Album of the day - The Beatles (Sgt.Pepper's...)

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 1 June 1967, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, spending 22 weeks at the top of the albums chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one in the United States. Time magazine declared it "a historic departure in the progress of music" and the New Statesman praised its elevation of pop to the level of fine art. It won four Grammy Awards in 1968, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour.

In August 1966, the Beatles permanently retired from touring and began a three-month holiday from recording. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian era military band that would eventually form the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. Sessions for the Beatles' eighth studio album began on 24 November in Abbey Road Studio Two, with the original intention to record an album of material that was to be thematically linked to their childhoods. Among the first tracks recorded for the project were "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", but after pressure from EMI the songs were released as a double A-side single; they were not included on the album.

In February 1967, after recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", McCartney suggested that the Beatles should release an entire album that would represent a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band. This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically. During the recording sessions, the band endeavored to improve upon the production quality of their prior releases. Knowing they would not have to perform the tracks live, they adopted an experimental approach to composition, writing songs such as "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life". The producer George Martin's innovative recording of the album included the liberal application of sound shaping signal processing and the use of a 40-piece orchestra performing aleatoric crescendos. Recording was completed on 21 April 1967. The cover, depicting the band posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures, was designed by the English pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth based on a sketch by McCartney.

Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the use of extended form in popular music while continuing the artistic maturation seen on the Beatles' preceding releases. It has been described as one of the first art rock LPs, aiding the development of progressive rock, and credited with marking the beginning of the Album Era. An important work of British psychedelia, the multigenre album incorporates diverse stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. In 2003 the Library of Congress placed Sgt. Pepper in the National Recording Registry, honoring the work as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". That same year Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number one in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". As of 2014 it has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in history. Professor Kevin J Dettmar, writing in the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, described it as "the most important and influential rock and roll album ever recorded"



Side 1

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With a Little Help from My Friends
3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing a Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

Side 2

1. Within You Without You
2. When I'm Sixty-Four
3. Lovely Rita
4. Good Morning Good Morning
5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
6. A Day in the Life


UK Album Chart - 1
US Billboard Top LPs - 1


Where do i start ? Surely one of the most iconic albums of all time , pushing boundaries in terms of the sound and production techniques they were using, and producing something genuinely different from a lot of their earlier material - probably best summed up in "A Day in the Life" one of my favorite ever songs, they throw everything at this song orchestra building a wall of sound for what seems like forever until it break back to normal again, pure genius. "She's Leaving Home" is a really underrated sweet song , same for Pauls "When I'm 64'' , ''Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'' another gem which according to John Lennon, was NOT about LSD, Yeh right! , production genius of George Martin added to help this album define a generation, 'Sgt. Pepper' stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of artistic achievement... the legendary cover art by Peter Blake another example. Possibly the greatest ever album of all time. I could go on forever, so i'll stop now and leave you with possibly the greatest song ever ...


9.7/10



[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Q9D4dcYng[/video]

I hated/still do hate Within Without you.

Out of the same sessions songs like Penny Lane, Stawberryfields, I am The Walrus were all written. They could and should have been incorporated into the finished album. But thats just my opinion.

 

[crazyg]

I bought my copy in Andorra on a school trip just as it came out. It cost me the princely sum of 12/6d!! (or 62.5p for you young 'uns).

Still word perfect after all these years. Now, where did I put my glasses?

 

[BTH]

Sublime

In its day it was THE most anticipated album ever, in the summer of 67 it was like the whole fucking world was playing it..

First ever gatefold cover, first album to have lyrics printed on it and all made on a 4 track reel to reel machine.

Not as good as Revolver or Rubber Soul imo but an out & out classic, in the top 10 of every best album list Ive ever seen

A Day In The Life is brilliant and when it came out no-one had heard anything like it

I love every track.

10/10

One of the first albums I ever bought and the first I bought on CD. Was released 20 years after Sgt Pepper taught the band to play. Didn't even have a CD player then but that was the rub. A lot of people waited until The Beatles appeared on CD to give the format some credibility.

I listen to it at least once a week and a quick count-up around the house tells me I've got eight copies of it!

Like Nimrod, I love every track. However, it wasn't the first gatefold cover; it wasn't even The Beatles' first gatefold cover. That was Beatles For Sale almost three years earlier.

 

[dronefromsector7g]

Just about better than Travis and Toploader.

 

[NPBlue]

I bought my copy in Andorra on a school trip just as it came out. It cost me the princely sum of 12/6d!! (or 62.5p for you young 'uns).

Still word perfect after all these years. Now, where did I put my glasses?

Zimmer frame, surely:)

No, seriously though, when you consider the equipment it was recorded on, a four track tape reel, it is the work of genius.

I have always liked The Beatles, and even though I was very young when they first hit the big time, I remember those days of my boyhood with clarity, and they pushed the boundaries of possibilty all through the decade.

It grates on me sometimes when I hear people today say they are a bit 'meh' when they are taliking about them,

They just don't have any appreciation of the affect they had back in the day, and just how revolutionary and progressive every single album they released was at the time.

From first to last, every album made an impact that is probably difficult for younger people to understand, but it happened.

 

[AltrinchamBlue]

Some absolutely awesome songs on this album, a day in the life and she's leaving home as the stand out tracks, but for the album to be considered for greatness.. I'm not so sure. I'm not sure anyone could honestly say they listen to the whole of sgt pepper from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoy it AS AN ALBUM.

For me, pet sounds surpasses it. As does revolver. Pet sounds is an excellent, unique, intriguing and enigmatic album released about a year before sgt pepper.
According to legend dennis wilson broke down after he heard the demo tapes of a day in the life from McCartney because he knew that sound could never be surpassed ...

But anyway. Awesome songs. Probably 3 songs in the top 20 of all time pop songs. But as an album; to be enjoyed AS an album.. I'm sure there is better.

 

[Bill Walker]

I bought my copy in Andorra on a school trip just as it came out. It cost me the princely sum of 12/6d!! (or 62.5p for you young 'uns).

Still word perfect after all these years. Now, where did I put my glasses?

Zimmer frame, surely:)

No, seriously though, when you consider the equipment it was recorded on, a four track tape reel, it is the work of genius.

I have always liked The Beatles, and even though I was very young when they first hit the big time, I remember those days of my boyhood with clarity, and they pushed the boundaries of possibilty all through the decade.

It grates on me sometimes when I hear people today say they are a bit 'meh' when they are taliking about them,

They just don't have any appreciation of the affect they had back in the day, and just how revolutionary and progressive every single album they released was at the time.

From first to last, every album made an impact that is probably difficult for younger people to understand, but it happened.

good post mate and your right of course..

Before them we had Mrs Fucking Mills, Cliff Richard & Frank Ifield, English music was total shit, they put Britain on the world map and showed other Brit bands how to make it in America.

Pepper for me was when popular music kinda became artistic, and not just 3 minute catchy 'I Love You, You Love Me' songs, other bands saw what they did on this album in 67 and picked up the baton to experiment further

 

[BTH]

Never really got the Pet Sounds' thing. Yes, there are a few good songs on it although arguably their best ever song, Good Vibrations, isn't on it. Yes, it was influential and yes, it's got a terrible cover. Can't hold a candle to Sgt Pepper IMO.

 

[roman totale]

Never been a huge fan of The Beatles, but from the ones I've heard this isn't their best album. Rubber Soul is better and it's nowhere near as good as Revolver.

The NME Sgt Pepper Knew my Father covers album from the 80s was pretty interesting. The Triffids 'Good Morning' proved that you can't polish a turd, but a few of the tracks were substantially better than the originals. The Fall's "Day in the Life' was a good bit more menacing, Michelle Shocked's 'Lovely Rita' was a good deal more heartfelt and beautiful. Best of all was Sonic Youth's cover of 'Within You Without You' which transformed the directionless, ponderous outtake into a real song with some purpose.

 

[mancity1]

Rubenstein rates Shes Leaving Home as the closest thing to melodic perfection he ever heard.

This album crossed the boundaries of pop and classic music for the first time.

Along with Pet Sounds the album that changed the course of pop music.