After listening to Abbey Road, I'm still of the belief that it's overrated, and would probably list it as my 4th or 5th favorite Beatoffs album.
I'm still of the belief that it's their greatest achievement.
The McCartney two-fer of Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Oh! Darling is just ridiculous, the former yet ANOTHER example of Macca's obsession with old-timey music, and the latter WAY out of his vocal comfort zone (something that Lennon was astute enough to recognize and point out to his bandmate to no avail). The music on Oh! Darling is great but I just find the singing too forced.
Are they two of the weaker tracks on the album? Yes. But I don't think they're bad. Maxwell's Silver Hammer has grown on me over the years - it's a take at dark humor, it's not a serious song, and the juxtaposition between the dark-comedy-style lyrics and the light-hearted music works, imo. Oh! Darling hasn't grown on me as much, and yes, I do know what you mean about McCartney's vocal performance on this track - it doesn't bother me as much as it does you, but I can understand why it could bother people.
Not sure if putting Ringo's track in the #4 slot is a good idea. It's a nice little tune, but a trifle, and should have somehow been worked into the medley, or something.
I think it's fine where it is. I think it was a deemed a finished song, whereas the songs in the medley were deemed by the band to be unfinished, and that's why they were strung together. Wouldn't make sense, then, for them to include a song that was deemed finished in the medley.
Also, NOT a fan of the Moog. Considering how NOT dated most of the band's music is, this just sounds cheesy. At times at works, at times it's head-smacking. Does Here Comes The Sun really benefit from its presence? No, it doesn't.
I didn't even know what 'the Moog' was until I googled it after reading this, so I can't really comment, except to say that no part of Here Comes The Sun has ever sounded dated to me.
You Never Give Me Your Money. There's some good stuff here. Unfortunately, this song is like Frankenstein, seemingly built from several songs, which tonally don't really go together (unlike the similar Happiness is a Warm Gun, which works). At its worst it sounds more like Wings than the Beatles, and then you have (ONCE AGAIN) the old-timey stuff, that little saloon-sounding part where McCartney, AGAIN with a forced vocal sings that "Out of college, money spent, see no future, pay no rent, All the money's gone, nowhere to go" in what in all honesty sounds like some kind of minstrel show bullshit. It's embarrassing, but I'll bet the Macca apologists think it's cute. Having said that, I like the end with the "1,2,3,4,5,6,7..." bit.
Yes, there are several different parts(actually, I count only two - the first being everything up until the quoted 'out of college' section that you dislike, and everything from there on), yes they are distinct from each other in a handful of ways, but I think it works. Do you also dislike Bohemian Rhapsody? You could make a similar argument against it. I know what you mean about McCartney sometimes sounding 'old-timey', I know exactly what you mean, it's there in 'Oh! Darling', sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it doesn't(depends on what kind of mood I'm in), but I don't hear any of it in this particular track.
And here's another thing. This is supposed to be part of "The Medley"? How the fuck is that possible? The song is TWICE as long as anything else in there, and it does not IN ANY WAY segue into Sun King. I call bullshit.
Secondly, even "The Medley" isn't just one medley. Are you telling me that there's not a clear break between Bathroom Window and Golden Slumbers? Because there is. Dead air, total stylistic shift, whatever. Also, since we're talking about Golden Slumbers, what the FUCK is Macca doing during that "smiles AWAAAAAKE you when you rise" part? Is that scratchy, guttural vocal really appropriate here? No. As usual, forced. And a shame because the rest is so nicely done. I could also argue it's a weak knockoff of Lennon's Good Night, but I'll let that slide.
It's well documented the the idea for a medley was originally Paul's. In the Anthology book, John says that he didn't care one way or the other about the medley and that he changed one line in Mean Mr. Mustard - he made Mr. Mustard's sister's name Pam, when it had originally been Shirley - so it would sound like it had something to do with Polythene Pam; the two songs didn't have anything to with each other beforehand. The whole medley is that way, it's a makeshift medley made out of unfinished songs that wouldn't have fit anywhere else. That the whole thing was a makeshift-cut-and-paste job only makes it seem more unique and more brilliant to me. To scrap a bunch of misfit tracks together to form this musical collage, with all these different styles and tones and moods and tempos in such a condensed period of time...it's one of the greatest pieces of recorded pop/rock music ever, imo.
And I do consider the whole thing a medley; The two things that have always made everything from You Never Give Me Your Money through The End unquestionably a medley in mind are that the band themselves admitted it, and You Never Give Me Your Money's main melody is suddenly reprised by a horn section right in the middle of Carry The Weight. What reason could there have been to do that, other than Paul/the band intentionally wanting to signal the end of the medley by reprising the beginning of it right before the grand finale(The End)? Furthermore, I disagree with the idea that a lack of a segue between two tracks means the whole thing isn't a medley. Take these definitions of the word medley:
"a collection of songs or other musical items performed as a continuous piece : a medley of Beatles songs" - as defined by Oxford American Dictionary (yes, they actually used the Beatles example. I kid you not.)
"a musical composition made up of a series of songs or short pieces" - as defined by merriam-webster.com
"medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, played one after another, sometimes overlapping." - as defined by Wikipedia
I don't see where you get the idea that a segues are necessary in order for it to be a medley. And, like I said before, what really ties the whole thing together as a medley, for me anyway, as opposed to just a series of songs, is the You Never Give Me Your Money reprise in Carry That Weight, and the fact that the band themselves admitted it.
This album isn't perfect. It's far from it. The high points are very, very high, but with that gaping wound in the middle of side one (where most great albums tend to peak), and Macca overplaying his hand on side two, I just can't see how this is their masterpiece.
/rant
All I can say is that Abbey Road has given me the most consistent enjoyment and joy of any Beatles album in my life, and all Beatles albums have given me pretty consistent enjoyment and joy. It all comes down to subjective tastes, I guess, and it's not like I'm going to argue with anyone who thinks Revolver is their best album, or Sgt. Peppers, or The White Album, or whatever.