songbirdDie Welt setzt sich mit Sgt. Pepper auseinander:
http://www.welt.de/kultur/article899223/40_Jahre_Sgt._Peppers_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band.html
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Beatles fans‘ memories of ‚Sgt. Pepper‘
By Chris Macias – Bee Pop Music Critic
It was 1967. The Summer of Love was dawning, and the eve of „Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band“ was at hand. The album’s pending release stirred a mighty buzz among Beatles fans, who were expecting nothing but the epic from „Sgt. Pepper.“
The Fab Four had released a pair of groundbreaking albums — „Rubber Soul“ in 1965 and „Revolver“ the following year — so the public was stoked for more Beatles magic.
Here are some memories and musings about „Sgt. Pepper“ from musically minded folks in the Sacramento area:
Bob Keller, DJ on The Eagle (FM 96.9): „In 1967, I was in San Francisco — that was my city — and everything was psychedelic, and I was on that train.
„There was great anticipation (for ‚Sgt. Pepper‘). My best friend Mike got a copy early on. It must’ve been 2 a.m. when we put the album on and our jaws just dropped. I couldn’t believe where it was going, what it was doing. It had all these songs from hard rock to pop ballads, and it was seamlessly put together. And back then, album covers were the big thing. I must’ve stared at that album cover for a good 45 minutes.
„Rock ’n‘ roll and pop bands could try anything because the Beatles said it was cool to do so. It was a time of change everywhere, and I don’t think the Beatles ever did anything so different.“
Sal Valentino, solo artist and singer for the Beau Brummels: „I was in Southern California at the time and ‚Sgt. Pepper,‘ man, it was a mind blower. I thought it was the best thing I’d ever heard. It really seemed to play out with the characters, and that’s what I appreciated about ‚Sgt. Pepper.‘ From the opening, it was like seeing a movie. There were all those great songs like ‚When I’m Sixty-Four‘ and ‚Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.‘
„I think the album had to have influenced me. It seems like a lot of music came from (the influence) of that album, and it really stepped up a lot of things production-wise.“
„Bongo“ Bob Smith, producer and owner of Bongo Post & Music studios: „I was about 13 years old, and I was a big Beatles fan at time. I was right in line with the hippie generation, being an early teenager. For a lot of people my age then, ‚Sgt. Pepper‘ was the first time you thought of music as spiritual. Besides being rebellious or fun, there was a deeper edge to it. It was like, ‚Oh my God, I don’t even know what this is.‘ I’d never heard anything like it.
„When I think back now, I think about what they did for ‚world music.‘ They brought attention that there’s other music than what you have in the United States, and as they were showing us, they were discovering as well themselves. It globalized rock ’n‘ roll.
„(‚Sgt. Pepper‘) showed how we can mix metaphors, that we can mix lyrical ideas, that there was nothing that was off-base. There was a lot of Broadway and a lot of show tune moments in their music. It wasn’t just about a blues riff. The arrangement of instruments told a story that we’d never seen before.“
Jerry Martini, former saxophonist for Sly & the Family Stone: „I love ‚Sgt. Pepper.‘ Sly and myself were big Beatles fans. We didn’t just like James Brown. Sly liked Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Kinks — all these bands that were pretty innovative for the times.
„The Beatles were surrounded by this whole aura of mystique back then. I just remember all those songs (on ‚Sgt. Pepper‘) were wonderful and played them all the time. We’d go burn one and listen to it.
„I just loved ‚When I’m Sixty-Four.‘ I also loved the theme song (to ‚Sgt. Pepper‘). For the time, man, that was a really funky white-boy song.“
Brent Bourgeois, songwriter and formerly of the popular local band Bourgeois Tagg: „I was in New Jersey and heard (‚Sgt. Pepper‘) through my older siblings. I was 9 years old, but a precocious musician. We were definitely a Beatles family.
„I dissected that record and listened to it over and over again. There was something completely magical about it then, and it’s almost unbelievable to say that it has lost nothing in 40 years. There’s always the danger of turning into your father — ‚they just don’t do it like they used to‘ — but the mastery of the art form maybe has been approached but maybe never has been bettered.
„It influenced in some way just about everything I’ve ever done: the instrumentation, orchestration, moving bass lines, the way the vocals are laid into the track, especially John’s. The very fact that he didn’t like the way his voice sounded made them try all these other things.
„So many people reach a certain point and level off, and lose what drove them there. The Beatles didn’t lose what drove them there. And I love the idea of George Martin being this wise wizard sitting up in the booth, letting out the rope and guiding them in. It’s just a perfect storm.“
http://www.sacbee.com/music/story/193225.html
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Captain Beefheart to audience: Is everyone feeling all right? Audience: Yeahhhhh!!! awright...!!! Captain Beefheart: That's not a soulful question, that's a medical question. It's too hot in here.