Research - Abbey Road

A segment of the Beatles Anthology document which focused on the making of the Abbey Road Album was on Youtube. It didn’t say much I hadn’t  heard, it talked about how the Beatles decided to get together and record one more album, it was a happy album despite a few quarrels and it was really the culmination of the bands work and music. They all had little bits and pieces of songs and wrote whole songs around these, this is where the idea of the medley on the B - Side came from which the Beatles describe in the video as having an operatic feel. 

The Beatles Lyrics - by Hunter Davies

This book contains a collection of images of the original hand written lyrics to Beatles songs. Along with these, Hunter Davies who knew, and worked with the Beatles gives context to each song and era of the Beatles career. Information on the Abbey Road could prove useful.

“they knew abbey road was their swan song”

John Lennon wrote the song Come Together during his an Yoko’s Toronto Bed - In. Politician Timothy Leary visited John and asked him to write a campaign song for his campaign running against Ronald Reagan. Leary’s slogan was ‘Come Together - Join the Party’

The album is quite artistic and features heavily instrumental tracks like “I Want You (She’s so Heavy) which is seven minutes and forty seconds long. Again this contributes to the orchestral themes of the album that the Beatles talked about. 

From reading information about all the songs and the album, it seems clear that the the half and half, A- Side - B - Side, separate songs - medley split is the most key aspect of the album, therefore using that as a basis for the typeface is definitely suitable and justified. This idea also represents the splits and quarrels within the Beatles’ relationships. 

I think the half and half typeface idea would work well with doing half the letterform slightly psychedelic I.e. freer and more curved, and the other half just straight sans serif. This references how the album isn’t entirely psychedelic, not so much as other albums, but still has elements of that style. Seeing as the typeface not only celebrates Abbey Road but the Beatles as well and psychedelic type would represent them quite well.