Album Review: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Often considered to be one of the best albums ever made, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, for me at least, is one of the most overrated.  It's not an awful album, or even just plain bad, for that matter.  But it's replete with what I feel are fillers, devoid of the same energy that the goodies on the album had, and with lackluster, almost sleepy melodies.  "Getting Better", "Fixing a Hole", "Good Morning" and "Within You Without You" are the main culprits here.  I suppose I could get used to "Lovely Rita" after a while, however, but I don't see myself playing it particularly often, so it'll take a fair amount of time in order for that to happen.  Meanwhile, I'm planning on sticking to the well-known numbers and hit singles - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "With a Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life" to name a few.  "When I'm Sixty Four" is a great number that takes me back to my old primary school assembly "sit and sing" days, and is unlikely to ever get old, unlike me, unfortunately.  As far as I'm concerned, The Beatles is far superior to this record, and the reigning go-to album for whenever I'm in need of my Beatles fix.  Half of the album is great songs, the other half is full of songs that never quite lived up to their potential.  All up - not too bad, although stick with what you know already.  B+

Album Review: The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)

Disappointed somewhat by my initially high expectations of Sgt. Pepper, my views of what a Beatles record should sound like, I can admit, took a rather steep nose-dive. That is, until, I came across the delectable self-titled The Beatles from 1968. Not the best album in music history, of course, and a judgment I wouldn't hesitate to equally confer upon its (in my opinion, slightly overrated) predecessor, but nonetheless one of the finest, whose exclusion from the music collection of any discerning music lover is utterly inexcusable. Melodically a little more palatable than Sgt. Pepper, but less significant culturally and commercially, it still succeeds admirably in its ability to provide something for almost everyone. From the simple and cheerful “Honey Pie”, the proto-metal-esque “Helter Skelter”, the 'out-of-the-blue' structure of “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”, the half-pie orgasmic warbling of “Rocky Raccoon”, to the well-known staples of “Back In The U.S.S.R.” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, this record fails miserably to delve into a state of musical sterility and outright creative impotence – at worst, it will keep you awake. But at best, it will invigorate the soul.  My biggest gripe is the price, as is the case with all Beatles records.  Buy it if you can afford it. A