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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 8, 2017 1:19:14 GMT
On the first of June, 1967, one of the most influential records in pop history appeared: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. It’s exactly 50 years since the world got to experience its first ‘concept album’. This week a re-release came out.  What's your opinion on the album? Favourite songs? Least favourite? If you are old enough, can you recall when it first came out? Otherwise, can you recall your impression after listening to it for the first time? |
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Post by unomusette on Jun 8, 2017 21:26:38 GMT
*puts on running shoes, ready* I've never owned a copy (or any other Beatles albums) and wouldn't call myself a massive Beatles fan. Although I can obviously appreciate what a huge musical step they took when they met and got creative, and how they've influenced lots of later bands in a positive way. I mainly like the quirky songs like Day in the Life and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds from Sergeant Pepper's, probably because they're the kind of songs ELO would end up producing. And For the Benefit of Mr Kite, because it's the kind of George Formby-esque song the Idle Race used to do. Having just now checked the tracklists from other Beatles albums, I wouldn't personally choose Sergeant Pepper's as their best work. But on the other hand, it still stomps over most other releases at the time (and a fair few brought out today)It does deserve to be celebrated on its 50th birthday  |
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Post by BSJ on Jun 8, 2017 22:04:47 GMT
I was nine when the damn thing came out, and I just loved it from start to finish and wore the record out with constant playing. I listen to Pepper to this day and still enjoy it. I just feel so good when hearing those songs.  Rubber Soul is the top one, though. |
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Post by eloneen on Jun 9, 2017 1:50:02 GMT
Anyone else remember the 1970s Bee Gees Sgt Pepper album? That one came out when I was in middle school, and I remember the endless hype surrounding it more than the music itself!
I'm ashamed to say that I have never listened to the original Sgt Pepper album all the way through, and I've never owned any Beatles album. )I'll put Sgt Pepper on my program of "summer leisure" activities to begin in just a few days!!!)
I have fond memories of the summer when I first "discovered" the Beatles, beyond the songs on the radio. I got my first heavy dose of Beatles music from my French host family on my second trip to France as a teen. (They did not have Sgt Pepper, though.) The weather was cool and dreary that summer (pretty depressing for me) and they lived out in the country, so we spent a lot of time inside when we were at home, listening to their Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel albums and talking about the music. Their English got better and my French got much, much better!
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Post by Chippa on Jun 9, 2017 4:50:56 GMT
"Pepper", while not my favorite Beatles album, is probably the first album where the recording studio was utilized as a musical instrument. It's a definite game-changer.
In case you're wondering(and you probably aren't), my top five Beatles albums kinda look like this....
1- The White Album
2-Revolver
3-Abbey Road
4-Let It Be
5-Rubber Soul
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 9, 2017 5:22:17 GMT
It was one of the last Beatles' albums I listened to and I remember I wasn't particularly impressed by it. Then some of it's songs grew on me, but even like that I agree with some of the above comments, I don't consider it to be even close to being the best Beatles albums (I think there are 6 or 7 which are above it).
However, when you bring it out of context -this is, not compared to the rest of the Beatles' work-, it's still a brilliant album IMO. As Uno said, if it competes against the albums that come out nowadays, it thrashes them to pieces. There's a reason the re-release did so well in the charts. There's lots of creativity on this album, starting by the fact that it was the first concept album ever -think of how many other concept albums you've heard since then, including Eldorado and Time-. The songs are all different but most of them respect a certain pattern, to the point that we can talk about a Pepper style and most everyone knows what we are talking about. It's remarkable that both McCartney and Lennon got on the same page for achieving this: "Fixing a hole" (McCartney) can be the sister of "Being for the benefit..." (Lennon), "Getting better" (McCartney) belongs to the same family than "Good morning, good morning" (Lennon). The odd one out here is "Within you, without you", not only one of the worst compositions by George Harrison but it also has nothing to do with the concept of the album.
My favourite songs are "Sgt Pepper...", "With a little help from my friends", "She's leaving home", "A day in the life" and the very underrated "Being for the benefit of Mr Kite". My least favourite is "Within you, without you". And the overrated one for me is "Lucy in the sky with diamonds", quite a silly (but still Pepperish) song which received too much attention IMO.
There's so much to say about Sgt. Pepper you could write a long essay about the subject. Pity we don't have a writer on this forum...
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Post by Timeblue on Jun 9, 2017 9:29:08 GMT
I was nine when the damn thing came out, and I just loved it from start to finish and wore the record out with constant playing. I listen to Pepper to this day and still enjoy it. I just feel so good when hearing those songs. Rubber Soul is the top one, though. Nine years old you say? So that makes you....er....(counts on fingers) hmmmm....fiftyni ........21! |
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Post by Timeblue on Jun 9, 2017 9:30:05 GMT
It's alright,I've already got it out ready....  |
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Post by BSJ on Jun 9, 2017 14:05:54 GMT
(sonofa....!) Front and center me man, front and center!  Good boy. |
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Post by vlogdance on Jun 9, 2017 16:05:03 GMT
There's so much to say about Sgt. Pepper you could write a long essay about the subject. Pity we don't have a writer on this forum... Now, Helmut83, that's very naughty, almost slipperimposing...! Mr Producer knows I could write an entire essay about Sgt Pepper and what it means to me. I'll spare you the treatise, though, and just share some of my thoughts. I can't remember a time when I didn't know the Beatles and their music. This comes of having a brother ten years older, who used to buy all the cool records when me & Other Brother were little, so we heard tunes like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever when we were very young. Then when we were teenagers, Other Brother and I got Sergeant Pepper out again and played it, night after night. So many great songs, in so many different styles. I especially took to Getting Better and Good Morning, Good Morning, with its rocking "a-hunting we will go" vibe. Fixing A Hole was a bit of a filler track, I always found, although I do like Paul's vocals. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite was another one I enjoyed (er, no, not just because of its "celebrated Mr K".) I marvelled at the imagination of the lyrics, not knowing then that John had taken most of them from a circus poster. And the way it conjured up the sound of the fairground was tremendous. There have been quite a few radio documentaries on this week celebrating the album's 50th anniversary, and from what they've revealed, Chippa is quite right to note that the band and Sir George Martin used the studio itself as an instrument. (Kudos to "Sergeant Chippa".) Lovely Rita is a song I always enjoy as well, but I have to agree with Mr Producer that Within You, Without You is the odd one out in this collection. I have all the Sgt Pepper songs downloaded on to my iPod except WYWY (sorry, George) and She's Leaving Home. Not that I don't appreciate She's Leaving Home - but it's just so sad and moving. It nearly made me cry the first time I heard it - can't risk that happening again while I'm out and about, spice-ushering. And now to the album's climax, A Day In The Life. I was amazed to learn that this was actually the first song written for the album, and at the time no one had any idea that it would be the finale. What a stroke of genius to keep it back until after the cheery "outro" when the "Sgt Pepper" band sing their "goodbye-and-thank-you". And then, A Day In The Life, which starts quietly, but when that piano comes in, there's a sense of foreboding and you know this is going to be an unsettling experience. It really is the Beatles' masterpiece. To think it started out as two separate songs - they fit so well together, even the alarm clock, which was just used to time the bars, was kept in because it worked so well with Paul's "Woke up, fell out of bed..." line. A Day In The Life has been summed up as "Sergeant Pepper in five minutes". When it reaches the second orchestral glissando part, and climaxes with that final chord - well, John said he wanted "a sound like the end of the world". Not that A Day In The Life is a sad song though, although it does have its bleak moments, I find it strangely uplifting. There's been so much written about the song and its meaning, but I think the best interpretation that I've read is that it's about a day in the life of the artist - or rather, two artists because you've got John's section and then Paul's. Of course, at the time, people thought it was about drugs, with the line "I'd love to turn you on" which prompted the BBC to ban the song - but I'd like to think it was about escaping harsh realities and a mundane life by using your mind. eloneen, please give your ears a treat and listen to the entire album when you can. There, I've said my piece! *bangs piano chord* |
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 9, 2017 18:05:27 GMT
Now, Helmut83 , that's very naughty, almost slipperimposing...!  BSJ says "remove the 'almost'". Interesting insight, Ms Singer. I picture a very young Vlogdance (basically your actual face on a tiny body) and Other Brother listening to the record in awe in a house in the Welsh hills, probably everything very different to reality except for being in awe or admiration. So if someone sees you crying in the streets it's either because something really bad has happened or because "She's leaving home" just came up in your iPod? Hopefully it's just the latter, but then you'll probably get a few weird looks by the people passing by. For me the most remarkable thing from "Being for the Benefit..." is the circus atmosphere it achieves, not (just) because of it's lyrics but because of it's music. There's all along a feeling of circus, you could close your eyes and picture everything, and when Henry the Horse dances the waltz and the music changes to that weird waltz rhythm, it couldn't be any more circus-like. Surprised no one mentioned the "Paul is dead" myth, as this album is by far the one which contains more "references" or "hints" to feed said myth. |
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Post by vlogdance on Jun 9, 2017 19:36:21 GMT
Now, Helmut83 , that's very naughty, almost slipperimposing...! So if someone sees you crying in the streets it's either because something really bad has happened or because "She's leaving home" just came up in your iPod? Surprised no one mentioned the "Paul is dead" myth, as this album is by far the one which contains more "references" or "hints" to feed said myth. I did point out that She's Leaving Home has been left off my iPod for that very reason, Helmut83. We don't want the public seeing me in floods of tears - that would start further rumours that another famous musician had just passed away!   |
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 9, 2017 20:13:21 GMT
You can always say you are crying for John Lennon, kind of a delayed effect.
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Post by vlogdance on Jun 9, 2017 20:45:18 GMT
You can always say you are crying for John Lennon, kind of a delayed effect. Or George *gently weeps*  |
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Post by unomusette on Jun 9, 2017 21:27:47 GMT
Wasn't the "Paul is Dead" episode from the Abbey Road album cover?
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, but we're OK. 
Apparently it's quite hard to see them with the naked eye, you need to be looking through a camera or other type of lens?