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May 25, 2007 11:23 AM Subscribe
It was 40 years ago next Friday (June 1) that the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released, becoming one of the most influential releases in rock history. It is the number one favorite album of the British public and has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as No. 1 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "When Sgt. Pepper's came out, it was an album that surprised people on every single level. The vast majority of the millions who bought it had never seen a gatefold sleeve, they’d never seen lyrics on the cover, they’d never seen a cover like that—a real piece of art—and they never heard music (side A | side B) like this. The combination was so dynamic that it’s still being talked about 40 years later."* John, Paul, Ringo and George talk about the tracks.
Did anybody in the 70's comment on the fact that StarWars was almost exactly 10 years after SGt pepper?
posted by Megafly at 11:31 AM on May 25, 2007
posted by Megafly at 11:31 AM on May 25, 2007
Sgt. Pepper's was the first Beatles album I listened to - it was given to me as a gift for my 8th grade "graduation." It's not my favorite, per se, but it is the one that I'm most sentimental about. Great post.
It's getting better all the time!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:33 AM on May 25, 2007
It's getting better all the time!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:33 AM on May 25, 2007
Sgt. Pepper gets all the attention, but it's no Rubber Soul.
/ your favourite Beatles album sucks
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:37 AM on May 25, 2007
/ your favourite Beatles album sucks
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:37 AM on May 25, 2007
Inevitable hair-splitting, better-than/worse-than hype-realignment wankery aside, it's just a great, great fucking album.
posted by cortex at 11:39 AM on May 25, 2007
posted by cortex at 11:39 AM on May 25, 2007
From ericb's link:
Japanese artist Jun Fukamachi released a now very rare electronic version of Sgt. Pepper's in 1977 on Japan's EMI Toshiba label.
MP3s? Anyone? Please?
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:44 AM on May 25, 2007
Japanese artist Jun Fukamachi released a now very rare electronic version of Sgt. Pepper's in 1977 on Japan's EMI Toshiba label.
MP3s? Anyone? Please?
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:44 AM on May 25, 2007
FYI, I am utterly obsessed with the notion of covering Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club as an album in its entirety. I must hear every example of this phenomenon that I learn about.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:46 AM on May 25, 2007
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:46 AM on May 25, 2007
Whoa, it seems like just yesterday that everyone was on about the 20th year anniversary! I remember it well, because that's when my brother and I were first really getting into the Beatles. And that was two fucking decades ago!
*softly hums "In My Life"*
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:04 PM on May 25, 2007
*softly hums "In My Life"*
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:04 PM on May 25, 2007
What The Card Cheat said. Still and all, it's a great album.
Though I find myself wondering if this kind of feverish obsessorama will attend (for instance) the 35th or 40th anniversaries of Exile on Main Street or Talking Book.
Whoops, the 35th of Exile was this year, two weeks ago to be exact. The 35th of Talking Book is on October 27.
posted by blucevalo at 12:10 PM on May 25, 2007
Though I find myself wondering if this kind of feverish obsessorama will attend (for instance) the 35th or 40th anniversaries of Exile on Main Street or Talking Book.
Whoops, the 35th of Exile was this year, two weeks ago to be exact. The 35th of Talking Book is on October 27.
posted by blucevalo at 12:10 PM on May 25, 2007
I can't believe we all missed the 20th anniversary of Four Ways of Saying Five. DAMN THIS WAR.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:17 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:17 PM on May 25, 2007
Here is an interactive album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
posted by Sailormom at 12:22 PM on May 25, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Sailormom at 12:22 PM on May 25, 2007 [1 favorite]
Whoa, it seems like just yesterday that everyone was on about the 20th year anniversary!
It was twenty years ago today that it was twenty years ago today. Or something.
posted by grubi at 12:23 PM on May 25, 2007 [3 favorites]
It was twenty years ago today that it was twenty years ago today. Or something.
posted by grubi at 12:23 PM on May 25, 2007 [3 favorites]
Sgt. Pepper's is a great album. The first time I heard it, I was on acid, and I couldn't believe that music this trippy had once been enormously popular.
Generally not a fan of the Beatles' forays into Indian music, I always thought that Within You Without you was sort of a jarring break in an otherwise smooth album. Years later, I found out that Within You Without You was actually the first song on the second side of the record. Thus, there was naturally a break in the music, and Within You Without You was meant to be sort of a "new beginning" on the second side. Having only heard the album on CD, I had never been privy to this experience.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:24 PM on May 25, 2007
Generally not a fan of the Beatles' forays into Indian music, I always thought that Within You Without you was sort of a jarring break in an otherwise smooth album. Years later, I found out that Within You Without You was actually the first song on the second side of the record. Thus, there was naturally a break in the music, and Within You Without You was meant to be sort of a "new beginning" on the second side. Having only heard the album on CD, I had never been privy to this experience.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:24 PM on May 25, 2007
Afroblanco writes 'Sgt. Pepper's is a great album. The first time I heard it, I was on acid, and I couldn't believe that music this trippy had once been enormously popular.'
The first time I heard it, I was eleven and I decided that one day I was going to take acid too.
It was played for us by our year four junior school teacher on the last day of term -- last day of junior school before going up to the big grammar school. But it wasn't my first exposure to the Beatles. I grew up in Liverpool, and even though I must have been only about five or six at the time, I still remember the streets clearing for their first TV appearance on Scene at Six Thirty. Local teenage girls were divided in their loyalties between The Beatles, and a black R&B group who played at the Cavern, The Chants. The cooler girls preferred The Chants.
The year before, I'd got a copy of Revolver for my tenth birthday, and they'd just 'fessed up to smoking pot and had financed that advert in the Times that wen't 'The law against marihuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice'.
And so I remember thinking, at the tender age of 11, these guys have everything -- money, fame, sex, and how do they choose to spend their leisure time? Smoking weed and dropping acid?
That's gotta be some good shit going on right there. Count me in.
And sure enough, it was.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:38 PM on May 25, 2007 [1 favorite]
The first time I heard it, I was eleven and I decided that one day I was going to take acid too.
It was played for us by our year four junior school teacher on the last day of term -- last day of junior school before going up to the big grammar school. But it wasn't my first exposure to the Beatles. I grew up in Liverpool, and even though I must have been only about five or six at the time, I still remember the streets clearing for their first TV appearance on Scene at Six Thirty. Local teenage girls were divided in their loyalties between The Beatles, and a black R&B group who played at the Cavern, The Chants. The cooler girls preferred The Chants.
The year before, I'd got a copy of Revolver for my tenth birthday, and they'd just 'fessed up to smoking pot and had financed that advert in the Times that wen't 'The law against marihuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice'.
And so I remember thinking, at the tender age of 11, these guys have everything -- money, fame, sex, and how do they choose to spend their leisure time? Smoking weed and dropping acid?
That's gotta be some good shit going on right there. Count me in.
And sure enough, it was.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:38 PM on May 25, 2007 [1 favorite]
Can't beat that.
Still in a couple of weeks it'll be ten years since the release of OK Computer, which should be on the same list as Sgt Pepper's and Talking Book.
posted by Grangousier at 12:53 PM on May 25, 2007
Still in a couple of weeks it'll be ten years since the release of OK Computer, which should be on the same list as Sgt Pepper's and Talking Book.
posted by Grangousier at 12:53 PM on May 25, 2007
Sgt. Pepper's is a great album. ...I always thought that Within You Without you was sort of a jarring break in an otherwise smooth album. Years later, I found out that Within You Without You was actually the first song on the second side of the record.
The reason 33 & 1/3rd long playing records were called albums was because the original albums were four to six 10 inch 78 rpm records packaged in sleeves pasted in between two thick cardboard covers as if it were a book. An album of such 78s was meant to bring to mind an album of photographs. Unbelievable as it may seem, I can remember--just barely, but, all the same--before the introduction of 45s and LPs to when such albums of 78s were the only recording albums there were. Boy, trying lugging 10 or 20 albums to a dance party back in the day.
Sgt. Pepper gets all the attention, but it's no Rubber Soul.
/ your favourite Beatles album sucks
Yeah, but is that the American Rubber Soul or the British Rubber Soul ? I've Just Seen A Face belongs on Rubber Soul as far as I am concerned, 'cause that's how I first heard it when I was in high school.
posted by y2karl at 1:07 PM on May 25, 2007
The reason 33 & 1/3rd long playing records were called albums was because the original albums were four to six 10 inch 78 rpm records packaged in sleeves pasted in between two thick cardboard covers as if it were a book. An album of such 78s was meant to bring to mind an album of photographs. Unbelievable as it may seem, I can remember--just barely, but, all the same--before the introduction of 45s and LPs to when such albums of 78s were the only recording albums there were. Boy, trying lugging 10 or 20 albums to a dance party back in the day.
Sgt. Pepper gets all the attention, but it's no Rubber Soul.
/ your favourite Beatles album sucks
Yeah, but is that the American Rubber Soul or the British Rubber Soul ? I've Just Seen A Face belongs on Rubber Soul as far as I am concerned, 'cause that's how I first heard it when I was in high school.
posted by y2karl at 1:07 PM on May 25, 2007
An album of such 78s was meant to bring to mind an album of photographs.
Oops! There's a more obvious example.
posted by y2karl at 1:14 PM on May 25, 2007
Oops! There's a more obvious example.
posted by y2karl at 1:14 PM on May 25, 2007
FYI, I am utterly obsessed with the notion of covering Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club as an album in its entirety. I must hear every example of this phenomenon that I learn about.
Hey FoB, have you ever heard of this? I actually have it on vinyl. It's . . . well, it's something.
posted by Skot at 1:24 PM on May 25, 2007
Hey FoB, have you ever heard of this? I actually have it on vinyl. It's . . . well, it's something.
posted by Skot at 1:24 PM on May 25, 2007
y2karl - My parents' copy (now mine) was the American version, so that's the Rubber Soul I know and love. But, you know, it's allll good.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:38 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:38 PM on May 25, 2007
So what you're saying is that it's been 60 years since Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play?
posted by uncleozzy at 1:57 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by uncleozzy at 1:57 PM on May 25, 2007
Well, it could be argued that the reason it was so popular was that it's pure schmaltz. It sure isn't rock 'n roll -- Bob Dylan famously squawked "Agh, turn it off!" when somebody put it on the record player.
The McCartney songs, especially, tend to be cloying sentimental pop. Being high while listening to "She's Leaving Home" does not correct the maudlin music/lyrics. "When I'm 64" is really a death-penalty offense, and "Getting Better" is just gross. (Glad you cheered up and quit beating the shit out of your wife, Sir Paul!)
Most of the Lennon songs are bad, too. From the Side A/Side B links above, I see Lennon himself was embarrassed of "Mister Kite," "Good Morning," and of course Paul's songs. Even "Lucy" sounds pretty dumb; "Strawberry Fields" is a much better version of that production style with actually weird lyrics.
There are a few great moments on it that even BeatleH8terz would admit to, especially the Sgt. Pepper reprise/Day In The Life ending, but basically the whole record and especially the tsunami of feature-news coverage of the 40-year mark is what makes Baby Boomers so loathsome.
There, somebody had to do it.
posted by kenlayne at 2:05 PM on May 25, 2007
The McCartney songs, especially, tend to be cloying sentimental pop. Being high while listening to "She's Leaving Home" does not correct the maudlin music/lyrics. "When I'm 64" is really a death-penalty offense, and "Getting Better" is just gross. (Glad you cheered up and quit beating the shit out of your wife, Sir Paul!)
Most of the Lennon songs are bad, too. From the Side A/Side B links above, I see Lennon himself was embarrassed of "Mister Kite," "Good Morning," and of course Paul's songs. Even "Lucy" sounds pretty dumb; "Strawberry Fields" is a much better version of that production style with actually weird lyrics.
There are a few great moments on it that even BeatleH8terz would admit to, especially the Sgt. Pepper reprise/Day In The Life ending, but basically the whole record and especially the tsunami of feature-news coverage of the 40-year mark is what makes Baby Boomers so loathsome.
There, somebody had to do it.
posted by kenlayne at 2:05 PM on May 25, 2007
It is also no White Album, which is absolutely the best.
posted by mckenney at 2:12 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by mckenney at 2:12 PM on May 25, 2007
Pepper's also gets eviscerated in this book, which is a fun, fun read (the whole thing, not just the Pepper's review.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:18 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:18 PM on May 25, 2007
I wonder if metafilter will be observing the 40th anniversary of 9/11 on 9/4/2041.
posted by troybob at 2:24 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by troybob at 2:24 PM on May 25, 2007
"I wonder if metafilter will be observing the 40th anniversary of 9/11 on 9/4/2041."
Yes, if it's a seven-day weekend!
(Hundreds of goddamned feature stories are already flooding the wires, and radio, and will surely foul millions of copies of Sunday papers being printed tonight.)
posted by kenlayne at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2007
Yes, if it's a seven-day weekend!
(Hundreds of goddamned feature stories are already flooding the wires, and radio, and will surely foul millions of copies of Sunday papers being printed tonight.)
posted by kenlayne at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2007
You know, kenlayne, I simultaneously agree with you and completely love the album - the former when I think about it, the latter when I'm actually listening to it. I must ask my parents if they deliberately sequenced my musical childhood, or if I've ordered it since in memory - when I was very little it was all about the Delta blues, then on to rock 'n' roll, especially Buddy Holly, so I didn't hear Sgt. Pepper's until I was about 8 or 9 and it blew my head off, which was perhaps a little bit like hearing it first time around. That's what I remember when I'm listening to it.
PeterMcDermott writes 'The cooler girls preferred The Chants.'
My Uncle Kev backed them up on bass in the late '60s. If I remember rightly, the Beatles backed them at the Cavern too - The Chants were a vocal group, rather than a band. (They morphed into The Real Thing and did 'You To Me Are Everything' as well, fact fans.)
Grangousier writes 'Still in a couple of weeks it'll be ten years since the release of OK Computer, which should be on the same list as Sgt Pepper's and Talking Book.'
Comedy gold.
posted by jack_mo at 2:38 PM on May 25, 2007
PeterMcDermott writes 'The cooler girls preferred The Chants.'
My Uncle Kev backed them up on bass in the late '60s. If I remember rightly, the Beatles backed them at the Cavern too - The Chants were a vocal group, rather than a band. (They morphed into The Real Thing and did 'You To Me Are Everything' as well, fact fans.)
Grangousier writes 'Still in a couple of weeks it'll be ten years since the release of OK Computer, which should be on the same list as Sgt Pepper's and Talking Book.'
Comedy gold.
posted by jack_mo at 2:38 PM on May 25, 2007
I like "She's Leaving Home."
posted by kirkaracha at 2:48 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by kirkaracha at 2:48 PM on May 25, 2007
That album was the last straw for Brian Wilson's fragile mind.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 3:01 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 3:01 PM on May 25, 2007
I'm actually kind of a Beatles anorak.
Despite living somewhat near Liverpool, I've not done the Beatles tour. I can drive through a shitty council estate all on my own, thanks.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:17 PM on May 25, 2007
Despite living somewhat near Liverpool, I've not done the Beatles tour. I can drive through a shitty council estate all on my own, thanks.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:17 PM on May 25, 2007
I like "She's Leaving Home."
posted by kirkaracha at 5:48 PM on May 25
Me too.
posted by juiceCake at 3:24 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by kirkaracha at 5:48 PM on May 25
Me too.
posted by juiceCake at 3:24 PM on May 25, 2007
Grangousier writes 'Still in a couple of weeks it'll be ten years since the release of OK Computer, which should be on the same list as Sgt Pepper's and Talking Book.'
Comedy gold.
posted by jack_mo at 5:38 PM on May 25
The Rutles are even funnier.
posted by juiceCake at 3:33 PM on May 25, 2007
Comedy gold.
posted by jack_mo at 5:38 PM on May 25
The Rutles are even funnier.
posted by juiceCake at 3:33 PM on May 25, 2007
I've been to the The Beatles Story | Liverpool on Albert Dock. It's okay. Not great. However, I did choke up when experiencing the re-creation of Lennon's White Room. I really enjoyed visiting the Cavern Club.
posted by ericb at 3:57 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by ericb at 3:57 PM on May 25, 2007
I like "She's Leaving Home" and have since the day I heard it first on a monaural LP copy of the album under review--in September of 1967. I was , in fact, just 17. You know what I mean? (It was a very good year to be 17.)
The story of a woman breaking away from domestic bondage to enjoy life--freedom, pure and simple-- perhaps resonated more strongly in 1967 than it might today, when "freedom" is old news. The "betrayed" parents braying--"how could she do this to me?" also resonated more with folks trying to escape the burden of parental expectations. I always have found the song to be poignant but hopeful.
And, of course, experience teaches that fun is the one thing that money can't buy.
posted by rdone at 4:48 PM on May 25, 2007
The story of a woman breaking away from domestic bondage to enjoy life--freedom, pure and simple-- perhaps resonated more strongly in 1967 than it might today, when "freedom" is old news. The "betrayed" parents braying--"how could she do this to me?" also resonated more with folks trying to escape the burden of parental expectations. I always have found the song to be poignant but hopeful.
And, of course, experience teaches that fun is the one thing that money can't buy.
posted by rdone at 4:48 PM on May 25, 2007
I have always been a White Album partisan, finding that Sgt Pepper's was too full of druggy nonsense. Then I read an essay in this book that presented a "reading" of the album as a return to British society after the band's escapist, America-imitating early ventures. I still prefer the White Album, but it made me appreciate Sgt Peppers for being more than silly pop fantasy.
posted by HeroZero at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by HeroZero at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2007
Yeah, but is that the American Rubber Soul or the British Rubber Soul ? I've Just Seen A Face belongs on Rubber Soul as far as I am concerned, 'cause that's how I first heard it when I was in high school.
That's how I first heard it to, y2karl, but "Drive My Car" is a much better kick-off track.
Rubber Soul, A Hard Day's Night, and Revolver are the albums that suffered the most from Capitol's reprogramming. Two of them were ruined for the sake of Yesterday... and Today.
posted by macrone at 7:42 PM on May 25, 2007
That's how I first heard it to, y2karl, but "Drive My Car" is a much better kick-off track.
Rubber Soul, A Hard Day's Night, and Revolver are the albums that suffered the most from Capitol's reprogramming. Two of them were ruined for the sake of Yesterday... and Today.
posted by macrone at 7:42 PM on May 25, 2007
As a musician listening to St. Pepper's analytically, I absolutely agree that most of the songs are mediocre at best. However, you're not supposed to listen to the album that way. The whole thing is about imagination -- it's not really a Beatles album after all -- you're supposed to have this vision of a caricature band up there grinning and playing and not really taking themselves too seriously, until in the last song when reality crashes down upon you and you realize the whole thing's been a sham, a toy. That's how I've always seen it. When I'm really into it, that last blow always comes as a shock.
posted by drinkcoffee at 7:46 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by drinkcoffee at 7:46 PM on May 25, 2007
you're supposed to have this vision of a caricature band up there grinning and playing and not really taking themselves too seriously
Exactly.
Exactly.
Paul | 1984:posted by ericb at 8:10 PM on May 25, 2007"I thought it would be nice to lose our identities, to submerge ourselves in the persona of a fake group. We would make up all the culture around it and collect all our heroes in one place. So I thought, a typical stupid-sounding name for a 'Dr. Hook's Medicine Show and Traveling Circus' kind of thing would be 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' Just a word game, really."Paul | 1994:"We were fed up with being Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top boys approach. We were not boys, we were men. It was all gone, all that boy shit, all that screaming, we didn't want anymore, plus, we'd now got turned on to pot and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers..."
If you hate boomers, here's the quote just for you:
"The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released.. . . . At the time I happened to be driving across country on Interstate 80. In each city where I stopped for gas or food — Laramie, Ogallala, Moline, South Bend — the melodies wafted in from some far-off transistor radio or portable hi-fi. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard. For a brief while the irreparable fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young."
- Langdon Winner (who, coincidentally, is now a professor at my old school.)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:20 PM on May 25, 2007
"The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released.. . . . At the time I happened to be driving across country on Interstate 80. In each city where I stopped for gas or food — Laramie, Ogallala, Moline, South Bend — the melodies wafted in from some far-off transistor radio or portable hi-fi. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard. For a brief while the irreparable fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young."
- Langdon Winner (who, coincidentally, is now a professor at my old school.)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:20 PM on May 25, 2007
At the time I happened to be driving across country on Interstate 80. In each city where I stopped for gas or food — Laramie, Ogallala, Moline, South Bend —
i can testify that south bend, as well as battle creek and kalamazoo were playing the hell out of that album that june ... even wbck, which preferred to play stuff like frank sinatra, the lettermen and dean martin was playing it ... and the top 40 station actually played a day in the life
it was a moment when everyone was suddenly hit with the realization that music was never going to be the same, that rock music was not just some teenybopper fad, that it really WAS going to stay
it wasn't just the beatles, either ... that year and the next were astonishing
posted by pyramid termite at 8:35 PM on May 25, 2007
i can testify that south bend, as well as battle creek and kalamazoo were playing the hell out of that album that june ... even wbck, which preferred to play stuff like frank sinatra, the lettermen and dean martin was playing it ... and the top 40 station actually played a day in the life
it was a moment when everyone was suddenly hit with the realization that music was never going to be the same, that rock music was not just some teenybopper fad, that it really WAS going to stay
it wasn't just the beatles, either ... that year and the next were astonishing
posted by pyramid termite at 8:35 PM on May 25, 2007
A few things:
drinkcoffe, I do believe that there is no right or wrong way to listen to music, whether it is phenomenally over-exposed or not. I too am a professional, record-making musician, and it is my educated and considered opinion that what the Beatles did in the winter of 1966 and spring of 1967 is miraculous. SOME of it, to me, sounds dated. In context, though, it seems to me that Sgt. Pepper's, (like Star Wars ;-) ), was genre-defining - pop albums previously simply were not that broad and all-encompassing. The fact that they accomplished it all on such rudimentary equipment only adds to the accomplishment.
On top of that, the songs are utterly fabulous. They are, sadly, over-played, I fear, so that modern ears are unable to hear them freshly. But ANY one of those tunes on ANY album by ANY of today's bands would be a stand-out track. I had the pleasure of hearing Sir Paul play "Getting Better" live a few years back, and it absolutely rocks. The tamboura, the wurlitzer, the mind-bogglingly huge bass sound - these were all revolutionary components to a rock record back then. Go through that album and try to identify all the sounds that you hear - the various percussion sounds, that are really just John Lennon making weird noises; the epic orchestral moment in "A Day In the Life"; the gorgeous guitar sounds; the power of the bass; the crashing 4 pianos in unison that ends the record. By any measure, this is an incredibly rich, deep collection of sound.
But lest we get lost in the technology, it's worth remembering what we learned from the Beatles Anthology - that "A Day In The Life" in it's earliest stages, when it was simply John Lennon singing only to the sound of his Gibson J45, was already a chilling musical moment. Dude wrote the headlines for his own death. That kind of uncanny shit happened throughout this record, and, indeed, throughout the Beatles' career.
Oh, and "She's Leaving Home"? Maybe some props for the fact that its composer was all of twenty-fucking-five years old at the time. That in and of itself does NOT make it a good song, of course - but it certainly DOES say something about the artistic vision and ambition of The Beatles.
OK, moving on - I remember watching a documentary in 1987 called "It Was 20 Years Ago Today", wherein various participants of the "Summer of Love" were asked simply "Is it true - All You Need Is Love?" Harrison, Starr, McCartney, maybe Allen Ginsberg, maybe some counter-culture hippie figures... I don't remember who, exactly - what I do remember is that, of all of them, only Harrison said "yes". McCartney said "no, you need money".
Finally - people know this story, right? - about how Jimi Hendrix played a concert in London on June 3, 1967 - with McCartney in attendance - and he began his concert with "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Can any of us imagine such universal appeal and regard for ANY musicians in today's fractured, compartmentalized music world?
sorry for the rant. Born in 1970, so I didn't get to see any of this first-hand, I'm sad to say.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:17 PM on May 25, 2007
drinkcoffe, I do believe that there is no right or wrong way to listen to music, whether it is phenomenally over-exposed or not. I too am a professional, record-making musician, and it is my educated and considered opinion that what the Beatles did in the winter of 1966 and spring of 1967 is miraculous. SOME of it, to me, sounds dated. In context, though, it seems to me that Sgt. Pepper's, (like Star Wars ;-) ), was genre-defining - pop albums previously simply were not that broad and all-encompassing. The fact that they accomplished it all on such rudimentary equipment only adds to the accomplishment.
On top of that, the songs are utterly fabulous. They are, sadly, over-played, I fear, so that modern ears are unable to hear them freshly. But ANY one of those tunes on ANY album by ANY of today's bands would be a stand-out track. I had the pleasure of hearing Sir Paul play "Getting Better" live a few years back, and it absolutely rocks. The tamboura, the wurlitzer, the mind-bogglingly huge bass sound - these were all revolutionary components to a rock record back then. Go through that album and try to identify all the sounds that you hear - the various percussion sounds, that are really just John Lennon making weird noises; the epic orchestral moment in "A Day In the Life"; the gorgeous guitar sounds; the power of the bass; the crashing 4 pianos in unison that ends the record. By any measure, this is an incredibly rich, deep collection of sound.
But lest we get lost in the technology, it's worth remembering what we learned from the Beatles Anthology - that "A Day In The Life" in it's earliest stages, when it was simply John Lennon singing only to the sound of his Gibson J45, was already a chilling musical moment. Dude wrote the headlines for his own death. That kind of uncanny shit happened throughout this record, and, indeed, throughout the Beatles' career.
Oh, and "She's Leaving Home"? Maybe some props for the fact that its composer was all of twenty-fucking-five years old at the time. That in and of itself does NOT make it a good song, of course - but it certainly DOES say something about the artistic vision and ambition of The Beatles.
OK, moving on - I remember watching a documentary in 1987 called "It Was 20 Years Ago Today", wherein various participants of the "Summer of Love" were asked simply "Is it true - All You Need Is Love?" Harrison, Starr, McCartney, maybe Allen Ginsberg, maybe some counter-culture hippie figures... I don't remember who, exactly - what I do remember is that, of all of them, only Harrison said "yes". McCartney said "no, you need money".
Finally - people know this story, right? - about how Jimi Hendrix played a concert in London on June 3, 1967 - with McCartney in attendance - and he began his concert with "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Can any of us imagine such universal appeal and regard for ANY musicians in today's fractured, compartmentalized music world?
sorry for the rant. Born in 1970, so I didn't get to see any of this first-hand, I'm sad to say.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:17 PM on May 25, 2007
Yeah, context is all.
When I bought the album, it was the last year you could save a dollar by buying it in mono instead of stereo. And since I did my serious listening on my "record player" in my bedroom, I bought the mono version. I had no idea what was on it; it was the Beatles. They changed rapidly.
And when that colorful Capitol record label began spinning and the music started coming out I could not believe what I was hearing. It...um...blew my mind.
Sure, looking back on it, She's Leaving Home is skippable, but, back then, the sequential combination of moods and sounds and lyrics, and in the context of an awakening to the world of psychedelic drugs...well, it was "sui generis."
posted by kozad at 10:05 PM on May 25, 2007
When I bought the album, it was the last year you could save a dollar by buying it in mono instead of stereo. And since I did my serious listening on my "record player" in my bedroom, I bought the mono version. I had no idea what was on it; it was the Beatles. They changed rapidly.
And when that colorful Capitol record label began spinning and the music started coming out I could not believe what I was hearing. It...um...blew my mind.
Sure, looking back on it, She's Leaving Home is skippable, but, back then, the sequential combination of moods and sounds and lyrics, and in the context of an awakening to the world of psychedelic drugs...well, it was "sui generis."
posted by kozad at 10:05 PM on May 25, 2007
Yeah, but is that the American Rubber Soul or the British Rubber Soul ? I've Just Seen A Face belongs on Rubber Soul as far as I am concerned, 'cause that's how I first heard it when I was in high school.
That's how I first heard it to, y2karl, but "Drive My Car" is a much better kick-off track.Rubber Soul, A Hard Day's Night, and Revolver are the albums that suffered the most from Capitol's reprogramming.
I disagree. While the loss of "nowhere Man" is definitely regrettable, "I've Just Seen A Face" vs. "Drive My Car" is up for debate- the beginning of IJSAF with that lovely buildup is genius. Plus, there is no one that can convince me that the Capitol engineers did not know exactly what they were doing when they swapped "It's Only Love" for the awful wannabe Carl Perkins "What Goes On".The US Rubber Soul is perfectly sculpted to be a folk rock gem, and while I agree in general that albums should have the tracklist the band, not the record company, would prefer it to have, I think the decisions made by Capitol regarding that album were actually quite good.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:37 PM on May 25, 2007
That's how I first heard it to, y2karl, but "Drive My Car" is a much better kick-off track.Rubber Soul, A Hard Day's Night, and Revolver are the albums that suffered the most from Capitol's reprogramming.
I disagree. While the loss of "nowhere Man" is definitely regrettable, "I've Just Seen A Face" vs. "Drive My Car" is up for debate- the beginning of IJSAF with that lovely buildup is genius. Plus, there is no one that can convince me that the Capitol engineers did not know exactly what they were doing when they swapped "It's Only Love" for the awful wannabe Carl Perkins "What Goes On".The US Rubber Soul is perfectly sculpted to be a folk rock gem, and while I agree in general that albums should have the tracklist the band, not the record company, would prefer it to have, I think the decisions made by Capitol regarding that album were actually quite good.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:37 PM on May 25, 2007
So much of what has come since in pop and rock -- almost everything, today -- is predicated on that album.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:41 PM on May 25, 2007
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:41 PM on May 25, 2007
"it was a moment when everyone was suddenly hit with the realization that music was never going to be the same, that rock music was not just some teenybopper fad, that it really WAS going to stay -- pyramid termite"
Beautifully well put pyramid termite, thank you
I wish my son could peek into a crystal ball, and look back at the time when that album was released as see what was going on, what it was like then.
posted by BillsR100 at 7:19 AM on May 26, 2007
Beautifully well put pyramid termite, thank you
I wish my son could peek into a crystal ball, and look back at the time when that album was released as see what was going on, what it was like then.
posted by BillsR100 at 7:19 AM on May 26, 2007
When I bought the album, it was the last year you could save a dollar by buying it in mono instead of stereo. And since I did my serious listening on my "record player" in my bedroom, I bought the mono version.
Four years ago, I bought a 1967 mono Capitol Sgt. Peppers lp at a garage sale for $3. The record was mint, the sleeve had no ring wear and was close to immaculate and it had both insert and original record sleeve. I paid $3 for it. I sold it to a collector I knew a few weeks later for $150. I probably could have gotten more for it on eBay.
Mono copies of any 60s album are almost always worth more than the stereo version because the mixes are different. Mint mono copies of Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's by the Beatles and Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan are all worth hundreds of dollars each--especially Blonde On Blonde, which came in not one but several mono versions.
posted by y2karl at 10:38 AM on May 26, 2007
Four years ago, I bought a 1967 mono Capitol Sgt. Peppers lp at a garage sale for $3. The record was mint, the sleeve had no ring wear and was close to immaculate and it had both insert and original record sleeve. I paid $3 for it. I sold it to a collector I knew a few weeks later for $150. I probably could have gotten more for it on eBay.
Mono copies of any 60s album are almost always worth more than the stereo version because the mixes are different. Mint mono copies of Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's by the Beatles and Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan are all worth hundreds of dollars each--especially Blonde On Blonde, which came in not one but several mono versions.
posted by y2karl at 10:38 AM on May 26, 2007
it's also worth pointing out that up until the white album, i think, the stereo mixes on beatles albums were pretty much done quickly ... it was the mono mixes that george martin and the beatles spent all their time on
the rhythm section has a bit more presence in the mono mix of sgt pepper ... other than that, there's a few minor differences here and there
posted by pyramid termite at 11:35 AM on May 26, 2007
the rhythm section has a bit more presence in the mono mix of sgt pepper ... other than that, there's a few minor differences here and there
posted by pyramid termite at 11:35 AM on May 26, 2007
Of all the Fab albums I've heard 500 times, the one I like the least.
posted by Twang at 2:30 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by Twang at 2:30 AM on May 27, 2007
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posted by ericb at 11:25 AM on May 25, 2007