More Than a Sequel

The experience of living through a particular time period can, of course, be quite different from a retrospective look back on the same period. The Beatles produced and released more than a dozen albums with original material between 1964 and 1970. For even the most devoted fans, the musical developments between the albums might have been almost imperceptible at the time. But reflecting now on the six-year time-lapse between the release of Meet the Beatles and the recording of Abbey Road, the two LPs were clearly introduced into two very different cultural worlds—due in no small part to the contributions of the Fab Four themselves.