Wow.
This album seems to be revolutionary in the music world! It
sounds nothing like anything preceding it and it makes a gaping path for future
bands to follow. There are so many ways that this album carves out a new way of
music composition it will be hard to even cover half of them in this relatively
miniscule blog! I was pretty impacted upon listening to the entire album. I now
see clearly how they were constantly competing with the Beach Boys’ "Pet
Sounds" album. Pet Sounds was good, but this album knocks its socks off.
It is not that this album favors all my musical tastes that
I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Several songs which I’ll get into more a
little bit later, taste bitter to my ear. I enjoyed this album because at every
turn, the Beatles had a new element incorporated into their songs. This made
every song a new journey with fresh sounds bursting constantly around the
listener; keying in all their senses at once! I feel that a lot of albums don’t
do enough variation or experimentation in their music writing. For this reason,
I cherish the Beatles. As I continue to listen to their music over their entire
career, I gain a larger and larger appreciation for the depth of their musical
journey and success as artists. I think the Beatles are amongst the best
because of the changes they have made along the way and paving the way for new
sounds to erupt into the music industry.
Now, you might be wondering why I claim this album to be one
of the most unique and versatile of its time. It all starts at the basics of
this album. The Beatles got tired of touring so much so they reached a new
point in their career. In this part of their career, they decided to release
this album. Sergeant Pepper is, at its core, a concept album. Throughout the
album, the songs correspond with this storyline of a band named “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”. They make
up fake names for themselves too. I found this pretty amusing as well, because
once again it shows that the Beatles actually had a personality that was
readily available to the public eye. Anyway, this concept album makes me feel
like I’m watching a whole performance live, rather than just staring at my
computer screen and clicking on YouTube videos. While some of the songs in the
middle of the album may not directly pertain to the main story theme and idea,
the Beatles make a point of having concept-specific songs at the beginning and
end of the album. This serves well to connect the album into one unifying
performance and makes it that much more memorable.
Additionally,
they incorporate all kinds of sounds into their songs. In some parts I feel
like a little child. In others I feel lost in an Indian jungle. In still
others, I feel that John Lennon was literally doing drugs as he was singing.
All of these aspects make for an extremely versatile album with all kinds of
new things coming my way.
Now, I’d like to
go back to the beginning and end songs. These songs possess a certain quality
and vocal difference that makes me feel like I’m at a circus or happy
performance. The first song specifically, “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band”, sounds as if McCartney is not so much the lead vocalist but rather the
announcer. They also purposefully utilize a laugh track and other
crowd-sounding noises that give the illusion of a live performance. I thought
this was a revolutionary technique and they were really beginning to stretch
the capabilities of what the studios did. Never before in a song had I such
background sounds like this song. It felt more like an introduction to a
children’s circus than the first song of an album, but really pulled me in to
see what else they could bring to the table. Check it out for yourself:
Another song that sounded distinctly different than the original music of the Beatles was “She’s Leaving Home”. This song incorporates string instruments and starkly contrasts the otherwise hard-rock sounds of this album. It sounds like an orchestra and this offers a relief from the pop and rock songs of the beginning. This song acts as an intermission and can only really be fully respected when listened in relation to everything else. When I listen to it I also think it sounds like a Christmas carol for some reason.
The last weird song I’d like to highlight from this album is
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. I found it funny that the initials of the
title spell out LSD because that is EXACTLY what I think John Lennon was on
when he recorded this. His voice sounds as if he inhaled helium for five
minutes straight before the recording. The general countermelodies sound catchy
but I could never really get over the singing in the non-verse part. The main
verse had a great harmony, but the rest of the song (when Lennon sung solo) had
drugs written all over it. Listen to it for just twenty seconds and you’ll see
what I mean:
With all of this variation, I’d also like to throw in this last song because it is one of my personal favorites from the album. I've also noticed that I like Paul McCartney's songs much more than John Lennon's. Just to end on a high note with this blog, I’ll post it here:
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