Is 'Sgt. Pepper' overrated?

Pepper and Piper at the Gates of Dawn, both recorded at Abbey Road during the same period,

Edited by Hewitt - January 08 2022 at 20:42

The Dark Elf wrote: Hugh Manatee wrote: A very well considered and argued review, I would say. I would just like to take the opportunity to be pedantic about one thing: "Lyrically it [A Day in the Life] is based on three unrelated stories: the death in a traffic accident of a member of the House of Lords, a war that had just been won, and the - in the context - absurd story of 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire." Actually the reference to the war that had just been won is an allusion to the movie Lennon was in just before the recording of "Sgt. Peppers..." titled "How I Won the War", and its somewhat lukewarm reception. Lennon is referring to an actual news article he read ("I read the new today, oh boy'')regarding potholes in the streets of Blackburn: "There are 4000 holes in the road in Blackburn Lancashire, one twenty-sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical then there are over two million holes in Britain's roads and 300 000 in London." The next line "Now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall" is perhaps Lennon being cheeky and referring to a**holes in the seats, or more likely since the Royal Albert Hall seats about 8,000, then 50% of the audience has v*ginas. Because in tandem: Now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall -- I'd love to turn you on" An interesting...insertion, yes?

Hugh Manatee wrote: A very well considered and argued review, I would say. I would just like to take the opportunity to be pedantic about one thing: "Lyrically it [A Day in the Life] is based on three unrelated stories: the death in a traffic accident of a member of the House of Lords, a war that had just been won, and the - in the context - absurd story of 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire." Actually the reference to the war that had just been won is an allusion to the movie Lennon was in just before the recording of "Sgt. Peppers..." titled "How I Won the War", and its somewhat lukewarm reception.

Edited by The Dark Elf - January 03 2022 at 17:50

timothy leary wrote: Ran out of steam just like the Beatles who by the end were no better than Revolver/Rubber Soul

timothy leary wrote: Easy Money wrote: ^ The 'summer of love' was a media exaggeration, unfortunately a lot of dumb kids fell for it, left home and ended up homeless in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other locales. San Francisco is freezing cold at night year round, I've heard that summer (67) was particularly warm, but still, I bet a lot of naive kids froze their ass off that summer. Doesn't the temp have to go below 32 to "freeze your ass off" ?

Technically yes, but that cold Pacific wind at night makes for a hell of a wind chill factor.
Now that you mention it, I suppose no one's ass actually falls off when you freeze.

Edited by Easy Money - December 30 2021 at 14:46

Easy Money wrote: ^ The 'summer of love' was a media exaggeration, unfortunately a lot of dumb kids fell for it, left home and ended up homeless in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other locales. San Francisco is freezing cold at night year round, I've heard that summer (67) was particularly warm, but still, I bet a lot of naive kids froze their ass off that summer.

^ The 'summer of love' was a media exaggeration, unfortunately a lot of dumb kids fell for it, left home and ended up homeless in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other locales.
San Francisco is freezing cold at night year round, I've heard that summer (67) was particularly warm, but still, I bet a lot of naive kids froze their ass off that summer.

Edited by Easy Money - December 29 2021 at 21:07

It's mainly important because it was innovative. The album influenced most or all Pop bands in the U.S. shortly after its release. One particular aspect of Sgt. Pepper that was outright copied was the zany Broadway affect in "Fixing A Hole" or "When I'm 64" which began to turn up everywhere in Rock Music thereafter. The Kinks had that style in 66' with "Little Miss Queen Of Darkness" but the difference with Pepper was George Martin . The sound and style of the horns, the orchestration was turning up on Lovin Spoonful albums and literally everybody that had a hit record. It inspired generations of musicians to write differently. It was innovative for the times we were living in. It actually inspired most bands to do concept albums. Of course other bands were already doing this and so that narrows it down to the fact that Pepper was more appealing and very much a new style of writing in 67' that no one was pulling off in that way. The same applies to Laura Nyro's style of writing which was more adventurous and required skill to play properly. She actually changed song writing. Everyone copied her chord changes, her voicing, and her syncopation in rhythm. Sgt. Pepper had that kind of impact on musicians. I don't like the entire album and I rarely listen to it, but I don't rule out that it was innovative.