Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
by The Beatles

From 40footwolf 04/04/2011 00:23 | #19912 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I'm not disputing any of that. I think that Sgt. Pepper's is as overblown and self-indulgent of an album as you're likely to find anywhere(and this is coming from someone who is a fan of Yes' "Tales From Topographic Oceans") and I think it gets far, far too much credit for its supposed "revolutionizing" of rock and roll. My problem with you and the way you approach these albums is your habit of infantilizing not only the music but the people who listen to it, as though the Beatles and anyone who listens to them are brainless fools who simply don't know any better. Well, sir, I could enter a conversation with you on the relative merits of Krzystof Penderecki and Steve Reich, tell you how late '70s New York industrial was some of the most important music to be made in the history of rock and roll, explain why the Spinners were the height of Philadelphia Soul, draw you a compare-and-contrast Venn diagram of Parliament/Funkadelic and Wu-Tang Clan, tell you why doom is the best subgenre of heavy metal, detail the stylistic evolution of Chris Brown, and STILL give you many good reasons why Abbey Road is in my top 50 favorite albums of all time. So you can criticize the Beatles all you want and I won't think the less of you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd stop treating me and the people who listen to them as inexperienced waifs in need of a good schooling.

The influence of this album on the trajectory of popular music cannot be overstated.

The Beatles experimentation with the recording process was something that hit a definite high point on this album. This process was something no bands had the rescourses to do at the time(with the exception of the beach boys). They had money, time away from touring, and a long track record of success that made an experiment like this viable financially.

That being said, an understanding of ANY work of popular music since is informed by a thorough listen to this album. Everything from the big breaks in the norm that punk brought in the 70s, to the dedication to experimentation that electronic music brought in the 90s, the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album has had a hand in every major change in the scene of popular music since its creation.

This album can be hard to appreciate, The Beatles have a reputation and track record that is universally easy to understand and fall in love with. This album is IMHO the only exception. They werent going for chart topper (although it was the best selling album of the 60s i believe) they were going for world changing. So while Revolver might be easier to digest, or abbey road may have more hits, Sgt. Pepper stands as The Beatles Largest contribution to popular music

What makes this album great is it sounds hyper-contemporary. It sounds not only new but truly outside of the sounds, composition styles, production and themes that we expect from popular music.

10/10 (Edited)

From thedistantship 08/19/2014 19:30 | #119808 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Unfortunately, one decision in the making of Sgt. Pepper leaves room for criticism and popular distaste. The band and (mainly) George Martin's decision not to put Strawberry Fields Forever or Penny Lane on the album simply because they had never done so before was indeed a dreadful mistake. With either single included on Sgt. Pepper, especially Strawberry Fields, the album could have become something even greater.

From Caesar01 05/29/2017 20:33 | #191665 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

A true 'album,' Sgt. Pepper's is the ultimate psychedelic experience. The mood shifts from song to song are perfect, from the aching She's Leaving Home into the freak-circus Mr. Kite to the droning Within You Without You to the quaint, music hall of When I'm Sixty-Four into the psychedelia of Lovely Rita. Somehow each song transitions perfectly into the next, and the listener is truly taken for a ride, right up through the final orchestral crescendo and ringing piano chord of A Day in the Life.
Required listening for all travelers of the astral plane.

Grossly overrated. The Beatles have done MUCH better than this. I hate how it gets loved for non-musical reasons like the packaging and being the first concept album. Let me tell you something. Pepper's gatefold was NOT THE FIRST gatefold in pop music. There is a gatefold in Beatles for Sale and the US version of Help!, both Beatle albums. It's also barley a concept album, because only two pairs transition smoothly, barley any songs are about the Pepper character, and the audience only appears on the title track and it's reprise. It's also extravagantly overproduced. Rubber Soul and Revolver were MUCH better, heck a good chunk of their early stuff can beat Pepper.