"And in the end..."

Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make.

So, I'm sitting here listening to "Abbey Road" and I'm playing that deadly game...which is the best Beatles album of all time. It's hard, really. As a scholar of Beatle-U, I know there are really four different bands called the Beatles.

1. The first was the band that landed on America's shores in 1964, shortly after JKF was killed. Dressed in black suits, and with matching shaggy hair cuts...this band wrote catchy little diddies about love (yeah, yeah, yeah). Clearly, this band was talented, but they were very young and fankly, under the close control of older, more seasoned music people. This band is amazing, because not only were they able to "break" into the American music scene(somewhat unheard of at the time) they were able to consistantly turn out those his (and in such a short amount of time! "A Hard Day's Night" was written in hours).

2. The second band, known as The Beatles were older and more experianced. They'd made two motion pictures...and started hanging out with Bob Dylan. A little jealous of the fact that Dylan's songs were complex, and about more more than puppy love, this band started experimenting with both drugs and the sounds they could make in the studio. In the space of two albums ("Rubber Soul" and then to "Revolver") this Beatle-band left behind the boy band image for good.

3. The third Beatles went to India, did LCD, got married (and divorced), and started clawing at each other's egos. The cohesion began to fall apart. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" is really split in half: Paul and John's show. A and B. From here they pushed the limits of psych. drugs (and music) and made the "balls-to-the-walls" tragically disliked "Magical Mystery Tour." The album is good, the TV movie...while poorly recieved at the time invented music videos as we know them today. "The Beatles" (also know as "The White Album") is an excellent collection of songs written and performed by the members of The Beatles...but is not really a true Beatles record. I mean, it is, but it isn't (often only one Beatle would write, record, and perform on a track). There were exceptions, and this certainly wasn't a bad thing. George and Ringo got to come out and shine. "Let it Be" was the end. Everyone quit the band...

4. The fourth and last band known as The Beatles was a group of friends who, sensing their time together was nearly over, got together and made one last great record. Sure, there was fighting, but there was compromise too. John would later get sued because he borrowed a little in "Come Together." The second half of the record was a collection of unfinished songs all strung together. And yet, this is probably my favorite incarnation of the band (and my favorite record). Why? I hate it when things are left hanging, or unfinished. I don't like saying goodbye, but I hate it even more when I'm not given the chance. All too often, in life, we have last meetings and we don't even realize it. We walk away, not saying the things we really should say...because we think we're going to have another chance. There's always tomorrow, right? Not always. The Beatles knew they were done, but rather than part the world with an album they considered "un-releaseable" ("Let it Be") they came together one last time. The final tracks say it all. "The End" is such a good song for so many reasons. The lyrics are great, a final message in a bottle for humanity. You only get what you give. The music is also good, I like the fact that every one of them gets an instrumental solo. The final bow. And then, just when you think the record is over, that you will never see your best friend again...they tack on the cheeky "Her Majesty." Perfect.