#0078: The Beatles - Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band [*****]

In 1987, to mark the 20th anniversary of this iconic, standard-setting work of pure fucked-up genius, the artists of the day recreated the entire album and called it Sgt Pepper Knew My Father.

You may remember from my review of Rubber Soul that I had never heard Sgt Pepper due to a printing error.  In point of fact, SPKMF was the first time I had heard these songs in order.  It occurred to me that I was incapable of judging those covers cuz I had no frame of reference.  So I went out and bought the remastered original.

It is impossible for me to recreate my response to my first listen and to tell you the truth, I know this album so well now I could write this from memory.  Even weaker tracks over the further 20 odd years since the remaster, have become beloved to me even if just by virtue of repetition.

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

The sound of an audience at the start of a show creates anticipation.  For those who bought this when it came out, it must've echoed their own nervous excitement because the Beatles had been away constructing this for quite some considerable time and the fans knew a change was coming.

Then exploding out from the hubbub the riff, dirty and jagged like the lid of a hand-opened tin can, tears its way through to the front.  The vocal is gutsy, the harmonies panoramic and the grand crescendo as the title line is delivered is a promise any right thinking person would struggle to believe could be delivered.

With A Little Help From My Friends

But the seamless transition into this two-edged stomper is all the reassurance you need.  So Ringo's singing and you might be forgiven for thinking, "We're only one track in.  It's a bit early for a shit one."

But again the harmony support, the entrance of the bass and drums for the chorus and the power of its melody and message makes you forget that Ringo has the weakest voice of the four.

The harmonies that come in on the second verse are my favourite part.  Exquisite.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Ever done acid?  I've listened to this song before and after my awakening and I honestly don't care if Lucy is code for Lysergic or not.  This song is trippy as fuck.  Is that a harpsichord picking out the opening theme?  Again, the instrumentation is daring.  But the bass line is the unsung hero of the verses, for my money.

This practice of a soft verse with a hard chorus I have a feeling was pioneered on this album[*].  It's a form that has been used to great effect on any number of all time classics.  Elton John, on his version of this (which I prefer in some ways, like his version of Pinball Wizard), make much more of the bouncy, glam drums but that would sound out of place here.

And the lyrics are arguably the best space-cadet words in songwriting history.  Kaleidoscope eyes.  Fucking genius.

Getting Better

The octave on the guitar pattern here is the hook.  Simple as a smack in the face and just as effective at getting your attention.  It's very McCartney and it's one of those songs that makes me smile whenever I hear it.

Fixing A Hole

The bridge parts of this aren't among my favourites either lyrically or musically and it's a shame really cuz the verses are amazing.  The plaintive words and melody express mature themes with an unpretentious philosophical tone that can comfort and inspire when you're reevaluating things.  And that descending pattern on the guitar that comes in after the irresistably singable "where it will go".  So the middle bit's a bit shit.  I've made my peace with it.

She's Leaving Home

It's been too long and the NME compilation with the Billy Bragg version has long since been lost from my collection.  This song is a salutary lesson in counterpoint that is entirely appropriate for its treatment of the subject matter.   It deftly handles the upset, confusion and even anger the parents feel but also the daughter's perspective.  Played on conventional instruments it would still be a brilliant song but the use of harp is a stroke of scene-setting brilliance that is outshone only by the cello doing what cellos do best - haunt and make the heart ache.

Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite

After the somewhat harrowing track preceding, a bit of light relief is in order but nobody expected this absurd little interlude.  It's another one that I've come to like over the years.  Does it have any hidden meaning?  Or is it just a load of bollocks?  The instrumental section - i.e. the accompaniment for Henry The Horse's waltz - is pretty great actually.  The fairground organ puts me in mind of a carousel and the scene in the Elephant Man where Elphick's character shows up and gets into the house somehow and they're spinning Merrick around and pouring whiskey into his mouth?  It's quite a disturbing scene really.  Throw a horse dancing into the mix and you've got yourself a nervous breakdown.

Within You Without You

Okay.  Now this is why you don't get six stars.  This entire time I was ready to breach the five star system in the other direction and I genuinely thought this would be one of them.  But I always forget about this cuz it's George Harrison and his bloody sitars.  It's not an unpleasant sound I suppose but I just don't get on with this directionless meandering about the scale.

When I'm 64

This is a perfectly placed song.  Wakes me up after the weird ones.  Try to forget its use as the theme tune to shows like Points Of View.  The image of Barry Took isn't going to be conducive to capturing the 30s atmosphere created mostly by the clarinets.  

Lovely Rita

I always get this tune in my head whenever I see a police woman.  I know it's wrong on some level but it's not like I decide to do it.  It just pops in there.  It's such a funky song when you think about it.

Good Morning Good Morning

This is the kind of track you might have chosen to open side 2 but here, approaching the end of the album the statement is made that this collection still has some balls. It kinda plays the same part as Got To Get You Into My Life on Revolver.  It's a thumper of a tune.  Yes, there are time changes but each section has its own addictive rhythm.  Not sure about the fox hunt noises at the end, mind.

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

So good they played it twice.  This double tempo reprise of the title track is the finale.  This is the kind of music cast members can walk to the apron to and take a bow.  Some progressions just have that quality.  The album could quite easily end here and you'd leave satisfied but they've planned an encore and what an epilogue it makes.

A Day In The Life

Hailed by many as the greatest Beatles song ever written**, this is a ground breaking song format still emulated today by Coldplay and the Foos to name but two of the biggest bands in the world right now.  I've never been able to make much sense of the words so I don't feel very emotionally attached to it lyrically but the music is a masterful display of arrangement.  It builds from simple beginnings to a powerful crescendo and then drops right back down to the piano but at double tempo and builds again before the opening theme comes crashing back in for the close.  It's ambitious and daring and a perfect ending to the album.

"Never Could Be Any Other Way"?

Is this part of A Day In The Life?  The weird loop at the very end?  I think I remember somebody at school saying if you played that backwards it said "Paul is dead".  I've never tried.  I could never be arsed.  

* - I could be wrong.  I don't do a lot of research for these reviews.  If I have the wrong info in my head, please feel free to correct me in the comments.
** - and certainly by this site