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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

4.35 | 1236 ratings

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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars I must have read hundreds of reviews and comments about "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Clubs Band", and each one makes me understand less the human perception of music. Some people say it's the first Prog album, others that is a perfect masterpiece, and some so crazy that I even dare to repeat.

I believe this very good "BEATLES album, not perfect neither has notorious Prog connections (leave that to "Abbey Road"), but it's true that it marks the first steps in the evolution of THE BEATLES towards Psychedelia, trying to slowly leave the image of POP icons behind. Some tracks are outstanding, others good and a couple really anodyne with nothing new to offer.

Yes it's more advanced than the previous BEATLES albums, but by this point of history, many bands were light years ahead the Fabulous Four, albums like "Thoughts of the Emerlist Davjack" by THE NICE or even the Poppy "Days of Future Passed" despite it's artificial orchestal intros and codas were on another level of maturity..

THE BEATLES were no longer the leading force and needed to change, Sgt Pepper's is the first real step towards this evolution, but still there was a long road to advance if they wanted to catch with the Psyche movement or early Prog.

"Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Clubs Band" is a good opener, strong innovative, with an intelligent blend of orchestra and distorted guitars, the good boys image was behind, and at last they have something interesting to present us.

"With a Little Help of my Friends" may be an icon of Woodstock in the voice of Joe Cocker, but the song is nothing special at all, a repetitive track with no explosion or significant variation at all. always found this song incredibly boring.

Now "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a good change, they seem to embrace Psychedelia with all their strength, the song is interesting from start to end, with provocative lyrics and radical changes, sadly ELTON JOHN took it and ruined the fantastic atmosphere THE BEATLES had provided. Fantastic song.

"Getting Better" is another example of advance in their proposal, even when they don't leave their POP inheritance behind, the structure is much more elaborate than most of what had been done in previous releases, the vocals are delightful and the combination of POP and Rock is pretty interesting.

"Fixing a Hole" is a failed attempt of being innovative and a step back towards their roots, except for the excellent bass performance of Paul McCartney, nothing in this track really captures my interest, it's obvious they are frying to be original, but they seem afraid to leave all what they had earned behind.

"She's Leaving Home" seems simple, but I believe it's one of the most interesting songs, the delicate addition of violin and harp is extremely beautiful and enhance the effect, if they are close to Prog in any point of this album it's here. Something I can't say about "Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite", a failed attempt of being experimental, again boring, repetitive and lack of interest.

"Within You , Without You" is an advance, the essence of oriental influence so preeminent in the late 60's and all the Psyche scenario, is captured by George Harrison with great skills, at last they are really blending Rock and POP with foreign influences, another great moment of the album.But as they did before, after an excellent song, they add a disappointing track as "When I'm Sixty Four" they pretend to be funny and versatile, but fail for the second or third time, as somebody mentioned before, check "Seaside Rendezvous" or "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon"by QUEEN to see how with this same elements you can do a fresh song, without becoming predictable and boring.

"Lovely Rita" is not a bad track, but more apparent for earlier BEATLES albums, after several moments of real evolution, they return to their past with a simple and average track. On the other hand, "Good Morning Good Morning", a song that I don't like at all, shows an interest in John Lennon to cross boundaries, and even when not totally successful, it's a healthy attempt to leave the status quo behind.

In order to prepare the listeners for the bast track the album, the reprise of the title song is added, and honestly it's a good thing, the heavier and more rocking approach is healthy, because the band proves they can take previously used material and work it in a different ad original way, I like it.

"A Day in Life" closes "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" in great way , starts with a beautiful ballad, but the changes, orchestration and arrangements are absolutely impeccable, the constant piano is simply fantastic and the vocal work is well elaborate, they left the best for the end.

I never use the word "overrated", because it would be like saying that all the people who consider an album great is wrong and I'm right, an arrogant position that I don't share, because the beauty is in the ears of the audience, but been tempted more than once to use this term to refer to "Sgt Peppers", being that it's not remotely the perfect masterpiece people talk about

A good but non essential album catapulted to the status of masterpiece for reasons that are beyond my understanding.

I believe that three stars is the perfect rating.

Ivan_Melgar_M | 3/5 |

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