40 years later, ‘Abbey Road’ still milestone album

Even after 40 years, they’re more than just four guys crossing the street.

“Abbey Road,” the famed Beatles album featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr striding across a London street on the cover, turned 40 years old Saturday. IU music professor Glenn Gass said the album, which featured songs “Something,” “Come Together” and “Here Comes the Sun” represented the buoyancy and staying power of their music.

“They were there to offer a parallel universe different from what parents and teachers and straight-laced adult society,” he said. “It feels like a farewell to the ’60s.”

Gass said “Abbey Road” was a conscious effort on the part of the group to end on a strong note despite growing tensions in the group.

“With all the tensions, they were able to bury those and make a worthy album, an album that a lot of people consider their greatest,” Gass said.

Though “Let It Be” was the last album released by The Beatles, “Abbey Road” was the final album the group recorded and its final release in the 1960s.

To Gass, The Beatles’ trajectory, from early performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” to the release of “Let It Be,” mirrored the cultural shifts of the era.

“They did so much to define that decade,” Gass said. “They are the one constant that whole generation grew up with. They never let you down. They were like really, really hip older brothers.”

In London, hundreds of Beatles fans swarmed Abbey Road on Saturday, singing songs and snarling traffic.

Although the cover shoot itself only took a few minutes, so carefully studied was the cover for signs and symbolism that some die-hard fans came to the conclusion that Paul McCartney – who appears barefoot and out of step with the rest – had secretly died.

“At the time, it was sort of fun,” Gass said. “Now it feels like a weight around the album. But it was always just a footnote.”

Abbey Road, which cuts through London’s well-to-do neighborhood of St. John’s Wood, is home to the eponymous studios where the group recorded much of its work.
“I didn’t expect so many people to be here,” said German visitor Tschale Haas, 50, who was dressed in a Sgt. Pepper jacket.

The group decided to shoot the photograph in August 1969 while recording music for the last time together. For the shot, photographer Iain Macmillan stood on a stepladder and police held up traffic while The Beatles walked back and forth across the street.

But beyond the iconic image, Gass said “Abbey Road” as an album exemplified The Beatles’ legacy.

“When they chose to, they had great albums,” Gass said. “They were better than anyone else on the planet. Forty years later, even an album cover can carry that weight.”

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.