This was the first complete album of The Beatles that I heard. At the time, I was familiar with their early pop influenced hits on the radio like “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and “Twist and Shout,” to their symphonic mixtures like “Hey Jude,” and “A Day In the Life.” Then one day, my mom played me this album on her speakers.

My friend Tiffany Kim made up different lyrics for “Here Comes The Sun” as a ring tone called, “Here Comes The Beep.” This was before I checked out the original Beatles song.

This is also one of my favorite stereo mixes to listen to on headphones.

“Come Together” is one of my favorite bluesy rocking songs; I love the musical dialogue between John’s vocals, and the lead guitar at the end.

The first version I heard of “Something” was from the George Harrison Bangladesh concert, so I was very interested to hear the studio version. I noticed the strings, and George’s lyrical guitar playing, as well as his vocals. As I’m thinking about it now, I had forgotten how influential his mellow vocal style would be for me in the future.

Then there’s the playful “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” with the sound effects and synthesizers.

My second favorite track is “Oh! Darling,” with its R&B meets power vocals. I’ve always loved how expressive the vocals are, especially on the bridge. Plus, the vocal harmonies during the last verse is one of my favorite moments.

When I was little, I first heard “Octopus’s Garden” on a tape of children sing alongs by Raffi. So I was already familiar with the song when I checked out the original version.

My third favorite track is the wild “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” I love the tempo shifts, as well as the different sections blended together. Sort of like what progressive rock was exploring at the time. The organ fills always surprise me, as well as the extended outro, where the synths recreate a wind effect which gradually builds in volume and pitch. Also, Ringo’s drumming on this track features groove, dynamics via cymbals, little fills here and there, etc. He’s one of my favorite drummers, mainly because he’ll keep the time going on the kick drum, and the fills would feature a really cool swing to them. Sort of like what The Who’s Keith Moon would do in their songs.

After my friend Brian got my audio tools set up on Sonar, I had a lot of fun recreating this song, which is on my SoundCloud page. Before covering it, I listened to the album version very carefully, getting as close as possible with the stereo imaging, the switch from one section to the other (as if they were different studio sessions), and just enjoyed it. Even the abrupt ending…

After the wild ending on the previous song, we get the beautiful vocal and guitar songs like “Here Comes The Sun,” “Because,” and my fourth favorite, the medley, with all the stylistic shifts going on from one song to the next.

Just like when I listened to Songs In The Key Of Life, I love how Abbey Road also used sound effects, like the crickets on “Sun King.” When I first heard it, I thought there was an actual cricket in the house. I remember hearing them a lot sometimes, probably when I was in my science class at middle school at the time.

When I think about the legacy of George Martin, it was his blending of band and orchestra that made the music universal. I think a lot about the last few songs. “Golden Slumbers” features McCartney’s vocals, which go from soft, to strong, emotional powerful vocals.

This was one of the few albums that showed me that there are multiple ways of singing. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney had the powerful vocals, while George brought more of the softer approach. Some other favorites are Stevie Wonder, Minnie Ripperton, Joe Jackson, Paula Cole, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Todd Rundgren, Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLachlan, etc.

I love thinking about how influential The Beatles are on all styles of music. They weren’t afraid to explore beyond popular music, while also enjoying melodic, harmonic, lyrical, and emotional qualities. I’m also happy that my current favorite jazz artists such as Jacob Collier and Robert Glasper are going beyond tradition, bringing in rhythms from different parts of the world, and applying them to other forms of music. Then in the rock world, there were groups like XTC with their love of twisting harmonies in their vocals and instruments.

This is a lot of fun, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.