Beatles vs. Stones

White wine vs red wine.

Abbey Road falls further down the list for me, Beatles-album-wise.
“Because” and “You Never Give Me Your Money” are world-beaters, especially “Because.” There are some things about “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” I really like.

I find the intensity of adulation “Something” receives somewhat mystifying. It’s nice and all, but, IMO, not the composition so many characterize it as. I like “Here Comes the Sun” a bit more, I suppose (I really like when George and Paul Simon did it live/acoustic with harmonies and all on SNL in ‘76), but a certain Pop Culture Mythology Machine has branded these two George songs as something I don’t personally recognize.
If I never heard “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Octopus’s Garden,” “Oh! Darling,” or “Come Together” ever again, I wouldn’t cry.
The rest of the stuff is…nice.

I’ll take stunning compositions/arrangements (I don’t judge music by whether or not playing it on a fancy system may impress audio nerds) like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Here There, and Everywhere,” and “For No One” with excellent 2nd-tier songs like “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Love You To,” “She Said, She Said,” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”
If the only good track on the album was “Tomorrow Never Knows,” that alone would be well worth the price of admission. Still astonishing.
If all that occurred on the album, studio-innovation-wise was “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Revolver would automatically be a huge milestone in popular music.

For anyone who wants to know the depth of Revolver’s studio innovations, I would suggest reading chief engineer Geoff Emerick’s book, Here, There and Everywhere. It’s safe to say that the recording of that album employed far more than “a couple uses of new techniques,” to say nothing of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” and is pulling out all the stops, engineering-innovation-wise, in ways Abbey Road simply isn’t.

@onhwy61 I’m taking everything you say in the post above as gospel. Thanks for setting me straight! As a matter of fact I did indeed see McCartney on stage alongside Plant, Page and the rest of Led Zep when I saw them at the Rose Palace (or was it the Shrine Exhibition Hall?) in ’69.

Head or Gut.. neither please...

@bigtwin - I never heard of that custom of putting pennies on dead people's eyes until long, long after I heard that song, so for 30 years or so, I had no idea what he was on about; might as well have been from 'I Am The Walrus'!