Beatles St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1966)

Facts/BackgroundThe Beatles had massive fame and commercial success from the early 1960s proved by their 15 no 1 albums. Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was one of the most important ever to be produced but it comes from a time when the publics obsession with the Beatles was beginning to fade. The band had stopped touring in August 1996 to become studio-based. Sergeant Pepper was recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966 at the Abbey Road Studios in London. It was a concept album meaning all songs are linked by unifying theme in this case a fictitious band who sing about themes of loneliness/isolation.

John Lennon Vocals, Rhythm GuitarPaul McCartney Vocals, Bass GuitarRingo Starr DrumsGeorge Harrison Lead Guitar

MusicHarmony and Tonality:-Beatles used both classical and innovative harmony in their songs. - Circle of fifths used in before the coda in Day in the life.- Unusual harmony in Being for the Benefit Cm, G+. Bb, Dm augmented chord gives chromatic colour. But the melody is descending sequence and repetitive to contour this unusual chord progression. - Fixing a Hole uses augmented, 6th, 7th and 9th chords largely because of the use of the blues scale on F in the melody line. This gives the song a heavily blues feel with prominent Ab and Ebs except on the lines it really doesnt matter, perhaps showing word painting suggesting that previous melodic trends also no longer matter.In fact, the flattening of 6th/7ths is a linking harmonic theme on album also seen in LSD resulting in a chromatic bassline and also in chorus of Help from my Friends. Unusual modulations from Amaj (verse), to Bbmaj (link) and then G major(chorus) in LSD, although the chorus chords are I, IV and V which is influenced by traditional chord progressions. Unusual time sigs of , 4/4 and 5/4 in Good Morning shows innovation/invention.

Instrumentation - Album famous for its various instrumentals and influences. When Im 64 uses clarinet trio (two Bb clarinets and bass clarinet) to give music hall effect, also very unusual for pop. McCartneys father was British music hall performer. Strings in Shes leaving home show classical orchestra influence. Vocals are also falsetto by Lennon in features a rare duet between Lennon and McCartney. All unusual. Extensive use of organs in Being for Benefit shows blues influence and also helps create the overall effect of a fairground to support the lyrics. Hammond Organ, Harmonium and Harmonica. The chaos of the instruments is also supported by the irregular rhythms 2+2+3 irregular stanza groupings. Indian classical instruments show the influence of Indian Classical music and Ravi Shankar on George Harrisons Within You, Without You. Tabla plays elaborate rhythmic patterns, Sitar plays a pseudo-improvised solo with dialogue between instruments. Tambura provides drone on this track and LSD.

A Day in The Life: the most harrowing song ever written Allan Moore. Inspired by sad news events in Lennons sections.-Unusual structure intro, 3 * verses, orchestral crescendo, interpolation, dream sequence section, 2*verses, orch. Crescendo. -Diatonic harmony with stepwise bass movement created through chord inversions. -Simple melody with limited range panned hard right to reflect the detached emotional nature of the vocals. Free rhythm again give spoken feeling as if reading the newspaper. Phrase lengths are very irregular. Finished with chromatic vocal passages give feeling of instability as we go into the next section.-2 orchestral cacophonous crescendo orchestra instructed to improvise within given range over a certain length of time with dynamics ppp-fff. Shows influence of aleatoric music favoured by experimental composers. The orch. are double tracked and played back at slightly different speeds to add depth. The orchestra are also panned across whole stereo field for depth of sound. Perhaps we could say that the orchestra represent being transported to another world when the lyrical content changes so radically between sections.

-Mixylodian mode hints in McCartneys section folk influence. Tempo doubles to show idea of the manic morning McCartneys lyrics reflect and an alarm clock sample is added to support the lyrics here. Crotchet piano chords support this.

-Word Painting in dream sequence with lyrical, legato vocalisation representing a dreamscape because it moves has bigger melodic leaps and much longer phrases. Slow tempo and sparse texture perhaps represent isolation. Uses ADT and echo here. Rising circle of 5ths used in dream sequence

Another Verse concerto like piano chords on albert hall to represent the lyrics reference. In this final verse the left and right channels have been reversed perhaps signifying that the singers perspective has changed following the dream sequence?

-Ends on Emaj chord lasts 47 seconds because the stereo masters are boosted to amplify the natural decay of the sound beyond its normal auditory limits. Expressive use of technology, suitably epic ending for such an ambitious song.

Being for The Benefit of Mr Kite- Unusual phrasing because verse 1 has 7 line stanza divided 2+2+3 across unequal numbers of bars. - The melody in the verse has descending sequences (traditional device) but has octave intervals in the last line to represent the acrobatic circus. Bass becomes more like countermelody as verse progresses.Rhythm section sounds march like with snare drum rolls reminding the audience of a tension creating circus drum-roll. Harmonicas and harmoniums give a circus-like feel to support lyrics.

Henry the Horse Dances a Waltz triggers the waltz section. um paa paa bass given a chaotic feel rapid descending chromatic scales. Lots of reverb here to add mystery. Sections ends with dom.7th chord of honky tonk piano. Drums were given high eq boost to make sure they cut through the timbre of this section.Fairground samples of calliope organs on tape were cut up, thrown into air and spliced back together aleatoric influence of experimental and tape concrete composer, Stockhausen.Vocals panned right to give a sense of narrative.Cmin key gives mysterious feel. The use of augmented chords help this too.

Lucy in The Sky With DiamondsVerse Part A- has very simple melody with even phrase structure and syllabic crotchet rhythm and use repetition. Uses inversions and chromatic harmony to produce stepwise bass movement. First chord = Dmin6/F, unusual in key of A and add harmonic colour to support colourful, surreal lyrics. No percussive time keeping supports the dreamlike, free floating lyrics. Tambura enters on somebody calls you Indian influence.

Verse Part B faster harmonic rhythm. V-1 progression repeated over towering over your head.

Chorus has higher register and is double time outlines unusual interval of minor 7th with descending repeated quaver melody. Melisma on word diamonds to represent shimmering? Tonic/dominant polarity in harmony very standard, influence of traditional Western harmony. I-IV-V7 progression is also very functional/traditional this simple harmony backs up simplistic nature of lyrics here just 3 repeated statements of lucy in the sky with diamonds very much like repetition in The Kinks - You Really Got Me. Harmonised on final LintheSwithD to move the song forward also used by The Kinks.ADT used on vocal with reverb and phasing to give dream-like quality.

Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club BandUse of French Horns shows influence of traditional Western orchestral music backs up the idea of marching band. Homophonic comping style also backs up the idea of Sg.Peppers fictitious band. Otherwise, a standard rock track in 4/4 like The Kinks early work. Pre-recorded audience noises begin the track and help set the scene of a concert about to take place.Verse 1 McCartney has a harsh rock timbre like The Kinks. - Uses repetitive phrases of semiquavers of tonic G and lower chromatic auxiliary of F# before repeated higher on Bb and A. The Kinks also use simple devices like ascending sequence Verses of You really Got Me. - Beatles use lyrics to introduce the band French Horns represent the trad. marching band when they enter with duet over the Bridge. Chorus lyrics support and introduce the concept album idea. Syncopated chords under hearts club band to emphasise the theme. In Gmaj which makes the Bb chords give blues-y feel to lonely again emphasising the album theme. Lots of reverb on vocals give impression of a concert hall acoustic ambience. Ending introduces Billy Shears and segues into With a Little Help from my Friends giving feeling of concert.

InfluencesThe album cover features influential figures including Stockhausen (electro-acoustic composer who worked with aleatory, as seen in Day in the Life) and Indian gurus (representing Indian influence in Within You, Without You).

Aleatory (music with element of chance by experimental 60s composers)

Classical instrumentation, (string quartet) harmonic progressions, traditional structures, tonic dominant relships, diatonic harmony, tonal.

Folk story narratives in songs, refrains in lyrics, accordian,

Blues (organs/blues scale on f fixing a hole/use of modes like blues scale/chord extensions/

Indian instruments (sitar by George in Withinu and LSD/ravi Shankar taught George/pseudo improv in WithinU/raga and tabla in WithinU/

British Music Hall compere to introduce songs/clarinet trio 64/Pauls dad BMH performer.

TechnologyGeorge Martin album producer known as 5th Beatle because of his input during recording. Effects like wah-wah pedals and fuzz boxes were also used. Bouncing Down/Multitrack recording - First album to use 4 track recorder which meant that errors on single tracks easily replaced. Often these 4 tracks were bounced down to create single layer on a separate master four track machine. This made more room for further overdubbing of layers.

Guitar Pedals

ADT Automatic Double Tracking was a machine that allowed for double tracking without having achieving it manually (a process Lennon hated). Invented for the album innovation. Uses tape delay to create a copy of an audio signal that could then be doubled on top. Used on Fixing a Hole to give bass part a fretless tone. On vocal parts of Within You, Without You. With an additional flange effect on LSD to give dreamlike quality to vocals.

Segueing Most tracks on the album link seamlessly together, supporting the idea that all the tracks were linked by united theme of loneliness.

Using non-musical samples to support lyrics features heavily in album. Eg. Panting and alarm clock in Day in the Life and Animal Sounds in Good Morning used to increase ferocity as song progresses.

Mics were placed close to audio signal and compressed heavily in Good Morning to also achieve an aggressive sound.

Panning Beatles are known for separating instruments separately into left and right fields with panning. For example compere in SG Pepper panned hard left and then band vocals panned hard right to give impression of separation. Sounds alongside musical sounds (high pitched sounds and alarm bells to highlight meaning of lyrics at Day of Life)