What more can be said about the most famous rock album of all time? I think Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band has almost become too legendary for it s own good. It s become so legendary that many people seem to not really properly listen to it before dismissing it. I think it s like that with anything that becomes very popular. There are always those who want to be different by rejecting it and it s clear that s exactly what s happened with those who reject Sgt. Pepper on principle.
On the other hand I can understand the argument that Pepper is overrated in comparison to some of The Beatles other albums. People often give it all of the credit for being groundbreaking while neglecting the very groundbreaking album that came out the year before, Revolver. That 1966 album brought the tape loops and general psychedelic madness of Tomorrow Never Knows to the world. It also brought the sad beauty of Eleanor Rigby and the heavy rock of Taxman and the Indian music of Love You To. The point is that Sgt. Pepper didn t come out of nowhere, it was something the band had been building towards.
But what set Pepper apart from Revolver is how it flowed as an album rather than as a collection of excellent songs. As wildly different as Pepper s songs are from each other (consider the Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite to Within You Without You to When I m 64 sequence) they all somehow fit together within the flow of this album. It s not so much that Pepper brought experimental psychedelic rock music to the world for the first time (clearly it did not) it was that it brought the album as a real work of art to the forefront for the first time.
Many bands would go on to take the concept album idea much farther than The Beatles did with Sgt. Pepper. But in so doing they would create albums that were a bit overbearing and dull. I think this Beatles classic works so well precisely because the concept of it is really very loose. The songs don t really have anything to do with each other as far as a whole story. They are held together with a sleight of hand that is the way the first couple of songs are connected and how there s a reprise of the opening song before the last song.
Of course this album wouldn t have become so legendary and wouldn t still be among the all time favorite albums for many people if it wasn t for the many excellent songs that it contains. To my ears there is not a single weak song on the album and I think they are all an essential part of what makes the album excellent.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, When I m 64, With a Little Help from My Friends, A Day in the Life, & the title track are probably the most well known songs on the album but I really appreciate the group of three Paul McCartney penned songs on tracks four through six: Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, & She s Leaving Home. These songs seem to most exemplify the art pop mentality of the album.
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