This is a rough one for me, I really want to vote “Here Comes The Sun,” but “Something” might be my favorite Beatles song, depending on what day you catch me, so that got my vote.
This is an interesting poll, because this album is so good, everyone is right.
OP you are an utter Blue Meanie for disallowing the B-Side Suite. 
The two Harrison tracks (Something, HCTS) and the two side-ending tracks (I want You (She’s So Heavy), The End) are strong. The way the whole quartet get to hard rockin’ for The End is just a great close for the whole megillah… and by that I mean not just the side but the whole band arc.
Because this is the real Beatles’ final album: by the time this LP hit the stores the group did no longer really exist except as a corporate entity. As mentioned before it was created while the Let It Be trainwreck was still in progress – a single from that project, Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down, had been released on schedule with no album to go with it. Shortly after that came the stand-alone single Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe; this made it look like there had been two stand-alone singles leading in.
I imagine everyone must have felt that after all the messes with documentaries, contrived “movie” specials, and happenings and experiments, how about an album playing straight to their strengths? That was the pitch concept behind the Get Back/LIB project but IMO Abey Road really got it right.
Not exactly. The concept behind GB/LIB was no recording tricks. No overdubs. A live studio album. Then they ended up giving what they had to Phil Spector and he gave it his wall of sound treatment. What Spector did to “Let It Be” and “The Long And Winding Road” was the last straw as far as McCartney was concerned.
The band realized what a steaming turd LIB would be when it ever got released, realized they were pretty much at the end of their string, and wanted to leave on a positive note. Oh, there were some $$ issues too. George Martin agreed to produce Abbey Road IF they’d do it their old fashioned way (circa Rubber Soul/Revolver/Sgt Pepper). No concepts or special themes, just a solid rock album.
I believe I remember Lennon saying he thought he should have sung the lead on “Oh Darling”, as it was more his type of song. But their tradition was whoever wrote the lion’s share of the song sang the lead. Some exceptions; Paul would sing the lead if John was playing the harmonica and on the bridge of “Hard Day’s Night” (When I’m home…) John gave that lead to Paul because Lennon felt it was out of his vocal range.
You Never Give Me Your Money
One sweet dream, came true, today.
Yes it did.
Like many others, I would have voted for the medley, had it been one of the choices. Other than that I could have voted for three or four different songs depending on my mood on any given day. I wound up voting for “Here Comes the Sun” - just because.
I also have the order mixed up in my mind, but it’s not Let It Be vs Abbey Road. I get those two in the right order.
Let It Be sounds like a very late album for any band due to it being produced with strings and having a lot of slow melodies. Plus, if you view the arc of the band as starting with just a lot of songs, then moving toward coherent albums, the reaching the peak of that with Sgt Pepper’s, then going back to their roots as a song-writing band rather than an album-writing band, Let It Be would fit into this mold.
That’s why I can’t remember where the White Album comes in. I always think it’s either the last or second to last. I always think Abbey Road is third to last, since it’s a more of an “album-as-a-whole” album than the other two, so I mentally place it right after their other coherent albums (or attempts thereof, i.e. MMT.)
Incredible album with the greatest album ending ever.
In the US, the order of release for the last 6 Capitol albums were:
- Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
B. Magical Mystery Tour *
III. The Beatles (aka The White Album)
4th. Abbey Road - Let It Be
[del]||||[/del]|. Hey Jude **
And to re-exhume the well beaten deceased equine for hopefully the last time for one final well-deserved thrashing, regardless of release dates, Let It Be was recorded before Abbey Road.
- The MMT album release in the US consisted of the songs recorded for the film that were released in the UK on an EP, plus some previously released on singles songs. In a reversal of usual, the folks at Parlophone in the UK liked this packaging and released it in the UK also.
** HJ was an album of songs that had been previously released as singles in the US but never had appeared on a Capitol album.
That is a wonderful insight, and I agree with it. I choose without analysis, based on what I felt was I favored over all the rest. I definitely favor the medley, and in the medley, I favor YNGMYM.
And IMHO the medley is Because all the way through The End, which is itself mirrors the album as a whole. If I could only have one album for the rest of my life, this would be it. The variety of it, the joy, the musicianship. It has it all.
This is incorrect. Hey Jude was released before Let It Be, and you forgot Yellow Submarine. The correct order is:
Sgt Pepper
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Hey Jude
Let It Be
Another album where it’s hard to pick a favorite. George took another leap as a songwriter on this one with Something and Here Comes the Sun, and I think Octopus’ Garden is one of the best Ringo tracks. His guitar playing there is excellent as well. John and Paul each contributed some great stuff. Come Together was sort of the “easy” choice because it’s the one I listen to the most in isolation, so it got my vote, but the track I’ve listened to the most is Because. I’m kind of tempted to change my vote, in fact.
I didn’t pick her, but I do wanna tell her that I love her a lot.
mmm
No fair, I can’t choose.
But I did anyway: I picked Carry That Weight, because nobody else did, and it’s as great as everything else on the album, and one of my personal favorites.
Had it been included in the medley and picked by many, I’d have had to choose between Something, Come Together, and Here Comes the Sun. And maybe a couple others. So hard to choose!
And someone PLEASE vote for poor Ms. Polythene Pam. After all, she’s so good looking.
I used to play that in a band, along with Bathroom Window, and it was a joy to play and the crowd loved it. They loved Oh Darling too, and I sure wish I had the pipes to sing it but I definitely do not.
I’m mainly a keyboard player, but I got to play acoustic guitar on PP/BW.
But oh, that magic feeling
Oh that magic feeling,
Nowhere to go
My pre-getting-high music/text repeatable vision bliss moments
…funny paper
The loft of the harmony and its resolution
I picked Sun King just because of the arrangement. For such a short song, it moves around a lot. My only complaint is that the ending seems abrupt, as if John didn’t bother coming up with one for it.
But really, for me it could have been one of any number of songs on this LP.
I’ve never been able to get into “interpretive dancing” but this interpretive juggler is pure joy. Well worth it to suffer through the horrible video quality. Just in case any of you have never seen it. (Golden Slumbers/The End)
ETA: Juggling to Beatles Music - YouTube slightly better quality
That was absolutely beautiful.