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Truly a landmark album, not only in the Beatles history, but in the history of recorded music. It was the first “concept” album and while that’s fine and dandy, the album would have never worked if it didn’t have amazing songs, and this album has 13 of them. If you can believe it, none of these songs were ever released as singles, so all the songs on this album have attained fame over the years just because how great this album was.
The Album
1) Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hears Club Band
This is the song that started the revolution, baby. It’s a great song that was the start of the concept album (though really there are only 3 songs to that concept, the rest are just songs). McCartney’s singing is incredible on the song and playing is great as well.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
2) With A Little Help From My Friends
Nice happy little song that is given to Ringo to sing and it directly follows Sgt. Peppers. The two songs melt into each other to really give the concept idea. The song is really easy, rhythmically, and it’s perfectly suited for Ringo’s voice. Overall, it’s a great song that anyone can sing along too.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 5
3) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Very trippy music on this one and people would later assume its an LSD song due to the references Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Whatever the reference, it’s a beautigfully crafted song and the lyrics are amazing. It’s an enchanting melody and I can see people tripping out to this back in 1967.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
4) Getting Better
What’s unique about this song is the one-note theme that is played the whole song. It’s based in F and they just plug away at it during the choruses. The overall guitar sound on this song is one of the greatest sounds they’d record and the call and response lyrics are great. John actually added the “it can’t much worse” line to the song which gives it a unique spin.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
5) Fixing A Hole
Another great song on the album, but probably my least favorite. There isn’t really anything that makes it stand out in my mind except for the chordal solo that George plays.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
6) She’s Leaving Home
A song with no guitar on it. This is a nice song that tells a rather sad story and the music reflects that. I always love the middle parts where one would sing a note and hold it while another voice would sing an underlying theme. Great vocal pieve on the album.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
7) Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
This is a song John took entirely from an old carnival poster he had bought. The song has that circusy feel to it and would the light-hearted number one would need when they hear what was up next.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
8) Within You Without You
Probably one of the most exotic song the Beatles ever recorded. George had experimented with an Indian flavored song the album before with Love You To, but this would be a full-blown attempt on it. It’s such a deep song, with many spiritual references that is a lot to digest. The melody is beautiful and entrancing and after its over you just don’t know what to think until the laughter at the end brings you back to reality.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 4
9) When I’m Sixty-Four
So after a heavy song like Within You Without You, we get this campy song written by Paul. It’s a fun-loving song which Paul usually put at one per album (like Maxwell’s Silver Hammer as an example) It’s not a serious song and doesn’t say anything, it’s just there to entertain.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
10) Lovely Rita
This would become my second favorite song on the album. The compressed acoustic guitars at the beginning sound so great its hard not to get immediately drawn into the song. It’s a nice littly ditty with a swank acoustic guitar sound throughout and the song goes right into…
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
11) Good Morning
This is a Lennon song and another great one. The rooster starts this one off and it just kicks off from there. The rhythm throughout is amazing and the Harrison solo is excellent in its little fills. The song is sung pretty quickly in a sort of rapping style I always liked. Another great song that finishes with barnyard animals and goes into…
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
12) Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The third and final song of the concept, this is basically the Sgt. Pepper band coming back on stage thanking us for the show. It’s only a minute long but it gets the concept point across.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
13) A Day In The Life
This is long considered the best Beatles song ever recorded. It’s just such an amazing song with the beautiful Lennon opening, the orgy of sound in the middle, the alarm clock breaking the mood and Paul’s little section, another orgy of sound, John Lennon’s part again, and another final climax that concludes with a 50 second piano chord. There is a little snippet thrown on at the end that is a loop of something being sung. This song just takes you on a ride and it amazing from the first chord until the last.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 2
The Liner Notes
There’s actually 28 pages of liner notes here. The cover is the famous cover of the Beatles with the group of cardboard standouts behind them and the back is a track listing. Pages 2 and 3 have a listing of everyone who is actually on the cover. Pages 4-6 have an extract from the book, The Beatles at Abbey Road and give information of each track. Page 7 has a Peter Blake (cover designer) essay. Pages 8 and 9 have some photos from the album cover shoot. Pages 10 and 11 have a spread out picture of the Beatles. Pages 12-25 have the lyrics listed and also pictures of the Beatles in their costumes. Page 26 has a note about the original cover packaging and page 27 is just a psychedelic looking page.
The Sound
This was recorded WAY back in 1967 using analog tapes and only 4 track tapes to boot. It sounds really good for its age. Nowhere near the standards of today, but the Beatles sounding like this is better than anything released now, in my totally unbiased opinion!
The Final Review
This is routinely put at the top of any greatest album charts and there’s a reason for that. The album from top to bottom is absolutely fabulous. I don’t think anyone reading this would need to rely on what I said to hear the album. If you own it you know how great it is, and if you don’t, you’re probably not a Beatles fan. Personally, there are 2 albums I like better, but this one has more historical impact than those other 2 albums.
3rd out of 13
Final Rating:
10
Final Yeah Count: 0
Final Love Count: 9
Cumulative Yeah Count: 164
Cumalative Love Count: 280
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