Sgt Pepper reprise

Just heard it for first time in years. Forgot how much it rocked!

There's a part of me that thinks that the reprise would have been a good way to finish off the album. It sounds like it's the closing to the performance and completely rocks everything to a nice finish.

But then you could see ADITL as a sort of encore. And the final buildup and end note of that song is the perfect end to an album.

It is considered a slight song but I do prefer it to several of their number 1s.

It's not as polished as the rest of the album and sounds a lot more raw, which is good if they were going for the live rock and roll band sound for the ending. A good little rocker and one that sounds like they had a lot of fun recording it.

Sgt. Pepper is my favorite Beatles album, always has been, and A Day in the Life my favorite Beatles song.

Having said that, personally I think Sgt. Pepper is as perfect as an album can be. There's a coherence to it not often found even in concept albums, with each song almost seamlessly floating into the other. It doesn't quite work as well as a CD as in the original LP format. The Within You Without You beginning of the B side balances well with the A Day in the Life ending, yet the album is still a coherent whole. Besides, where else then as the finale could you place ADITL without it upstaging just about any other track?

Originally Posted by hibgal

Sgt. Pepper is my favorite Beatles album, always has been

Not a popular opinion these days. Pepper has become hip to bash. A victim of its success?

I think it's become idolised as the absolute pinnacle of the 60s, which is a huge claim and one that, understandably, not everyone is going to agree with.

I blame it on the snobbish arts establishment. If anything is popular or has mass appeal then it can't be Art. Art is only something for the initiated few. If too many people like it then it has no value. They got it all wrong. Art might be appealing to the few but it doesn't follow that what is liked by many isn't art as well. Don't get me started!

As to Sgt. Pepper, it suffers from precisely the above. These music critic must know better than the 'layman' so as soon as Sgt. Pepper was acclaimed as special it had to be made little of so that these 'specialists' can rediscover it a couple of decades down the road! I've seen it happen too many time to now know how it works.