scapp70's Full Review: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatl...
The Memories of Sgt. Pepper In My Life That Never Were
When Sgt. Pepper was released I was negative 3 years old. I was born just in time for The Beatles to break up. I have become to be a huge Beatles fan through the years like many other millions of people, and also like millions of others I have my own perceptions, opinions and theories of this superband.
I cannot imagine what it is like to be alive and aware while The Beatles were still a band, I can hardly remember what it is like to be alive when John Lennon was still alive. Whenever I listen to Sgt. Pepper, I feel as though I could almost grasp what it was to be alive and aware during the Summer of Love.
This album acts like a time capsule, you open it and June 1967 pops out. This is of course, my own opinion, yet the feeling is strong and feels true.
Beatles Blaze the Path
After The Beatles last two albums, other bands, if they haven't taken notice of The Beatles, they had to now. Albums like Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) unlike any other at the time had broken new ground and raised the bar, and forced their contemporaries to strive higher than before, maybe to try and outdo and compete with The Beatles themselves.
In February of 1967, did they feel that their attempts were futile after listening to Strawberry Fields Forever?
When Pepper was released that June, and fans, critics, peers alike would gather together in their small groups and listen to this LP for hours. It was not an album release, it was an event!
Most pop music followed this path, most artists followed suit. I can't really think of any other band from the 60's that did not follow the trail blazed by the Beatles, except for maybe The Doors, who had a vision and went with their amazing direction.
The Album
I don't know if the opening track, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is the first pop record to use a recorded audience to create a live effect and if it is it worked great. The Beatles really captured a live vibe with this and the next song, With A Little Help From My Friends. Sgt Pepper is one of the heavier Beatle songs ever recorded with loud distorted guitars and vocals by Paul equally as raunchy. Yet as raunchy as it is, they still utilized the brass and strings to great effect. The lyrics are about introducing the band, Sgt. Pepper and their star Billy Shears (Ringo), who then sings the very popular With A Little Help From My Friends. Arguably made popular by the Joe Cocker version even more so than The Beatles.
This whole introduction has been copied and emulated throughout rock history since, the one that comes to mind immediately for me is Styx'sParadise Theater album.
Those first two songs are, at the least, genius. It should usually go down hill from there, but on this CD it just turns a corner as immediately Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds starts. The electric piano seems ominous and dreamlike and when fused with such psychedelic and colorful lyrics, the song paints such vivid pictures as one sits and listens.
♫"Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone"♫
When Paul and John sing harmonies with each other, it's John who takes the low part and Paul who takes the high part. Having said that, it's almost odd that John's voice on this song is sung in a higher register than his usual. I wonder if it's studio technology, or just John reaching a bit higher. It would be no surprise to me if it was studio trickery since he has used it on Strawberry Fields Forever months before giving his voice a deeper sound, although Strawberry Fields it's obvious, and here it's not. Also in this track is a beautiful bass track that Paul plays as an awesome counter melody throughout the song.
Paul's Getting Better begins almost immediately with very little pause between tracks is a great rocker. This song has a new type of sound for this type of song for The Beatles. It opens with a short choppy guitar chord that continues throughout the song. It makes great use of bongos by Ringo that accompany the occasional hand clapping very nice. This song has the answer lyric contrasting the main lyric that The Beatles used on some songs throughout their catalog, most notably the very recently mentioned With A Little Help From My Friends.
In the verse:
♫"I used to get mad at my school (though I can't complain)
The teachers who taught me weren't cool (though I can't complain)" ♫
Also in the chorus:
♫"I've got to admit it's getting better
A little better all the time (It couldn't get much worse)"♫
Paul's Fixing A Hole has illustrative lyrics like John's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, although not as colorful. The song has complex guitar chords and a real jazzy drum beat. It has those circus-sounding keyboards, and a great guitar riff. The music is sort of slow with a measured creeping pace, while the lyrics are sung at a different and faster speed, a real nice effect. Some rumors have started that this song is about heroin use. Anyone who knows The Beatles brushes rubbish like that right off. The Beatles have had more than their share of drugs, and even heroin but no hypodermic needles have made their way into The Beatles camp. To me, the lyrics speak about frustration and coping either through meditation or household chores.
She's Leaving Home by Paul is a beautiful song. There is a lot of orchestration courtesy of producer George Martin. The lyrics tell a story of a young girl running away from home, leaving behind very worried parents. This song has the best orchestration ever recorded on a Beatles record in my opinion. The violins especially on the last two choruses are sublime. This is a Beatles song that was like one never before and never again in every way. The chorus has both John and Paul trading off for lead vocals, it's like a miracle.
♫"Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside she is free"♫
John's Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite was inspired by an antique poster he acquired somewhere. Almost all of the lyrics could be found on the poster itself. Many "tape loops" were brought in to add ambiance by Paul McCartney. This is the not the first use of sound effects from tape loops on a Beatles song. I believe the first may have been on Tomorrow Never Knows on the Revolver CD. George Martin adds to the ambiance with his swirling Wurlitzer organ arpeggios.
Within You, Without You is George's only contribution to the CD. George is the only Beatle on the track, as most of the song is made up of violins and cellos, and tablas, swordmandel, tamboras, dilubras and of course George on the sitar. Even the laughter at the end of the track, which many believe to be The Beatles is an archived Abbey Roads studio tape snippet.
The song is very West Indian as maybe you pieced together from the instruments used on this song. I have always viewed this song as The Inner Light part 2. Even the lyrics are similar in both songs. Within You, Without You is a lot more over the top, I am not sure which I prefer. The melody line that George sings is identical to the music throughout the song, and you would think it gets monotonous, but it really doesn't, although it teeters on the edge of monotony. I feel that with all of the session musicians, this song could have really been more of an authentic sounding Indian song. Having said that, it is a great song, it's just a little pet peeve I have with it.
Paul's When I'm 64 is timeless and is possibly the oldest song here. Paul said he wrote this song way back in the Cavern days, and then polished it up for this album. This song tells like another story in these lyrics. Paul must have been either influenced by something or someone to tell a story in each of his songs or truly tried to create some sort of concept album. If he had help from the other Beatles, it's possible it could have been.
This tune is very vaudevillian like. Paul has many songs in his entire catalog in this sort of category. Some examples are Honey Pie, You Gave Me The Answer, and even Martha My Dear can be put in this genre. Incidentally, this song was the first song to be worked on and recorded for the Sgt Pepper album. Also, John Lennon plays lead guitar on this track.
Paul provides another upbeat rock song with Lovely Rita. Paul had recently at the time discovered the American occupation called meter maid, and liked the sound of it. Paul and George Martin play piano, while George Harrison and John Lennon provide background vocals and a "comb and paper" trio to get special sound effects.
Good Morning, Good Morning by John is maybe the song I use my FF button the most when I listen to this CD. This song was inspired by a cornflakes commercial and features a big brass band sound and a rocking lead guitar solos by Paul McCartney. The song ends with a lot of farm animal noises and then segues into the nest song.
Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise) by Paul has the audience sound effects again. This song is a lot heavier and exciting than the first song probably due to the absence of horns that were present in the first song. Great drum beat by Ringo.
Arguably the best song on the CD is this next song, A Day In The Life by John and Paul. This song segues from the previous track. It's nice to hear the version on the Blue Album, 1967-1970, because there is no segue. It starts with a fade in acoustic guitar by John and then an evenly quiet piano from Paul. John wrote the first and last parts of this song, which make up about three verses, and Paul wrote the middle part. It's really two songs fused together beautifully that make up this song.
John received inspiration again from the printed word, this time from a news paper; The Daily Mirror. It makes you think where John's natural inspirational imagination was during the writing of songs for this LP, since he almost constantly turns to whatever is in front of him and extracts his lyrics from it. Albeit, he does it like no one else could, but it just makes me think. It is around this period in the Beatles career that John has started resenting Paul a bit because of Paul's constant high output of songs and John's struggle to come up with songs.
This song has lyrics that helped the infamous "Paul is Dead" theory.
♫"I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh and
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before,
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords"♫
Is Paul Dead?
Many "clues" were found on the album cover itself, such as a raised palm, the crowd are looking at what appears to be a freshly dug grave, the yellow flowers (directly below the flowers that spell Beatles) are in the shape of a bass guitar, (Paul is the bass player); Also, notice that the yellow flowers spell out 'PAUL?'; questioning Paul's existence. The doll on the right of the cover (in the white, black, and red stripes) has a small white car, with a blood red interior, on her lap. This is a model of the car that Paul died in.
Directly below the doll's left foot is a white vase with yellow flowers in it. If you look closely it resembles a car plummeting over a cliff with flames coming out of the back end. Below the 'T' in Beatles is a statue of the Hindu God Shiva 'The Destroyer.' Its hand points directly to Paul.
Paul is the only one holding a black instrument. Black is associated with death. There are more, some even more far fetched than these, but that doesn't make it less fun either.
Sgt. Pepper winner of Grammies Best Album, Best Contemporary Album, Best Production, Sgt Pepper winner of Grammies Best Album, Best Contemporary Album, & Best Production.
I have noticed a lot of Sgt Pepper bashing here at Epinions and around the net saying that Pepper is overrated or just plain terrible. Come on now, what can you compare this to? You almost can't compare it to the Beatles themselves. My opinion, is no matter how much attention or praise this CD gets, it will still be underrated and underappreciated for all time.
the songs
1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing a Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
8. Within You Without You
9. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦More Beatles-related Epinions from Scapp70♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
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