Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

As far as personal favorites go, however, I still enjoy the White Album the most. Rubber Soul and Revolver are good also (Rubber Soul is better than Revolver, tho' Revolver is more of a break thru). YOu could see the dircetion they were going with a few of the songs off Help! Some of that material is on level with Rubber Soul. Abbey Road, which I didn't care much for now, I really enjoy now. Sgt Pepper, however, is the cultural milestone to end all cultural milestones.


Essential   November 26, 2000
 281 out of 313 found this review helpful

One of three LP/CDs by the Beatles among my all-time top ten, along with "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver". Though not my personal favorite, this recording is essential in any collection of pop/rock recordings. It has been, since its release, a standard by which others are measured. It also marks the high-water mark of the Beatles creativity as a band. After "Sgt. Pepper..." came a directionless time during which the "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Yellow Submarine" records were released, followed by the period the band's breakdown, as chronicled in the "White Album", "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road". Though these latter efforts contained plenty of great music, it was clear that the Beatles were increasingly unable to function together as a unit. Individual tracks almost always spotlighted one of the band members while the others worked essentially as a backing group.

During a recent TV special, it wa said that, during the time the Beatles were in the studio making "Sgt. Pepper...", there was a lot of doubt about what they would come out with and many fans were giving up on them. As someone who was around at the time, I certainly don't remember much of that. Of course, the Beatles always had a few doubters and detractors, but most of us were looking forward to their next record. Stories of how much time and effort were going into it only fueled our anticipation. It was like the release of the fourth Harry Potter book when "Sgt. Pepper..." finally came out. Some stores opened early and huge numbers were sold the first day of it's release. I bought a copy that day like many others. Nor was I disappointed. Since then, I have spent many hours listening to "Sgt. Pepper..." and I expect I'll spend many more.

To appreciate the significance of "Sgt. Pepper..." you have to understand the pivotal place of the Beatles in the culture of the time. Quite simply, they changed everything. Before the Beatles, the primary medium of pop/rock music was the 45 rpm single. The Beatles released a flood of good quality songs, many original, so that "albums" became more than just a couple of hit singles packaged with a bunch of throwaway tracks. All of the tracks were good and people began to buy albums because it was the best way to get all the music. "Sgt. Pepper..." took this a step further by making the album a more unified whole. It elevated pop/rock music to the level of art, implying an expressiveness and timelessness beyond anything rock had previously aspired to. But the impact of the Beatles went far beyond music. It entered into fashion, modes of behavior, and popular attitudes in a variety of areas. We were even fed a constant stream of news reports about what the Beatles were doing from day to day or week to week. London became, for a time, THE cultural center of the world.

"Sgt. Pepper..." itself has a timeless quality. Songs such as With A Little Help From My Friends, Getting Better, Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty-four and others have themes that people can relate to just as well today as when they were first released. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and A Day In The Life, while perhaps mored dated lyrically, are among the most interesting pieces in other respects.

For those of us who were around and listening when "Sgt. Pepper..." came out, it is more than just a record or CD. It marks the peak of a time of incredible energy and change. The decline and dissolution of the Beatles is something many of us still feel in a very personal way. Even today, we mourn the end of the Beatles and the death of John Lennon. Those events represent the passing and final end of something we treasured.

"Sgt. Pepper..." is a great record by a great band. Even more, it is a central landmark of its period and of its genre. If you think you like rock music, but you don't have a copy of "Sgt. Pepper...", sorry but you've missed it. Get a copy. You can't really appreciate the Beatles without it. Definitely a favorite of mine, and I expect it will be a favorite of yours, too.


The greatest album since the big bang   September 1, 2006
 68 out of 77 found this review helpful

I feel like a monumental jackass reviewing this album: should I review the Q'uran and Coka Cola Classic next? Is there any more fundamentally unassailable album in the history of music? Is anything more impervious to criticism?

I just feel like recording the joy [I am not exagerating] I'm feeling right now as my 11-year-old daughter is discovering this album. She is spurning Christina Aguilera and I don't know what other one-dimensional rot for the complex, multi-layered, polyphonic wonders of the peak album of the most musical foursome of all time. This feels like a great victory for me. Parenthood hath its rewards.

Just had to type that out.


Timeless...   July 20, 2000
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

First off, I am considerably younger than the majority of the reviewers of this album. I was born almost 15 years after its release. While I will obviously never be able to understand the full cultural impact of the Beatles because I wasn't there, the album still has something about it that separates it from all others.

Everything heard in any music today and anything I grew up listening to owes EVRYTHING to the Beatles, and this is where they really pushed the envelope. The amazing thing about the Beatles was that they remained on the cutting edge throughout their entire career. The only group that comes close to that nowadays is Radiohead.

With Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles single handedly reinvented rock n' roll. They took the best simple musicianship and songwriting skills and combined them with what "you couldn't do" on a rock album. Nothing since its release has changed music more.

Although I am young, I recognize a classic when I hear one, and when it comes to rock n' roll, this is THE classic among classics.


Re-master! Please!   July 15, 2000
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Please Capitol, take a cue from the success of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack and John Lennon's remastered Imagine and re-release Sgt. Pepper and the entire Beatles catalog remastered! Please give Sgt. Pepper the Pet Sounds treatment with stereo and mono versions on the same CD and extensive liner notes like Pet Sounds has. And how about a Sgt. Pepper Sessions box set? The stuff on Beatles Anthology 2 was very nice, but there has got to be more in the EMI vaults than that. If The Beach Boys deserve it, then certainly the greatest rock band ever deserves it also. The old 1988 release just isn't going to do it anymore. This great work of art deserves better.

As, for the album itself, what can I say? It's one of the best albums of all time. If I thought otherwise, I (and tons and tons of other music fans) wouldn't be clamoring for a remastered version.