Andrew_Hicks's Full Review: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatl...
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the album that made me realize I was deluding myself with my early-teenage belief that once I had a band's greatest hits, that was pretty much all I needed to own. I'd bought the Beatles' blue 1967-1970 collection a few months earlier and instantly fell in love with it when I checked Sgt. Pepper out of the library.
The only songs I knew prior to that were the title track, "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy in the Sky," "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "A Day in the Life," a song which -- I can admit with the benefit of hindsight -- bored me. You can imagine my surprise upon discovering some of the other songs on this album for the first time and realizing that many of them blew the supposed "hits" away.
I bought my copy of Sgt. Pepper in the summer of 1994. Looking at the bottom of it now, I notice about 200 battle scars -- it's been one of the most frequently played albums in my collection for six years now, and it won't be eased out of rotation anytime soon. This is, if not the best, one of the absolute most wonderful albums of the rock era. It's the Beatles' magnum opus and the first album to marry this level of songwriting with the full realization of George Martin's intricate, layer-upon-layer production. This is the most full-bodied, experimental rock music I've ever heard, and (most amazing of all) it was made on a four-track recorder.
The only way to take you through the album is song-by-song:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band -- This two-minute introductory track opens with subdued crowd noise and stray horn sounds and kicks into a simple rock song. Paul McCartney, isolated on the right channel, introduces us to the fictional title band and, after a horn break, the band sings from the left channel. It would almost be a throwaway song in another context, but leading into the rest of the album, it's perfect.
With a Little Help From My Friends -- Ringo Starr chimes in as "Billy Shears," lead singer of the fictional Sgt. Pepper troupe, with this ultra-catchy, bass-guitar-heavy track. John Lennon and Paul collaborated on this track, which has lyrics more simply profound than anything you'd normally expect to come from Ringo's mouth. This is actually the only Beatles track I've enjoyed more when covered by another artist (Joe Cocker).
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds -- This may be one of the stereotypical Beatles drug songs, but you'll notice I left it completely off my compilation of Beatles songs one could conceivably get high to (if the dread marijuana weren't rightfully illegal -- tsk tsk). It's probably the most accessible of John's drug-crazed fantasies, quite poppy with prominent bass guitar, but I burned out on it a few years back.
Getting Better -- I usually skip straight to this track when listening to the album. It's Paul-pop, beginning with the simple guitar line and committing the cardinal sin of rhyming "school" and "cool." Still, the simple marriage of guitar and drums here, along with the backing vocals from John and George Harrison, saves the song. You'll definitely be hard-pressed to resist singing along.
Fixing a Hole -- And here we arrive at one of the true classics, a McCartney song that buries harpsichord on the right channel and features an omnipresent-sounding lead vocal. Harrison's guitar work is sporadic, but it augments the chorus, and he provides one of my favorite quick Beatles guitar solos.
She's Leaving Home -- This classically composed ballad is somber, string-heavy and extraordinarily beautiful. Paul, with near-perfect lyrical structure and counter-lyrics from John, tells the story of a daughter who skips town at 5 a.m., leaving only a vaguely worded note.
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite -- John based this song on a 19th century playbill he found lying around, and the circus-organ music, cymbals and bass guitar complement the advertised high-wire act perfectly. The lead vocals are double-tracked and buried on the right, but they don't hold a candle to the instrumental breaks and a climax that features a random kaleidoscope of calliope music.
Within You, Without You -- And here we have the requisite Harrison sitar number, a meandering, almost confusing piece that runs a full-figured (for the Beatles, anyway) five minutes. This has never been a favorite of mine, but it's the perfect trippy bridge between the first and second halves of Sgt. Pepper.
When I'm Sixty-Four -- This Paul tune is done in an almost vaudeville fashion, with bouncy woodwinds, piano and bass guitar, not to mention lively percussion work from Ringo. It's the kind of music that would sound simplified on any other album but is labored over here with such precision and attention to detail that it's an undeniable classic that sounds like a period piece from a period earlier than this.
Lovely Rita -- For the duration of my six years owning Sgt. Pepper, this has been my favorite. It's three minutes of whimsy from Paul, who tells his story of longing for a meter maid to the backdrop of piano, kazoo, a comb used as percussion and climactic moaning from John. Pure pop brilliance.
Good Morning, Good Morning -- John counters Paul's earlier "Good Day Sunshine" with this peppy rock number that is at times overloaded by its effects, from the never-ending horn section to the succession of animal sound effects (supposedly arranged in order of the food chain).
Sgt. Pepper (reprise) -- This is one of those songs that's terribly funky until the Brits actually open their mouths. It begins with a count-off and a danceable drum line (I suspected it could work as a rap sample, and sure enough the Beastie Boys lifted it for "The Sounds of Science"), seguing to a bad$ss guitar riff and Beatle vocals. That's when you realize it's just a reprise of the main theme and a sign that the album is "getting very near the end."
A Day in the Life -- And here it is, the ultimate grand finale and a song I was originally bored by. Whole volumes have been written on this song, which is an undeniable masterpiece and something I can't try to do justice to. It features towering piano crescendos, subdued bass guitar and one of John's most emotional vocal-ballad performances, then approaches musical chaos and segues to a peppy but sublime (if that's possible) Paul bridge. And there's so much more. It's just a damn fine song, closing out a damn fine album.
There are people out there, I'm sure, who think of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as a cliche -- overrated and overappreciated -- and that could be a valid opinion. After all, everyone and their mom and their grandma likes the Beatles. They've been thrust so deeply into our collective consciousness that we might be tempted to shut them out. But until you've really sat down and listened to this album (or Abbey Road or Revolver, for that matter), you can't discount them. If your copy has gathered dust, brush it off and listen to it again. If you don't have a copy, borrow or buy one. This is a must-own.
One of the most famous and influential albums ever recorded, Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Bandhad a huge impact on the music world, signaling the ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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