Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band may not have been the Beatles' best album, but it may well be the most important album of their career and of rock and roll music itself. It expanded the possibilities of rock with its ambitious arrangements and its inventive sounds, and it solidified the idea of rock as art and the rock album as a unified work rather than just a collection of individual songs. Far more than Rubber Soul or Revolver, Sgt. Pepper introduced the idea of the theme album, where songs flow into each other and change tone and texture like a kaleidoscope, but remain part of a greater whole throughout.
The Beatles - who recorded this album pretending to be people other than themselves, freeing themselves from living up to the stereotype of a "Beatles sound" and experimenting with the incorporation of rock with other forms - explained the concept of Sgt. Pepper as a psychedelic cabaret revue. (The influence of drugs was undeniable, even if the drug references that some listeners heard in the lyrics only existed in their own minds.) The real theme of this album, though, is innocence and experience, the juxtaposition of the thrill of discovery and the wisdom achieved through what one discovers. The songs are about entering the world with a fresh perspective, and they document the wondrous things seen along the way. More than anything else, Sgt. Pepper is about expanding possibilities.
The lyrics reflect a transcendence in the Beatles' new-found freedom to express themselves, from the dazzle and dreaminess of John Lennon's poetic "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" to the bright optimism of Paul McCartney's "Getting Better," with their vivid descriptions of a world that promises a glimpse of the truth. The truth is a concern that obsesses George Harrison in his deeply philosophical "Within You, Without You," in which he urges listeners to look within themselves for the key to reality. New horizons abound everywhere on Sgt. Pepper, in sometimes dangerous ways, such as the teenage runaway striking out on her own on "She's Leaving Home," or John's somewhat sinister circus ringmaster narrating "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" The rewards of experience abound, however, from the joys of home improvement ("Fixing a Hole") to the discovery of sex ("Lovely Rita"). It even hints to the promise of joy in later years, long after youth and the spirit of rock and roll both fade away. "When I'm Sixty-Four," about a teenager looking ahead to old age, is delivered with a humorous jazz ensemble in which the reeds almost laugh and snicker as Paul sings along. Sgt. Pepper offers the assurance that, whatever the result of one's explorations, as much will be gained as what's ventured.
The music ultimately frees the Beatles and their audiences from convention, with distorted guitars, fanciful organs, sprightly jazz clarinets, and stately pianos and strings providing color and vitality. ("Within You, Without You," George's only composition on this LP, is arranged to an array of Indian instruments, providing a sublime moment of inner peace on the record.) Intricate melodies with a backdrop of orgasmic sound permeate through the listener's consciousness like a rainbow, with innovative playing and tape loops to add to the atmosphere of the Beatles' cosmic fantasies; the calliope and organ backwash on "Mr. Kite" brilliantly captures the flavor of the circus, while the droning horns, the cutting guitar solo, and the heavy drum shuffles from Ringo Starr on "Good Morning, Good Morning," a song continuing John's obsession with trying to understand one's peers, bring a London rush hour to life.
The result of all of this experience is the closing cut, "A Day In the Life," a dramatic masterpiece inverting the mundane everyday news into a sorrowful wasteland not unlike the one that T.S. Eliot envisioned, elevated to cataclysmic proportions with an orchestra twice improvising its way through 24 bars to a crescendo before everything finally dissolves with a crashing piano chord that returns to the listener to earth. You're not sure where you've been once you've listened to Sgt. Pepper, but, like previous generations of Beatles fans seeking to look and listen beyond their isolated worlds, you're more than ready to listen again. Thanks to the cleverness and intricacies of the Beatles' musicianship - captured on four-track tape, no less - you're sure to find new experiences with a renewed sense of innocence.
The biggest reward for the Beatles, of course, was that they were taken seriously as musicians as a result of Sgt. Pepper by those who had resisted them. Once, the Beatles had been dismissed by many music sophisticates as nothing but a bunch of blokes hammering out noise while singing about teenage romantic sentiments. But the stirring French horn section on the title track, as far as I'm concerned, settled the argument once and for all; the Beatles could not be denied. Every time I hear it, I get a lump in my throat.
(Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released 47 years ago today, 27 years ago today on compact disc.)
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