EVEN MORE BEATLES!
MAKING ABBEY ROAD
https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-beatles-abbey-road
ABBEY ROAD
Released October 1st, 1969
1969
was a very happy year for American Beatles fans, as well as fans the
world over. As the year began, they had just begun dissecting and
digesting the 30-song double album affectionately known as the "White Album,"
which had been released in late November of the previous year. Also
released that November and still enjoying a good run in the movie
theaters in January of 1969 was their animated classic "Yellow Submarine," which was a sizable box office hit. Also in January, the Soundtrack Album
for the movie was released which quickly went Gold, this album
featuring four never-before-released Beatles songs for public
consumption.
Then, the April 19-25, 1969 issue of TV Guide
featured a two-page article entitled “Four cats on a London roof” which
got many American Beatles fans very excited. The magazine made mention
of a “TV documentary” that The Beatles had filmed, the contents of which
was “to let the world – all over which The Beatles hope to sell the
documentary in a few months – know just how The Beatles go about their
work.”
A week or so after this article appeared, a new spring Beatles single was released, not unlike last spring's “Lady Madonna,”
the highly successful “Get Back” which zoomed to the #1 position on the
Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for five weeks. Less than a month
later, yet another Beatles single was released, “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”
which, despite being beat out by “Get Back” which was at #1 at the
time, as well as many radio stations refusing to play it due to some
lyrical content, still made the Top Ten.
And
for die-hard Beatles fans who wanted to know the intimate details of
their idol's lives, the September 1968 released Hunter Davies biography “The Beatles”
was flying off the shelves. The early months of 1969 were undoubtedly
spent by many devouring these pages, including this quote from Paul
McCartney which whetted the appetite for what was to be expected next
musically from the group: “All of us will always appear to be changing,
just because we don't conform. It's this not conforming, wanting to do
something different all the time, which keeps our music different.”
During
these months, unbeknownst to all of us, there was great turmoil in the
world of The Beatles. So great, in fact, that it threatened the
existence of the group. Paul pushed the band into writing and
rush-recording their next album within a month's time, unlike the five
or more months it had taken them to make their previous two albums,
while cameras were filming the process for a supposed “TV documentary.”
The results were viewed as lackluster at best and were shelved
indefinitely, causing much dissension within the group.
Add
to this the management, financial and legal problems which nearly
brought them to blows, leaving three out of four of The Beatles
disillusioned and not very keen to be working together anymore. Also,
John Lennon's controversial and highly publicized activist exploits with
new partner Yoko Ono were predominant on his mind, relegating his band to a position of unimportance to his causes or his future.
Behind
the scenes, there was question as to whether we would ever hear new
music from The Beatles at all. There was great interest from the fans
but there just didn't seem to be any interest from The Beatles
themselves. And then, from within the ranks of the group, something
unexpected and amazing happened – something that we all can be grateful
for!
Origin Of The Album
George
explains in the "Beatles Anthology" special how the final album came to
be. "Well, I think the deal was that, you know, through 'Let It Be,'
it was like, I left, and we got back on the basis that we've got to
just finish it up, make it tidy. So I got back on that basis. THEN
everybody decided, well, we ought to do one better album." Paul then
adds: "It was like, we should put down the boxing gloves and try and
just get it together and really make a very special album."
George Martin then relates a rather unexpected occurrence: “'Let It Be'
was such an unhappy record (even though there are some great songs on
it) that I really believed that was the end of The Beatles, and I
assumed that I would never work with them again. I thought, 'What a
shame to end like this.' So I was quite surprised when Paul rang me up
and said, 'We're going to make another record – would you like to
produce it?' My immediate answer was: 'Only if you let me produce it the
way we used to.' He said, 'We will, we want to.' - 'John included?' -
Yes, honestly.' So I said, 'Well, if you really want to, let's do it.
Let's get together again...(but) If I have to go back and accept a lot
of instructions which I don't like I won't do it...' It was a very happy
record. I guess it was happy because everybody thought it was going to
be the last.”
Beatles
engineer Geoff Emerick, while hired to get their new Apple recording
studio up and running, also received an unexpected phone call from Paul,
as related in his book “Here, There And Everywhere.”
“'Hello, Geoff, how are you getting on?' he asked me breezily. 'Fine,' I
told him, 'I'm just trying to sort out some of these studio costings.'
Naturally enough I assumed that was the reason for his call, but I was
wrong. 'Never mind that, Geoff, there's something more important I need
to talk to you about. We're going back into EMI this summer to record a
new album, and we want you to engineer it.'”
"Without a moment's hesitation I said, 'Yeah, brilliant.'" Geoff Emerick
continued. "We chatted some more and I asked Paul as diplomatically as I
could if everyone was getting along these days. 'Yes, things are pretty
good,' he replied. 'We sorted a lot of our problems out and there's
going to be a better vibe in the studio this time around. We're planning
on doing this album the way we used to make records, with George really
producing.' It sounded almost too good to be true, but I kept my
skepticism to myself. Come what may, I'd be engineering another Beatles
album after all.”
Recording The Album
With these phone calls made, the official sessions for what became the "Abbey Road" album began on July 1st, 1969. However, The Beatles had been busy in the studio, mostly with producer Chris Thomas, as early as February 22nd, 1969, recording tracks that eventually found a home on the album, songs such as "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Oh! Darling," "Octopus's Garden" and "Something" being among them. But it wasn't until July 1st, 1969 that, with George Martin at the helm, The Beatles final album took focus, them booking EMI Studio Two the 2:30 to 10 pm slot every day until August 29th, 1969 to complete it.
One
thing that hindered the process of making the album at this point was a
car accident that John Lennon had on that same day, July 1st, 1969,
during a holiday in Golspie, north Scotland, with Yoko, her
daughter Kyoko and his son Julian. With John behind the wheel, their car
“careered into the ditch by the side of the road...at the tongue area
of Sutherland,” according to a news report. John was hospitalized until
July 6th, 1969, receiving seventeen stitches. His first appearance in
the studio was on July 9th, 1969 during the initial recordings for “Maxwell Silver Hammer” in which he declined to participate on that day.
The very last session used for recording “Abbey Road” was August 19th, 1969, this being a Moog synthesizer overdub that George Harrison applied to his composition “Here Comes The Sun.”
Therefore, the recording of the album stretched from February 22nd to
August 19th, 1969, mixing and editing work extending until August 25th,
1969. Also during this stretch of time The Beatles recorded both sides
of their summer single “The Ballad Of John And Yoko / Old Brown Shoe,” overdubs for both sides of their future single “Let It Be / You Know My Name (Look Up The Number),” and other demos that did not become part of the album, these being “Come And Get It” and “All Things Must Pass.”
Cover Art
"While
we were in the studio," Paul explains in the "Beatles Anthology" book,
"our engineer Geoff Emerick always used to smoke cigarettes called 'Everest,'
so the album was going to be called 'Everest.' We never really liked
that, but we couldn't think of anything else to call it." Ringo relates,
"We went through weeks of all saying, 'Why don't we call it "Billy's
Left Boot?" and things like that." According to Beatles' assistant Mal
Evan's diary, early album title ideas included "Four In The Bar," "All
Good Children Go To Heaven," "Turn Ups" and "Inclinations." Paul
continues: "Then one day I said, 'I've got it! - I don't know how I
thought of it - 'Abbey Road!' It's the studio we're in, which is
fabulous; and it sounds a bit like a monastery." Shortly thereafter, EMI
Studios, which is located on Abbey Road, would be forever christened
"Abbey Road Studios."
With
the album name decided on, cover art needed to be worked out and, in
this case, simplicity was key. “The crossing was right outside,” Paul
relates, “and we said, 'Let's just go out, get a photographer and walk
out on the crossing. It'll be done in half an hour.' It was getting
quite late and you always have to get the cover in ahead of the sound.
So we got hold of the photographer Iain Macmillan, gave him half an hour and walked across the crossing.”
“It
was a very hot day in August, and I had arrived wearing a suit and
sandals. It was so hot that I kicked the sandals off and walked across
barefoot for a few takes, and it happened that in the shot he used I had
no shoes on, Sandie Shaw style. There's many a person who has gone
barefoot, so it didn't seem any big deal for me at all.” This photo
shoot took place at 10 am on August 8th, 1969, with a policeman holding
up traffic for the ten minutes it took for the photographer to climb a
ladder in the street to take six shots for consideration for the album
cover. It took them a while to get their legs positioned in a natural
way without looking awkward, Paul then studying the prints with a
magnifying glass to determine which one was best. A little later in the
afternoon on that day, after George and roadie Mal Evans returned from a
trip to the zoo, they all reconvened at EMI Studio Two to perform
overdubs on “The End,” “I Want You (She's So Heavy)” and “Oh! Darling.” The effort taken for this album cover was indeed much simpler than flying to Mount Everest as was seriously considered.
In
addition to the iconic image of the four Beatles walking across the
street on what is arguably the most popular album cover in history,
there are other people as well, such as an American tourist by the name
of Paul Cole. Standing on the sidewalk, visible just
behind John's head, Paul Cole was conversing with a policeman in his
vehicle when he spotted four “kooks,” as he called them, walking across
the street. Paul Cole chose to stay outside instead of accompanying his
wife on the next stop of a tour of London that they were on. Several
months later, when his wife, a church organist, purchased a copy of
“Abbey Road” to learn a song that was requested for a wedding, he then
recognized the event that he witnessed in London on the front cover of
the album and then spotted himself there. This occurrence has later been
dubbed "the greatest photobomb ever!" (Note: Some reports say that this
"Mystery man" is actually Tony Staples, a nearby resident. You be the
judge.)
Three
additional people also made it onto the iconic "Abbey Road" cover,
these being later identified as Alan Franagan, Steve Millwood and Derek
Seagrove. These three individuals can be spoted on the left sidewalk
just above Paul's head in the photo. These three decorators were in the
process of performing a decorating job at EMI studios on that day and
were apparently returning from a lunch break when the picture was taken.
"I am the guy on the right, in the bottom left-hand corner of the
picture," relates Derek Seagrove. He continues: "It wasn't unusual for
me to be at Abbey Road (Studios). I had been there on numerous
occasions. I used to see The Beatles having a cup of tea in the canteen.
We would sometimes be at the next talbe and say a casual hello to them.
On this day, we saw them all walking out the front door around about 10
or so, which was unusual in itself. You rarely saw them at that time of
day. Curiosity got the better of us so we followed them. We stopped at
the gate and they walked up the other end. We just stood there watching.
The guy who was taking the photograph (Iain Macmillan) was waving to us
to get out of the way but we decided to just stand our ground. We had
no idea about the significance of the picture."
Success Of The Album
The
album was released in America on October 1st, 1969, the British release
coming five days earlier on September 26th. Somehow, unauthorized tape
copies of the album were being circulated to some American radio
stations, prompting Capitol Records to send out 4,000
early copies of the album to key US radio stations to level the playing
field, each copy accompanied by a letter asking the stations to please
not air any portion of the album until the scheduled release date of
October 1st so that record outlets wouldn't be bombarded with requests
for an album that they didn't have in stock yet. Such was the
anticipation for a new Beatles album at the time.
As
would be expected, it only took three weeks for the album to reach the
#1 position on the Billboard album chart, staying there for eight
straight weeks. Then began the battle for the top spot with the equally
popular “Led Zeppelin II” album, which replaced “Abbey
Road” for a week. Then “Abbey Road” was #1 for two more weeks, only to
be replaced once again by “Led Zeppelin II” for another week. “Abbey
Road” surpassed Led Zeppelin one more time for an additional week until
it succumbed yet again to the heavy rock band, The Beatles staying in
the #2 spot for the next five weeks. All in all, “Abbey Road” was at #1
for eleven weeks, #2 for seven weeks, spent a total of 27 weeks in the
top ten and 129 weeks on the charts.
“Abbey
Road” sold over four million copies in the first two months of release,
this possibly being spurred on by conspiracy theorists who claimed that
"clues" found on the album cover indicated Paul McCartney's death. In
June of 1970, their manager Allen Klein reported that
it was the biggest selling album in their history, having sold five
million copies by that point. By 2011, it had sold more than 31 million
copies worldwide, becoming one of the biggest selling Beatles albums of
all time.
And
unbeknownst to us all, on September 20th, 1969, eleven days before
“Abbey Road” was released in America, John Lennon informed the rest of
the group that he was leaving!
Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski
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