21 May Album Review: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band // The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The band consisted of remarkable John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and are regarded as the most influential band of all time. The Beatles originated as a skiffle group and then quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.
“I made a suggestion. I said, ‘We need to get away from ourselves – how about if we just become sort of an alter ego band? ”
-Paul McCartney
In August 1966, the Beatles permanently retired from touring. Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the push towards the Sgt. Pepper concept.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth album by the band which essentially represents a performances by the fictional band. The album roughly follows a narrative of watching a single live production. This alter ego would let them loose from their image as Beatles and give them the freedom to experiment musically and create an avante garde concept. There were numerous influences for the album. McCartney envisioned the Beatles’ alter egos being able ‘to do a bit of B.B.King, a bit of Stockhausen, a bit of Albert Ayler, a bit of Ravi Shanker, a bit of Pet Sounds, a bit of the Doors.‘
The freedom from live performances did not necessitate that Beatles songs now sounded practiced or rehearsed, and indeed they weren’t.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had also received acclaim for being the first “concept album”, an album in which a single idea unifies the entire recording (as opposed to most albums, which are simply collections of songs without such an overarching theme. In this case, the concept was the live performance by the fictional band.
Although John Lennon never felt it was along the lines of a concept album. “It doesn’t go anywhere,” he said. “All my contributions to the album have absolutely nothing to do with the idea of Sgt Pepper and his band; but it works, because we said it worked, and that’s how the album appeared. But it was not put together as it sounds, except for Sgt Pepper introducing Billy Shears, and the so called reprise. Every other song could have been on any other album.”
Regardless, what Pepper did was bring the idea of concept album to the attention of the mass media and public – it was (and arguably still is) the most famous example of one. So perhaps it was the first concept of a concept album.
I found the album cover to be another interesting aspect. It featured a Pop-Edwardian design, with a star-studded crowd — including eight Beatles ( 4 wax statues of The Beatles as most people remember them: nicely brushed long hair, dark suits, faces like sassy choirboys and the other 4 very much alive: thin, hippie-looking, mustachioed, bedecked in bright, bizarre uniforms) — gathered around a grave with “THE BEATLES” spelled out in flowers. The cover collages include all of the people that they admire and look up to; a diversity of famous influential people including actors, sportsmen, scientists and more.
The album — which took a little over three months to produce, over four to six sessions a week sold 2.5 million copies in its first three months.
Musically, the record is wildly innovative, built on double-tracking, tape effects, and studio technology.Some of the mixing used automatic double tracking (ADT), a system that uses tape recorders to create a simultaneous doubling of a sound. The sound effects at the end of “Good Morning Good Morning” were the most demonstrative sounds on the record.
Although both stereo and mono mixes of the album were prepared, the Beatles spent more time on the mono mixes.
The album opens with a phony live performance by the Lonely Hearts Band, a sort of Vegas act. The title track starts within 10 seconds of the combined sounds of an orchestra warming up and an audience waiting for a concert, creating the illusion of the album as a live performance McCartney acts as the master of ceremonies towards the end introducing Starr as an alter ego named Billy Shears.
The lyrics of the music open up more ideas, opinions and interpretations. Concerns that some f the lyrics in Sgt. Pepper refers to recreational drug use. The meaning of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was a matter of controversy and speculation, as many believed that the title was code for LSD. This also led to BBC banning several songs from British radio. Some say this song sort of presents a psychedelic experience. The lyrics to “She’s Leaving Home” address the problem of conflicting opinions and generation gap. The final track “A Day in the Life” is complex in it’s construction yet has a breezy vibe. The sustained ringing chords of the song is another distinct colour.
The Beatles were then widely publicized as leaders of youth culture, as well as “lifestyle revolutionaries“.
“With characteristic self-mockery, the Beatles are proclaiming that they have snuffed out their old selves to make room for the new Beatles incarnate, and there is some truth to it. ”
– TIME
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Hello there! I’m Soumya Sofat, a vocalist based in Delhi and currently completing my Artist Diploma at GMI. Growing up on popular music, my musical journey started at a very young age and it has been close to my heart and I’ve been passionate about it ever since. In school, I performed solo and with an Acapella group at numerous music fests and competitions and that was where I really explored my musical capabilities. Music has always been a constant for me no matter what I’ve done. It helped me overcome my struggles and has shaped me as a person.
GMI has helped me explore different genres and styles of music like jazz that I never tried before. There’s just something about the environment on campus that just makes you want to fully dive into the music since everyone here understands your path. It’s such an honour and privilege to learn the intricacies of music from the supremely talented faculty and and spending time with all the wonderful artists here.
The above album review was submitted as a project for the Art of Listening elective. Led by Andrea Fraenzel, the elective focuses on the most important aspect of musical learning: listening! Each class has a pre-defined topic and the students listen to related pieces – no distraction, no mobile phones! The topics range from instruments to performances, artists, songs etc. and also adjusted to audience’ preference and taste. Every week one of the students co -hosts the session with Andrea.
Images courtesy The Beatles website
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