Quote originally posted at ConsequenceofSound.net

Ed Note: Today, The Beatles’ Abbey Road celebrates its 45th anniversary. In light of the occasion, we’re republishing this story, which was originally posted in September 2013.

A few years ago, we named The Beatles’Abbey Road as the greatest album of all time. Follow our breadcrumbs of reasoning and you’ll read about Paul McCartney’s final swan song: the medley. It’s a religious experience with an ensuing legacy that continues to influence musicians both new and old. Now, someone’s stripped away all the music and, instead, left its vocal tracks. What one should take away here is how synonymous the Fab Four really were, even amidst their forthcoming demise. “Match made in heaven” comes to mind, and really, aside from The Beach Boys, The Temptations, and The Bee Gees — it doesn’t get better than this. Stream below and lose yourself in the process.

 

Note:  This is the Abbey Road Album, with the instrumentation removed.  As a result, there are long pauses between some of the vocals, wherever you would have heard the instruments.  Please be patient through the pauses; I believe you will find it well worth your time.

The Beatles were my first band — the first band I truly loved — and I vowed to myself that, when I saw them, I was not going to act like those crazy girls on TV, and scream and cry and hold my head.  That’s not the way it happened, though.  Despite my best intentions, I did scream and cry and hold my head and acted just like all the other girls.

The Beatles have always been my first musical loves, but hearing their harmonies stripped of the musical instrumentation, leaving just the pure power of their vocalizations, left me with my mouth literally hanging open. I’ve always known — everyone has always known — that their singing was tight, but now I know why Beatlemania happened.  I know why I screamed, and the girls around me screamed:  because we were hearing voices not otherwise heard outside of Heaven and the Angels’ Chorus.  Never, in my opinion — and no, I am not a musical ‘expert’, but I am a fan of music, and I listen to many kinds of music spanning many decades — there has never been a better natural mix of voices in terms of their ability to compliment, counter and enhance the others.  They were truly unique in the history of music, and I hope that you will enjoy this revelation as much as I did.