It's Certainly A Thrill: 'Sgt. Pepper' Is Best Album (Better than the White Album?!)

usa today ^ | 11-17-03

[ruoflaw]

I don't recall Good Vibrations coming out until the mid 70's...and the Beatles were no more

[republicofdavis]

"Yes. Very slowly now. Boston, a band not known for its lyrics, created the best album ever."

What's with the condescension? You think I can't understand your drivel? I was trying to be nice. You have actually stated in public that Boston is the greatest album of all time. When I stopped laughing (and I like the album) I tried to discuss the merits of the respective bands. I shouldn't have bothered.

[Petronski]

Whoa, that bit I said about connections from the Beatles to Traffic....scratch that. I wasn't thinking of Traffic, I was thinking of someone else. In fact the Traffic sound started out openly copying guitar rifts from psychedelic Beatles stuff.

[Fresh Wind]

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

[Imal]

This article doesn't mention Led Zeppelin at all, yet mentions groups like Coldplay, and that's precisely my point. It also does not mention Bob Dylan in any way shape or form, even though he appears second on the list and even wrote some of the most popular hits other bands rode to fame on. I am led to conclude that "The Paper for the Rest of Us" is granting ink based on who their common sponsors and owners are.

What usefulness is there in such a poorly written article? As much as anything else that comes out of USA Today I suppose. Yet another piece from them which carefully winds its way between the facts. At least they could have put up one of their asinine charts showing votes represented as vinyl record graphics or something, but that would have required actually printing the names of the runners-up, and even McPaper has to cut a few corners now and then.

There is so little relevant information in this article that it is utterly worthless. Your post, to which I am replying, is far better journalism than the article itself, having a much higher signal-to-noise ratio and far less skew.

For the record, if you'll pardon the pun, I do happen to like Sgt Pepper and respect what it accomplished for popular music very, very much.

But I hate crappy journalism.

[SamAdams76]

I used to have one of those cassette players with a built-in alarm clock. For years, I would wake up to "Time" from "Dark Side Of The Moon." Then I got married and my wife couldn't tolerate it. I miss waking up that way.

[Skooz]

LOL!

[AmishDude]

It's not the entire ouevre of the band that is in question, it's a single album. The Beatles have a much wider and deeper collection of music than nearly all bands -- stretched out over more than a decade and a half.

[GOP_Lady]

Never cared for the Beatles. They were either too pop or too psychodelic for me.

[eddie willers]

Do you think the Yardbirds got more influence from the Beatles?

No....they, and everyone else you mentioned, got Air Play.

Capish?

[Mr. Mojo]

We have similar tastes. The Band's 2nd album - "The Band", aka "The Brown Album" - is probably my favorite album of all time. Their 3rd album (Stage Fright) doesn't get much pub, but it's not that far behind the first two in quality, imo. And their live Rock of Ages is as good any any of them (but I put live albums in a different category).

Do you like Robbie Robertson's solo releases? They come out once every 7 years or so, but they're pretty darn good. ....although nowhere near as good as what The Band put out.

[GOP_Lady]

My very favorite -- Roxy Music!!! :-) My favorite album is "Avalon."

[IowaHawk]

personally, I think Blue Oyster Cult and Jefferson Starship are the greatest rock bands in history. Unlike the overrated Beatles, they were the headliners at the greatest outdoor rock festival of all time -- Portage Canal Days, (sponsored by Wonder Lube and Wonder Wash of Portage)

[eddie willers]

BTW... The Rolling Stones first hit was Ringo's "I Wanna Be Your Man".

[Mr. Mojo]

Mr. Tamborine Man. .....haven't listened to that in a long time, and it's interesting to look at the lyrics on their own.

[eddie willers]

Stop...you're killing me. :o)

[Skooz]

Yep. I read Keith Richards' account of the song.

Seems that Richards and Jagger were at a restaraunt with Lennoin and McCartney. Either Jagger or Richards asked how the Beatles wrote songs, and expressed that they would like to be able to write their own, but didn't know how.

Lennon and McCartney excused themsleves for a minute and came back with "I Wanna Be Your Man." Richards and Jagger looked at each other and said, "Man, they just whipped this up in a few minutes. We can do that."

That was when the Stones started writing their own songs and began to drift away from their blues roots and more into the rock n roll mainstream. That alienated Brian Jones, but that's another story.

[eddie willers]

Will somebody finally kill off that damn "Astral Weeks"? I've been reading these facking lists for 25 years and that stupid overrated obscurity is ALWAYS on it.

LOL...agreed.
But "Moondance" is another of my Desert Island Discs.

[eddie willers]

That was when the Stones started writing their own songs

And became quite good at it. LOL

[Fresh Wind]

Wasn't that VH-1 that declared Satisfaction the greatest rock song ever? I have to agree.