The Beatles shot one of the most famous album covers of all time on Aug. 8, 1969, and did not even have to write their band’s name or album title on it to get the world to pay attention.
John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were photographed walking single file on a zebra crossing on Abbey Road outside of EMI Studios — known today as Abbey Road Studios — and history was made.
The Beatles released their eleventh studio album “Abbey Road” on Sept. 26, 1969. The now iconic album — and arguably most recognizable — was the last to be recorded by the band. However, it was not the last album to be released.
“Abbey Road” was recorded during April, July and August of 1969, while the band’s album “Let It Be” was recorded in January 1969 and released in May 1970 — after their April 1970 breakup.
Focus Oakland — the Oakland Post’s previous name from December 1969 to October 1974 — was not yet prescient to this pop culture-defining event when they reviewed “Abbey Road” for their Oct. 15, 1969 issue, yet their review was timelessly prophetic.
“There is the feeling in it that the 70s are coming, ‘Wrap it up, get it together and be ready!’ But there is also a nostalgic feeling that the Beatles were concluding their decade and are preparing for the next — or maybe that they have no idea at all of what’s liable to come after this,” Focus Oakland writer Allan wrote in their review of the album.
Despite the common conclusion today that “Abbey Road” is a classic, the album was met with mixed reviews upon its release, with critics calling it complicated, inauthentic and artificial because of its musical inventiveness and apparent incongruity.
“Then, ‘Oh, Darling’ hits an immediate and heavy 1956 rock. Yech. If one is inclined to be repulsed by the 50’s sound — he’ll be prone to nausea here,” Allan said.
When digging through the archives of past Focus Oakland stories, reading this review from 1969 and re-listening to “Abbey Road” in 2023, it is hard to imagine that the long-held classics of my life had once been seen as anything but.
Songs like “Come Together,” “Oh! Darling,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Here Comes The Sun” are some of my favorite Beatles songs of all time, and now viewing them through a different lens has only made them better, personally. Even songs that the Beatles themselves didn’t hold in high regard like “Mean Mr Mustard” and “Her Majesty” have become cheeky reflections of the band’s musical style.
The creative songwriting, inventive production and emotionally gripping moments of juxtaposition from track to track on “Abbey Road” display the Beatles at their very best — a fact that is maybe better defined in hindsight.
That is not to say the genius of the Beatles and “Abbey Road” was completely overlooked upon its initial release. But rather, people were still putting together the pieces of what the Beatles’ musical legacy would be for decades to come.
“At any rate, it’s the Beatles: Unpredictable, heavy, beautiful, sickeningly sweet and well done. If only I knew what they were trying to do to me! But that’s how one always feels with any of their new works,” Allan said.
