Abbey Road (Anniversary Edition/DELUXE)＜Black Vinyl/完全生産限定盤＞

『アビイ・ロード』50周年記念エディション発売決定!!

一昨年の『サージェント・ペパーズ・ロンリー・ハーツ・クラブ・バンド』、昨年の『ザ・ビートルズ(ホワイト・アルバム)』(2018年)に続き、今年は『アビイ・ロード』(1969年9月26日発表)の50周年記念エディションが、3LPデラックス盤で登場!
ジョージ・ハリスンによる名曲「サムシング」やリンゴ・スターの代表作「オクトパス・ガーデン」、そしてアルバム後半を飾る見事なメドレーなど、ザ・ビートルズ解散前最後のレコーディングでありながら、バンドとしての一体感に溢れる名曲をトータル性豊かに収めた作品は、全英で17週連続、全米では11週連続1位となるなど世界的な大ヒットを記録。その後も現在に至るまでセールスを拡大し続け、後のアーティスト達にも大きな影響を与え続ける、彼らの名だたるアルバム群の中でも特に最高傑作とされる歴史的アルバムです。
Disc 1には、プロデューサーのジャイルズ・マーティンとミキシング・エンジニアのサム・オケルが8トラックのセッション・テープから作り直した、アルバム本編の「2019ステレオ・ミックス」を収録。彼らによるオリジナルの本質を外すことなく現代的な視点を取り入れたフレッシュなミックスは、ファンや評論家からも高い評価を得ています。
Disc 2とDisc 3には、アルバムに収録された全曲の他、同時期のセッションからのシングル「ジョンとヨーコのバラード」「オールド・ブラウン・シュー」や、ポール・マッカートニーが他アーティストにプレゼントした「グッドバイ」「カム・アンド・ゲット・イット」を含む、スタジオ・アウトテイクやデモ23トラックをレコーディングの日付順に収録しています。そのほとんどが未発表、特に「ハー・マジェスティ」も入ったメドレー「ザ・ロング・ワン (トライアル・エディット&ミックス - 1969年7月30日]」には、ファンの誰もが驚喜すること間違いなし!

完全生産限定ボックス・セット(3LP+インサート4枚)
180g重量盤/ブラック・ヴィニール

LP1: ジャイルズ・マーティン&サム・オケルによるニュー・ステレオ・ミックス
LP2&LP3: セッションズ/「アイ・ウォント・ユー」を筆頭に、レコーディングされた日付順に23曲収録

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.94) - Ranked #14 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Superb songs cut with an attention to refined detail, then segued together with conceptual force..." Q (6/00, p.78) - Ranked #17 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "The last Beatles LP to be recorded...it [has] extremely well-drilled and elaborate song structures....the quick-fire 8 track medley starting with 'You Never Give Me Your Money' and ending with 'The End' is unprecedented in rock..." Down Beat (1/22/70) - 4 Stars - Very Good - "...What is it that makes the Beatles so likeable? Maybe it's that they never seem to strain for effects yet are meticulous craftsman; that their humor, even when rather gruesome ...is never offensive; that their satire is never malicious; their lyricism never maudlin, but their work still has punch and conviction...genuine musicality and poetic imagination..." Paste (magazine) (p.61) - "[T]he album is brilliant. From Lennon's slinky 'Come Together' to McCartney's passionate '50s-style rocker 'Oh! Darling'..."

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. Its hard not to interpret And in the end/the love you take/is equal to the love you make as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the groups entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is. In many ways, Abbey Road stands apart from the rest of the Beatles catalog, an album that gains considerable strength from its lush, enveloping production -- a recording so luxuriant, it glosses over aesthetic differences between the groups main three songwriters and ties together a series of disconnected unfinished songs into a complete suite. Where Sgt. Pepper pioneered such mind-bending aural techniques, Abbey Road truly seized the possibilities of the studio and, in doing so, pointed the way forward to the album rock era of the 1970s. Many of the studio tricks arrive during that brilliant suite of songs, a sequence that lasts nearly a full side of an album. Here, McCartneys playful eccentricity juts against John Lennons curdled cynicism, while the band thrills in sudden changes of mood and plays plenty of guitar, culminating in McCartney, Lennon, and George Harrison trading solos on The End. The depth of sonic detail within You Never Give Me Your Money and She Came in Through the Window provided ideas for entire subgenres of pop in the 70s, but Abbey Road also contains a handful of the most enduring Beatles songs, each adding a new emotional maturity to their catalog. The subdued boogie of Lennons Come Together contains a sensuality previously unheard in the Beatles -- its matched by Because, which may be the best showcase for the groups harmonies -- Harrisons Something is a love ballad of unusual sensitivity, and his Here Comes the Sun is incandescent, perhaps his purest expression of joy. As good as these individual moments are, what makes Abbey Road transcendent is how the album is so much greater than the sum of its parts. While a single song or segment can be dazzling, having a succession of marvelous, occasionally intertwined moments is not only a marvel but indeed a summation of everything that made the Beatles great. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The last Beatles album to be recorded (although Let It Be was the last to be released), Abbey Road was a fitting swan song for the group, echoing some of the faux-conceptual forms of Sgt. Pepper, but featuring stronger compositions and more rock-oriented ensemble work. The group was still pushing forward in all facets of its art, whether devising some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record (especially on Because), constructing a medley of songs/vignettes that covered much of side two, adding subtle touches of Moog synthesizer, or crafting furious guitar-heavy rock (The End, I Want You (Shes So Heavy), Come Together). George Harrison also blossomed into a major songwriter, contributing the buoyant Here Comes the Sun and the supremely melodic ballad Something, the latter of which became the first Harrison-penned Beatles hit. Whether Abbey Road is the Beatles best work is debatable, but its certainly the most immaculately produced (with the possible exception of Sgt. Pepper) and most tightly constructed. ~ Richie Unterberger