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?
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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!

SP was pure creative genius, particularly the work done in the studio at a time when recording electronics were archaic by today's standards.  I agree with several here that a couple of the songs are not the Beatles best, but in usual Beatles fashion they seem to make them better than they are.

One of my favorite stories I recall reading at the time was Brian Wilson of Beach Boys relating that he was at a party when someone showed up with a newly released SP LP and  they started playing it.  He stated the Beach Boys were completely blown away.
Actually I think Within You Without You is far and away the best song on the album and, in hindsight, one of the very best Beatles’ songs. That said, Sgt Pepper was an album that was more influential than good (compare the 1963 Beatles with the 1969 ones and note how far they pulled rock music up from the style of the 50s). Yes, there are some good tracks (WYWY, LSD, A Day In The Life) and some really bad ones (Rita and 64), and adding the wayward high spots from the US release of Magical Mystery Tour (The Fool on the Hill, I Am the Walrus, Hello, Goodbye, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love) to WYWY, LSD and Life does create a far more consistent album that positively shines by comparison...in hindsight.
Agree with the guy above. Within You Without You is one of my favorite Beatles songs. George Harrison was a highly original songwriter.

Fixing a Hole and She’s Leaving Home also run close favorites from this particular album.

At least Yellow Submarine isn’t on Sgt. Pepper’s. No desire to hear that song again.