Sgt Pepper

[kev100]

I just watched the tribute to George Harrison and on it Eric Clapton said that he hadn't acheived his Sgt Pepper yet meaning that he didn't think that he had reached the peak of his profession.

Why does anyone regard this piece of crapiola Sgt Pepper as anything other than a waste of the price of a take out curry?

It has to be the most amateurish piece of junk in music history.

Why do so many people worship this tripe?

and incidentally I think the Beatles wrote some of the greatest rock songs of all time, but this has to worst thing they ever did.

[vehelpfulguy]

I just put a long append and answerback lost it. Let me try again with a few shorter appends.

First, although Sgt Pepper has not stood the test of time as well as some albums I do not believe that it is as bad a you make out.

Before Sgt Pepper most pop albums (from all artists) consisted of 12 or 14 songs all lasting 2 or 3 minutes each.

The front cover of the album usually just consisted of a picture of the group taken in a studio.

If you think of the album Revolver (the album before Sgt Pepper) it is basically 14 songs all 2 or 3 minutes each (having said that Revolver is a great album).

In fact if you go back only 2 or 3 years before Sgt Pepper most Beatles songs were very simplistic (She Loves You, Love Me Do, Please Please Me etc) so even up to Revolver they has progressed a lot.

[vehelpfulguy]

I was 18 when Sgt Pepper came out and I have to say when we first got the album and heard it, we were all amazed.

The main reasons were:

Even though it was a sinlge album it had a gatefold sleeve, unheard of at the time for a single album (remember this was a 12 inch LP not a CD)

The Beatles name featured nowhere on the cover, a brave thing for any artist to do

The front cover, with all the different faces, seemed like a work of art compared with other albums of the time.

The songs featured all sorts of instruments and sound effects, very unusual at the time.

The album was made on a 4 track recorder which is all they had a the time. Not like your modern electronic studios with 32 or 64 track or whatever. Thanks to George Martin for his skill in the studio.

The songs merged into each other (seque) which NOBODY had done at the time.

And the album ended with A Day in the Life, still one of the most amazing pop songs of all time, with that incredible final note.

These are just some of the reason it blew everyone away.

[vehelpfulguy]

The other thing to realise is that any sort of art that seems amazing at the time can seem very ordinairy years later.

When Beethoven wrote some of his music people thought he was a madman and felt his music was unlistenable. Now it is listened to by polite audiences in symphony halls.

When Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was first performed the audience booed and almost rioted.

I am sure if you listened to Glenn Miller from the 1940s you would wonder what all the fuss was about.

Also early Elvis Presley songs, which caused mayhem at the tme, do not provoke that reaction today.

When the Beatles started in 1962 and 1963 music was very different.

Singles were king, albums were for adults.

Few artists wrote their own songs.

Most songs were just 3 guitars and a drum set and lasted 2 and a half minutes.

The Beatles almost single handedly dragged music from that into complex songs, unusual instruments, different sound effects, and drug induced themes.

Pop music grew up between 1962 and 1967 and the Beatles were the leaders.

This is hard to imagine now, but so many singers and groups today owe a debt to the Beatles.

[Whickerman]

It's a similar story with Queen's 'A Night At The Opera'. Whilst many modern albums may be superior, you have to remember that they may not have existed had these albums not changed the way music was produced and listened to. You have to look at it in context - what was available at the time, and how much influence they exerted on popular culture

[vehelpfulguy]

Read this for an explanation of why Sgt Pepper was so well received at the time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper's_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band

[Fish the Mod]

sorry Kev, some people should'nt be born with ears.

[maxximus]

great answer helpfulguy, and very short and to the point fish. the album was also a marketing angle to compete with the rolling stones, " their satanic majesty's request" album. both excellent album's .