Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles

Music writer Womack (The Beatles Encyclopedia) delivers a fascinating, in-depth look at the creation of Abbey Road, the Beatles’ penultimate album released 50 years ago. The record received mixed reviews upon its release, and Womack observes that critics generally agreed that the album “sounded different” from the band’s previous work. He astutely argues that the adoption of a series of new technologies at the EMI Abbey Road recording studio, where the band had recorded its previous albums—most notably a new solid state eight-track mixing desk—lent the music “brighter tonalities and a deeper low-end that distinguished Abbey Road ” from the band’s earlier works. In enthusiastic descriptions, Womack then breaks down the album song by song, showing how “Come Together” and “Something” benefited from “superlative musicianship, an innovative production team, and an evolving studio technology,” and how the studio’s new mixing deck allowed the band to capture exquisite three-part harmonies and effortless solo work on the fabled “suite” of songs that close the album. Womack displays a detailed and insightful analysis that fans will hope he applies to the band’s other albums. [em](Oct.) [/em]

Correction: An earlier version of this review twice mistakenly referred to the author using an incorrect last name.