This is such a classic, I hesitated to review it at first. But I was listening to the radio today and heard "Lovely Rita" and "Lucy in the Sky" (Beatles A-Z, very cool stuff) and so I decided it was time.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band This is such a cool song. We play it for marching/pep band. Wait, that should be "played" since we haven't EVEN (you laugh here) gotten it out this year yet! The little chatter at the beginning just gets you all the more excited for what is to come. A great one for singing along with Paul. It just starts the album off well and does well introducing the 'concept' of the album. As well as introducing..........Bil-ly Shears! (En realidad, Ringo, but you know what I meant!)
With a Little Help From My Friends This is just a fun little song. Ringo does a nice job singing the words that were, after all, written just for him. The Joe Cocker cover is actually a little sad, unless you weren't around when it was released and associate it only with Kevin, Paul and Winnie running around on home video.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds The third song, and the second one to have a cover that got national airplay. (I put in that last bit because I'm sure there are tons of garage bands out there that have covered Within You Without You. Well, in India anyway :-) The imagery in this song is just very exciting. Celophane flowers, newspaper taxis, and above all, kalidescope eyes. That would be such a nice compliment, I think, if you actually were the girl with kalidescope eyes. I like the Elton John version too. It's more fun, I think, but you lose sight of the lyrics in that one in favor of the reggae beat.
Getting Better Call me a sellout if you will, but I actually like the version of this song used in the Phillips ads. I'm against it in principle, but it's a nice little snippet. Better, for sure, than Vonda Shepard slaughtering old 60's tunes on Ally McBeal. But I digress. The original, as heard here, is an interesting song and holds its own against so many strong tracks.
Fixing a Hole This song has that neat harpsichord-ish intro and then goes into a kind of skiffle thing. I don't *love* it but it has its moments. Nice narrative.
She's Leaving Home Now, I know most of you will attack me for this, but Leaving is my least favorite song on the album. I don't know why I don't like it, I guess maybe it's just too sappy. Noteable only because on the Simpsons episode with Paul, he asks "She's leaving home?" upon hearing that Lisa has run away from home.
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! This is a pretty cool song. My favorite line is "and of course, Henry the Horse, dances the waltz." I don't really like circuses, but this song makes me think I might like to see the one it's describing. Again, great imagery in the lyrics.
Within You Without You My opinion of this song is tainted by two things. One, since George is my favorite Beatle, I tend to be a little more lenient when it comes to his songs. Two, I first heard the instrumental-only version of this song on Anthology 2, and I liked that. So some people might think this song is boring, but I think it's pretty cool. Although the instrumental-only is better becaust you can think your own thoughts instead of hearing some guy's voice singing about people. I once read that the laughter at the end is supposed to be mocking George. I don't know if that's true, take it for what it's worth.
When I'm 64 This song gets mention because it's Mr. Lukens' favorite Beatle song. He says it's because of the clarinet. While the clarinet is a fine instrument, my friends and I think it's because his wife teaches this song to the 7th grade General Music class. Or used to anyway, do they even still have that class? I don't know. Well back to the song. It's pretty cute; a true McCartney number. When I was in Gen. Music, my class' favorite part was "Vera, Chuck, and Dave!" To this day, I have no idea why.
Lovely Rita My favorite song on the album. And I say this in spite of the ending "jam session" part, the rest is that good. It would be fun to do a video of this one. I like it because usually in media, meter maids are presented as middle-aged, matronly, cranky, etc. But Rita is, duh, lovely. And probably kind as well.
Good Morning Good Morning I like the saxes in this song. They contribute to the the driving beat that keeps it going. The animal sounds are a bit silly but ultimately add to the song. The chicken cluck that turns into a guitar note is so cool.
Sgt. Pepper (reprise) I really have nothing to say about this song except that the "Woo!" is just fun.
A Day in the Life There is a story behind this song, well about the Anthology 2 version anyway. In that version, Paul flubs "somebody spoke & I went into a dream," substituting "everybody" for the first word. And then, to express his frustration over this error, he comments, "Oh shit." Naturally I found this hilarious, and one day at county fair Sharon, some assorted brothers, and I sat around listening to that little bit many times. Another cool thing about the A2 version is the dude counting. Now that is just creepy. But the real version is great, too. I love the huge multi-piano chord at the end. It brings a sense of closure to the album. Which, of course, is immediately broken by the gibberish at the very end, but what the hey.
I admit that when it actually was "20 years ago today" I had little to no interest
in this album, but when it was *30* years, I made a special point of listening to this
CD. And if you're not familiar with the album, you should make a special point of
listening to it, too!
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