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The Beatles 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is perhaps the most legendary album in rock music history. So much has been said about it that it is considered by quite a few music critics to be overrated. While I can understand that view, I personally do not think it is overrated.

It's not my favorite Beatles album ever, that is The White Album, but it is probably the most perfect album they ever did. Definitely the most cohesive and arguably the most consistent (although Revolver's got a pretty good case too.)

While it's been said by many that the whole "concept album" thing has been overstated and that the songs really don't have much to do with each other, I think that's missing the point entirely. I actually think the concept works best because it isn't forced (like it would be in some later concept albums by other bands.) The "concept" is really quite loose. It's just an imaginary band going through their set.

The effect works now and I can imagine it must have been even more effective back in 1967. This is a band completely shedding their prior "mop top" image. This is "art rock." This is something more than just a bunch of tunes to tap your toes to. It's something more.

What I enjoy so much about this album is how every song seems so necessary and vital to the whole of the album and every song flows so perfectly into the next despite the fact that the songs are all so incredibly different. Songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" & "Within You Without You" & "When I'm 64" have very little in common with each other but somehow they all work together as one whole.

The album is truly a "trip" in that when I listen to it I feel as if I'm walking through some strange carnival, particularly during "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" of course.

That's the big reason why I think it's a better album than Revolver. Yes Revolver's songs are just as brilliant, if not even more brilliant but it just doesn't have the same flow that Sgt. Pepper does. Revolver sounds like a collection of (amazing) songs. Sgt. Pepper is a trip that flows from one song to the next.

As the album grows with me over the years (I've been listening to it frequently for about 12 years now) it seems that many of the songs that were not originally among my favorites are now the ones that stand out for me the most. In particular "Getting Better" & "Fixing a Hole." Paul McCartney could truly do no wrong at this time. The music is incredible and it contains some of his best lyrics.

Of course I can't write this review of Sgt. Pepper without talking about the album closer, "A Day in the Life" which is the absolute greatest song of all time. I don't even have the slightest doubt in making that claim. How can an album that ends with "A Day in the Life" be overrated? I think it's a logical impossibility.

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Marvin J. Markus is a true believer in Pure Pitch Method ear training. A musician isn't a musician unless he can really hear. Combine ear training with your violin lessons for best results.

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