Abbey Road

If you only ever listen to one Beatles album, make it this one. Abbey Road is the record that proves beyond any argument that The Beatles were operating on a level no other band in history has reached. Released in September 1969, it was the last album they recorded together, and knowing that somehow makes every song hit harder.

The context matters. By 1969 the band was fractured, barely speaking, coming off the disastrous Let It Be sessions that had nearly ended everything months earlier. Producer George Martin agreed to make one more record with them on one condition: that they act like professionals again, the way they used to. They did, and then some. George Harrison delivered two of the greatest songs ever written, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun," both composed largely during the misery of those earlier sessions. John contributed "Come Together." Paul anchored side two with a medley of song fragments that Martin stitched into a single continuous piece, the most ambitious thing any pop band had ever attempted in a studio.

Side two of Abbey Road is unlike anything else in music. It moves through melody after melody, each one bleeding into the next, building toward a final few minutes that feel genuinely emotional if you know what you're listening to. They sequenced it, listened back, and never recorded together again. For a first listen, just put it on from the beginning and let it run. There is nothing quite like it.