I first heard the album when I checked it out at the library along with Rubber Soul. It was probably 1975. I dutifully recorded them onto 8-track tapes. I got my own copies of the albums, along with The Early Beatles through a mail order ad in the newspaper from Bon Marche’ the next year. They were having a sale on a few of the Beatles Capitol albums. They were on sale for $3.99.
I revisited this album last night and it never ceases to amaze me. A masterpiece from start to finish.
I can’t add anything that already hasn’t been said. It’s when Rock music became Art. Time hasn’t been particularly kind to it and that’s to be expected to music that is so closely tied to Psychedelia. Leave it to the Fabs to create something so revolutionary. For as much as I love Peppers, on some days it doesn’t even make my top 5 Beatles albums.
I was mesmerized at 13 hearing Sgt. Pepper’s for the first time in 1967, especially seeing its global impact. I mean the record was seemingly everywhere and for a fresh minute it felt like music was indeed the solution. Yet, it wasn’t until six years later that the album became a deeply moving personal experience. Had recently moved away from home, now living with a few friends, one who had a pair of Voice of the Theater speakers (no sub required) in a three bedroom apartment within a building complex. Let’s just say we were full of “magic”one night turning up the sound system all the way to its explosive crescendo (no inner groove). Mesmerized beyond belief & now utterly speechless, anything felt possible, & not one neighbor ever complained.
I’m reminded of an anecdote recounted by forum member @rkt88 (aka Marcus James) in another Music thread about that time in Laurel Canyon when…. “…we all synchronized the side one of Sgt Pepper on a late spring day in 1967? the echoes of the first track resonated throughout the entire Ridpath/Kirkwood bowl as all the "music people" coordinated the timing of this needle drop - and speakers if not placed "outside" might as well have been for the cacophony of that amazing Beatles LP.”
There may never be another pop music album that will generate such a hyperbolic review as the one written by Langdon Winner of Rolling Stone…. "The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released. In every city in Europe and America the radio stations played [it] ... and everyone listened ... it was the most amazing thing I've ever heard. For a brief while the irreparable fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young."
It's a strange beast....many of the critics (including one J. Lennon) are right; it's hardly a concept album, Revolver makes a stronger statement, Lennon was lost in a LSD trip for most of the time....but the album makes a lot of sense as a whole. Maybe because the three opening tracks and the closing track are one the Blue Double and to my ears it's still the perfect trio of songs to start an album... I'll give the mono a spin later on!
Brilliant album,especially for its time. She's Leaving Home remains my favourite track since first hearing the album in the mid 70's. Happy Birthday Sgt Pepper.
56 years? No way. There is no way that album is that old. I was in high school when Sgt. Pepper's was released. It wasn't that long ago. Let's get this straight: I'm telling you, 56 years? No way!
Happy Birthday and great picks...I can still remember the day I bought the album with much anticipation of greatness. I was not disappointed.
https://tidal.com/magazine/article/artists-sgt-pepper/1-38622 It’s Getting Better All The Time: Artists on the Legacy of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Memories from Wayne Coyne, the Melvins, the Feelies and more.
'Sgt. Pepper's' Was A Perfect Storm Of Musical And Recording Creativity 'Sgt. Pepper's' Was A Perfect Storm Of Musical And Recording Creativity 'In order to give McCartney’s bass the rich and smooth sound you can sometimes hear on Sgt. Pepper’s, Emerick had him sit in the center of the empty studio with a mic about six feet away from the bass amp. The distance allowed the recording to capture some of the room ambiance which gave the bass a fuller, rounder sound.'
If you want to listen it that way, it's a possibility. To my ears it would need more than one song and a reprise to make a 'concept'. 'Pet Sounds' and 'The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society' work far better i.m.o..
I think it's the most British sounding of their albums. There's not a soul tune or a rockabilly lick in sight. They hadn't spent as much time in Britain as they did between when after their touring ended and the release of Sgt. Pepper - hadn't for years. Individual forays to Spain, India, and the US just reinforced their nationality. Even the Hendrix influence takes place within the context of the burgeoning London Blues scene. George was an Englishman in India. Many of the other elements of the album spring from Britain's illustrious past, or its confusing present, as filtered through the London Underground scene that John joined Paul in partaking once he got back from The War. The album is a psychedelic mash-up of familiar streams that manages to regurgitate something novel. The Beatles found out what The Kinks had found out when The Kinks were banned from touring in the US (1965-1968); you become naked-ly English, and it comes out in the music.
Paul’s bass playing is a marvel and it’s particularly evident on Peppers. After listening to the Beatles, for as much as I have all these years, I often zero in on Paul’s bass playing.It’s so melodic, It’s like a lead instrument to me.
This has been my line of thinking from the first time I listened to the album 56 years ago. It seemed (seems) quite obvious.
I'll help make up for it. I'm getting my own personal Inner Groove On right now! Sgt Pepper always helps!
