Complete Surf Club Sessions - Art Pepper

Advantages: Yay
Disadvantages: Nay

...By late 1966, The Beatles had given up their touring days and wanted to be more creative in the studio. Paul McCartney came up with a completely original idea: for their new album, the Beatles would pretend to be a band called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This gave the guys a lot of freedom while recording because, as Paul later said, "You could do anything when you got to the mike or on your guitar, because it wasn't you." Although only three songs on the album actually have anything to do with Sgt. Pepper and his band, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is still rock & roll's first "concept album." The Beatles also experimented with the artwork for their new album. The well-known cover features John, Paul, George and Ringo in brightly-colored military outfits with a cardboard cutout audience made up of such diverse... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: The epitome of an era and a generation.
Disadvantages: Probably won't be as greatly regarded by future generations....

...as an author creates a novel. One produces the characters, they are given names, characteristics and personalities, and they become real. McCartney thought that this idea would alleviate the pressure from the whole 'Beatles' persona. In only a few short years, the expectations of the young men had become massive, and The Beatles were now starting to feel the pressure of having to do something always better than the last. This had been enough to tip them over the edge, so the concept of imagining a fictional band was greatly received. In actual fact, the idea was that if the album was to be a flop, they, cheekily, could not blame it on themselves…. On the first of June 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released onto the world and unsuspecting ears. It was only another few days, and they would be celebrating their fifth anniversary... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: An album full of modern classics.
Disadvantages: It's only 14 tracks long

...Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is a great comedy album. It's nice to see that the Beatles weren't afraid to poke a bit of fun at themselves, and even though lots of the songs aren't what you'd call serious, they're still an awful lot better than some of the drivel that's created today. I'd love to see Oasis sink themselves to the level of putting a song like 'When I'm Sixty-Four' onto one of their albums, they're far too up themselves to do that. Perhaps the only band who don't take themselves too seriously are Travis, come on, they did release a cover of 'Baby One More Time'! Anyway, back to the album. Every song on it is a modern classic, particularly 'A Day In The Life'. Lennon and McCartney were fantastic melody writers but the use of lyrics here is so good, it's positively poetic. So, if you haven't got it already... Read review

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