So may I introduce to you the act you've known for all these years...
I know every other music pundit in the biz will get into the act over the next few days, doing a job on the 40th anniversary of the release of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I’m not much for hopping onto media bandwagons, but this one — I can’t resist. This milestone Belongs To Me, and I know I’ll just be irritated by the gushing blather that’ll be spewed on this occasion. So let me spew mine first.…
Article comments
26 - Mat Brewster
Great article Holly! I'll agree with some of the others in that I much prefer Revolver and even Abbey Road over Peppers, but you made me want to pull it out and listen to it all night long.
27 - dancestoblue
I thought that Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues was released before Sgt. Pepper but a fast check on wikipedia tells me that I was wrong; it was released in December 1967. I think it was much more a 'concept album' than Sgt Peppers.
I'm not saying it's better; far be it from me to argue for or against any art. But it is another early 'concept album' that rarely gets mentioned.
I still love listening to 'A Day In The Life', I still get blown out of my shoes; forty years later Lennon still reaches in and gets hold of my heart and my head and gives them both a twirl.
28 - Holly Hughes
Okay, I get it -- zing doesn't think this album holds together. I happen to disagree, but I don't want to go into a long English-major-y explication.
True, it does not have a plot; that would make it a rock opera rather than a concept album. Anybody see the Robert Stigwood movie? It did NOT work because a fakey plot had to be cooked up.
But there is a thematic thread running through all the songs. Each song/narrator/character professes to have found The Answer, whether it be fellowship or family or drugs or sex or showbiz or anger management or dropping out or finding oneness with all mankind. The musical styles do not "match" because each one is suited to whatever quest that character has chosen.
And for the record, I do not question the brilliance of Revolver at all. There are days when I prefer it to Sgt Pepper. There are days when I prefer the White Album. There are even days when I prefer Beatles '65...
29 - Razza
I actually won a copy of Sgt Peppers in a radio contest so was privaledged to receive it a couple of days before release. A few friends and I sat down in front of an old stereo and put it on. We hardly said a word until the last chord of "A Day in the Life" faded. I remember we all looked at each other and said a collective, "Wow!" We were then woken out of our trance for a second or two by the inner track gibberish, before sitting in stunned silence, until one of the group said, "That's amazing, I've got to hear it again, quick put it on!" We played it a few times that night and all we could do next day was tell friends the amazing thins we had heard. We were all sixteen at the time and that's the impact the album had on us....to think it was 40 long years ago.....
30 - zingzing
hey editor! what's banned word #12446?
31 - JC Mosquito
HH: "But there is a thematic thread running through all the songs. Each song/narrator/character professes to have found The Answer, whether it be fellowship or family or drugs or sex or showbiz or anger management or dropping out or finding oneness with all mankind."
Well, Holly, I must say you're the first person I've met to offer any kind of thematic unity theory that makes sense to me - congrats! You get the Possible Deepest Insight of the Night prize (as usual, no cash value, just license to be a smarty pants for the next few hours!). Next time I pull that I'm going to listen for that theme - just off the top of my head, I think you might be right.
But I won't tonight - I'm going to listen to Todd Rundgren's Fow the Want of a Nail (featuring Bobby Womack on co-lead vocals) over and over for about an hour - there's a secret buried in there somewhere.....
32 - zingzing
"zing doesn't think this album holds together."
not true. it holds together just fine. it's just not any major leap into the concept album... anymore than pet sounds (or early beach boys) or sinatra's early 50s work, or anything else.
if it's just people searching for answers, how does that make it any different than the kinks' character studies?
i'm definitely not saying sgt pepper doesn't have its own flow. i'm just saying it's not some major conceptual break-through. i think people attach a lot of meaning to it that isn't there because of the flimsy structural bits that are rather tacked on.
33 - zingzing
here's what happened:
the beatles were going to make an album about childhood. so penny lane and strawberry fields were recorded. but then they were released as a single, and as singles weren't usually put on british albums at the time, they scrapped that idea. then paul, having heard pet sounds and freak out, got the idea for an album with a theme... some idea behind it. but he wanted it to be more than just "the sorrow of love" (pet sounds) or "america is stupid" (freak out), he wanted it to have characters, and an overriding structure.
he also wanted to escape from the beatles, so he concocted a fake group which the beatles could play on the next album. so the lonely hearts club banned was created. he wrote the title track and told john about the idea. john shot him down, they recorded the album, and at the last minute, paul wanted to record the title track's reprise. so they did.
34 - zingzing
whatever flow the album has is because THIS IS THE BEATLES and they knew how to make albums. like most of what the beatles did, they were flying by the seat of their pants.
the beatles were fantastic songwriters and musicians (not virtuosos by any means, but still great), and they were in a difficult period at this point. what with being the most famous people on earth and growing as individuals and apart as a group, they were questioning everything they knew. they were searching for answers.
sgt pepper, holly, is a perfect example of your "record that hangs together because the songwriter/artist is in a certain phase of his life."
35 - zingzing
sorry, but that was supposed to be one big comment. there was a banned word. if it wasn't "j-i-g-g-e-r-y
p-o-k-e-r-y," then i don't know what it was...
36 - zingzing
my god! it was!
you can't say jig-gery pok-ery!
37 - JC Mosquito
The histoire of the making of Sgt. P doesn't collapspe as well as your Plastic Ono Band review, zinger. 'S ok - I'm glad you mentioned Sinatra's concept albums for Capitol - maybe I'll pull those tonight too.
38 - Holly Hughes
You slay me, zing. You keep wanting this album to be something it isn't; I'm just happy it exists.
Love that story, Razza. Once in college a friend and I sat down and listened to all the Beatles LPs in sequence, starting at noon one day and ending at midnight. We had pretty much this same reaction when we got to Sgt Pepper, even though it was an album we both considered we knew very well. It just blindsided us, all over again.
39 - zingzing
oh horseshit, holly. you're the one arguing for some great unifying significance to the sgt pepper. i'm the one arguing against it, remember?
i don't want it to be anything. what makes you think i want it to be something, when all i'm doing is tell you what it isn't?
it's just not the be-all, end-all of albums like you seem to want it to be.
to boil it down: there is no overarching theme, any more than dozens of other albums that came before it. it does have a rudimentary structure that was (quite rightly) abandoned. it is not the first album meant to be listened to from start to finish. it was not conceived, except briefly at the beginning, as a full album. it is just a collection of songs that are very well put together.
40 - Glen Boyd
Hard to believe it was "forty years ago today" this album was released. And I still never tire of it. You can't help but yearn for those days when the likes of the Beatles, Brian Wilson, The Stones, Dylan and everybody else were constantly raising the bar and trying to one-up each other on records like this and Pet Sounds.
Thanks for taking us back Holly.
-Glen
41 - zingzing
"You can't help but yearn for those days when the likes of the Beatles, Brian Wilson, The Stones, Dylan and everybody else were constantly raising the bar and trying to one-up each other on records like this and Pet Sounds."
ahh, glen, i know you aren't so naive. musicians are still trying to raise the bar all the time... it's in the nature of the game. the difference was that, for a while, people bought it.
42 - JC Mosquito
And now they're not buying it - it's easier to burn it off the net.
Interesting - the "concept album" by My Chemical Romance is one of the most popular rock albums of the past 6 - 12 months. Is there a parallel with Sgt. P... a "concept album" whose parts are greater separately than as a whole? Or a better concept album than Sgt. P anyways - and if so, who cares?
43 - Glen Boyd
Exactly Zing. That was a unique time inasmuch as the most artistically challenging music was also the most commercially successful. Personally, I miss it. It's so much work to find the best stuff out there these days, when back then all you had to do in many cases was turn on your radio.
I can't believe for example that I just discovered Porcupine Tree this past month. And right now, I'm scrambling to play catch up (four CDs from the catalog and a live DVD bought this week). And I'm supposed to know about these things. Why isn't this band absolutely HUGE as they should be?
Anyway, I digress---but do you see what I mean?
A record like Sgt. Pepper or Pet Sounds today is something which would have to be sought out probably on the Internet. Imagine how different history would have been if that were the case back then.
-Glen
44 - RoRo
Brilliant! Instead of writing a speech you threw a birthday bash for the album. Loved all the smart details delivered in a fun, flowing way. You seem to recreate some of the strains of the songs with your writing so that I want to log off afterwards and play the record.
...OK...they were the most INFLUENTIAL band. How about that? There's a "best-ish" quality there... ;-)
45 - JC Mosquito
Don't forget to blow out the candles - heat warps vinyl.
46 - jmac76
Great tribute to The Beatles, who I even consider the greatest band on earth. My parents passed on their love for anything Beatles to me, and it is one that I hope to pass onto my children.
Sgt Pepper's album is definitely one of my all-time favourite albums. It always will be.
47 - herbert
I was not alive when this was released and (i am not young at heart at 29) I like your description of this phenomenom (of the release of this album). Although one point i'd like to make is, lets not root for bands like they are some sort of sports home team. Appreciate the music and hope others do as well. BTW I have sung every song in my car many times....
48 - Jim
Beatles are the best, but they share that spot with one other band: Radiohead.
49 - samred
"I don’t know why nobody before the Beatles figured out how important this was. But this was the first rock music album that was really conceived as one piece, to be listened to as a whole."
Pet Sounds was the first album to put emphasis on sequential consumption...McCartney has often publicly declared that Pet Sounds was the reason Sgt. Pepper was made. IJS.
50 - Shaun Apple
Sergeant Pepper sparked a lot of inspiration and creativity for musicians. Our web site Love Across Borders tries to do the same for poets.
51 - Altmont
Its always fun to listen to people argue about Sergeant Pepper lol. It was a great album no doubt. But when I think of concept albums, Pink Floyd always comes to mind as the artists who really got the idea right. I like some of the people here prefer Revolver over Sergeant Pepper. Just seems to have a better flow to me. However, none of this really matters to me. I was always a bigger fan of Keef and Mick anyways lol.
52 - kim
"narrative power of John songs like “She’s Leaving Home”"
“She’s Leaving Home” was a Paul song not johns. Johns counterpoint singing did make the song but even that was a Paul (and George Martin) ideal.
53 - Elvira Black
Great piece, Holly. I wholeheartedly agree--the Beatles were indeed the greatest. For me, nothing else came close. Sgt. Pepper came out when I was 10, and I'd already been buying all their albums and singles as soon as they hit the stores since I was six, if memory serves.
Speaking of song sequence: Abbey Road side two was just one continuous "songs within a song" excluding the first track ("Here Comes the Sun") and the last little coda (uncredited as I recall--"Imagine she's a pretty nice girl,etc). That seemed like an unprecedented pop concept at the time (though perhaps it wasn't), but in any case, listening to any of side 2 out of sequence just isn't the same.
As for those who disagree with you--perhaps some of them were not around at the time. A post-modern analysis by anyone who didn't experience the era firsthand just isn't the same--and the Beatles were a huge part of what defined the sixties, arguably the most uber modern era of the modern 20th century. In any case, bravo for a great tribute.
54 - WallRunner
^To the above comment, the last song is called "Her Majesty"
I'm only 13 but the Beatles are my favorite band, and Sgt.Peppers is my favorite album along with LOVE, this article is cool, and written so well, good job holly.
From,
Chris.
55 - JC Mosquito
Re: comment 49: see comment 32 re: Sinatra's 1950's albums. Concept albums have been around for a while.
RE: comment 54:
"As for those who disagree with you--perhaps some of them were not around at the time. A post-modern analysis by anyone who didn't experience the era firsthand just isn't the same..."
Not sure what you mean by post modern here. But in this particular case, if you mean people who weren't listening to Sgt. P when it was released, it's of no issue. Someone who was 13 years old at the time would've had a different perspective from someone who was 50 anyways. In short, just because a reviewer or commenter is older doesn't mean their position is any more (or less) valid than anyone else's - just different (and I know you didn't say "better," but I just wanted to be clear on that).
In any case, it's officially the 40th anniversary, so Happy 40th to the boys in the band (wherever thy may be!).
56 - A Concerned Citizen
Being born long after the Beatles heyday, I find it hard to refer to them as the "greatest rock band ever". Don't get me wrong, they're a fantastic band and they had an unprecedented social impact -- but the title just doesn't fit them. Or any band for that matter.
On a relative timescale, their impact was felt "yesterday". If they're still remembered in 100, or even 200, years with the same reverence, then I think we should start applying the title of "greatest rock band ever".
Like Elvira Black said -- I guess you just had to be there to really appreciate them entirely.
57 - Holly Hughes
Those who weren't around, or weren't yet musically aware, when this was released can certainly still dig it. It warms my heart to hear that a 13-year-old can come to this music and love it. I'm amazed by how well it holds up for new generations. (Pet Sounds, too.)
Since this is an anniversary, I'm really just trying to record the effect this LP had on young music fans in 1967. (Remember, back then listeners over the age of 30 were not to be trusted.) Over the decades since then, technology has altered how we experience music; the music business has changed too, and not for the better. I just wanted to dust off the album and put it back into a 1967 context.
If I were 32 years old and had been hearing about this album as a "classic" all my life, it would be easy to take it for granted, and tempting to cut it back down to size. I had the same reaction to Sinatra for years. It's possible to rise above the historical factors that shape our taste, but they still alter how we hear the music.
I'd love to hear the perspective of someone who was 50 in 1967.
58 - Scott Waters
Please don't say that Sgt. Pepper's was a quantum leap.
"A Quantum Leap"is the smallest possible incremental change. You meant a huge leap which is something completely different.
59 - sooner
Beatles are the best, but they share that spot with one other band: Radiohead.-
"It's getting better all the time"
"I'm a reasonable man. get off my case"
"all you need is love"
"in pitch dark i go walking in your landscape"
"when you talk about destruction don't you know that you can count me out"
"Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon"
"hey jude. don't make it bad. take a sad song and make it better"
"We don't want no monsters taking over"
"limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns"
"If you'd been a dog, they would have drowned you at birth"
The Light wins over the people every time.
60 - Holly Hughes
As I understand it, Scott (and granted I'm no physicist), a quantum leap marks an abrupt change from one state to a distinctly different one. It may be a very tiny shift, but it's of vital significance.
Which still seems to apply to Sgt Pepper's -- especially since so many of the elements that made it a breakthrough album were already at hand; the Beatles just fused them in a new way, but the result radically changed the music landscape.
61 - JC Mosquito
Isn't the saying, "Don't trust anyone UNDER 30?" ;)
62 - Elvira Black
Chris #54 said:... the last song is called "Her Majesty"
Thanks Chris--gives a kinda sardonic twist to the song...
Holly #57 says:I'd love to hear the perspective of someone who was 50 in 1967.
That might be a tall order Holly--esp if you mean about Sgt Pepper (lol). But I do remember my dad's reaction to "A Day in the Life"--he liked it except for the "had a smoke" reference. (At the time I thought it just referred to cigs--but now come to think of it...)
I also remember pestering my mom, who used to listen to the "Easy Listening" station, about the fact that "my" Beatles songs were being hijacked by the 1000 Strings (or someone similar) on a constant basis. Talk about context--hearing a muzak version of A Day in the Life can be enough to drive a true Beatles fan to distraction!
JC #55 says: Not sure what you mean by post modern here.
See my comment to follow below!
63 - Elvira Black
JC Mosquito:
Um, as I was sayin'...IMHO, postmodern has everything to do with it.
Break on through to the pomoside!
64 - Resident Media Pundit
Wonderful article, Holly. You articulate exactly why I love Sgt. Peppers so much -- it is an "album," not just a collection of pop songs.
And you were right, we jumped on the bandwagon, too, with our own little happy birthday to Sgt. Pepper's over at Resident Media Pundit -- -- including a link to help the determined find a copy of the decidedly superior Dr. Ebbett's mono transfer of the record... odd, today, to think that the stereo version is the lesser of the two, but 'tis true, 'tis true!
65 - zingzing
the beatles had a tough time with stereo... only abbey road and let it be sound good in it. they used far too much separation and it's almost painful to listen to on headphones.
same with early who stuff. bleh! on the speakers, it's okay... but i do prefer mono versions of just about every beatles album.
66 - sr
Dont know much about Sgt Pepper other then I like the spice on my eggs and everything else. Have you ever heard of Col Salt and the Sweetpeas? They were the best banjo band back in the turdies when I was 10 years old.
67 - handyguy
"Her Majesty" is the closing fragment on Abbey Road, not Sgt. Pepper.
BTW, I always liked the "White Album" better. Obviously it's not such a watershed, though.
68 - sooner
Ah the White album. now yer talkin'!
Always surprising.
expansive. Intimate. Real. Psychedelic. Disciplined. Chaotic. Experimental. Traditional. Funny spooky comforting unsettling.
John Paul George Ringo.
The Beatles best.
69 - Andrew Wendland
The 40th Anniversary of the Oldest Intentional Album-Movie Synchronization
Today, June 1, 2007, marks the 40th Anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. This happens to be the album of the oldest intentional Album/Movie Synchronization. To those that don't already know, I present:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) with Mary Poppins (1964)
- sync grade = A
- discovered by Andrew Wendland and Todd Ellis in June 2003
- sync length = movie length (approx. 2 hours 19 minutes)
- start CD at the beginning of the movie after "Distributed by Buena Vista" has faded out and just as the actual movie fades in
- repeat CD until the end of the movie
I hope you all enjoy the masterpiece that started it all. The famous Carl Jung, who is known for his theory of synchronicity, is on the front album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. If that's not a hint, I don't know what is. Also, many in the music world consider this album to be the first concept album, and many concept albums are the music of the well-known syncs.
Regards,
Andrew Wendland
70 - dobegillis
It was a summer evening in '67 if I recall correctly, we had just finished dinner at My Grandmother's house, and my Uncle had just bought Sgt. Pepper. I remember the paper cutouts, I particularly liked the handlebar moustache. My Uncle knew I was a huge Beatles fan, I received my first Album at the ripe age of 5 years old When "Meet the Beatles" came out, given to me by the babysitter Jane, who I was in love with. Any way, I was still a kid, but my uncle still invited me to come and hear it IN HIS ROOM WHERE US KIDS WERE NEVER ALLOWED. I knew this had to be BIG, REALLY REALLY BIG. So my Uncle put it on the turntable, and turned it up pretty loud on the stereo. Just like others said, we listened to it from beginning to end, and I just thought WOW that sounded cool, PLAY IT AGAIN!!. I remember the impact of the song "She's leaving home" and how there was a slight paralel in our family going on in that I had 3 uncles all coming of age around the same time. The memory of that nite up in my Uncle's bedroom is one of my favorite childhood memories.
71 - Holly Hughes
Love the story, dobe. My older brother was the one who brought it home to our family. He refused to let me listen to it for about 48 hours; then he couldn't hold out any longer -- he absolutely HAD to share it with someone, and I was the lucky winner. It was the same deal -- we just sat and listened in awed silence.
72 - Glenn
You almost always find something new. I was driving back from vacation with the kids a few years back and played it for them (they loved it, of course). "She's Leaving Home" never did all that much for me, but of course as a kid I'd always related to the girl blowing off her boring parents. "She's having fun."
But as a relatively new parent, this time I heard the song from the parents' perspective. "What did we do that was wrong?" Heartbreaking. Lesser songwriters gave the mean old folks the finger. The Beatles reached out to them over the ages. Genius.
73 - JC Mosquito
Glen: "Lesser songwriters gave the mean old folks the finger. The Beatles reached out to them over the ages."
And then gave the kids the finger. ;)
Seriously, I never did care for that girl from SLH - she was disrespectul & unthankful, and we don't even know if this guy from the motor trade was any kind of prize either. I think she probably grew up to be Eleanor Rigby. And therein lies the genius - it's said that a writer only ever writes one song (or book or whatever). I think the Beatles' contributions to pop culture have been analysed to death - and I think the critical world has only scratched the surface.
Oh, and it is possible she grew up to be "Her Majesty" too.
74 - Holly Hughes
"meeting a man from the motor trade" -- I've heard that it meant she was going to get an abortion. Which would mean that she grew up to be the girl in "Ticket To Ride...."
75 - Pedro Navarro
Don´t loose the perspective. We are the luckiest generation, because we have had the luck to be the first to hear and value the sounds of a special group of four people who happened to have the ability and oportunity to impact the whole world with his artistic work. As simple as that.
Many people has lived and died without having this blessing.
Too profound by any means?