The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Review

This album has become like a “museum piece” because of the way people talk about it with such reverence. Unfortunately this means that not enough people are focusing on what makes the album special in the first place: the music. This article is an attempt to take this album out of the museum and into the ears by focusing on it’s music instead of it’s “historical significance.”

01. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” – This is a brilliant way to start the album and it really sets the mood for the entire thing. The “concept” of the album is really quite loose, without this song there is no concept album! One thing I really dig about this song is the crazy horns section. Can you imagine many “rock bands” of today having the imagination to include something like that in their song?

02. “With a Little Help from my Friends” – I much prefer this original Beatles version over the completely over the top Joe Cocker version that is probably more famous at this point (mostly because it was used as the theme song to the very popular Wonder Years TV show.) To me it’s the perfect song for Ringo to sing and of course John & Paul wrote it specifically for Ringo. It fits like a glove. What a brilliant song.

03. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – One of the bands most famous songs. This is a great one to listen to in mono (you have to get The Beatles in Mono Box Set) because it sounds so much different in mono than it does in stereo. There’s a lot more effect on the vocal in mono!

04. “Getting Better” – This may just be the song I most commonly think of when I think of the Sgt. Pepper album. I’m not quite sure why that’s the case, but it is! To me this song defines the spirit of the album very well.

05. “Fixing a Hole” – I love this kind of more subtle psychedelia. And yes, this is a very psychedelic song. And how about those lyrics? Anyone who doesn’t think McCartney could write lyrics should pay close attention to these.

06. “She’s Leaving Home” – More great lyrics from Paul McCartney. What a gorgeous song too. Paul was definitely at the top of his game in 1967.

07. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” – I think my favorite part of this song is the cut up tape section where it sounds like sort of insane random carnival music.

08. “Within You Without You” – Speaking of “far out” how about we go all the way to India? Some people don’t like this song because it doesn’t fit with their preconceived notions of what music is supposed to sound like. To me this song is brilliant because of that very reason. We shouldn’t limit ourselves.

09. “When I’m 64″ – Check out this song sequencing. We went from a 1800s circus to India to do some meditating and now we’re enjoying ourselves this very tongue in cheek music hall number. So many differnet styles of music are explored on this album, and they are all done brilliantly.

10. “Lovely Rita” – I definitely enjoy this song as well but I must say that I do think tracks #10 and #11 are the least interesting tracks on the album.

11. “Good Morning Good Morning” – There’s some interesting time changes in this one. I also love the Jimi Hendrix style guitar leads by Paul McCartney.

12. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” – This song, of course, ties together the whole album by linking us back to the first song. It gives the impression that everything we’ve been hearing (even though it’s all of these wildly different styles) has been a part of one big performance by this fictional band.

13. “A Day in the Life” – This is the best example of John & Paul combining their ideas to be something greater than they were on their own. This is also the best song ever recorded by anyone. It’s just pure brilliance.

In order to hear Sgt. Pepper’s in mono you must buy The Beatles In Mono. It’s highly recommend that you buy both Beatles Remastered Box Sets.

Technorati Tags: Classic Rock, Music, The Beatles