It was 50 years ago - Sgt Pepper

[cloughie]

......and , for me, making things that " shouldn't " work, ( in the context) , work.

See also, ( for me) Alex Harvey, the Byrds ( Sweetheart), or .........add to taste.........



Just checking, it is ok to sort of not mind Ringo's singing, isn't it ?

Add many a prog rock album from the Moody Blues onwards....
Also if flat singing was the criterion for not recording, the pop canon would be much smaller. However if it meant that Englebert Humperdinck and others had never been allowed in a recording studio it would have been a good byproduct. Just an interesting observation that many of those who place Abbey Road top of the pile are people who were not around for the evolution of the Beatles, those who were tend to place Rubber Soul and Revolver. Also I would say that whereas Lennon or McCartney were not neccessarily improving as songwriters at the time of Abbey Road, George Harrison was!

[vinteuil]

I really enjoyed the Goodall programme. The dissection of the structure of the songs was very interesting. It could have lasted for two hours and I wouldn't have lost interest.

... yes, agree totally. It was an ear-opener for me

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

We even had a Pedigree Chum-style advert trying to persuade us to abandon Record Review this week in order to retune to Radio 4 to listen to a Sergeant Pepper programme instead.

[Bryn]

We even had a Pedigree Chum-style advert trying to persuade us to abandon Record Review this week in order to retune to Radio 4 to listen to a Sergeant Pepper programme instead.

Radio 4 Extra, surely?

[Richard Barrett]

Just checking, it is ok to sort of not mind Ringo's singing, isn't it ?

I don't have a problem with it. I guess on balance I wish he'd stuck to drumming, but you have to love the Beatles as a whole package, it seems to me inappropriate to pick and choose. If anything were missing it wouldn't be the same thing.

[Once Was 4]

I must be the only person in the world of my age who isn't particularly interested...

...sorry!

Funny that. I was brought up as part of the 'Rock and Roll Generation' in the 50s and 60s. I could not see the point and, indeed, was a bit snobby about such things. The other kids at school were exchanging 45 rpms, singing snatches of their favourites and making insulting comments about artists that they did not like. Goodness knows how many pop groups existed in the school - I could not understand why our music master (a 'proper' musician well known outside the school as a choir trainer) encouraged them. Bah, Humbug!
But as a student this album was constantly on the record player in the digs I shared with 5 other students and, yes, sometimes it was me that put it on. In a funny kind of way it became part of life and is certainly something that sends my mind right back to those days and what we got up to - the prepared piano that we created adding drawing pins to an old upright, the barrels of Somerset cider that we spent our grants on, the illegal immigrant who lived next door and with whom we were in a perpetual state of war, the girls, the prison officer with whom we conversed in the pub, the constant discussions about what we would say to Maurice Handford one day (no - we never dared!) etc., etc.
But otherwise - I'm still not interested.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Radio 4 Extra, surely?

Oh, well. I wasn't really listening. I was just gobsmacked that an advert in the middle of Record Review had been put there to persuade us to stop listening.

[french frank]

I was just gobsmacked that an advert in the middle of Record Review had been put there to persuade us to stop listening.

Oh, come on, fair's fair - Radio 4 Extra had an advert for the Building a Library on Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Didn't it? Mmm? Mmm?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I really enjoyed the Goodall programme. The dissection of the structure of the songs was very interesting. It could have lasted for two hours and I wouldn't have lost interest.

... yes, agree totally. It was an ear-opener for me

Yes - as so often with Goodall, lots of fascinating and revealing commentary and analysis. And, as also so often with Goodall, lots of oversimplified generalizations in the dash to get everything he wanted to say over in the limited timeslot (and keep things "exciting" - all those "never been heard before"- type comments). A half-hour (at least) programme could have been devoted to Within You Without You alone. (The ten-minutes devoted to this song summed up the strengths [getting the Indian Classical Musicians to demonstrate how it might have sounded had it been created by people from their traditions was absolutely inspired] and weaknesses [the lazy references to "Indian Music"] of the programme.) Greatly enjoyed it, for all its flaws.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

AND - forgot to mention - it reminded me yet again what a superb work this album is; which puts all criticisms into a proper perspective.

[Bryn]

Oh, come on, fair's fair - Radio 4 Extra had an advert for the Building a Library on Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Didn't it? Mmm? Mmm?

I have scanned through the 23 sections of Radio 4 Extra's "The Stars of Sgt Pepper" and none of them is dedicated to Karleinz Stockhausen. Hmm!



There again, he is by no means alone in being left out.

[Conchis]

......and , for me, making things that " shouldn't " work, ( in the context) , work.

See also, ( for me) Alex Harvey, the Byrds ( Sweetheart), or .........add to taste.........



Just checking, it is ok to sort of not mind Ringo's singing, isn't it ?

Whatever floats your boat. I didn't mind it back in the day, but my tolerance for it has lessened over the years.

Lennon didn't like the second side of Abbey Road, but I think it's a stunning piece of work, particularly as most of the wisps of songs on there were bits and pieces they'd attempted in Rishikesh and never properly finished. Then again, Lennon was always a musical conservative.

[johncorrigan]

Lennon didn't like the second side of Abbey Road, but I think it's a stunning piece of work, particularly as most of the wisps of songs on there were bits and pieces they'd attempted in Rishikesh and never properly finished. Then again, Lennon was always a musical conservative.

Agreed! Lennon also said 'Day in the Life' was all that was memorable on Sgt Pepper, but he was always a trickster. A lot of side 2 Abbey Road are rejects from the 'White Album' - I love the outtakes of them on Anthology (2, I think...maybe 3).

[cloughie]

Agreed! Lennon also said 'Day in the Life' was all that was memorable on Sgt Pepper, but he was always a trickster. A lot of side 2 Abbey Road are rejects from the 'White Album' - I love the outtakes of them on Anthology (2, I think...maybe 3).

...and by the time Abbey Road was recorded Lennon was more interested in Yoko than the Beatles. The side 2 sequence was largely McCartney!

[johncorrigan]

I have scanned through the 23 sections of Radio 4 Extra's "The Stars of Sgt Pepper" and none of them is dedicated to Karleinz Stockhausen. Hmm!



There again, he is by no means alone in being left out.

They do have a wee clip of him on 'Meet the Band', Bryn...http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0530mxx

On Saturday there seemed to be clips in between the programmes on 4 extra. In there I heard about Albert Stubbins, England footie player, who was slow in giving his permission to be on the cover because he had no idea what was being asked. Another thing I enjoyed was that Peter Blake took a liking to the waxwork of Sonny Liston, of all the models. After things calmed down and Sonny was removed from the Tussaud's exhibitions they made the very unusual step of giving Blake the waxwork which apparently still stands in his studio. Also I learned on 4 extra that the standard amount spent on LP cover design back in '67 was about twenty-five quid...Pepper's sleeve design cost almost £3000 which EMI were less than happy about, it would appear.