Well, it’s way past time for me to talk about the Beatles’ eighth U.K. studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I’ve been losing enthusiasm for my Beatles project of late, mostly because Real Life has been taking up the lion’s share of my time. Sgt. Pepper is usually regarded as the Beatles’ most experimental/weirdest/trippiest album, and I have to say, it wasn’t one of my favorites. Here are my thoughts on the individual songs:

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” — This song is actually pretty boring, musically speaking; it’s really just a standard blues harmony. But I like how the song sets up the rest of the album as a “live” show.

“With a Little Help from My Friends” — Whenever I hear this song, all I can think about is “The Wonder Years.” Apart from that, it really doesn’t do anything for me.

“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” — The  chorus of this song doesn’t really seem to match the verses; the song goes from a creepy little waltz to a rock chorus. Which is an interesting idea, but I don’t particularly like the way it came out.

“Getting Better” — I like this song, probably because it’s not trying to be too clever. It’s a straight-up rock song with a catchy chorus and a fun driving pulse.

“Fixing a Hole” — Liked this one as well, particularly the cool little sound effects on the guitar.

“She’s Leaving Home” — I like the way the song alternates from the parents’ point of view to the daughter’s. It’s a nice twist on the “my parents don’t understand me” idea. It’s also a very sad song.

“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” — I like the trippy-circus-carnival feel of this song. Also, is it just me, or is there something a bit menacing about it? Like, “we’re inviting you to this show, but if you don’t come, we’ll kill you.” Definitely something sinister going on…

“Within You Without You” — Oh goody, more sitar! Aren’t the Beatles sick of it yet? I thought this song was dull, dull, dull.

“When I’m Sixty-Four” — This song has a charming old-timey feel to it, like maybe Glenn Miller recorded it first. I love the clarinets! And the lyrics are charmingly romantic.

“Lovely Rita” — Meh, this song didn’t make much of an impression on me. It did sound very similar to the chorus of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to me, though.

“Good Morning Good Morning” — Not a huge fan of this song, but I would definitely like it to play loudly every morning in lieu of my alarm clock!

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” — Nothing new to say about this one…but it does continue the “live show” feeling of the album, which is cool.

“A Day in the Life” — Meh. Boring.

Yes, I’m obviously a little burned out on the Beatles reviews! I do have The Beatles (the white album) on deck, so hopefully I’ll post a review for that one soon. But honestly, I haven’t started listening to it yet, and it’s LONG. So we’ll see.

Once again I’m late with my post on the Beatles’ seventh studio album, Revolver, which I listened to throughout July. This album should really be subtitled: “In which the Beatles discover the sitar.” There is a lot (A LOT) of sitar on this album, just sayin’. But I am liking the Fab Four more and more with every album, it seems. This one has a lot of great songs, many of which are instantly recognizable:

“Taxman” — I have to say, it surprised me to hear the Beatles singing such fiscally conservative lyrics! It’s one of the first overtly political songs in their oeuvre, and while I quite enjoyed their earlier boy-meets-girl stuff, this is a refreshing change.

“Eleanor Rigby” — This is a great song, albeit terribly, terribly depressing. Love the violins and other orchestral touches.

“I’m Only Sleeping” — I hated this one…something about John Lennon’s whiny vocals just grates on my nerves. I don’t know why he chose that vocal style for this song, but it is super, super annoying.

“Love You To” — Sad to say, I couldn’t actually remember this song when I sat down to write this post! A quick refresher online reminded me: this is the one that sounds like Bollywood. First major appearance of the sitar! I like the driving beat of the song, though.

“Here, There and Everywhere” — Blehhh. This one’s pretty, I guess, but I found it incredibly boring.

“Yellow Submarine” — A Ringo song I actually like! After all, who hasn’t wanted to run away from the world and live a life of ease, sailing the sea of green?

“She Said She Said” — I dig this song a lot. It sounds more like modern rock than a lot of their earlier stuff…seems to be looking forward rather than backward.

“Good Day Sunshine” — Another one I really, really like! As I’ve said before, the Beatles tend to write well about the sun. 🙂

“And Your Bird Can Sing” — I like this one too…I’m intrigued by whatever story it’s telling.

“For No One” — This is the other one I couldn’t immediately remember. Don’t have too much to say about it, although I like the prominent piano.

“Doctor Robert” — Not a huge fan of this song. I guess songs about drugs just aren’t my bag (see what I did there?), “Hotel California” being the obvious exception.

“I Want to Tell You” — A cool thing about this song is that the verse seems to go on longer than you think it should. I like when musicians think outside the box and thwart listeners’ expectations.

“Got to Get You into My Life” — Love this! It’s just a cool, fun rock-‘n’-roll song.

“Tomorrow Never Knows” — The sitar really exploded all over this song. It’s not very catchy or melodic, and I found all the different sound effects and percussive cacophony distracting.

For the month of August, I’ll be listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is widely regarded to be the Beatles’ trippiest album. Should be fun, so stay tuned!