Sgt. Pepper (the music itself) - how did it make you FEEL?

I heard it summer of '68,
borrowed a friends copy.
I was living in a b&w white Truffaut 400 blows world before.
One listen to Sgt Pepper and all things became technicolor.

 

It made me uncomfortable. I grew up in Indiana, in deepest, darkest "caucasia", and too immature to realize changes come with every generation. The young, fresh-faced boys were suddenly more "sinister"-looking than the fellas I'd gone back to the theater 6 times to watch in Help. The music was not in my 11-year-old wheelhouse, and I certainly wasn't ready for the sitar. I don't wanna come right out and say they sacred me, but like everybody else at that time, my life was being shook around by all the artistic and stylistic influences turning our older sisters and brothers into shaggy, parent-arguing weirdos. Yet everything seemed to be normal in my church, school friends and with my grandparents, so there was that schizm. Essentially, I was about 3 years too young to be able to process what was coming down the pike. All I know is, my brother started baking when the parents weren't home, and he wasn't sharing the brownies....

 

I always enjoy listening to it. One of those rare albums where you just have to listen to the whole thing. It has been a part of my life since 1976. I may just go and play my beat up orange Capitol LP that has followed me around for 41 years.

 

Glad you finally glommed onto "Within You", musicfan37...for me, along with ADITL, it's the deepest track on the album. I find the lyrics/meaning coming back to me in my daily life very often. Wise stuff. I find it amazing that, though the ideas are thousands of years old, that this wonderful lyrics came from a 23-year-old.

 

I've been a certified Beatle nut since 1963 and my fascination for their music still consumes me. Pepper has never been a favourite and I've often tried to get my head around the reason why. After all, it does contain a couple of my favourite songs (A Day In The Life and She's Leaving Home) but apart from that I've always found the album rather so-so. This is probably because I was always more of a "rock" fan than a "pop" fan but I'm still not entirely convinced that the album is crammed with great pop either!
The real heart of the album (and almost its "raison d'être" is "A Day In The Life"and to me the rest is simply a lightweight, whimsical build up to the song in all its glory.
The album kicks off well with that raunchy title track (which so inspired Jimi - proof that it's worth something) but it's brought down immediately with Ringo's dreary, plodding, music hall vocal. He was such an Ernie. The "charming" aspect of the song gives a little interest I suppose (and hell, we all love Ringo don't we?).
Then comes John's sugery-sweet LSD tab which is pretty era-defining but it's not a favourite. When I hear it, I see those fabulous animations from the Yellow Submarine movie.
So not all that impressive a start to the album for me. Kind of OK I suppose. Then comes what I feel is one of the weakest sequences of songs on a legendary album:

Getting Better
Fixing a Hole
She's Leaving Home
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Within You Without You
When I'm Sixty-Four
Lovely Rita
Good Morning Good Morning

Ugh. Now that is weak. No hang on, the magnificent "She's Leaving Home" is in there and thank heavens because it does bring some relief from all the lightweight fodder that surrounds it.
To achieve genuine "great album" status, that middle section, that core of the album really needed songs of real substance (like "Strawberry Field Forever" and "Penny Lane" for example - no singles allowed dammit!) but no, we get a string of whimsical, "charming" (?) pop (hang on, is this a Marmalade album?) and Eastern self-indulgence from George (pass me that joint and I'll get into it). In fact therein lies a lot of the problem - this album just isn't far-out and quirky enough to be symbol of the psychedelic, swinging 60s. It's all just too light and chummy. This is of coure the fault of Macca and that line-up of lacklustre songs (Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, When I'm 64, Lovely Rita) and John with his throwaway "Good Morning Good Morning". That is just too many weak songs for an album that is held in such high esteem. Still fascinating though.

 

^ Honestly if you think Getting Better -> Good Morning Good Morning is a weak sequence of songs, you might as well just throw A Day In The Life in your Spotify favorites playlist and put that baby on shuffle. It might be time to forget about Pepper's an album, at least for awhile. It sounds like it just doesn't work for you. For my money, She's Leaving Home through Lovely Rita is just about the best 5 track sequence in all of the Beatles' catalog. It flows impossibly well.

The way the album makes me feel is like floating and waltzing through a grand tour of life. Very fun, very energetic. But it's also escapism from life, too. It takes on an omniscient observer perspective at times. It kind of alternates between dispassionate and passionate. It's definitely got an element of dissociation to it, I think.