Sgt. Pepper's Appreciation Thread

[Big-A2]

Too much flanging on LSD and Stereo She's Leaving Home is better IMO

No it isn't. Shut up.

[Dozer3677]

No it isn't. Shut up.

Eeeps!! Thanks for your thorough opinion. I like how you clearly explained yourself in such great detail. Your opinion on She' Leaving Home is dead on. And your thoughts on Day In The Life, very poignant. Thank you for opening my mind to your vast knowledge. I will be stealing your quote and using it in intellectual conversation with my friends.

Counter-point= No it isn't. Shut up.

Have you been to St. Gods hospital anytime recently?

[Big-A2]

Yeah, I did, and they told me to send you in so they can fix your broken sarcasm detector.

[Dozer3677]

Yeah, I did, and they told me to send you in so they can fix your broken sarcasm detector.

I'm think I'm gonna need a 2nd opinion. It appears it worked like a charm.

Like Peter Griffin watching Failure To Launch......Done!

[TheRollingBones]

I'm think I'm gonna need a 2nd opinion. It appears it worked like a charm.

Like Peter Griffin watching Failure To Launch......Done!

Haaa...

[Big-A2]

I'm think I'm gonna need a 2nd opinion. It appears it worked like a charm.

...yeah, good point.

Might as well post my actual argument now.

The flanger on Lucy In The Sky makes it more dreamy and, as a mono mix, deeper. The stereo sounds artificial and "down-to-earth" compaared with it. Paul's faster and higher voice makes She's Leaving Home a little more epic and touching, as weekday morning are normally very fast moving routines.

[bridog7]

This is a great album no doubt. But my favourite is Abbey Road. Then Sgt Peppers. My favourtie song on this album is With little Help from my friends.

[ASDodge]

The debate about Sgt. Pepper's being the best Beatle album has raged for 40 years.

I wrote a much longer piece elsewhere, but here is a syynopsis of how to consider it:

1. Musically-
As far as the music goes, most Beatle fans agree that there are stronger collections of pop/rock music... Revolver and Abbey Road being the two most cited. Sift through some of the crazier stuff and The White Album probably is a better musical collection with much stronger songs. Individually, the songs still rank highly, yet colelctively some dismiss them as less than standards.
However, the title song and reprise, Good Morning Good Morning, and the epics Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Day in the Life are definitive classics. Many love to sing along with When I'm Sixty-Four and the operatic She's Leaving Home, while Fixing a Hole, Lovely Rita, and Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, as well as Getting Better are nothing to sneeze at. Within You Without You is the definitive Hindi-music masterpiece and set the bar too high for anyone to challenge in bringing JIndian music west into pop culture.

2. Artistic Intention: The goal of the album was twofold. Firstly, the idea was to create an album that would be impossible to reproduce live and then send the album "on tour." Secondly, the album represented the influences the Beatles were feeling. The advent of "music festivals" had opened pop music to concerts of multiple genres and styles of music. SPLHCB offers as diverse a collection of musical stylings as any contemporary pop festival- 1 year before Montrose and 2 years before Woodstock made such festivals major events.

So, why do some dismiss the album when most songs are quality? This answr comes in three areas:
1. No more "fab four/moptops." While each preceding album, adventuring into new fields consecutively, experimented with new sounds, there was a pattern of recognizability and growth. There were still elements of the "With The Beatles" Beatles, even in Revolver. Pepper's was a drastic move away from the early days- even from Revolver. Any hopes that the Beatles were still cute and cuddly disappeared and such longings wre released on the pre-fab 4, The Monkees.
2. John Lennon: within weeks of the release of SPLHCB, Lennon was dismissing it as "just another album" and "by far not our best." Novels could be written on the dysfunctional and sometimes petty jealousies of Lennon, but most saw SPLHCB as "Paul's Album" from concept to production- a view Harrison in later years also fostered. Lennon has been recorded at many times saying he disliked the album and that his work was piecemal on it. Hard to buy into such an attitude when 2 of the top songs from the album were 2 of his all-time beloved classics. The problem was, at the time of recording, Lennon was in a state of depression. Always borderline manic, Lennon had such bouts admittedly. Lennon was a curious case of a private follower who wanted to be seen as the leader. Paul gave the idea to the album and wrote more songs. With the rocket success and critical acclaim, Lennon definitely had jealousy issues. Lennon loved to be loved and wanted the media love, even when he professed disdain for "critics." That SPLHCB got the greatest critical acclaim of any album ever in rock (with, perhaps, Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"), Lennon definitely was jealous. His "genius" could only point out that folks were fooling themselves thinking that Pepper's was a true concept album. The great ironic statement proving this point is his famed interview in which he states "it's called a concept album, but it doesn't go anywhere... any of my songs could have been on any album... 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' isn't a concept... it could go anywhere..." COnsidering the intent to have a circus/pop festival theme around the album, 'Mr. Kite' most definitely fits the album more than any song outside the title song. Curiously enough, Lennon actively joined in the Rolling Stone's attempt to produce the same concept in "Rock 'n Roll Circus." I love Lennon, but he could be a right bastard and hypocrite OFTEN. His constant ridiculing of the album led many fans to and artistes to mock it.
3. Imitators and Fundamentalists: Hailed as the expression of th new age, every band worth its salt immediately attempted to imitate or expand on the interpretations they read into the album. A lot of drek was released within months of Peppers. On the opposite side of the artistes and copycats were those who felt Peppers was the cause of the drug revolution and hippy-era of the late 60's. Peppers was often dismissed as an "acid album" and the work of the devils (only a year removed from Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comments. Either way, many newcomers have definite expectations o what the album should "be" and it doesn't deliver on those levels for them. The album, meant to mimic a pop fest, throws some people off for its varied and off-range musical meanderings.

So, what is the album and what makes it the greatest, then?
The album is, as above, the Beatles' attempt to break out of the mop-top era once and for all and fully implement ideas they had only experimented with. The album was a celebration of the influences and styles they were living and was intended to be like a pop-music fest, no more, no less. That it incorporated origins of psychadelia, pop, rock, heavy metal, opera-rock, folk, ethnic, and oldies pop/schmaltz merely shows their virtuosity and influences and their ability to pesent them well. That others took such ideas and went nuts with them is not their fault.

In the end, the final greatness of the album is not the music (though, some definitive Beatles' classics- especially two of John's most beloved- are present), but the social impact it had. SPLHCB was the FIRST pop/rock album to be accepted and critiqued in "legitimate" music circles. It was an artistic statement in a genre barely considered music, much less art. The album was "listened to" in more than just "sing-a-long" ways. From the cover to printing th elyrics outside, the album was a series of FIRSTS. This album shook not just the pop/rock music world, but all genres of music, and then moved on to affect society. Unlike other great-selling albums (Dark Side of the Moon, Thriller, etc), this album did not just influence kids with cash to spend and new clothes to buy, it influenced the minds of people who didn't even listen to this music. It either caused or emboldened a social revolution and was a mirror of a time and place the world will never be again. It affected the way albums were made, how bands saw themselves, how people thought, dressed, lived, and viewed the world. NO ALBUM before or since has had such an influence on the world. Pepper's was a catalyst for so many things and its energy still ripples today in the undercurrents of our society. For this alone, it is the greatest ALBUM of all time, even though I would rather listen to Revolver or Abbey Road in one sit-through than Peppers, it's power is in what it 40 years ago and how we are still afffected by that blast- whether we like or appreciate the music on it or not.

[TheRollingBones]

^ Not gonna quote that. But man that was indepth. That was one of the best, most honest, most indepth reviews of the album I have ever read. You, sir, are awesome .

[gamegyro56]

^ Not gonna quote that. But man that was indepth. That was one of the best, most honest, most indepth reviews of the album I have ever read. You, sir, are awesome .

then I will

The debate about Sgt. Pepper's being the best Beatle album has raged for 40 years.

I wrote a much longer piece elsewhere, but here is a syynopsis of how to consider it:

1. Musically-
As far as the music goes, most Beatle fans agree that there are stronger collections of pop/rock music... Revolver and Abbey Road being the two most cited. Sift through some of the crazier stuff and The White Album probably is a better musical collection with much stronger songs. Individually, the songs still rank highly, yet colelctively some dismiss them as less than standards.
However, the title song and reprise, Good Morning Good Morning, and the epics Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Day in the Life are definitive classics. Many love to sing along with When I'm Sixty-Four and the operatic She's Leaving Home, while Fixing a Hole, Lovely Rita, and Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, as well as Getting Better are nothing to sneeze at. Within You Without You is the definitive Hindi-music masterpiece and set the bar too high for anyone to challenge in bringing JIndian music west into pop culture.

2. Artistic Intention: The goal of the album was twofold. Firstly, the idea was to create an album that would be impossible to reproduce live and then send the album "on tour." Secondly, the album represented the influences the Beatles were feeling. The advent of "music festivals" had opened pop music to concerts of multiple genres and styles of music. SPLHCB offers as diverse a collection of musical stylings as any contemporary pop festival- 1 year before Montrose and 2 years before Woodstock made such festivals major events.

So, why do some dismiss the album when most songs are quality? This answr comes in three areas:
1. No more "fab four/moptops." While each preceding album, adventuring into new fields consecutively, experimented with new sounds, there was a pattern of recognizability and growth. There were still elements of the "With The Beatles" Beatles, even in Revolver. Pepper's was a drastic move away from the early days- even from Revolver. Any hopes that the Beatles were still cute and cuddly disappeared and such longings wre released on the pre-fab 4, The Monkees.
2. John Lennon: within weeks of the release of SPLHCB, Lennon was dismissing it as "just another album" and "by far not our best." Novels could be written on the dysfunctional and sometimes petty jealousies of Lennon, but most saw SPLHCB as "Paul's Album" from concept to production- a view Harrison in later years also fostered. Lennon has been recorded at many times saying he disliked the album and that his work was piecemal on it. Hard to buy into such an attitude when 2 of the top songs from the album were 2 of his all-time beloved classics. The problem was, at the time of recording, Lennon was in a state of depression. Always borderline manic, Lennon had such bouts admittedly. Lennon was a curious case of a private follower who wanted to be seen as the leader. Paul gave the idea to the album and wrote more songs. With the rocket success and critical acclaim, Lennon definitely had jealousy issues. Lennon loved to be loved and wanted the media love, even when he professed disdain for "critics." That SPLHCB got the greatest critical acclaim of any album ever in rock (with, perhaps, Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"), Lennon definitely was jealous. His "genius" could only point out that folks were fooling themselves thinking that Pepper's was a true concept album. The great ironic statement proving this point is his famed interview in which he states "it's called a concept album, but it doesn't go anywhere... any of my songs could have been on any album... 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' isn't a concept... it could go anywhere..." COnsidering the intent to have a circus/pop festival theme around the album, 'Mr. Kite' most definitely fits the album more than any song outside the title song. Curiously enough, Lennon actively joined in the Rolling Stone's attempt to produce the same concept in "Rock 'n Roll Circus." I love Lennon, but he could be a right bastard and hypocrite OFTEN. His constant ridiculing of the album led many fans to and artistes to mock it.
3. Imitators and Fundamentalists: Hailed as the expression of th new age, every band worth its salt immediately attempted to imitate or expand on the interpretations they read into the album. A lot of drek was released within months of Peppers. On the opposite side of the artistes and copycats were those who felt Peppers was the cause of the drug revolution and hippy-era of the late 60's. Peppers was often dismissed as an "acid album" and the work of the devils (only a year removed from Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comments. Either way, many newcomers have definite expectations o what the album should "be" and it doesn't deliver on those levels for them. The album, meant to mimic a pop fest, throws some people off for its varied and off-range musical meanderings.

So, what is the album and what makes it the greatest, then?
The album is, as above, the Beatles' attempt to break out of the mop-top era once and for all and fully implement ideas they had only experimented with. The album was a celebration of the influences and styles they were living and was intended to be like a pop-music fest, no more, no less. That it incorporated origins of psychadelia, pop, rock, heavy metal, opera-rock, folk, ethnic, and oldies pop/schmaltz merely shows their virtuosity and influences and their ability to pesent them well. That others took such ideas and went nuts with them is not their fault.

In the end, the final greatness of the album is not the music (though, some definitive Beatles' classics- especially two of John's most beloved- are present), but the social impact it had. SPLHCB was the FIRST pop/rock album to be accepted and critiqued in "legitimate" music circles. It was an artistic statement in a genre barely considered music, much less art. The album was "listened to" in more than just "sing-a-long" ways. From the cover to printing th elyrics outside, the album was a series of FIRSTS. This album shook not just the pop/rock music world, but all genres of music, and then moved on to affect society. Unlike other great-selling albums (Dark Side of the Moon, Thriller, etc), this album did not just influence kids with cash to spend and new clothes to buy, it influenced the minds of people who didn't even listen to this music. It either caused or emboldened a social revolution and was a mirror of a time and place the world will never be again. It affected the way albums were made, how bands saw themselves, how people thought, dressed, lived, and viewed the world. NO ALBUM before or since has had such an influence on the world. Pepper's was a catalyst for so many things and its energy still ripples today in the undercurrents of our society. For this alone, it is the greatest ALBUM of all time, even though I would rather listen to Revolver or Abbey Road in one sit-through than Peppers, it's power is in what it 40 years ago and how we are still afffected by that blast- whether we like or appreciate the music on it or not.