Abbey Road

This article is about the album by the Beatles. For the titular road, see Abbey Road, London. For other uses, see Abbey Road (disambiguation).

Abbey Road
The cover of Abbey Road has no printed words. It is a photo of the Beatles, in side view, crossing the street in single file.
Studio album by
the Beatles
Released26 September 1969 (1969-09-26)
Recorded22 February – 20 August 1969
StudioEMI, Olympic and Trident, London
GenreRock[1]
Length47:03
LabelApple
ProducerGeorge Martin
The Beatles chronology
Yellow Submarine
(1969) 		Abbey Road
(1969) 		Let It Be
(1970)
The Beatles North American chronology
Yellow Submarine
(1969) 		Abbey Road
(1969) 		Hey Jude
(1970)
Singles from Abbey Road
  1. "Something" / "Come Together"
    Released: 6 October 1969

Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded,[2] although Let It Be (1970) was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970.[3] It was mostly recorded in April, July, and August 1969, and topped the record charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. A double A-side single from the album, "Something" / "Come Together", was released in October, which also topped the charts in the US.

Abbey Road incorporates styles such as rock, pop, blues, and progressive rock,[4] and makes prominent use of the Moog synthesiser and guitar played through a Leslie speaker unit. It is also notable for having a long medley of songs on side two that have subsequently been covered as one suite by other notable artists. The album was recorded in a more collegial atmosphere than the Get Back / Let It Be sessions earlier in the year, but there were still significant confrontations within the band, particularly over Paul McCartney's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and John Lennon did not perform on several tracks. By the time the album was released, Lennon had left the group, though this was not publicly announced until McCartney also quit the following year.

Although Abbey Road was an instant commercial success, it received mixed reviews upon release. Some critics found its music inauthentic and criticised the production's artificial effects. By contrast, critics today view the album as one of the Beatles' best and one of the greatest albums of all time. George Harrison's two songs on the album, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun", are considered among the best he wrote for the group. The album's cover, featuring the Beatles walking across the zebra crossing outside of Abbey Road Studios (then officially named EMI Studios), is one of the most famous and imitated of all time.

  1. ^ Matthews, Rex D. (2007). Timetables of History for Students of Methodism. Abingdon Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1426764592.
  2. ^ MacDonald 1997, p. 300.
  3. ^ MacDonald 1997, p. 322.
  4. ^ Perone, James E. The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations. p. 215.