Let me clarify again: 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' is not my favourite album from The Beatles.
Sure, it is a great album and there is no doubt of that. It is a revolutionary moment in music, the kind of watershed work that changed the way we think of pop and rock, from being just good old fun to something that could be artistic, intellectual and even philosophical without being boring. Everyone sounds great on it (particularly Lennon and Harrison, even as McCartney's melody and Starr's sweetness sound infectious too) and a clutch of songs from the album are crowned among their finest moments. But in my book, it comes after after the dazzling, almost eclectic variety of 'The White Album', the astoundingly electric rapport of 'Abbey Road' and the throbbing musical edge of 'Revolver'.
But then, this is not about them. It is about 'Sgt. Pepper's' and we are here to celebrate its 50th birthday which is an event unlike any other.
Yesterday was an entire day spent on rediscovery. Thanks to those who thought it most fitting to release the whole album in a stunning, new remixed and restored format, we now get the chance to savour the many delights of this undeniably iconoclast musical experience. And this is even better and bigger than listening to whatever editions you must have tried out before. The 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is just the kind of treat that we needed, lest we forget just how much of a special occasion this was for us all.
To begin with, the songs sound just freaking awesome. In the original version, the songs were charming in their own way, imbued with a slightly rough flavour that gave off the scent of the Summer of Love in it. But the Deluxe Edition has been remastered as if gushing with love at the very sound that the 'Band' and their fellow musicians created. Each little lick of the guitars, each little hum of the bass and each note in the lead and harmony vocals is made crystal clear with meticulously painstaking effort. There is not even an effort required to decipher that exquisite wordplay amidst the plethora of classical music and art rock. Everything sounds exactly as the album's numerous lovers would opine, the Beatles at their most harmonious.
As someone who was of the opinion that the album is pretty much McCartney's one-man show, I was genuinely surprised to discover just how much everyone chips in an indispensable contribution even when the show is being run largely by only one of the Beatles. This is the first time I noticed, with my eyes widening in wonder, the fascinating chorus that Lennon sings in McCartney's haunting 'She's Leaving Home' or just how well McCartney sings the title track with a tough rocker vocal in the vein of his songwriting partner. Harrison's beautiful, beautiful 'Within You Without You', a searing and sublime ode to the timeless beauty of Indian raga, sounds even more poignant on the Deluxe Edition, with his message sounding clearer and more soul-stirring than ever. There is similarly little doubt of George Martin's organ in Lennon's aural carnival 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite' or his operatic swells in the unforgettable and emotionally devastating 'A Day In The Life'. Starr, of course, was always a spectacular drummer and you can feel your senses moving and shaking, especially in the thumps that accompany the biting wordplay of 'Good Morning, Good Morning'.
However, while the first half of the album is filled with near-perfection, it is the pleasantly surprising second half that reveals what the Beatles were really about. Instead of just standard issue extras, the Deluxe Edition comes with an entire Side 2 dedicated to alternate takes, jam sessions, instrumental melodies and speech fragments that capture the busy, frivolous and sprawling flavour of those famous recording sessions at the EMI Studios in Abbey Road.
Of course, in terms of craft, they are not even remotely perfect. Many a time, you will find the music going wildly out of rhythm and sounding even misguided. Compare the final product that plays in the first segment with this improvisation. However, some of the takes featured here sound as intriguing as their final versions. For instance, there is 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', whose first take is without that chorus but Lennon still sounds like he is having a whale of a time. The fifth take of the breathless title track sounds pretty much as perfect as the finished version but the instrumental first take of 'Getting Better' demonstrates just how beautiful is that thumping, swinging piano but while Lennon sounds cheeky enough in the fourth take of 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite', this version is still far from capturing the essence of the Victorian vaudeville that his ballad actually got so right.
But that is hardly a concern; everyone knows that the Beatles, while themselves far from being talented musically in the conventional sense, could go to any end to produce the sound that satisfied them all. Paul Wane, a celebrated collector of all memorabilia related to the Fab Four, has also authored of a compiled ensemble of rare photographs of the Beatles arriving for these monumental sessions. All these photographs were sent by thunder-struck fans, exactly the kind of crowd that could be heard shouting and screaming in those frenetic, fervent live concerts.
Wane's book, a copy of which my father found at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool, is filled with these star-struck moments when the four Liverpudlians are caught in their most vulnerable but more crucially, it contains a ton of detail about what exactly went on inside those recording rooms. Many of the snippets reveal a wealth of activity, Lennon or McCartney rehearsing their voices before 'She's Leaving Home', Ringo adding smacks of his drum for 'Lucy' and Martin arranging the symphonic swells but a lot of it is also raw and throbbing with experimentation and loose creativity. Accounts from actual onlookers, including their trusted aide Mal Evans and the other bystanders, describe how the four could take up to hours and even interludes of random snacking and doodling with ideas in the night to perfect a particular tune or rhythm.
Sure, it could get messed up; at one point, Martin laments that they were still hours away from getting a song perfect. But this lesser known side of their group effort is delightful, precisely because it reveals what made the Beatles so great and unique as a band. Unlike other bands who came mostly prepared for the act, the process for the Fab Four was beautifully organic and based on pure intuition and moments of great insight. The fact that they all chose to deliberate over a melody or rhythm for nearly hours before getting it all right indicates that they could be devilishly inventive and dedicated even when in their prime.
The fascinating book also evidences that the fervour of Beatlemania was far from over. The sessions saw a large number of fans thronging the entrances to the studios, all expecting either a picture or an autograph with his or her favourite Beatle. Not surprisingly, a large number of these fanatics were girls, entranced by these four lads coming of age as dashing men who could produce great music. Taking actual accounts and descriptions, Wane details those days of agony and ecstasy when schoolgirls made scones that were nearly burnt in ovens, bustled into recordings and were led out and even sent out the badges, brooches and ties that the Beatles wore eventually to enhance their new fictional disguises as a part of the concept of the album. Everything was not hunky dory, though. George Harrison is described as a bit of a snob when it comes to autographs and Nigel Hartnup, one of the men who worked on the shoot for that iconic, much-imitated album cover, also laments the difficulties and disappointments in getting it all perfect.
The Beatles were indeed a band like no other and 'Sgt. Pepper's' is just another resounding testament to this fact. Listen to this Deluxe Edition which can be called as the final word on an album that might not be their finest in my opinion (yes, that is how high they have raised the bar) but is undeniably important, immaculate and influential for ages. As they themselves would sing, a splendid time is guaranteed for all. Hope you will enjoy the show.
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