Dissecting Sgt. Pepper

The Beatles are the world's most overrated band. Everyone thinks they are the best band ever, and they are all wrong.

Now, I can't say I hate the Beatles or their music. They aren't bad, by any stretch. They are all proficient (and *only* proficient) at their instruments, both McCartney and especially Lennon are good singers, they don't have many terrible albums, or many ball-tearingly bad songs. Their first album is really good as well (in my opinion their best, but I know I'm nearly alone here). In two words, they can be described as 'good' and 'consistent'.

But I am sick of people raving about them, and one album in particular; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. Look what people say about it on rateyourmusic.com :

• It is a superbly written, composed, performed and produced work of art, and the only possible ground for disliking it is sheer envy of the Beatles' talents.
• Sgt. Pepper really is as close to perfection as music can come, it is one of maybe two or three albums that, if given the chance, I would not change a single thing. The music is perfect, the lyrics are perfect, the vocals are perfect, the production is perfect, every single note is perfect.
• One of the most groundbreaking, revolutionary and inarguably greatest albums of all time.
• An influential masterpiece that shaped cultures & social structures from then on and one of, if not the greatest record, ever made from the four most important musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Completely ludicrous.

Not this guy.

On the same site, on which there are over 13,000 ratings of this album, it is rated the #8th best album of all time, with only the usual high-rating affair above it. (Dylan, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Velvet Underground, and of course, two Beatles albums in the top two spots, ugh).

I've now given this album five chances to wow me, and it has refused to do so. If possible, it gets worse each time, due to my good self hearing more superior music between each listen. So, because of a disagreement of opinions with someone about this album, I thought it wise to actually go through, listen to each song, listen to the album as a whole, and say what I thought of each song on this grossly overrated album. As such:

Sgt. Pepper - Good pop-rock song. I like Lennon's voice.

With a Little Help From My Friends - Good pop song.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - Meh. Look at me, I'm talking about drugs!

Getting Better - Regular mid 60's pop psych song.

Fixing a Hole - Meh. Bland and not memorable at all.

She's Leaving Home - Jumbled, not catchy in the slightest.

Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite - A really bad song in every way.

Within You Without You - Good song, but it's less of a Beatles song and more of a random Indian one. Completely apes Indian music, and shows very well how globalisation works on a world scale, the West profiting off of Third World countries. (sorry, I did a class on this at uni)

When I'm Sixty Four - Silly inoffensive song. At least it's catchy.

Lovely Rita - Really bad lyrics.

Good Morning Good Morning - Another godawful song. A complete mess.

Sgt Pepper Reprise - Hendrix riffs! Finally something exciting.. at the end of the album.

A Day in the Life - I'm not going to complain about this song. It actually has some form of emotion (in a Beatles song!)

Quick comments to be sure, a few average to good songs, one relatively good one (A Day in the Life), and the two Sgt. Pepper songs showed some type of feeling. The rest don't fare as well.

You know what I think this is? Millions of people either grew up with this album (and the Beatles), or the Beatles were their first exposure to rock music, as it almost goes without saying that the Beatles are very easy to get into. This album *is* average, there are no two ways about it. Strip away the fact that it is the Beatles, that every one loves it, that it is considered the greatest album ever, and it is a regular mid 60's psych-pop album that was lucky enough to have great production and studio trickery improve it.

But wait, you cry! It's the first concept album! But it isn't a concept album, just a bunch of songs bookended by two similar sounding songs, with fades. And even if it were, Ray Charles, the Ventures, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie and most importantly Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention released concept albums before the Beatles.

Also! It's the first album with lyrics printed on the LP! And with extensive gatefolds and imagery and such! Bully for the Beatles. Useful from a marketing perspective, but otherwise, it's a useless fact that fans throw at you when you say you don't think that Sgt. Peppers is the best album ever, similar to how many of the reviews I scan from the above gushes of praises say that if you disagree with their rating, you are 'jealous of the Beatles talent', or 'are trying to be different'. No, your favourite album is fucking average, that's all.

I think I've summed up this album well, so I'll leave it at that. The Beatles are overrated, and nothing can change that (short of everyone realising it, hence making it less highly rated).

Album Review - Kraftwerk - Autobahn (1974)

Because I've been busy of late, I thought I'd be lazy and just grab a review I did a few years ago.

Kraftwerk - Autobahn (1974)

What can I say about Kraftwerk that hasn't already been said a millions times? They changed the way electronic music was viewed by the masses, and went on to influence everyone from synthpop (obviously), to hip hop ("Planet Rock"), to rock (Bowie and Iggy Pop are big fans), as well as mapping the way for trance, techno, house, ambient and basically electronic dance music in general. But lots of 'early' influential albums are now either considered old hat, or just not that great to begin with.

Autobahn is not like that. At least not all of it is. Groundbreaking for several reasons, as one of the first charting albums with an overwhelming electronic base, as a futuristic concept album, and with the highly unique drumming used, Autobahn was a completely fresh sound. Whilst still retaining a sense of their Komische background (the Motorik beat towards the end of the song Autobahn is a treat), Kraftwerk, with their new Moogs and vocoders, pressed into the future with a bang.

And with the revving of a car, we are welcomed into Kraftwerk's concept of the future. Giant highways as far as the eye can see, surrounded by green hills and plateaus, it would be an ordinary lazy Sunday morning drive in our time. But it's.. more efficent. Something is controlling everything. While it is a pleasant experience, it feels somewhat artifical. And it isn't long before monotamy settles in. It's the start of Kraftwerk's fascination with the concept of technology, and how it will change the human experience.

What I neglected to mention is that Autobahn is a brilliant song, regardless of concept. The synth lines are melodically pleasing, the drumming intruiging, and quite honestly, any 22 minute song that can have me as rivetted as this one can for it's whole timespan is a work of genius.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album just doesn't hold up. Kometenmelodie 1 is just wank, a sort of dark ambient soundscape that is uninteresting bar a nice piano riff near the middle. Kometenmelodie 2 fares better as a more upbeat affair of the title track, before descending into dark ambient again with Mitternacht. The second half of Morgenspanziergang has a nice piano/double flute combo, but is nothing to write home about.

The title track makes this an essential purchase in my book, regardless of the quality of the other songs. Autobahn will rightly go down as a defining moment in the development of electronic music, maybe THE defining moment. While Kraftwerk would go on to produce more consistently powerful music in later albums, Autobahn works as a sketch; of later dance music, and well as a society that may already be here today.

Here's a link to the heavily condensed sing version of Autobahn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Z3gYf5qC0&feature=related

Random Album Reviews I

Today I thought I'd do something different, so I went to my dad's CD collection, closed my eyes, and randomly picked three albums to listen to and give thoughts on.

Now, my dad is a metalhead, with some interest in 60's garage punk, and with his combined CD and vinyl collections would easily have over 1000 albums, so I can't say I'm surprised that judging from the covers I picked three metals albums, two from the 80's, and one more recent.

Metal as a whole is one genre I've only really scratched the surface of, so this should be interesting...

Kreator - Terrible Certainty

Seems like a standard speed/thrash metal album, so it means there are some good riffs ruined by spastic sections. The vocals are pretty cool, and the self titled track and As The World Burns were good. Not much more I can say.

Dream Evil - The Book of Heavy Metal

Crap, it's power metal! And has possibly the most obnoxious and egotistical album title ever. And is filled with wanking guitars. In spite of this, I enjoyed it. It was heavy enough without going overboard, the singer's high voice surprisingly didn't annoy me, and it flittered around with a few different metal styles and instruments. In the end, it is still power metal.

Judas Priest - Point of Entry

Good, a band I've heard of. This is how you do power metal, and this is a nice slice of early 80's metal, before it had fully earnt it's 'heavy' moniker. Everyone knows how awesome Robert Halford is, and the rest of the band are just as good. I really need to get into Judas Priest.