Released - June 1967
Genre - Psychedelic Rock
Producer - George Martin
Selected Personnel - John Lennon (Vocals/Guitars/Keyboards/Harmonica/Percussion); Paul McCartney (Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Keyboards/Percussion); George Harrison (Guitars/Sitar/Tamboura/Harmonica/Percussion); Ringo Starr (Drums/Percussion/Vocals/Harmonica); George Martin (Keyboards)
Standout Track - A Day In The Life
In my review for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, I touched on the difficulty of really being able to honestly appreciate an album that's become so much bigger than itself due to its legacy and its hype. If ever there were an album where that was the case, it's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. More or less firmly ensconced in the public consciousness as "The Greatest Album of All Time," it's impossible to listen to without an awareness of its wider significance. It's certainly an album I'm now more au fait with than Pet Sounds, though that's in no small part down to the fact that I've been listening to it for many more years, so have had more time to become acclimatised to the music itself rather than just the legacy. Ultimately, though, I don't really get on with the mindset that this album is, from start-to-finish, the quintessential example of musical perfection - almost half of the songs here really do nothing to interest me (it sags notably in the middle). But the rest of what's on offer consists of some of the very best songs the band recorded, and its enormous influence makes it impossible to leave off any list.
The story behind Sgt. Pepper's... is familiar to most, but I'll go over it for the uninitiated. Just as Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's attempt to create an album as consistent as the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's... came from the band's desire to create something as innovative as Pet Sounds. Following on from the vague conceptual coherence of that album, Sgt. Pepper's shortly became the first true example of a concept album, in the sense of having an actual fictitious narrative imposed upon the music. True, the majority of the songs have absolutely nothing to do with McCartney's concept of a fictional band, but that concept as conveyed in the title track and its reprise (and in the segue into "With A Little Help From My Friends," with Ringo cast as the Lonely Hearts Club Band's lead singer "Billy Shears,") formed a framing device for the album that effectively allowed the Beatles to escape their own frustration and ennui at the sensations they had become and the feeling that it was increasingly difficult for them to break away from the popular perception of who they were. To that end, the band had retired from live touring at the end of 1966, and the recording sessions for the new album were to be an opportunity to really push themselves into uncharted territory.
Musically, it follows on from the experiments in recording and instrumentation that the band had begun to indulge on Revolver, and also incorporates some of Brian Wilson's innovative use of "field recordings" to create unusual musical landscapes, such as the inclusion of fairground noises on "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!" and the use of animal cries on "Good Morning Good Morning." Producer George Martin, taking his cue from his sparse string arrangement for Revolver's "Eleanor Rigby," also added full orchestral arrangements to many of the songs, the first time this had been done on such a large scale for a mainstream pop/rock release. Lyrically, too, the days of the Beatles' boy-meets-girl love songs were long-gone. Highly influenced by their use of psychedelic drugs, the songs here are largely bizarre free-association dreamscapes or impenetrable narratives, most notable being the eternal "Is it or isn't it about drugs?" weirdness of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."
As ever, the bloody-minded drive towards experimentation and oddness doesn't entirely preclude the band's ability to write great songs - the title track is a great uptempo rocker, pushing their sound more and more into a developing hard rock style (the song was being covered live by Jimi Hendrix two days after it was released), the crisp and sunny guitar of "Getting Better" is an absolute joy, and "She's Leaving Home" is one of the most simply affecting ballads in the band's ouvre. And then there's the magnificent "A Day In The Life." Possibly the most unusual and complex mainstream pop song released up to that point, it develops from a sparse and haunting ballad into a weird non-sequitur of a middle section that bounces merrily into a cacophony of a finale, utilising the screams and wails of a full orchestra and the whining of Lennon and McCartney's tape loop experiments. It's one of the most stunning things the Beatles ever recorded, and a fitting finale to such a landmark album.
But like I say, it's not quite as consistent and masterful as most would have you believe, and those coming to it having never heard it before (there must be some) shouldn't expect every song to be solid gold. The fun but slight "When I'm Sixty-Four" marks one of the first forays into what John Lennon would later disparagingly dismiss as "Paul's granny music," and "Within You Without You" represents further developments in George Harrison's obsession with Indian music and eastern mysticism, but by now these indulgences are beginning to become tiresome rather than inspiringly odd. "Lovely Rita" and "Good Morning Good Morning" are vaguely irritating non-events, and "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!" is an unwise foray into vaudevillian music hall and fairground music.
A good 50% of the music here is among the best stuff of the 60s, and has rightly come to be a point of obsession and fascination for generations. Most of the rest I can take or leave. Contrary to what most would have you believe, this doesn't make me ignorant or mad, just a man with very particular tastes who's reluctant to love an album just because I've been told to.
Track Listing:
All songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney except where noted.
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!
8. Within You Without You (George Harrison)
9. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life
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