40 years ago today ...

 

 

 

I know, maybe not even the Beatles' greatest album, but a very important one historically and in the Band's evolution from poppy to trippy. And the biggest collection of evidence for perhaps one of the more fun conspiracy theories ever.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper...earts_Club_Band

http://www.thebeatles.com/sgtpepper/

http://paulisdead.adastra23.com/

They've been going in and out of style, but they're guarenteed to raise a smile.

The Beatles are overrated. :shifty

Maybe the Beatles 5th best record, and still one of the 15 or 20 greatest of all time. Amazing.

The Beatles are overrated. :shifty

It's impossible to overrate the Beatles. The impact they had on music is remarkable and will probably never be reached again by anyone.

Forget the impact. The reason they can't be overrated is because they wrote a good majority of the greatest songs ever.

Maybe the Beatles 5th best record, and still one of the 15 or 20 greatest of all time. Amazing.

 

 

What are the top 4 then?

Definitely my favorite Beatles record.

 

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. Revolver

3. Abbey Road

4. The Beatles

5. Rubber Soul

I agree, it's my favorite as well.

 

1. Sgt Pepper's

2. Abbey Road

3. White Album

4. Rubber Soul

5. A Hard Day's Night

Definitely my favorite Beatles record.

 

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. Revolver

3. Abbey Road

4. The Beatles

5. Rubber Soul

 

 

I would put Revolver just above SPLHCB, but yeah that just about does it.

They're a little too ubiquitous for me to love, but they deserve all the props they get. Their catalogue is deeper, stronger, and possibly more varied than anyone else's.

Maybe the Beatles 5th best record, and still one of the 15 or 20 greatest of all time. Amazing.

 

 

What are the top 4 then?

 

1. Abbey Road

1A. Revolver

1B. White Album

1C. Rubber Sould

1D. Sgt. Pepper's

2. Let It Be

3. Magical Mystery Tour

4. Hard Day's Night

5. Please Please Me

1. Abbey Road

2. The Beatles (The White Album)

3. Revolver

4. Magical Mystery Tour

5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

So my mom sends me a link to the American Idol people doing a Sgt Pepper's medley, and it made me realize just how good the album is, and how much cheesy rearrangements should never be done with it. The song writing may not be the best, but the arrangements on that album are absolutely perfect, no question.

 

And those f***ers took out the 2nd verse of "She's Leaving Home" and just skipped to the third verse. What the hell, the song makes no sense if you do that. The 2nd verse is the emotional core of it. Otherwise the background "We gave her most of our lives, etc" part makes no sense.

 

In short, not the best written album (many of the songs are sort of spare, and I think it's because John was less involved than on any other album, so they miss his half), but the arrangement and production is absolutely perfect.

They're a little too ubiquitous for me to love, but they deserve all the props they get. Their catalogue is deeper, stronger, and possibly more varied than anyone else's.

Oddly, I think I would have to throw Aerosmith and Madonna up there for strong and varied staying power.

 

Obviously in the world of rock, there are the Beatles then there is everyone else.

They're a little too ubiquitous for me to love, but they deserve all the props they get. Their catalogue is deeper, stronger, and possibly more varied than anyone else's.

Oddly, I think I would have to throw Aerosmith and Madonna up there for strong and varied staying power.

 

Obviously in the world of rock, there are the Beatles then there is everyone else.

 

Aerosmith sold their souls to have staying power. I'm not dissing them for it, but if it weren't for that godawful Armageddon song, they would have slipped completely out of the public consciousness. Their mid 70's output was solid, but I'm not sure they deserve all of the accolades they get. They aren't in the upper teir with the Beatles, Who, Stones, or Zep, and tputting them in that 2nd teir is a stretch in my opinion. I mean, ever since the early 90's they've basically released cheesy ballad after cheesy ballad. They perfected the Hard rock ballad with "Dream On" and they've been slowing trying to ruin it ever since.

 

(I still like them, but I think they are vastly overrated.)

 

Mark Prindle says it best:

 

"I know this may be difficult for you jaded youngsters to believe, but Aerosmith haven't always been one of the most repulsively banal pop ballad groups in existence. They used to be a loud, guitar-driven hard rock band - kinda like a cross between the Stones and Zeppelin, but distinctly American, somehow. Kinda funky, too. And I don't mean that in a 90's "smelly" way, although they have certainly been one of the smellier bands of our decade. They were never the most ambitious band, but, in their heyday, they spat up some of the catchiest grit rock stompers you'll ever condescend to lend an ear to. So give 'em a break. Like Black Sabbath, their first six albums were good - ALL of them. But then, due to drugs, egos, and whatnot, both of the guitarists quit, the singer replaced them, then the guitarists came back, eventually they all went through rehab, and now they're little more than popular purveyors of puerile pubescent pablum. And they blow. Interested? Well, walk this way!!! Oh, the wacky woolly wit!"

 

As for Madonna, she's way too overtly aware of changing her image to really matter in the way the Beatles do. They never really consciously changed with the times, they kind of absorbed the world and spit it back out to us naturally. Still, her early stuff is some of the best pure pop music ever. Her and Michael Jackson released some of the best pop music ever from like 1980-1990. And then they've both kind of fallen off, but for different reasons.