You're such a lovely audience - we'd like to take you home with us

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

...OK - another change of format.  I was going to transfer to single album write-ups at some point anyway, but this album has forced my hand somewhat earlier than expected on account of there just being so much to say about it - I suspect most people will have heard of it at some point in their lives.

#24 : Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles (1967)

For the Beatles, it was a decisive goodbye to screaming crowds, world tours, and assembly-line record making. “We were fed up with being Beatles,” Paul McCartney said decades later. “We were not boys, we were men … artists rather than performers.” Sgt. Pepper christened the Summer of Love with the lavish psychedelic daydream “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” the jaunty Ringo Starr-sung communality anthem “With a Little Help From My Friends,” the album-closing multilayered masterwork, “A Day in the Life,” and the title track, which introduced the alter egos the Beatles had developed for the ambitious project. “It liberated you,” McCartney said. “You could do anything.” It is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for the Victorian jollity of John Lennon’s “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” (inspired by an 1843 circus poster) or the sumptuous melancholy of McCartney’s “Fixing a Hole,” with its blend of antique shadows (a harpsichord played by the Beatles’ producer George Martin) and modern sunshine lead guitar executed with ringing precision by George Harrison). The Sgt. Pepper premise was a license to take their music in every direction — rock spent the rest of the Sixties trying to keep up.

Back in 2017 (which feels like several lifetimes ago), there was a lot of fuss about this album turning 50 and it had reached that milestone without bothering my ears once, so I decided to listen to it.  My verdict was "OK, I guess" but I hadn't bothered revisiting it in the intervening years.  Amusingly, Mr Giles' comment at the time was "Wait until next year when you get to listen to The White Album" - well, it took 4 years for me to get around to that (people didn't seem quite so excited about its 50th birthday), but I think it's safe to say it didn't end well, so I was interested to revisit Sgt Pepper and see what I thought of it now.

And, I think the experience of The White Album has raised my opinion of this album because at no time did I think "well, this is a bit shit, isn't it?".  I actually think it hangs together pretty well as an album, with some absolutely classic tracks on there and enough quirk to entertain, but not so much that you get bored of it.  And there's plenty on there to comment about - so much so, in fact, that I'm going to do a Wikipedia fanboy track-by-track breakdown

1. "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band"
This is the nice quirky intro that everyone knows - I was a bit confused about the Billy Shears bit at the end, but I'm sure Wikipedia will explain it all to me later.  In great detail.
2. "With A Little Help From My Friends"
Now, I can't say anything bad about this now, can I?  Particularly at this time when we can all do with a little help from our friends to help us get by.
3. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Yeah, can't fault this one either really.  And remember kids, it's nothing to do with drugs, OK?
4. "Getting Better"
This is the first track on the album that I've not heard a million times - I've probably only heard it hundreds of times.  And maybe my lack of over-familiarity means it's my favourite track so far - it's a well put together number with some nice harmonies.  This is one of my top two favourite tracks on the album.
5. "Fixing A Hole"
Again, one I've not heard a million times - I'd have this one down as only "quite good" though.
6. "She's Leaving Home"
Ah, we're back to the ones I know well.  Pop quiz question - who had a UK #1 with this?  When they were a lot younger than they are now.  This song has beautiful lyrics complemented by beautiful strings - and is apparently one of only a handful of Beatles songs which doesn't feature any of the band members on any of the instruments.  
7. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!"
We've got a pleasing amount of quirk here again - you can tell this is a Lennon song, but unlike a lot of stuff on The White Album (and later) it's a happy Lennon song.  He did seem to have a "bit" of a chip on his shoulder unfortunately, particularly in later years.
8. "Within You Without You"
An obvious Harrison number - different from the rest of the tracks but complementing them with some very interesting sounds.
9. "When I'm Sixty Four"
And an obvious McCartney number - lightweight but nonetheless charming.
10. "Lovely Rita"
I'd have this down as the one track on the album as merely OK - there's nothing wrong with it, but I'm not sure it brings a lot to the party.
11. "Good Morning Good Morning"
I'm not sure I needed the animal noises on this, but it's still an interesting track.
12. "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (Reprise)"
This works well in combination with the album opener, although in some ways it feels to me like it should be the closing track...
13. "A Day In The Life"
...but if it was, then you'd have to work out what to do with this, which is an impressive track and works very well as an album closer.  I suspect there's some kind of point to it all (that I'm missing) whereby this track lives outside the Sgt. Pepper concept  but I'm also certain that Wikipedia will explain it all to me.  Whatever the thinking, this is my other favourite track off the album.

Addressing the whole Sgt. Pepper concept thing, it seems to be introduced strongly by the album opener and then somewhat fades into the background - again I'm expecting Wikipedia to point out I'm missing the obvious here.  

And what a Wikipedia entry it is - the longest we've seen so far, overtaking Beyonce's Lemonade and zooming off into the distance by quite some way.  I'm not even going to try and summarise it in a useful way but will instead pick random snippets out which caught my eye - if you want any sense, read it yourself!  We noted on Rubber Soul that a main source of tension within the group was Macca's refusal to try LSD - he finally gave in before this album and apparently everyone was happier as a result, although Ringo and George were a bit bored at times with all the technical gubbins going on.  But at least they didn't all utterly hate each other like they did whilst recording The White Album.

Some facts from the extensive track-by-track breakdown - apparently Billy Shears is Ringo's alter-ego who sings "With A Little Help..." - silly old me assumed it was just Ringo singing it.  "Lucy..." really isn't about drugs (yeah, right - and neither is "Ebeneezer Goode").  "When I'm Sixty Four" was sung slower and sped up to make McCartney sound younger.  "Lovely Rita" is a great track and I'm an idiot for not realising that.  The animals at the end of "Good Morning..." are sequenced in an order such that each one could potentially be eaten by the next.  And finally, "A Day In The Life" is "shattering the illusion of "Pepperland" by introducing the "parallel universe of everyday life"" and includes the high frequency tone at the end with the express intention of annoying dogs.

We also need to talk about two tracks that aren't on the album - "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane".  They were recorded for the album, but EMI pressured them into releasing a single so they were put out as a double-A side and hence dropped from the album, which feels like a silly thing to do (and George Martin agreed with hindsight).  "Strawberry Fields Forever" apparently took up 55 hours of studio time (which sounds like a lot, but honestly I've got no idea!) and everyone was pleased with it - so obviously it was their first single in 4 years not to get to #1 (kept off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me").  Their absence from the album is made up for on the super deluxe 50th anniversary edition which has 5 versions of "Strawberry..." and a mere 3 versions of "Penny Lane".

The rest of the Wikipedia entry basically goes on about how people loved it, it's influenced everything and everyone ever since, then people decided it was overrated, then people decided that those people were just grumpy so-and-so's, then people argued that "no, they have a point", and so on and so on.  It's a lengthy read - interesting in places, but it does bang on a bit.  Whatever your view, the album has sold a few copies - over 32 million globally and is their best selling album.  To finish off, I think we need to salute an unsung hero - Mal Evans, who was their roadie - without whom none of this would have been possible because, according to Wikipedia, he contributed "counting, harmonica, alarm clock, final piano E chord".  Without that final E chord, the whole thing would have been ruined, I tell you.

Right - what have I forgotten to cover so far?  We'll skip over their Wikipedia entry - we've had quite enough random facts so far (only two more albums where I need to find reasons to avoid it!).  We do need to answer the pop quiz question though - it was Billy Bragg (along with Cara Tivey) who had the UK #1 with "She's Leaving Home" (and he was so young and more than a little nervous, I think) as a double A-side with Wet Wet Wet's "With A Little Help...", which I remembered being dreadful but was actually quite bearable.  And is exceptionally good when compared with some of the other tracks on "Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father" which was a re-recording of Sgt. Pepper arranged by NME in order to raise money for Childline and featured a bizarre mix of the popular (The Wets, Hue & Cry, The Christians), the cool (The Fall, The Wedding Present, Sonic Youth) and the other (Courtney Pine, Frank Sidebottom, Michelle Shocked).  The Wedding Present's "Getting Better" is actually quite good, The Fall's "Day In The Life" is definitely one for their fans (both of them) and Frank Sidebottom's "Being For The Benefit..." is EXACTLY like you'd expect it to be.  The album as a whole is best avoided though.

I will temporarily return to two album write-ups at some point (for clever forward-planning reasons that will become clear at the end and will make you go "Ahhh - nice!) - although currently I'm not sure whether this will be tomorrow because I've actually got a surprising amount to say about the next album from one of my nemeses on this list.  And, amazingly, some of things I have to say are even nice!

In the meantime, I'm quite happy to declare The Beatles the winners of this round (there probably would have been complaints if I hadn't).  And one final comment - I still, after all these years, can't decide if I like the album cover or not.

#26-25 - two fine ladies!
#23-22 - two very different albums