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.


A Magical World Never Bettered: V 2.0   January 14, 2000
Mike London (Oxford, UK)
67 out of 71 found this review helpful

This whole album is a masterpiece. Nothing has been done before or since that can equal this one. Of course its been said a zillion times, but its really true. I bought it in Christmas back a few years ago (1997), and as I listened to it, it got better and better. For me, The Beatles (at first) took some time getting used too. Then they got stronger and stronger. On this record, they do almost the impossible. They create an entire magical fantasy. Its delishisouly (spelling?) sweet. The First Concept Album was indeed the finest. Everything works well with the concept. The album sleeve works better with the music than any I have seen. They help endear us to this wonderful world The Beatles are taking us too. At first I thought it was a bunch of hype, and the reason I bought it was because I was rapidly sinking (regressing, some of the younger people I know say) into the older music. I wanted Sgt Pepper cause everyone talked about it and had never heard it. This record will never be equalled, I fear. I wish it would, because I would love to do some more exploring. They took us on a Magical Mystery Tour on this one. Ironic, they did exactly that on this record, and though it was a concept album I don't think it was their intention, and then they made a concept movie with this in mind, and they didn't do that well (for The Beatles). If you want a record like no other, go out and buy this right now. Another great record that came out the same year is The Doors (debut). If it weren't for this, that would easily be the best for that year. But Sgt Pepper has surpassed all others. The Beatles never were able to do it again. They did get it in isolated moments, but never for the whole record like on this. No one else has ever come close. This deserves all the acclaim it gets.

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.


The greatest album since the big bang   September 1, 2006
J. V. Lewis (secure undisclosed location)
85 out of 96 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.


What can be said that hasn't been said already?   December 13, 2002
Adam Bernstein (Northwest, USA)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

This was the 1st Beatles album I bought, 1977, age 12. This uncanny masterpiece got it's title from Paul who was looking for long names like the San Francisco bands had. Once he told John, "We're just getting fan mail from lonely people. We're nothing but a lonely hearts club band"...and the rest, as they say, is history. John had the idea of a circus-like atmosphere, and the song Strawberry Fields was to originally be in the album.

This psychedelic trip into '60s consciousness begins with an orchestra warming up, and they launch into the title song with Paul's full throated vocals. He then introduces "Billy Shears" and Ringo sings.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds follows this, and John says it was Julian's drawing that gave him the title...you decide. Getting Better is a great anti-school song and a throwback to the skiffle days, using a bunch of random objects for the rhythm. (Paul performed this song for the 1st time on his recent US tour) Fixing a Hole is a trippy foray into Paul's dreamworld of higher consciousness. She's Leaving Home is a great classical stab at the '60s generation gap (Paul performed this on the recent fall tour) Mr. Kite is the circus song, featuring a pipe organ and lyrics taken directly from an antique circus poster...typical Lennon humor.

Side 2 starts with George's Eastern mysticism with "Within You Without You" using Ravi Shankar's sitar-based Indian Raga which caused a musical and spiritual revolution. When I'm 64 Paul said he wrote as a teen, but added the "64" in honor of his father then 64 (Now Paul is 60). Lovely Rita was written from the perspective of a shy guy who wants to ask out a meter maid.

Good Morning is a rock masterpiece, but John didn't agree. Then Reprise, and finally A Day in the Life, a great psychedelic song by John with Paul's interlude and a 40 piece orchestra recreating a drug rush. On the original British LP there was single groove of gibberish at the end, now a collectors item.


You have to read a review of this?   October 2, 2000
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

If you have to read a review of this CD, you have little faith in the Beatles. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearst Club Band is one the all time best pieces of music from anywhere. Impossible to not dig and impossible to get tired of. But be prepared, you can't listen to one song at a time, you must listen to the whole CD together for the full effect. Brilliant!

This was the 1st Beatles CD I owned. And I bought it only because I had finally learned who wrote the song that had been stuck in my head since I was a tot. That song was "When I'm 64". Buying that CD just to get that song out of my head, unexpectedly openned a flood gate to the Beatles and eventually a new world of thinking. And to a whole new world of music. If someone asked me "What is music?" I would have to answer "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band!" Its definatley one of the CDs I'd want with me if I were stranded on a desert island. This CD doses out a wide range of emotions that you can feel...it may just be the first interactive piece of music... because you enjoy it body and soul. Enjoy!