MoeFOH's Album of the Week... Week #34

[MoeFOH]

MoeFOH's Album of the Week 🎶

Same as the movie thread, each week we're going to spotlight an album... be it a classic, new release, hidden gem, or outright turd... and open it for discussion: i.e. post up your favourite tracks, clips, lyrics, experiences if you saw live, etc... or dive deeper and give us a critique on why you think it's great, overrated, or a complete train wreck... And finally score it for us...  

All contributors go into a monthly prize draw for a 3-cigar sampler! 

PM me with suggestions if there's an album you want to nominate for next week's discussion. 

 

Week #34: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Wiki says: 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.

At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, Revolver, this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24 November at EMI Studios with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from EMI, the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track.

A key work of British psychedelia, Sgt. Pepper is considered one of the first art rock LPs and a progenitor to progressive rock. It incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. With assistance from producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, much of the recordings were coloured with sound effects and tape manipulation, as exemplified on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "A Day in the Life". Recording was completed on 21 April. The cover, which depicts the Beatles posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures, was designed by the pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth.

Sgt. Pepper's release was a defining moment in pop culture, heralding the album era and the 1967 Summer of Love, while its reception achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form. The album spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the United States. In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour; in 2003, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by Rolling Stone magazine and in the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and the UK's "Music of the Millennium" poll. More than 32 million copies had been sold worldwide as of 2011. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time and was still, in 2018, the UK's best-selling studio album. A remixed and expanded edition of the album was released in 2017.

Over to you...

How do you rate it? 🤔

Thoughts, experiences, memories... post em' up! 

Score it out of 10!  

[MoeFOH]

 

[KCCubano]

Certainly one of my faves of all time. Easy 10/10 for me! 

[bassistheplace]

How many albums have ever been recorded that are cultural watershed events, that transcend multiple generations, that artists STILL refer to as major influences??

the 10 point system cannot contain the magnitude of this work of art

[Ford2112]

10. It is a benchmark album. A day in the life is a masterpiece. But really the whole album is great.

[JohnS]

Ever since the question of the "greatest album of all time" question surfaced around the 1980s this album has been considered No.1. Now that popular music has entered the streaming era artists concentrate more on singles and the question therefore has changed. Of late, Rolling Stone and Acclaimed Music have put Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band lower on their lists (Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' and the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' respectively).

In regards to its influence on popular music and even pop culture in general, I would opine that the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Club Hearts Band' is the best album of all time. However; from a strictly musical point of view, I would argue that 'Revolver' is better because each song on that album is stronger. The songs on 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' are not as individually strong. For example, George Harrison wrote much better songs than 'Within You, Without You' and Paul McCartney too with 'When I'm 64'. Nevertheless, as an album concept this album is groundbreaking.

It's a 10 out of 10 album for sure. Personally, I still listen to it as intended...in Mono. Giles Martin, the original Beatles' long-time producer George Martin's son, did a superb job on the stereo mix on the 50th anniversary release in 2017, for sure. I do very much wish 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' were on this album. Anyway, it's great as it is.

[bassistheplace]

I still listen to it as intended...in Mono   YES

[Puros Y Vino]

An easy 10/10 for me.  I grew up with two older brothers that bought some Beatles albums. I enjoyed their early stuff but when I heard Sgt Peppers, even as a young kid, I knew this was something special. There is so much depth to the music, yet it retains the charm of the original Beatles sound.  I would definitely put it out there as one of the best albums of all time. 

[Doctorossi]

I can't knock it. 10/10.

[mtd057]

  I listen to this album from start to finish very often.  I've been doing this all my life - love it!  10/10

[helix]

Epic 10.

[BuzzArd]

It’s pretty good.   9/10

I do love A Day in the Life

 

Definitely better than anything Springsteen ever put out. 

[Ford2112]

14 hours ago, JohnS said:

However; from a strictly musical point of view, I would argue that 'Revolver' is better because each song on that album is stronger. The songs on 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' are not as individually strong. For example, George Harrison wrote much better songs than 'Within You, Without You' and Paul McCartney too with 'When I'm 64'. Nevertheless, as an album concept this album is groundbreaking.

Spot on,John.