Would "Sgt. Pepper's" be a better album if.....

....."Within You Without You" was dropped from the LP and Side 2 began with either "Penny Lane" or "Strawberry Fields"? If so, which of these would best kick off the second side?

dodgealum07-24-2017 1:36pm

Showing 9 responses by bdp24

bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 08-31-2017 at 08:41am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I like Ringo's second album, Beaucoups of Blues (recorded in Nashville with the cream of that city's session players), and his third s/t one. He's not much of a singer, but then neither is Mick Jagger. He's certainly far better than was Lou Reed!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-29-2017 at 08:28pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I'll bet Ringo wishes all The Beatles albums would be remixed. When he heard the first album, his response was "Where's me kick?'. George Martin was not a Rock 'n' Roll producer, and put Ringo's bass drum waaay down in the mix, giving them a more "Pop" sound than they imo should have had . The Beatles started as a Rock 'n' Roll band, and turned into a Pop group. A rather good one ;-).
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-29-2017 at 12:56am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Austinbob, I too really like Spirit’s 12 Dreams album (have it on LP, bought at the time of release), though it doesn’t sound psychedelic to me. It was sad to see Mark Andes join Heart, such a low-class, tacky band. monsignor, I am a fan of The Beatles, though with some reservation and of the opinion that they are not "the best", as they are pretty universally considered to be. There are songwriters I like more than them, singers I like more than them, musicians I like more than them, and ensembles I like more than them. For me, they prove the wisdom of the old adage "The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts". As for the rest on your list, I liked the first two doors (they didn’t use an uppercase d in their name) albums at the time of their release, and saw them live twice, in ’67 and ’68 (in ’68, the opening act of the day was a local San Jose band named Fritz, whose members included Buckingham and Nicks!). By the time of their third album, my taste in music had, ahem, evolved. They now to me sound hopelessly dated, corny even. I’m not missing out on the rest; I have heard them all, and just don’t care for them or their music. In late ’68, a non-musician friend told me our college library had an album by a new band whose music he loved, that I should check it out. I got to the library, found the LP, and saw Jimmy Page’s name and pic on the cover of that first Led Zeppelin album. I love, love, loved The Yardbirds, but their last album (Little Games), after Jeff Beck had left and Page had taken over, was a real pos. I thought the same of the LZ album. Talk about corny! Can white men sing the blues? If this is your evidence, the answer is a resounding no. The musicianship on that album is just SO bad---everyone playing in the pursuit of glorifying themselves (don’t listen to him, listen to me. Aren’t I good?), not serving the song. Very immature, musically. But then, there is not much in the way of songs to serve, is there? But what does LSD have to do with Led Zeppelin, Queen, or Yes? Taste is a purely subjective and personal matter. I was surprised to read that Glenn Gould didn’t like Mozart’s music!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-28-2017 at 03:05am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete The second and third Grateful dead albums are really interesting musical explorations, and can be considered psychedelic. Ironically, that era of The Dead ended with the release of Workingman's Dead in 1970, their stab at what is now called Americana. Ironic in that that style of music, which Dylan moved to in his 1968 John Wesley Harding album, and The Band did on their 1969 s/t second (the "brown" album), was a repudiation of psychedelia (as was The Band's first, 1968's Music From Big Pink). Those albums were extremely influential amongst musicians, as was The Byrds Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Workingman's Dead was the Dead's response and reaction to those albums (Garcia is and was a big fan of Bluegrass and Hillbilly), as was Neil Young's Harvest, and all the Country/Rock that followed in the 70's. Meanwhile, psychedelic music continued on with the mass public---Pink Floyd, etc. The appeal of Dark Side Of The Moon completely eludes me.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-27-2017 at 06:26pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I was being a little tongue-in-cheek, deliberately and intentionally provocative. I love "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "A Day In The Life", and they most likely came to be as a result of ingesting. Brian Wilson’s Smile definitely did. In "psychedelic", I was referring to the more pompous and self-consciously "high-art", grandiose practitioners of the style.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-27-2017 at 05:17am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I never cared for "psychedelic" music. LSD ruined Rock 'n' Roll!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-26-2017 at 01:30am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I love that there are others who feel as do I. Sgt. Pepper was a product of it’s time, and has not aged well, sounding dated. The best music is timeless, out-living the social conditions which influenced, even produced, it. I do listen to Sgt. Pepper in context, and much prefer other music being made in 1967, of which there is imo a lot "better" (which is nothing other than personal taste, of course). I have long considered both Rubber Soul and Revolver much better albums than SP. And if the "white" album had been a single rather than a double, it would have been much better. Too self-indulgent!
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-25-2017 at 08:27am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Amen roxy, about both the imo somewhat over-rated SP, and Squeeze. Squeeze are becoming almost forgotten, but they were one of the very best of their time (late 70’s into the 80’s), if your taste includes "Pop" (a dirty word to some, especially Grateful Dead-loving hippies). Great albums, good live too. Another great Pop group is The Rubinoos, whose guitarist Tommy Dunbar is absolutely fantastic.
bdp24 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 10,096 posts 07-24-2017 at 06:45pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete While you're at it, cut "With A Little help From My Friends" (a dreadful song, with a dreadful Ringo vocal), "When I'm Sixty-Four" (McCartney at his worst), and perhaps even "Lovely Rita" (a mediocre song at best). Both "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" belong on the album, and would greatly improve it. No "Blue Jay Way" though, please. It barely qualifies as a "song", though it IS less bad than "Within You Without You". Almost nothing isn't!

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