It's been awhile since I felt compelled to write, but a birthday, an album's birthday, has inspired me to start writing again.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band turns 40 tomorrow. The album has aged well, because despite being very much of its time, it still sounds as exciting today as it did 40 years ago. There aren't many albums for which that can be said.
Why are we making such a big deal about an album that is 40 years old? Well, you can't deny it changed the way we viewed albums. The unique sounds that came from using the recording studio as an instrument also contributed to the importance of Pepper's place in rock music history.
In 1967, albums were still, as Keith Richards so gracefully described, "one or two singles and ten tracks of shit." Sgt. Pepper changed that. For one, there were no singles and there was no filler. The Beatles had the time to create an album that cried out to be listened to from beginning to end. Not because of any theme running through the songs. Not because of any secret message that would be interrupted if you skipped a song. No, it was simply because each song was great.
Sure, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," appeared again toward the end of the record, and "A Day in the Life," as an album closer, is as good as it gets. It's easy to draw from the distinct opening and closing pieces of the album, that everything between was somehow connected. It wasn't.
Pepper raised the bar for what an album could be and it inspired other artists to stretch beyond their limits. I don't think you can talk about Pepper without mentioning Brian Wilson. Wilson and the Beach Boys had released Pet Sounds in 1966, an album that had a big influence on Paul McCartney.
With Pepper, the Beatles did the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson one better. The Beatles filled Pepper with waves of sounds normally not found on a pop record. The standard foundation of guitar, bass, piano/organ, and drums were enhanced by the sounds of a calliope, courtesy of George Martin's ingenuity, orchestras, a harpsichord, a tamboura, crowd noise, and animal sounds (pet sounds?).
Overdubbing, which had always been a part of the group's recording process, was becoming more and more important to the creation of the layers of sound. There was so much overdubbing going on that Ringo, once the basic tracks were recorded, became very good at playing chess!
Pepper's importance to rock and roll can't be overstated, but for the Beatles, Pepper was also an important statement.
Although most of the Fab Four and lovable mop top nonsense had started to fade by 1966, Pepper confirmed that "the boys" had become men. With touring over, the Beatles were settling into a period of studio work that produced some of their best songs.
Pepper was also the first Beatles album to be released in the same fashion in both the UK and in the States. In the UK, Pepper was the group's eighth album of new material. In the US, Capitol Records was able to squeeze out eleven records before Pepper was released.
This nonsense ended with Pepper, and with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour, the remaining Beatles albums were released with the same covers and songs in both countries.
Sadly, Pepper was also the last album released while Brian Epstein was alive. It's easy to ponder all the what-ifs, but Brian Epstein's death was the beginning of the end for the group.
So, if timing is everything, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was born at the right time. Rock and roll would never be the same after Pepper's release, nor would the Beatles. Both would get along for a few more years, with rock and roll actually making it into the 70s before being pushed into the underground.
If you don't own this, find it and buy it. Listen to it from start to finish and revel in the magic that is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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