Soundcheck: Sgt. Pepper at 40

I stumbled onto this fantastic radio debate between my favorite NY Times music critic Allan Kozinn and the Chicago Sun-Times candidly brilliant man-of-rock Jim DeRogatis.  The matter-at-hand was Sgt. Pepper and its spot atop the rock canon: is it well-deserved or misplaced?  I'm firmly with Kozinn in that it's a masterpiece, mostly because the music sounds great to me. I'm not from the LP generation, but if I were, I'd say it's pretty tough to beat side B and its whimsical progression towards "A Day in the Life."  (Yes, I even think "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is excellent in every way, even if it does say nothing.) That said, DeRogatis mostly blames McCartney's lyrical kitchiness (see "She's Leaving Home" and "When I'm 64") for the album's faults when, considering the record's special place and time, could've said so much more. (Does DeRogatis want more songs appropo to the Summer of Love, ala The Youngbloods "Get Together" ?) He also claims that most Beatles fans would acknowledge that Revolver is the band's preeminent recording, and of course it's hard for me to argue against that.  But does "Good Day Sunshine" and "Yellow Submarine" differ that much in sentiment from Pepper's perceived fluff? If Pepper and Revolver traded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I'm only Sleeping" with each other, then Pepper would be far easier to claim as the greatest pop/rock record ever made.  Sorry Julian.    

Comments

[joshi]

.. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is excellent in every way, even if it does say nothing.)

oh yeah?

[joshi]

.. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is excellent in every way, even if it does say nothing.)

oh yeah?

[Brian]

Hi Bryant,

I've been lurking in the shadows, reading your blog for several years. I enjoy it. It keeps me in touch with my somewhat indulgent(at the time)Music History major. Things have certainly changed in the last thirty years, though, from the perspective of a "Blueberry". Admittedly I was only 10 when Sgt. Peppers came out. But I distinctly remember my cousin, having the album, and listening to it with him for hours. In his words, it was "one of the choicest(probably not actually a word) albums ever made. In the tradition of "groovy", every time I saw him he had a new word, he used all of the time. I remember; fine, choice, solid, tight, right on, etc, but I digress :-).

Now to the all important comment. I thought "Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite" was about Khrushchev, and the whole dog and pony show aspect of the Cold War. Not sure where I picked that up, but perhaps it was another "right on" observation from my cousin.

Keep up the great writing!

Brian Mc Namar

[Brian]

I probably should have included in the above comment, the only substantive bit of evidence to support, my cousin's theory. He would point to the line(which does come somewhat out of nowhere, and has only marginal meaning in the context of a circus), "Tonight Mr K will challenge the world."

If this getting older stuff means that you forget to include the strongest point to your theory, while making the case, I should probably stick to something simpler like folk music. You know, where Puff the Magic Dragon, is simply a song about a magic dragon. "Groovy"

Brian Mc Namar

[Bryant]

Brian, I had no idea you were lurking 'round these parts, and it's great to hear from you! Are you still performing regularly around the DsM area?

As for "Mr. Kite," there's the famous photo of Lennon standing in front of a circus poster which I thought was the sole "inspiration." And the lyrics do match pretty closely with the poster, so I don't think there's much room for interpretation. I like the Kruschev take and it makes sense, but I still think these are just your standard carnival-rock lyrics. Ha!

joshi,
where ya been? i remember *vividly* us driving on the west side highway once in '99 and you mentioned that you felt like you'd been married to Pepper for 20 years and that you needed a breakup.

[Brian]

Yes, I play occassionally, here's a poor resolution photo of a jam back in May. Normally there are just three of us, myself, Kim, our bass player next to me, and Kyle, on the far right with the hat and acoustic.
http://www.larryberenguel.com/photogallery/orlondos_050407/orlondos_050407_02.JPG

As far as the Mr Kite thing, I thought it worth bringing up all the old hype. It seemed in the 60's people tried to make each song have some sort of hidden meaning, at least with the Beatles and Dylan. I too have seen the poster, but I have seen Julian's drawing as well.

I'm sure you have, but have you ever taken a mirror and held it up horizontally to the front cover of the album, centered on the bass drum. Just fun stuff. As for my cousin, he was totally convinced Ina Gadda Da Vida, was In the Garden of Eden. I also remember being at his house when Abbey Road was just coming out and we listened to it for 4-5 hours solid and just poured over the cover, finally seeing the 28IF on the license plate, and realizing, "Oh my God it's true, Paul is Dead" All of this seemed so much more important then. Or, as Dylan says, "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."

Brian

[joshi]

"..and you mentioned that you felt like you'd been married to Pepper for 20 years and that you needed a breakup"

i said that?! jeez, i used to be witty in those days.