It Was Forty Years Ago Today...

lyle_from_minneapolis · Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:45 am

I'm imagining a huge street fight of "Best Album Ever" gangs, a bloody battle between the fans of "Sgt Pepper" and "Dark Side of the Moon"...

People get angry once you utter the word Best.

teeder · Post by **teeder** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:47 am

What about the "Bestest" album? That's one better now isn't it?

Scastles · Post by **Scastles** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:38 am

What about Pete's Best?

lyle_from_minneapolis · Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:54 pm

That album went to eleven.

None more better.

winston · Post by **winston** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:58 pm

Forty years? It seems like "Yesterday" to me.

kenposurf · Post by **kenposurf** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:30 pm

Was the only thing I listened to for the entire summer

kog · Post by **kog** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:39 pm

I was 15 at the time. Wore the record out. Hard to believe 40 years... heard someone say today it should be referred to as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely By-Pass Band".

tennis_nick · Post by **tennis_nick** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:54 am

To Paraphrase my friend Pat, 40 years ago today, was the day that marked 20 years after Sgt Peppper Taught the band to play.

So it was 60 years ago today, that SGt Pepper Taught the band to play,

Though the album came out 40 years ago today (yesterday)

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:33 am

Pepper (and the single from its sessions) is their high watermark for studio exploration. Nothing, not even the technical achievement of Tomorrow Never Knows equals them climbing inside a piano and plucking its strings and using the droning Indian instruments on It's Getting Better, and the sound of paper being played over combs on Lovely Rita.

I certainly know what people mean re: Revolver. But clearly their best albums are Abbey Road and A Hard Day's Night. The latter is often overlooked in light of the experimentation of Pepper and growth beyond such short songs. But they, nor anyone else, ever put together a stronger set of pop rock songs. And it's a classic film to boot (though I'll take Help over it.)

lennonon · Post by **lennonon** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:41 am

I agree Abbey Road is a genuine contender for their greatest. Very hard to discount Revolver, though. My only wish on AR is for more Lennon. When he appears with a full song (Come Together, 'Heavy'), the results are mind boggling. I know his contribution to the medley is great, but I wish we had less "Bang Bang" and "Octopi" and more late '60s Lennon. Maybe Cold Turkey w/the Beatles although I can't see it fitting on that album....

That's my ONLY complaint about AR, though. Otherwise, the sound, the playing and the singing is absolutely peerless and certainly equals and in many places surpasses anything on Revolver.

lyle_from_minneapolis · Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:02 am

Revolver is my favorite, but it also could be looked upon as unfocused and striking out in all directions. Still, I would be proud to have put out ANY of their recorded works. The only "dogs" they put out could only be judged so in comparison to the best work of the Beatles. Some benchmark!

Wow, Glenn, I didn't know about the paper-over-comb thing. Is that what accounts for that loud, sweeping "synth" lick between verse and chorus, and they just heavily reverbed it? Astonished once again, 40 years later.

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:38 am

I went to the 40th party at the Cavern Club last night. I just happened to be in Liverpool, it was sold out but I managed to get two returns!

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:45 am

Here are the tickets

...

Scastles · Post by **Scastles** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:38 am

The comb over paper was an added effect at the end of Lovely Rita, along with moaning, etc, using repeat echo. Geoff Emerick said most of the shenanigans at the end were Lennon, horsing around. This was from Lewisohn's book.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:45 am

Lennon was definitely a big advocate of heavy reverb in their later years and I guess you could say it started with Pepper on A Day In the Life, Rita, etc.

Someone was there, James Taylor or members of Pink Floyd, watching them track the comb bits. I read that years ago somewhere. Of course, I also read the man standing with his back to the camera on the back of Pepper was Mal Evans, standing in for Paul (not connected to the dead rumor though.) Photos later surfaced to prove that to be rubbish.

Lennon's gibberish lyrical wordplay on Sun King on AR is his most brilliant wordplay next to I am the Walrus.

Presto abrigado tantamucho cake and eat it carousel....