelter, which
- 25:51by the craziest song that they ever did in terms of Hard Rock.
- 25:55I'm I'm totally cool with I Want you.
- 25:58She's so heavy. And and that's the same before
- 26:01you get going like that. That's the thing with a lot of
- 26:03these albums that we've done, we, we call them least favorites
- 26:07and sometimes that is bad, making it sound like we don't
- 26:10like a song, but it's especially on a song on, on an album like
- 26:14Abbey Road or really anything by The Beatles.
- 26:19They're all such good songs. To say 1 is a least favorite.
- 26:24Like we're not equating that to we don't like the song.
- 26:27It's, it's just of the how many songs are on this album?
- 26:31717 if we count Her Majesty, which I will. 17 songs you're
- 26:40going to be naturally drawn to more than you know, some more
- 26:44than the other. So, yeah, we're, we're not,
- 26:48we're not saying we don't like any of them except for Maxwell's
- 26:51Solar Hammer. All right, so, Charles, keep
- 26:55keep going with with your favorites.
- 26:56I didn't. I didn't want to.
- 26:59OK. I'm sidetrack you.
- 27:01No, I I actually agree with you about what what I call some
- 27:06people call the medley at the end of side too, because and I
- 27:11don't think it starts with golden slumbers.
- 27:14It starts with, I even start with because but you get these
- 27:21little snippets that there's no space.
- 27:25They go 1 into the other and actually you never give me your
- 27:30money. Part of the piano part on that
- 27:33is tweak and becomes golden slumbers.
- 27:37But yeah, that last, that last sort of medley with those songs
- 27:44strung together and then the ending, which is just epic of
- 27:51the love you take is equal to the love you make is and, and
- 27:59and, you know, in showbiz, in music, the laziest thing
- 28:03performers can do, although in the past it was mostly in
- 28:07concert, was you could tell which of their hits they hated
- 28:11because they'd slap them all into a medley.
- 28:14What The Beatles did here was they had fragments of the song
- 28:19and they came up with the idea, which probably in anyone else's
- 28:23hands might not have been that great an idea.
- 28:26Let's let's stitch these together.
- 28:29And they had certain melodies that they would have kind of pop
- 28:33in and out. So this sort of showbiz cliche,
- 28:36more of a cliche cliche now then back then is it could be argued
- 28:43it's almost their finest hour. If nothing else, it's The
- 28:46Beatles going out on an absolute home run melodically.
- 28:53You know, back in 69 you had Hard Rock groups with 20 minute
- 28:58guitar solos, Led Zeppelin with a 15 minute drum solo, and The
- 29:05Beatles come in and they do a minute each.
- 29:08Here's what we can do, just like you guys.
- 29:11But we're not, we're not overstaying our welcome.
- 29:14And then boom and yeah, it's over.
- 29:18Her Majesty was kind of a little witty joke at the end.
- 29:22Not, not really. It's there, but it's sort of
- 29:26there, you know, it's not listed on the album.
- 29:28It's just kind of, there's a little, OK, we said goodbye, but
- 29:33how about this little cute thing at the end?
- 29:36Because they're British. You know.
- 29:38Her Majesty doesn't have a lot to say, which probably only Paul
- 29:42could have gotten away with saying that, but yeah, it's that
- 29:48it's that final 8 minutes or whatever it is that is just the
- 29:53peak of the album. One other thing.
- 29:55And we haven't even used his name.
- 29:59What is notable about Abbey Road?
- 30:03I guess 1st, that it's not really a revolutionary album.
- 30:07You know, they're not stretching the boundaries of everything,
- 30:12it's just they're doing what they do best with a fantastic
- 30:16collection of songs. But the unsung hero on this
- 30:21album is George Harrison, because he has two songs, one of
- 30:28which was a huge hit. Something was a single.
- 30:33I can't remember if Here Comes the Sun was, but up until that
- 30:37point, he's like the second class songwriter in The Beatles.
- 30:41In in the movie Get Back, you see them all working together on
- 30:45songs and they kind of get a little bored when George
- 30:48presents something. But on Abbey Road, something and
- 30:54Here Comes the Sun are like, you actually wouldn't be laughed out
- 30:57of the room if you said, Hey, I think the two best songs off
- 31:01this Beatle album are Here Comes the Sun and something.
- 31:04I mean, they're still played everywhere.
- 31:08Yeah, that's with Here Comes the Sun.
- 31:11It's it's unfortunate that it gets played so much.
- 31:13It's like everyone's first ukulele song that they learned
- 31:17is like Here Comes the Sun and Riptide.
- 31:20It's like everyone I knew growing up who played any type
- 31:24of guitar, their first song was Here Comes the Sun.
- 31:27And so that just became my idea of Here Comes the Sun.
- 31:30But no, I think something in Here Comes the Sun would be
- 31:33pretty fair favorite too. Though that boded well for
- 31:37Georgia's solo career when they ultimately, not long after this
- 31:41album, called it wits and Frank Sinatra did a version of
- 31:48something. Which was real unusual because
- 31:52as you all discussed last time, Frank Sinatra and swinging and
- 31:58the ballads, that's not really rock'n'roll.
- 32:01But he so enjoyed the ballad something, he started covering
- 32:06it in concert. And he'd get up there and say
- 32:09this is one of the best love songs written in the last 50
- 32:12years by Lennon and McCartney. And then he would sing something
- 32:18which was written by Schwartz later, I think.
- 32:22I'm sure somebody told him. Somebody told him wrong
- 32:26songwriters. But.
- 32:27Or Can you imagine? You're George, you're George.
- 32:30And like, hey, Frank Sinatra did your song George.
- 32:33And he's like, wow. And then it's just it's a Lennon
- 32:37McCartney scene. But yeah.
- 32:40Poor George. Yeah.
- 32:43But this is a really all, almost a flawless album.
- 32:48You know? There's a reason people still
- 32:50love it today. All.
- 32:51Right. So, you know, let's, let's
- 32:54continue that and, and we'll say why.
- 32:58So our, our question we asked each week as we're going through
- 33:01these albums is why should, why should somebody go and listen to
- 33:07this album? And so before we really talk
- 33:11about the album, but a lot of times we make sure that and, and
- 33:17this one probably we don't need to do but but I'll, I'll throw
- 33:21some of these in in here anyway. So The Beatles, so 1960 is when
- 33:28they formed, right? Charles 60 to 70, so 10 years,
- 33:35absolute massive hits every time they released an album.
- 33:40And so depending on the number you look at, they are the best
- 33:45selling music artist of all time.
- 33:49And as of 2017 they had the most number one hits on the Billboard
- 33:56Hot 100 with 20. They also won an Academy Award
- 34:02for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be in 1971.
- 34:08Ironically, 71 after they broke up in 70.
- 34:13But you know, and and just because Charles, I know you
- 34:16enjoy The Beach Boys that they are.
- 34:19I can't remember who it was that said it, but they were heavily
- 34:22influenced by Pet Sounds album from The Beach Boys and that Pet
- 34:30Sounds is is number 2 on the Rolling Stone Top 500 album list
- 34:37that we referenced quite a bit. They have a Grammy Lifetime
- 34:40Achievement Award in 2014 and The Beatles were inducted into
- 34:44the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
- 34:47What I also found found interesting is that each of the
- 34:50four members, so Paul, John, Ringo and George are also all
- 34:58individually in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- 35:02So I'm not sure how many bands that is can actually say that to
- 35:08where the band itself. But then all the members
- 35:12individually have been added into the Rock and Roll Hall of
- 35:14Fame. So that's just the type of
- 35:17musician that we're talking about here.
- 35:20So that's The Beatles. So why, why should people go and
- 35:24listen to this album? So I guess Riley, we'll, we'll
- 35:28start with you and, and then we'll, we'll turn the floor over
- 35:32to Charles or Charles. Maybe we should start with
- 35:34Charles. You're the Super fan.
- 35:37We don't want to steal any of your Thunder.
- 35:38Why should why other? Other than the album cover,
- 35:43which is iconic in its own right, why should people go
- 35:47listen to Abbey Road? The simplest answer is the
- 35:52quality of the songs they endure.
- 35:56This album for the first time in a few albums has just these
- 36:01marvelous 3 part harmonies that The Beatles hadn't done in since
- 36:07like the mid 60s. I mean because here comes the
- 36:12Sun King. Yeah, OK, you may not like the
- 36:16song, but them singing together had this trademark Beatles sound
- 36:21vocally that they updated for the, you know, their final run
- 36:25of an album. And really, to me, there's
- 36:29there's there really is something for everybody on this
- 36:33album even. And I never considered it as my
- 36:37least favorite, but the charming kids song, Octopus's Garden,
- 36:44written by Ringo, probably with a little help.
- 36:50But, you know, I was listening to it yesterday while I was
- 36:58walking the dog. And yeah, I know it's I'd like
- 37:01to be under the sea and all that.
- 37:04And it's just a catchy, unforgettable song.
- 37:08It's sort of Yellow Submarine Revisited, but it's just so
- 37:13good. You don't care.
- 37:14It's just such a happy little song sung by a guy in his, you
- 37:19know, everyman voice. I don't think you could play
- 37:22that for for a kid and have them not go.
- 37:26Oh neato. Right.
- 37:28I could be wrong, right? I could be wrong so.
- 37:31And. And it's just not a bad song
- 37:33anyway. There's a great guitar solo in
- 37:34there too, so the. Record that little riff at the
- 37:38beginning is is nice too. Yeah, I mean, all the songs are,
- 37:48I guess you'd say, catchy and and none of them overstay their
- 37:53welcome. It's just and as a final
- 37:56statement, which funny thing is, is that when when I was buying
- 38:02records and my friends were was before the Internet, a lot of
- 38:06people thought that The Beatles final album was Let it Be.
- 38:11We were all like, yeah, OK, that's that's OK.
- 38:16I guess. They were running out of steam.
- 38:18But the truth is they shall let it be.
- 38:21Came back to do this one album and in the back of their heads
- 38:28was, you know, we're going to go out on a high note.
- 38:31And they they did. Yeah, I, I, I saw that too when,
- 38:35when I was looking at this. And again, I, you know, I'm not
- 38:37a listen heavily to The Beatles, but I saw where this was their
- 38:4411th studio album, so the next to last one that was released,
- 38:51but yet it was mostly recorded after Let it be that became
- 38:57their last released album. And so it's, it's really neat to
- 39:02see that even though this was not the last, it was mostly of
- 39:08their last recorded session music, which interesting how all
- 39:14that works, but still still neat.
- 39:16So but. But yeah, I mean, I in in terms
- 39:20of why should be in it, to me it still sounds contemporary
- 39:27production wise. A lot of the old Beatle albums
- 39:30this time has passed to have been like, you know, remixed and
- 39:34done all this stuff with it to try and make it sound a little
- 39:38more modern. This is the one album that when
- 39:41it came time to remix it, the producer son George Martin, who
- 39:45sort of took over for him after George passed away, said we're
- 39:50leaving this one alone. There's nothing that needs to be
- 39:53changed because it just, you know, it was recorded in a very
- 39:57modern facility for 69 and it just, it just sounds, it doesn't
- 40:02sound dated to me. That's me could sound dated to
- 40:06anybody else. But so, and sometimes it gets
- 40:11forgotten because, you know, nothing wild and crazy happened
- 40:15around it. Like, you know, the White Album
- 40:18was all four of them kind of doing their own thing and it was
- 40:22a, a double album. Sergeant Pepper, of course, you
- 40:26know, change the cultural landscape of music and fashion.
- 40:31This was just a really, really fantastic album, and it was
- 40:37sayonara. That's it.
- 40:40That's all folks. And boy, talk about going out on
- 40:43a high note. And, and you know, for for me,
- 40:46and I know Riley, you, you talked about it.
- 40:49I mean, I will admittedly skip Maxwell's silver hammer, but
- 40:55that's the only one I'll skip. And and again, just the
- 40:58whimsical nature of it, Like I, it just, it just, I don't, I
- 41:03don't know, but but I, I agree, Charles, like it's, you know,
- 41:07and again, I'm, I'm not a huge Beatles fan.
- 41:10I mean, I, I like The Beatles, not, not one that I would
- 41:15consistently go to to pick up and, and listen to, you know,
- 41:21but going through this one again, even more so on the way
- 41:25home from Knoxville, I was like, you know, this is really good.
- 41:31Like, you know, coming back to, I was like, OK, this is, this
- 41:36is, this is, this is good stuff, you know, And again, there's
- 41:41some oddities in there that maybe I don't understand because
- 41:44I haven't listened to, you know, all The Beatles albums and, and
- 41:49all that, but, you know, but it's, it's very good.
- 41:54So, you know, the, the other thing that I want to mention is,
- 41:59you know, we often times we talk about, again, why listen to it?
- 42:04Just so some people that want numbers it on The Rolling Stones
- 42:07top 500, it's #5 and and again number #1 we've already done so
- 42:14Marvin Gaye number 2 was Pet Sounds that we just mentioned
- 42:19that influenced this one at #5 and I I think on our list we
- 42:26we've got three and four too, but I just don't know when
- 42:29they're popping in because we're not going any particular order.
- 42:34And then this album was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of
- 42:37Fame the the first year was eligible, which, you know,
- 42:43brings up a a question to to chat about which I think I've
- 42:48seen theories and philosophies on it.
- 42:51But I guess they have 11 Grammys, I think, which is not
- 42:56that many when you when you think about it.
- 42:59And so I'd love to get your take, Charles, on why you think
- 43:04they are light in the Grammy department.
- 43:09Not that that really measures how great somebody is, but
- 43:14generally they go, they go fairly well hand in hand, but
- 43:18what was what was going on that would have stopped them?
- 43:23Do you think? So we'll cut it right there on
- 43:26the cliffhanger. So TuneIn next week to hear
- 43:29Charles answer and his thoughts on that.
- 43:31Also our best beats and bars from the album are rating songs
- 43:36of the week and even our next album we'll listen to, so
- 43:41hopefully we'll see you back next week.