50 Years Ago Today,..........

[gsgbass]

50 Years ago today, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released. Where did all those 50 years go?

[blue]

That means I was 14 when I purchased it.

Blue

[radiophonic]

It's a YOB LP for me, so we're both 50 somehow. It's not my favourite Beatles, but I purchased the new remix on vinyl this week (which is very good) to join my Mono (which is definitive) and '87 Stereo (a bit meh) copies. My wife gave me the Lego Yellow Submarine kit for my birthday too.

[SpondonBassed]

I was five when it came out but I only really "discovered" it aged 14 or so. I still love it. I want the new 5.1 Blu Ray audio but I can't afford the whole deluxe box set just for that one disc.

[naxos10]

It's Fifty this year and I'm Sixty.
It's a great album especially from a production point of view and what I have heard of the new remix has been excellent.

[EssentialTension]

I was in Liverpool last weekend and fifty years ago come August 27th ....


[IMG]http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/EssentialTension/18700294_10155367107058033_219612198071455228_n_1.jpg[/IMG]

[thebrig]

I was 15 when it was released, and although it was certainly "different" and the production was great, it was probably my least favourite Beatles album.

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1496291379' post='3310217']
That means I was 14 when I purchased it.

Blue
[/quote]When I get older losing my hair, many years from now, I bloody hate that song, and is my least favourite Beatles album too

Edited June 1, 2017 by PaulWarning

[Bilbo]

Never heard it all through. Will look it up.

[mikel]

I was 15 and just about to leave school. The album was the soundtrack to my summer of freedom and gateway to work and adulthood. Not my fave Beatles album, that would be Revolver, but I only have to hear a track and I am 15 again and transported back to Tynemouth pool and my first girlfriend.

[chris_b]

Change is common place and mostly goes by unnoticed these days, but Sgt Pepper was a perfect storm that changed everything.

It caused a seismic change in what was possible and what was expected in every aspect of the creative side of the music business; song writing, recording, art work and musicianship. Brian Wilson said he was in creative competition with the Beatles and he thought he'd won with Pet Sounds. When he heard Sgt Pepper he knew he'd been left for dead.

Then the only people I knew who were 50 were teachers and grand parents. Jeez. . . . what happened!!

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1496291379' post='3310217']
That means I was 14 when I purchased it.

Blue
[/quote]

As a 10-year-old I couldn't afford it.

Luckily, my Mum bought it for my 13-year-old brother.

It's a perfect example of why the Beatles were so great. They were, and remain, completely accessible.

My Mum thought they were a great pop group (she was 38 at the time) and loved [i]She's Leaving Home[/i].

My brother and I thought they were a great pop group and we loved the title track and [i]When I'm 64[/i] and [i]Lovely Rita [/i]and [i]Benefit of Mr. Kite[/i].

None of us 'got' [i]Lucy [/i]or [i]Day In The Life[/i].

Years later we realised that they were also a great rock band and that the 'difficult' songs were the best and most challenging ones.

The album remains completely listenable today (how many other albums from 1967 would you seriously consider playing when you get home from work tonight?) and more than justifies its reputation as far as I'm concerned.

Not my own personal favourite though (Abbey Road). Not even my second favourite (Revolver).

[Yank]

I was 12 when I bought it. I might have liked it then, but I don't like it now.

[KevB]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1496307314' post='3310322']

how many other albums from 1967 would you seriously consider playing when you get home from work tonight?

[/quote]

Disraeli gears
Surrealistic Pillow
The Doors/Strange Days
Are You Experienced/Axis Bold As Love
Procol Harum
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

There must have been something in the water...

[Happy Jack]

Piper? Seriously? I found that bloody hard to sit through as a teenager, I certainly couldn't/wouldn't bother now! [i]Bike [/i]was fun though.

Strange Days is probably my least favourite Doors album (given me Morrison Hotel or LA Woman any day) but I accept that's merely a matter of taste.

[KevB]

Its not their most accesible, granted but Astronomie Domonie and Interstellar Overdrive are good tunes. I'd probably cheat and go for the reissue with Arnold Layne, See Emily Play and Paintbox on it though

[Dad3353]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1496308497' post='3310342']
Disraeli gears
Surrealistic Pillow
The Doors/Strange Days
Are You Experienced/Axis Bold As Love
Procol Harum
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

There must have been something in the water...
[/quote]

Snap, so +1. Yes, I still listen to all of those with great pleasure (as well as more recent, and much older (Schubert..? Bruckner..?) stuff...). It's all good, but special mention for 'Surrealistic Pillow'.
S'been a long time comin'; s'gonna be a long time gone.

[NancyJohnson]

I'm a little too far down the replies here to really have any impact on the thread itself and I would profess from the outset that I'm really not really a Beatles fan as such (I do get warm and fuzzy hearing Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, along with A Day In The Life as my mum used to play these to me when I was a kid).

Since the material became available on Spotify, I've bookmarked the albums and have had brief forays into the catalogue, but the appearance of the Sgt Pepper reissue has prompted me to have what constitutes a 'proper listen' with fresh ears.

All in all, it's a nice listen with the exception of [i]Within You Without You[/i]. It just ruins the flow of the album and had my finger hovering over the fast forward botton. Shockingly awful.

[TheGreek]

I was 4 when it was released - wasn't a big Beatles fan till I was in my late 30s - I have the album on vinyl so it doesn't get a lot of play.

One of the first "non Pop" or concept albums?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1496316467' post='3310416']...with the exception of [i]Within You Without You[/i]. It just ruins the flow of the album and had my finger hovering over the fast forward botton. Shockingly awful.
[/quote]

One had to 'be there'.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Dad3353

[Chezz55]

Sorry but ..................................... I didn't rate Sgt Pepper then and I don't rate it now. I never came to grips with all the fuss and hype, and I still don't.

For me the best thing to come out of Sgt P is Joe Cocker's Woodstock version of "With A Little Help From My Friends".

Chris.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1496316467' post='3310416']
...All in all, it's a nice listen with the exception of [i]Within You Without You[/i]. It just ruins the flow of the album and had my finger hovering over the fast forward botton. Shockingly awful.
[/quote]

I used to think that way. It grew on me however and I found a love for George Harrison's work generally.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Chezz55' timestamp='1496317518' post='3310430']
Sorry but ..................................... I didn't rate Sgt Pepper then and I don't rate it now. I never came to grips with all the fuss and hype, and I still don't.

For me the best thing to come out of Sgt P is Joe Cocker's Woodstock version of "With A Little Help From My Friends".

Chris.
[/quote]

Interesting. I like Joe Cocker usually but that cover sounds awfully laboured to me. Just shows how tastes vary.

[ROConnell]

Never heard of them...

[KiOgon]

I was 16 - predominantly into motorbikes, with beer, girls and music joint second oh yeah, who said joint!? All Pink Floyd was essential listening, Beatles were just about pop music until SPLHCB - IMHO