Song 178 Celebrating 50th Years of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles

On June 1st, 1967, an album would be released that would change the pop industry forever. I am of course talking about St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Whether you love or loathe the Beatles the relevance of this record, even in today's music scene, cannot be denied. I haven't hidden the fact that I'm a Beatles geek who believes there is a Beatles' song for every occasion, but forgetting all this, this album should be owned by anyone who loves music.

When the band started writing the album, late 1966,  the press had decided that the Band was in crisis, retiring from touring, not releasing albums every six months, they were obviously heading downwards. Adding to this was the failure for the double A-sided single, Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane to reach number one in February 1967,  this surely meant the end of The Beatles!

What the sceptics didn't understand was the masterpiece being created by the Band and George Martin. Free from the need of having to perform tracks live, the foursome were able to experiment. They created St. Pepper's band as their alter ego, allowing them to push the boundaries like never before. When the Beach Boys had released Pet Sounds, the year before, it had made the Beatles stand up and listen, they wanted to be able to explore their musical creativity, it started with Revolver and exploded with this album.

For me, St. Pepper is the coming of age album of the Beatles and is a crossroad between their early albums and their post pepper material.  It is like growing up with your friends, your boundaries and experiences change, whilst the core remains true; fantastic music.   Also, it is impossible to take away from the cultural significance of the album release at the start of summer 1967, the war babies were turning into adults and pushing the boundaries of society. This rebellious nature would be seen with 3 of their songs being banned from the BBC's playlist due to their references to drugs.  It shows how music listening depends on how old you are, I would have never known that Henry the Horse from The Benefit of Mr Kite, was slang for Heroin when I heard the song at the age of 11. Lucy in the sky with Diamonds is infamous with LSD, even though John Lennon maintained the song was inspired by his son's drawing.  Drug induced or not, the album's 13 songs of colourful characters like Lovely Rita, and heartbreaking ballads, She's leaving home, will have you streaming in tears and laughter in equal measure.

If you're never heard the album, promise me you will enhance your enjoyment of it by listening to in its entirety, the songs were recorded without the natural break between them so it is like a string of music, and if possible, listen to it on a record player. Last year, we invested in a record player and without a doubt, it is the best way to listen to music from the 1960s. Even the cat listens when we have records on.

When you listen to it for the second time, it is the production value that you will start to appreciate; from varispeeding vocals to ADT, dampening to building three-dimensional vocals, it is under surprising that this album took nearly 700 hours to record and cost a reported £25,000 to produce. Their first album Please Please Me cost £400. A little increase in though figures. Rumours had it that some of the band weren't as keen as other with all the fancy production techniques, but hopefully hearing their finished album and knowing that it still tops the top albums ever written, made up for any boredom in the studio.

Then when you listen for the third time sit with the wonderful cover in front of you and try to guess all the famous faces on the album selves. Designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth from a stretch drawn by Paul McCartney, there are over 50 famous faces on the front cover. Winning the 1968 Grammy award for Best Album cover, it is instantly recognisable to millions across the world and illustrates the journey of the band, their influences and their heroes to write this album. For me, as I reach my own crossroads to a new decade, the Beatles are part of my cover and their music has shaped who I am.

Thank you, John, Paul, George and Ringo for this album. For giving generations who live after yours, an album that keeps its relevance and music sharpness no matter how old it becomes.

Hear Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club band and enjoy the levels of music.

Released: 1st June 1967,
Written by: Lennon, McCartney & Harrison.
Record label: EMI & Apple

Song 129 - Celebrating George Martin with some Beatles

Being a huge Beatles fan, it wouldn't have been right to pass over the death of George Martin, one of the most influential record producers of the 20th century, just because he didn't necessary sing on any hits. His death was announced today,  aged 90, and since then there has been an out pouring of tributes to the man, who in Paul McCartney's words was the fifth Beatle.

Picture the scene when in 1962, Brian Epstein told the Beatles that he had secured him a deal with EMI. This statement turned out to be a lie and the Beatles had been invited to audition with record producer, George Martin and to be honest, Martin wasn't that impressed by what he heard to begin with but he recognise something in their music which eventually led to him giving them a record deal on June 6. Although he did suggest that band made some changes and he was often blamed as the person who sacked Pete Best, the original drummer of the group.

When Paul McCartney paid tribute today to Martin, he talked about him as a second father who was able to guide, promote and challenge the fab four. Introducing elements like strings to tracks of a rock and roll band, Martin  had the vision to help them translate their musical ideas and songs into the masterpieces we love today. He wrote the string section part of Eleanor Rigby and the electric backing to I am the Walrus. Perhaps, now-a-day, with the advancement of music equipment and computer, we perhaps take for granted the basic equipment used to create some of the iconic sounds of the Beatles' songs. When it came to recording St. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club, Martin devised a technique whereby a number of tracks were recorded and then mixed down on to one single track, giving the flexibility of a modern multi-tracked studio. At the time EMI had only four- track tape machines. He also made much use of recording different tracks at various speeds to change the texture of the final sound.

In the later stages of the Beatles' career, the band themselves became much more knowledgeable on producing records, however, Martin remained a critical part of the band's makeup and after their break-up  continue to work with the band members independently.

But it is important to recognise that although George Martin was most famous for being the producer of the Beatles, his career far outstretched the fab four and with a career spanning 6 decades, he produced over 700 records, wrote film scores and worked with a variety of artists including Matt Munro, Dire Straits, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Pete Townsend, Cilla Black to name but a few. His talents will shine throughout the history of pop music for generations to come and his name will never be out of tune with the music world. RIP George Martin and have fun with the musical talent in heaven.

Here are just a number of iconic songs that Martin brought to our ears:

1. Love me do, performed by the Beatles, from Please Please Me, 
Love me do

2. Eleanor Rigby, performed by the Beatles, from Revolver, 
Eleanor Rigby

3. A day in the life, performed by the Beatles, from St. Peppers' Lonely Hearts' Club Band, 
A day in the life

4. Rain, performed by the Beatles
Rain, performed by the Beatles

5. I am the Walrus, performed by the Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour 

I am the Walrus

6. Strawberry Fields forever, performed by the Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour
Strawberry fields forever

7. Right said Fred, performed by Bernard Crippins
Right said Fred

8. Diamond Dust, performed  by Jeff Beck
Diamond Dust

9. From Russia with love, performed by Matt Munro
From Russia with love

10. Ticket to heaven, performed by Dire Straits, from On Every Street, 1991
Ticket to heaven

Song 101 - Abbey Road by the Beatles

Never ask me to name my favourite Beatles song, but my favourite Beatles Album is Abbey Road. Released in September 1969, for me, there is not one track on that album which isn't worthy of being part of the jukebox and here's why:

In the autumn of 1990, when I was 13, my family was involved in  putting on the local village pantomime Dick Whittington and it was decided that Octopus Gardens would make a great song for when Dick is traveling to the palace to get rid of the rats. To get the music for the track, we borrowed the album from a family friend and being a Beatles fan back then, I tapped the whole album and from that moment, my appreciation for the Beatles took a whole new level.  I think up to this point, my knowledge of Beatles music was mainly due to a tape of their 1962-1964 music.

Where do I start with what makes it so fantastic? One,  the album contain tracks written and song by all four of them, you have Harrison's Something and Here's comes the sun,  Starky's Octopus gardens; together with Lennon and McCartney's classics as Come together, Because and You never give me your money. Two, the second side is a melting pot of magical melodies that weave into each other, it isn't an album to put onto a random mix as you miss the sheer beauty of the composition. Three are the characters in the songs, you have the series killer in Maxwell's Silver Hammer; Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam; and the man in Come Together who has to be good looking cause he is so hard to see. Then outside the characters there is a mixture of heart warming and heart breaking songs, which perhaps reflect the mind state of four friends who had reached the end of their time together. For a 13 year old girl with an over active imagination, it had everything and it has never failed to inspire me and I am a wee-bit older now. Have I sold it to you yet?

Lets go through the tracks: Side 1.

Come together 
A brilliantly simple track sung by John Lennon, it is its simplicity that makes it perfect. Having listened to this album so many times, this song for me strikes a happy chord. A number of other artists have covered this, and it was on the HELP album for the War Child Charity where Paul McCartney played with Paul Weller and Oasis on the cover. You can't help thinking that John Lennon would have been part of that album too if he had been around. It was released as a double A-side single with Something, which is track two on the album.

Come together, sung live by John Lennon in New York

Something
Possibly the best song George Harrison wrote whilst he was a Beatles, this love song refers to the relationship with his first wife Patti Boyd, who he had met on the film A Hard Day's night. Boyd would go on to be the inspiration for the song Wonderful Tonight, Layla and Bell Bottom Blues written by Eric Clapton, her second husband. Something gave the Beatles their 18th number one in the US surpassing Elvis Presley and won an Ivor Novella award for Best song musically and lyrically in 1969.

Something by the Beatles

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Sung by McCartney, all you have to do is listen to the lyrics of this song and they tell you the story of Maxwell.  Paul described Maxwell's Silver Hammer as "my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer."

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Oh! Darling
Another song sung by McCartney, he worked for a week to make sure his voice wasn't too clear on the track. This track is heavy influenced by the Rhythm and Blues music of New Orleans.

Oh! Darling by the Beatles

Octopus's Garden
Ringo would normally get to be lead vocal on one track of an album, Octopus Gardens was performed and written by him after taking a two week holiday with his family and developing an interest in Octopus. Sometimes the inspiration is easy to see.

Octopus Garden, live version sung by Ringo Starr

I want you (She's so heavy)
For the last track of side one, Lennon takes back the lead vocal role for this gritty number. I actually miss my taped version of this song as you could hear the needle lift of the record right at the end of the music. Lennon wrote this number about his love for Yoko Uno and is one of the longest Beatles tracks ever lasting 8 minutes and containing only 14 words. Touching on the world of heavy metal, it one of the last track the Beatles recorded together as a band in September 1969.

I want you (she's so heavy) The Beatles

Side 2

Here comes the sun
Another perfect number for George Harrison and you can imagine yourself being in the back garden with a drink, which is actually where he wrote it in the back gardens of his friend's, Eric Clapton, house. You can hear Harrison's india influence coming through on the track and McCartney sings backing vocals. By putting this as the opening track of the second side, it shows the diversity between the heavy metal style to folk rock.

Here comes the sun - The Beatles

Because
Keeping it mellow, Lennon's vocal on Because, follows on fantastically. The voices of Lennon, Harrison and McCartney are dubbed trice so it sounds as though there is a nine part harmony on the track.  Cited as the favourite track of Lennon and McCartney on the album, it took them more than 5 hours of recording to get the track to a level they were happy with. Much is said about the unhappiness and the tension of recording this album, but there was still a level of dedication to creating the best material they could. I can't find a link to the Beatles' recording on You Tube.

The Medley: You never give me your money, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, She came through the bathroom window, Golden slumbers, Carry that weight and The End.

Staring with You never give me your money, the medley was put together by George Martin and Paul McCartney. It was an attempted by George Martin to get Lennon and McCartney to think about their music seriously. The first track inspired by the Band's disputes with Alan Kein, leads into Lennon's Sun King, which follows the same vein as Because & Here's come the Sun.  Using the nine-part harmonies with their voices, you could put these three tracks as singles on their own album. As you are starting to feel chilled and the heat from an Indian Summer, The Sun King gives way for Mean Mr. Mustard, a character that was inspired by a news article John Lennon read when he was in India and is another great example of characters The Beatles created in their songs, Mean Mr. Mustard gave way to Polythene Pam, another Lennon's character inspired by a real person he met in Jersey. She's came through the bathroom window, written by McCartney, was also inspired by  a fan who gained entry to his flat through the said window.

You never give me your money

Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, She came in through the bathroom window

The last two tracks, Golden Slummers & The End, for me anyway maybe suggests the end of the band and the fact that these four friends have simply moved in different directions. Although the later years of the band became more difficult with the death of Brian Epstein, the legal fights, I like to think of them as made it very, very big. Perhaps because I have always being able to listen to album in the cultural history surrounding it, has made me think that they they all knew that it was over by the end of the record for the Beatles, and too much is made of the arguments surrounding this album and not enough about the brilliance of it.

Golden Slummers, Carry that weight, The End

Hidden track: Her Majesty
Lovely little track about the Queen.

Her Majesty by The Beatles

I urge you to go out and listen to this album. It maybe three years shy of being 50th year old, but it is fantastic for its age.

Song 17 - Live and Let Die by Paul and Linda McCartney, performed by Wings

"When you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live (You know you did, you know you did you know you did). But if this ever-changing world in which we're live in, makes you give in and cry. Say Live and Let Die. Yes carrying on our Bond theme, and my love for Beatles, "Live and Let Die" is the next song to go into the jukebox. I love this track, because for me when I hear the opening lyrics, I can imagine a single figure in the darkness singing them and when they reach the "Live and Let Die", where the thumbing chords and percussion comes in, I  see flames appearing as though someone is walking away from the destructions they have caused. It is no wonder that "Live and Let Die" is the theme for the 8th Bond film of the same title and the first film where Roger Moore played Bond.  

Paul McCartney was invited to write the theme before the film script was finished in 1973, by the film producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. But there was some debate from the producers to whether Wings would sing it, until McCartney said that he would only allow them to use the song his band performed it. This was a changed for Bond theme which up to that point had been sung by solo artists. The track was produced by George Martin and went on to be the first Bond theme to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Film Song. The song lost out on the Academy Award to the theme song from film "The Way We Were". Unfortunately since 2001 and the trade centre attacks; the song has been on Clear Cast Channel of inappropriate song titles.

Like the song; the film "Live and Let Die", as well introducing Roger Moore as Bond, moved away from the previous plots of megalomaniac super-villains and move its focus onto drug trafficking. The film is set around areas of Harlem and New Orleans, which are African American culture centres as well as the Caribbean Island. It is also the first Bond film to feature a African American Bond Girl  Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry. Unlike Goldfinger, I am not too familiar with the film but the theme is a tune which makes me play air guitar and makes me imagine fire trailing behind me. It is a show tune and is a fitting way to introduce a Bond film; that you know will be filled with epic stuns, explosions and villains. 

The song would later by covered by Guns N'Roses in 1991, on their Use Your Illusion 1 Album, and released as a single. Their version of "Live and Let Die" lead them to be dominated for a Grammy for their performance of it. 

To live the music again listen here:

Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney

Or to hear Guns N'Roses' version:

 Live and Let Die, performed by Guns N'Roses

Written by: Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, 1973

Performed by: Wings

Album: Live and Let Die Soundtrack.