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The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band CD (album) cover

SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

The Beatles

 

Proto-Prog

4.36 | 1218 ratings

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toroddfuglesteg
4 stars An investigation into a mystery

THE BEATLES............ Well, what can I say ? The myth, the music....... the hype. The hype called THE BEATLES has intrigued me for the best part of 30 years. I wandered of into NEIL YOUNG, RUSH, heavy metal and progressive rock in an early age and turned my back to the THE BEATLES....... or did I ? Well, I am not sure about that. You see, all the bands I have liked during the last 30 years has all been inspired by THE BEATLES. From RUSH to TRANSATLANTIC. I now have access to all the albums from THE BEATLES and I will dive deep into the myth and the hype called THE BEATLES. Is there anything there ? I bet my life it is !

I am starting with the icon of all icons; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is claimed to be a groundbraking album and the grandfather of all prog rock albums. Everything about it is iconic. Is it therefore overhyped ?

The title track is very good and I notice the very good sound. I like the title track and thumbs up from me. Ringo Starr does the vocals on With A Little Help From My Friends. In fact, he has made a career out of this song alone. But Joe Cocker's version from Woodstock is far better than this version. But still thumbs up from me. The socalled LSD song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is great too. I drink coffee and I am not floating away in excitement over it. Getting Better is good too. So is Fixing A Hole. All these songs are good pop. Good melodies with some orchestration. The producer George Martin too made a career out of this album and with good reason.

The star of the album is the wonderfully beautiful and sad She's Leaving Home. I vaguely remember this track from a listening session with a neighbour thirty years ago. This track is one of the best songs THE BEATLES has ever done..... I can say with my limited knowledge to this band. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite is excellent too. The melody is heading of in the direction of KING CRIMSON territory and a is almost prog rock. Within You Without You is best forgotten. When I'm Sixty Four is a throw away pop song with references to the early days of THE BEATLES. Lovely Rita is best forgotten. Good Morning Good Morning is an eclectic prog sound collage with very little else to be said about it. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) is just that. A reprise. Which leaves the last song.......... A Day In The Life. What a fantastic song ! We are here talking a fully blown prog rock song. The start with Mr. Lennons vocals are beautiful haunting and genious. The middle part with the horns and the studio effects are brilliant too. Did I mention that She's Leaving Home is the best song on this album ? A Day In The Life is a close second. It is a masterpiece of a song.

Sometimes a hype is just a hype with no substance to back it up. In the case of this album; the hype is deserved. It is a stunning album. Mostly a stunning pop album. I have never bought into the idea that THE BEATLES ever did rock'n'roll. THE ROLLING STONES is a rock'n'roll band. THE BEATLES is a pop band. There is nothing wrong with that. I even offer the theory that THE ROLLING STONES had done nothing for prog rock whatsoever. In the case of RUSH, they only became today's prog rock band after they ditched the ROLLING STONES influences. The same goes with other prog rock bands. THE BEATLES is the true grandfathers of prog rock. They and LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN. Yes, I am rambling on now. But what I am trying to say is that this is an almost essential album. There is some tracks which I do not like here. But still..........

4 stars.

toroddfuglesteg | 4/5 |

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