Here's Why 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Is The Best Beatles' Album
It's been well over fifty years since Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band first hit the airwaves on both sides of the Atlantic.
The frantic screaming of their fans at every concert and the lack of stage monitors made it nearly impossible for them to hear themselves as a musical unit, so they took a step back and rethought the direction in which they were musically heading towards. Ringo Starr often mentioned that were becoming a "bunch of loose musicians" while John Lennon remarked "send out four waxworks ... and that would satisfy the crowds. Beatles concerts have nothing to do with music anymore."
In addition, John's remark "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" in a London newspaper in March 1966 invited a far-reached public outcry wherever they performed. Their 1966 Philippines tour ended in disaster when they unknowingly snubbed the First Lady Imelda Marcos. By August 1966, The Beatles unanimously felt that their touring days are over, and performed their last concert together at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on 29th August 1966.
With concert performances and bookings no more on their schedule, the group retreated to the studio to see what they all had to individually offer in terms of music. The band had already begun experimental usage of psychedelic drugs and by now, John was already influenced by avant-garde art while Paul began exploring classical music ideas through contemporary composers of that time such as Luciano Berio and John Cage. For those who may not know, it was McCartney who proposed the idea of coming with up with an album that was based on a thematic idea of an Edwardian-era military band. And that's how the idea of Sgt. Pepper was born.
Work for the new concept album began November 1966 with the recording of Lennon's 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' a song inspired by a real-life place in his hometown Liverpool. Lennon began writing the song while filming on the sets of How I Won The War, his first-ever movie without his fellow band mates. The song was recorded on a four track machine and was a breakthrough track for its time for the use of the swarmandal and mellotron. These instruments evoked an avant-garde like haunting tone. It was released in February 1967 as the B side to the McCartney penned 'Penny Lane,' another song reminiscent of their youth in Liverpool, which was characterized by notable key changes throughout the song and the classic piccolo trumpet played by David Mason in the bridge.
Back then, most bands would release a single and create the surrounding album. When Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever failed to reach the number one spot on the Record Retailer chart in Britain, fans and critics were prompted to think if 'the bubble has burst.' However, the hours spent in recording them paved a new musical direction for the band who finally understood their innate musical geniuses.
When work finally began on producing the album, George Harrison, who by now was deeply influenced by Indian mysticism and music, propelled his musical idea into his sitar-composed Within you, Without Out, which also made use of the dilruba and tabla and introduced the world for the first time to genre of Raga Rock. The song is a clear reflection of Harrison's views on life as taught in the Indian Vedas and cannot be simply dismissed as an illusion.
Although the title Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was inspired by one of Lennon's son Julian's drawings, Lennon drew heavy inspiration for the lyrics from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The song is characterized by a strong key change that runs throughout the song along with its characteristic 3/4 time signature in the verse followed by a 4/4 beat in the chorus.
Even the Lennon-McCartney credited A Day in the Life is best remembered for its colorful and elaborately narrative styled lyrics that paints a bright picture of a daily life in London during the swinging sixties. Producer George Martin and McCartney shared the responsibility of conducting a 40-piece orchestra for the middle 24 bar section which was inspired in the style of John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. David Crosby of The Byrds who was present during the sessions, later said, "Man, I was a dish-rag. I was floored. It took me several minutes to be able to talk after that."
While producer George Martin and recording engineers at EMI pressed the album using a four track machine, they along with The Beatles explored new mixing and overdubbing techniques to produce the desired sound. Inspired by James Jamerson, Paul McCartney had his bass plugged directly into the recording console at the recording deck to acquire that deep tone for the album's title track.
While it may be considered vintage according to today's standards where most studio recordings are done via computer assistance, the album was a breakthrough for its time with the band's optimization of the studio and recording facilities. It was the first time that the studio was looked upon as a musical instrument instead of an institution for simply producing music. The immense studio hours spent into producing the album forced critics and publishers to review the aesthetics of rock music as an art form instead of a business entity. The sonic experimentation with new musical sounds opened the doors to musical genres such as hard rock, punk, heavy metal, new wave and other musical styles that followed. Even the alter-ego personas developed around the album's theme by John, Paul, George and Ringo became the foundation stone of the glam rock genre in the generations that followed.
Rolling Stone Magazine went to rank Sgt. Pepper as the greatest album of all time based on votes received from rock musicians, critics and industry figures.
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