Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

One of the best psychedelic tinged Beatles albums. So many good tracks here. Favorite track: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

It really is extremely good. This list has made me honestly believe that the Beatles may be underrated.

It’s the Beatles

So much to love about this classic, including that when Paul McCartney got a parking ticket, it inspired him to write a song about wanting to cop off with a traffic warden. I feel like “people with normal jobs can still be sexy and not just live lives of soul-crushing conformity” isn’t something you hear much in ‘enlightened’ 1960s pop. (Also, his guitar solo on Good Morning Good Morning is fire.)

The recent sentiment that Sgt Pepper is less than a 5 star album has baffled me.

It’s obviously fantastic. My favorite Beatles album is Abbey Road (also one of my favorite albums), but this is 2nd.

There really isn’t much left to say about 𝘚𝘨𝘵. 𝘗𝘦𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘥. Its reputation, influence, and ambition have been discussed endlessly, and for once the praise feels completely justified.

For me, 𝗔 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 is the final argument. It may well be the greatest Beatles song ever committed to an album, and it closes an already extraordinary record in exactly the right way.

Sometimes a classic is simply a classic.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
I do remember being so thrilled when I bought the CD and came home to listen to it for the first time. I’d read and consumed so much about it, and with only 4 songs from it on the Blue album I was excited to hear the songs I had read about or only heard bits of through the Anthology doc. I’m not sure if I had the Anthology 2 album before Pepper, I think perhaps I had Pepper first.

Anyhow I do clearly recall being slightly underwhelmed, particularly compared to the immediacy of Rubber Soul and Revolver. I think that was partly due to the myth looming large in my legend and due to the nature of the songs - neither the pop and rock perfection of just prior or the oddness and weird shapes of the White Album. Some degree or artifice is part of the whole point of it and it took me a while to get attuned to it. And now I of course absolutely love it. I don’t think it ultimately quite supercedes Revolver, but on some occasions, often in Spring and early Summer it is often my go to Beatles album.

I’ve probably heard Lucy in the Sky too many times, although I still love the crack of Ringo’s drums before the chorus, and Paul's bass is customarily excellent, and while Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite is an excellent recording, and is atmospherically appropriate for the old time music hall vibe, and I do still like it, it's probably the only song on the album I’m not sure about. Which on a Beatles record means it's still streets ahead of most bands' best output. It's a bit of pointless conjecture and what if-ery but it would certainly be a candidate for replacement by Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane as part of the original plans.

Highlights for me are Ringo’s drumming on With a Little Help From My Friends, the guitar sound on Getting Better, the music-hall-psychedelic swirl of Fixing a Hole, although Mike Leander’s string arrangement on She’s Leaving Home doesn’t have the deftness and taste of George Martin its a song I’ve come to love, the majesty of Within You Without You, Paul’s Scottish accent in the middle of When I’m 64, the absolute joyfulness of piano break in Lovely Rita, the bass and Paul’s solos in Good Morning Good Morning. And then the apogee of their songwriting partnership and studio production of A Day in the Life. It’s hardly an interesting or unique expression but it really is the most incredible song, John’s vocals, the aahs, Ringo's superb drumming and drum sound, the orchestral climbs, the horn motif, the bass, a monumental amalgamation of songwriting, inventiveness, collaboration, meaningfulness, production, arrangement, imagination and feeling, and is arguably the peak of 20th (and 21st century) popular culture.

The toppermost of the poppermost. 5.
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Playlist submission: A Day in the Life

There is no point writing about this album. It’s universally applauded as one of the greatest of all time. But, no, I’ve got to read Larry from Toledo’s in-depth, song-by-song breakdown trying to convince me that it’s actually a two-star record and everybody has been wrong for the last 50 years.
If this album is not immediately a four or a five for you, just stop reviewing albums - something is horribly wrong with your understanding of how this is supposed to work. Shut the door to your basement or your bunker, or your kill room or wherever, go back to your Throbbing Gristle albums, and leave the rest of us alone.

Grand extravagant opening that leads into Ringo's I have friends song? It's a banger but the entire marching band aesthetic the album is designed around is completely limited to one song and the album cover. Bordering on 3 honestly

*I still prefer Revolver but this is a great album.
*With a Little Help From My Friends is a great song but some of the songs on the B side get to be a bit of a slog with slower tempos

Yes, please and thank you. Always loved this, always will. I'm giving it a lot of thought but I think it may be my favorite album overall. Surfer Rosa / Come on Pilgrim is up there but that is a double album so does it count?

The girl with colitis goes by

Too many music hall novelty numbers, for me.

Probably my least favorite of the big 5 beatles albums, but a big 5 gets a big 5.

Everyone talks about the Beatles like they were some amazing, transformative band, but this shit did not live up to the hype

Er ikke så mye mer å si om Sgt. Pepper annet enn at statusen som konseptalbum er noe tynn. At det liksom skal holde å si "heihei vi er sgt. peppers band nå" i starten og "vi var sgt. peppers band takk for oss" på slutten.

Men alt i alt helt konge så klart. Den nye stereomiksen er også flott.

I've never heard the album before, knew only a few songs. It was interesting to hear for sure, I liked most of it.

Watershed moment in music?

Was before my time, so I never had the shock of the new from it. But I grew up with it being a core part of what music actually is. The wonky stereo of the original mix is probably the only thing that places it in time. Listening to the modern stereo remix it's as fresh as a daisy. Still a great set of tunes.

With the honourable exception of Within You Without You. That remains a challenging listen for me.

4.5 - rounded up to 5.

Yehhhhhhhh

It’s the bloody Beatles, again. Calling it a good album is kicking at an open door. The concept album aspect was more noticable for me this time around. The album starts and almost ends with the Sgt Peppers band, but the smooth transitions between songs and the way they follow each other really well are worth a mention too. Album cover is great too. At times it does feel like there’s a few too many granny Paul songs on here, but it’s the bloody Beatles aye.