Domestica (also styled as Cursive's Domestica ) is the third studio album by the American indie rock band Cursive , released on June 20, 2000. This album was the 31st release by Saddle Creek Records , released on CD as well as both red and black vinyl.
127-421: Domestica is a concept album that tells the story of a relationship between two characters named "Sweetie" and "Pretty Baby." Both characters are mentioned by name in several of the songs on the album ("The Casualty," "The Martyr," "A Red So Deep," and "The Radiator Hums") as well as the title of "The Lament of Pretty Baby." Lead singer and principal songwriter Tim Kasher went through a divorce prior to writing
254-520: A US tour in August that was marked by reduced ticket sales, relative to the group's record attendances in 1965, and subpar performances proved to be their last. The author Nicholas Schaffner writes: To the Beatles, playing such concerts had become a charade so remote from the new directions they were pursuing that not a single tune was attempted from the just-released Revolver LP, whose arrangements were for
381-434: A baritone lead vocal that Womack credits with imparting an element of "earnestness in sharp contrast with the ironic distance of the title track". Written by Lennon and McCartney, the song's lyrics centre on a theme of questions, beginning with Starr asking the audience whether they would leave if he sang out of tune. In the call-and-response style, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison go on to ask their bandmate questions about
508-415: A stroboscope , the last of which they soon abandoned. Harrison later said the studio became the band's clubhouse for Sgt. Pepper ; David Crosby , Mick Jagger and Donovan were among the musician friends who visited them there. The band members also dressed up in psychedelic fashions, leading one session trumpeter to wonder whether they were in costume for a new film. Drug-taking was prevalent during
635-428: A "concept album" could potentially encompass all soundtracks , compilations , cast recordings , greatest hits albums , tribute albums , Christmas albums , and live albums . The most common definitions refer to an expanded approach to a rock album (as a story, play, or opus), or a project that either revolves around a specific theme or a collection of related materials. AllMusic writes, "A concept album could be
762-513: A bit of B. B. King , a bit of Stockhausen, a bit of Albert Ayler , a bit of Ravi Shankar, a bit of Pet Sounds , a bit of the Doors ". He saw the group as "pushing frontiers" similar to other composers of the time, even though the Beatles did not "necessarily like what, say, Berio was doing". Sessions began on 24 November 1966 in Studio Two at EMI Studios (subsequently Abbey Road Studios ), marking
889-612: A central concept, such as cars, surfing, and teenage lifestyles. Writing in 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music , Chris Smith commented: "Though albums such as Frank Sinatra's 1955 In the Wee Small Hours and Marty Robbins ' 1959 Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs had already introduced concept albums, [the Beach Boys' 1963 album] Little Deuce Coupe was the first to comprise almost all original material rather than standard covers." Music historian Larry Starr , who identifies
1016-452: A collection of songs by an individual songwriter or a particular theme – these are the concept LPs that reigned in the '50s ... the phrase 'concept album' is inextricably tied to the late 1960s, when rock & rollers began stretching the limits of their art form." Author Jim Cullen describes it as "a collection of discrete but thematically unified songs whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts ... sometimes [erroneously] assumed to be
1143-496: A deeper level of significance." In the 2016 BBC documentary When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album , narrated by Rick Wakeman , it is suggested that the first concept album is Woody Guthrie's 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads . The Independent regards it as "perhaps" one of the first concept albums, consisting exclusively of semi-autobiographical songs about the hardships of American migrant labourers during
1270-418: A deeper timbre than he had previously achieved with plastic heads. As on Revolver , the Beatles increasingly used session musicians, particularly for classical-inspired arrangements. Norman comments that Lennon's prominent vocal on some of McCartney's songs "hugely enhanced their atmosphere", particularly " Lovely Rita ". Within an hour of completing the last overdubs on the album's songs, on 20 April 1967,
1397-508: A few ideas", although he felt it lacked the avant-garde quality he was seeking. Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention has also been cited as having influenced Sgt. Pepper . According to the biographer Philip Norman , during the recording sessions McCartney repeatedly stated: "This is our Freak Out! " The music journalist Chet Flippo stated that McCartney was inspired to record a concept album after hearing Freak Out! Indian music
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#17330852165301524-453: A fictitious group and that, after his experiences in India, "my heart was still out there ... I was losing interest in being 'fab' at that point." Harrison added that, having enjoyed recording Rubber Soul and Revolver , he disliked how the group's approach on Sgt. Pepper became "an assembly process" whereby, "A lot of the time it ended up with just Paul playing the piano and Ringo keeping
1651-402: A high-pitched tone that could be heard by dogs but was inaudible to most human ears. The Beatles sought to inject an atmosphere of celebration into the recording sessions. Weary of the bland look inside EMI, they introduced psychedelic lighting to the studio space, including a device on which five red fluorescent tubes were fixed to a microphone stand, a lava lamp , a red darkroom lamp, and
1778-449: A method for accomplishing this by using a 50 Hz control signal between the two machines. Listening to each stage of their recording, once they've done the first couple of tracks, it's often hard to see what they're still looking for, it sounds so complete. Often the final complicated, well-layered version seems to have drowned the initial simple melody. But they know it's not right, even if they can't put it into words. Their dedication
1905-412: A narrative, as in musical comedy or opera . ... [He was the] first pop singer to bring a consciously artistic attitude to recording." Singer/pianist Nat "King" Cole (who, along with Sinatra, often collaborated with arranger Nelson Riddle during this era) was also an early pioneer of concept albums, as with his Wild Is Love (1960), a suite of original songs about a man's search for love. In
2032-501: A piano solo by Martin, and a coda in which the Beatles indulge in panting, groaning and other vocalised sounds. In Gould's view, the track represents "the show-stopper in the Pepper Band's repertoire: a funny, sexy, extroverted song that comes closer to the spirit of rock 'n' roll than anything else on the album". Lennon was inspired to write " Good Morning Good Morning " after watching a television commercial for Kellogg's Corn Flakes,
2159-434: A point of demarcation. It made use of two crossfades that blended songs together, giving the impression of a continuous live performance. Although both stereo and monaural mixes of the album were prepared, the Beatles were minimally involved in what they regarded as the less important stereo mix sessions, leaving the task to Martin and Emerick. Emerick recalls: "We spent three weeks on the mono mixes and maybe three days on
2286-472: A preference for keyboard instruments. Although Harrison's role as lead guitarist was limited during the sessions, Everett considers that "his contribution to the album is strong in several ways." He provided Indian instrumentation in the form of sitar, tambura and swarmandal , and Martin credited him with being the most committed of the Beatles in striving for new sounds. Starr's adoption of loose calfskin heads for his tom-toms ensured his drum kit had
2413-405: A product of the rock era." Author Roy Shuker defines concept albums and rock operas as albums that are "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical. ... In this form, the album changed from a collection of heterogeneous songs into a narrative work with a single theme, in which individual songs segue into one another." Speaking of concepts in albums during
2540-549: A song that eventually formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. His idea involved an Edwardian-era military band, for which Evans invented a name in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service . In February 1967, McCartney suggested that the new album should represent a performance by the fictional band. This alter ego group would give them
2667-544: A song's backing track. This approach afforded him the time to devise bass lines that were melodically adventurous – one of the qualities he especially admired in Wilson's work on Pet Sounds – and complemented the song's final arrangement. McCartney played keyboard instruments such as piano, grand piano and Lowrey organ , in addition to electric guitar on some songs, while Martin variously contributed on Hohner Pianet , harpsichord and harmonium . Lennon's songs similarly showed
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#17330852165302794-411: A special category for "concept album" in its annual recordings of the year awards , to celebrate "albums where a creative mind has curated something visionary, a programme whose whole speaks more powerfully than its parts. A thought-through journey, which compels to be heard in one sitting." In a year-ending essay on the album in 2019, Ann Powers wrote for Slate that the year found the medium in
2921-432: A state of flux. In her observation, many recording artists revitalized the concept album around autobiographical narratives and personal themes, such as intimacy, intersectionality , African-American life, boundaries among women, and grief associated with death. She cited such albums as Brittany Howard 's Jaime , Raphael Saadiq 's Jimmy Lee , Jamila Woods ' Legacy! Legacy! , Rapsody 's Eve , Jenny Lewis ' On
3048-423: Is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Sometimes the term is applied to albums considered to be of "uniform excellence" rather than an LP with an explicit musical or lyrical motif. There is no consensus among music critics as to
3175-467: Is another example of a modern concept album. Dorian Lynskey, writing for GQ , noted a resurgence of concept albums in the 2010s due to streaming : "This is happening not in spite of the rise of streaming and playlists, but because of it. Threatened with redundancy in the digital era, albums have fought back by becoming more album-like." Cucchiara argues that concept albums should also describe "this new generation of concept albums, for one key reason. This
3302-467: Is because the unison between the songs on a particular album has now been expanded into a broader field of visual and artistic design and marketing strategies that play into the themes and stories that form the album." Towards the end of the 80s, however, as heavy metal suited a fairly niche crowd, a few heavy metal artists began producing concept albums, particularly among the more progressive groups. King Diamond's Abigail and Savatage's Hall of
3429-457: Is composed mainly of rock and pop music, while Michael Hannan and Naphtali Wagner both see it as an album of various genres; Hannan says it features "a broad variety of musical and theatrical genres". According to Hannan and Wagner, the music incorporates the stylistic influences of rock and roll , vaudeville , big band , piano jazz , blues , chamber , circus , music hall , avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. Wagner feels
3556-422: Is considered one of the first art rock LPs and a progenitor to progressive rock . It incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville , circus , music hall , avant-garde , and Western and Indian classical music. With assistance from producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick , many of the recordings were coloured with sound effects and tape manipulation, as exemplified on " Lucy in
3683-402: Is filled by a French horn quartet. Womack credits the recording's use of a brass ensemble with distorted electric guitars as an early example of rock fusion. MacDonald agrees, describing the track as an overture rather than a song, and a "fusion of Edwardian variety orchestra" and contemporary hard rock . Hannan describes the track's unorthodox stereo mix as "typical of the album", with
3810-415: Is impressive, gnawing away at the same song for stretches of ten hours each. The production on "Strawberry Fields Forever" was especially complex, involving the innovative splicing of two takes that were recorded in different tempos and pitches . Emerick remembers that during the recording of Revolver , "we had got used to being asked to do the impossible, and we knew that the word 'no' didn't exist in
3937-442: Is in danger." The threat was taken seriously in light of the controversy surrounding the tour among Japan's religious and conservative groups, with particular opposition to the Beatles' planned performances at the sacred Nippon Budokan arena. As an added precaution, 35,000 police were mobilised and tasked with protecting the group, who were transported from hotels to concert venues in armoured vehicles. The Beatles then performed in
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4064-433: Is one of the most famous concept albums by any artist. In addition to The Wall , Danesi highlights Genesis ' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) and Frank Zappa 's Joe's Garage (1979) as other culturally significant concept albums. According to author Edward Macan, concept albums as a recurrent theme in progressive rock was directly inspired by the counterculture associated with "the proto-progressive bands of
4191-466: Is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles . Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form , psychedelic imagery, record sleeves , and the producer in popular music . The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of
4318-625: The Philippines , where they were threatened and manhandled by its citizens for not visiting First Lady Imelda Marcos . The group were angry with their manager, Brian Epstein , for insisting on what they regarded as an exhausting and demoralising itinerary. The publication in the US of Lennon's remarks about the Beatles being " more popular than Jesus " then embroiled the band in controversy and protest in America's Bible Belt . A public apology eased tensions, but
4445-436: The drug culture , but also to metaphysics and the non-violent approach of the flower power movement. The musicologist Oliver Julien views the album as an embodiment of "the social, the musical, and more generally, the cultural changes of the 1960s". The album's primary value, according to Moore, is its ability to "capture, more vividly than almost anything contemporaneous, its own time and place". Whiteley agrees, crediting
4572-468: The fourth wall between the artist and their audience. He argues that, paradoxically, the lyrics "exemplify the mindless rhetoric of rock concert banter" while "mock[ing] the very notion of a pop album's capacity for engendering authentic interconnection between artist and audience". In his view, the mixed message ironically serves to distance the group from their fans while simultaneously "gesturing toward" them as alter egos. The song's five- bar bridge
4699-409: The jingle from which he adapted for the song's refrain . The track uses the bluesy Mixolydian mode in A, which Everett credits with "perfectly express[ing] Lennon's grievance against complacency". According to Greene, the song contrasts sharply with "She's Leaving Home" by providing "the more 'avant-garde' subversive study of suburban life". The time signature varies across 5/4, 3/4 and 4/4, while
4826-466: The promotional film for "Strawberry Fields Forever". Womack views the track as an effective blending of a print source and music, while MacDonald describes it as "a spontaneous expression of its author's playful hedonism". Tasked by Lennon to evoke a circus atmosphere so vivid that he could "smell the sawdust", Martin and Emerick created a sound collage comprising randomly assembled recordings of harmoniums, harmonicas and calliopes . Everett says that
4953-509: The sitar under the instruction of Ravi Shankar and develop his interest in Hindu philosophy. Having been the last of the Beatles to concede that their live performances had become futile, Paul McCartney collaborated with Beatles producer George Martin on the soundtrack for the film The Family Way and holidayed in Kenya with Mal Evans , one of the Beatles' tour managers . Lennon acted in
5080-438: The "expansive new sense of possibility" that defined the group's next project, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . Gould adds that McCartney's succumbing to peer pressure allowed Lennon "to play the role of psychedelic guide" to his songwriting partner, thereby facilitating a closer collaboration between the two than had been evident since early in the Beatles' career. For his part, Lennon had turned deeply introspective during
5207-503: The 1930s. In the late 1940s, the LP record was introduced, with space age pop composers producing concept albums soon after. Themes included exploring wild life and dealing with emotions, with some albums meant to be played while dining or relaxing. This was accompanied in the mid-1950s with the invention of the gatefold , which allowed room for liner notes to explain the concept. Singer Frank Sinatra recorded several concept albums prior to
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5334-491: The 1960s rock era, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955) and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958). Sinatra is occasionally credited as the inventor of the concept album, beginning with The Voice of Frank Sinatra (1946), which led to similar work by Bing Crosby . According to biographer Will Friedwald, Sinatra "sequenced the songs so that the lyrics created a flow from track to track, affording an impression of
5461-640: The 1960s", observing: "the consistent use of lengthy forms such as the programmatic song cycle of the concept album and the multimovement suite underscores the hippies' new, drug-induced conception of time." Progressive soul musicians inspired by this approach conceived concept albums during this era reflecting themes and concerns of the African-American experience , including Marvin Gaye (1971's What's Going On ) and George Clinton (the 1975 Parliament album Mothership Connection and Dope Dogs ). With
5588-618: The 1967 Summer of Love , while its reception achieved full cultural legitimisation for popular music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form. The first Beatles album to be released with the same track listing in both the UK and the US, it spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart in
5715-540: The 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), because "overall impression" of an album matters, "concept intensifies the impact" of certain albums "in more or less the way Sgt. Pepper intended", as well as "a species of concept that pushes a rhythmically unrelenting album like The Wild Magnolias or a vocally irresistible one like Shirley Brown 's Woman to Woman , to
5842-474: The American term for a female traffic warden was a meter maid, Gould deems it a celebration of an encounter that evokes Swinging London and the contemporaneous chic for military-style uniforms. MacDonald regards the song as a "satire on authority" that is "imbued with an exuberant interest in life that lifts the spirits, dispersing self-absorption". The arrangement includes a quartet of comb-and-paper kazoos ,
5969-492: The BBC stated that it could "encourage a permissive attitude towards drug-taking". Although Lennon and McCartney denied any drug-related interpretation of the song at the time, McCartney later suggested that the line referred to either drugs or sex. The meaning of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" became the subject of speculation, as many believed that the title was code for LSD. In " Being for
6096-540: The Beach Boys ' Pet Sounds (1966), the Beatles ' Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) are variously cited as "the first concept album", usually for their "uniform excellence rather than some lyrical theme or underlying musical motif". Other records have been claimed as "early" or "first" concept albums. The Beach Boys' first six albums, released over 1962–64, featured collections of songs unified respectively by
6223-464: The Beach Boys' 1964 releases Shut Down Volume 2 and All Summer Long as heralding the album era, cites Pet Sounds as the first rock concept album on the basis that it had been "conceived as an integrated whole, with interrelated songs arranged in a deliberate sequence." The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time (2015) states that the Ventures "pioneered the idea of the rock concept album years before
6350-571: The Beatles had grown weary of live performance. In John Lennon 's opinion, they could "send out four waxworks ... and that would satisfy the crowds. Beatles concerts are nothing to do with music anymore. They're just bloody tribal rites." In June 1966, two days after finishing the album Revolver , the group set off for a tour that started in West Germany . While in Hamburg they received an anonymous telegram stating: "Do not go to Tokyo. Your life
6477-510: The Beatles identified the most significant LP as the Beach Boys ' Pet Sounds , which Brian Wilson , the band's leader, had created in response to the Beatles' Rubber Soul . McCartney was highly impressed with the "harmonic structures" and choice of instruments used on Pet Sounds , and said that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could "get further out" than the Beach Boys had. He identified Pet Sounds as his main musical inspiration for Sgt. Pepper , adding that "[we] nicked
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#17330852165306604-541: The Beatles' "tremendous appetite for recording". During the Sgt. Pepper sessions, the band also recorded " Carnival of Light ", a McCartney-led experimental piece created for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, held at the Roundhouse Theatre on 28 January and 4 February. The album was completed on 21 April with the recording of random noises and voices that were included on the run-out groove , preceded by
6731-429: The Beatles' vocabulary." A key feature of Sgt. Pepper is Martin and Emerick's liberal use of signal processing to shape the sound of the recording, which included the application of dynamic range compression , reverb and signal limiting . Relatively new modular effects units were used, such as running voices and instruments through a Leslie speaker . Several innovative production techniques feature prominently on
6858-495: The Beatles' youth, but after pressure from EMI , the songs " Strawberry Fields Forever " and " Penny Lane " were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track . A key work of British psychedelia , Sgt. Pepper
6985-614: The Benefit of Mr. Kite! ", the reference to "Henry the Horse" contains two common slang terms for heroin. Fans speculated that Henry the Horse was a drug dealer and " Fixing a Hole " was a reference to heroin use. Others noted lyrics such as "I get high" from " With a Little Help from My Friends ", "take some tea" – slang for cannabis use – from "Lovely Rita", and "digging the weeds" from "When I'm Sixty-Four". The author Sheila Whiteley attributes Sgt. Pepper 's underlying philosophy not only to
7112-667: The Line , Julia Jacklin 's Crushing , Joe Henry 's The Gospel According to Water , and Nick Cave 's Ghosteen . Although concept albums have only been popularized and somewhat defined recently, the concept has existed far longer than rock. For example, Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons', and Camille Saint-Saëns 'Le Carnaval des Animaux' (The Carnival of the Animals) are built upon the same idea of an overarching theme or concept, though they are not traditionally thought of as albums. Sgt. Pepper Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
7239-505: The Moon (1973) and the Eagles ' Hotel California (1976)." In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Dark Side of the Moon at number one among the 50 greatest progressive rock albums of all time, also noting the LP's stature as the second-best-selling album of all time. Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979), a semi-autobiographical story modeled after the band's Roger Waters and former member Syd Barrett ,
7366-595: The Mountain King , both released in 1987, stand some of the earliest examples of concept albums produced by a heavy metal artist. A year later, Iron Maiden's , Seventh Son of a Seventh Son , released in 1988, would become one of the most notable examples of a heavy metal concept album at the time. Around this time, progressive metal began taking form with artists such as Queensrÿche , Fates Warning , and Savatage. Shortly later in 1988, Queensrÿche would release Operation: Mindcrime , which would be considered one of
7493-414: The Sky with Diamonds " as having the most variations of tape speed on Sgt. Pepper . During the recording of Lennon's vocals, the tape speed was reduced from 50 cycles per second to 45, which produced a higher and thinner-sounding track when played back at the normal speed. For the album's title track, the recording of Starr's drum kit was enhanced by the use of damping and close-miking . MacDonald credits
7620-458: The Sky with Diamonds ", " Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! " and " A Day in the Life ". Recording was completed on 21 April. The cover, which depicts the Beatles posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures , was designed by the pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth . Sgt. Pepper ' s release was a defining moment in pop culture , heralding the album era and
7747-583: The Top", "First Time in Four Years" and "Has the Bubble Burst?" In keeping with the band's approach to their previously issued singles, the songs were then excluded from Sgt. Pepper . Martin later described the decision to drop these two songs as "the biggest mistake of my professional life". In his judgment, "Strawberry Fields Forever", which he and the band spent an unprecedented 55 hours of studio time recording, "set
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#17330852165307874-660: The United States. In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year , the first rock LP to receive this honour; in 2003, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by Rolling Stone magazine and in
8001-445: The Who's Tommy is "popularly thought of as the first rock opera, an extra-long concept album with characters, a consistent storyline, and a slight bit of pomposity", it is preceded by the shorter concept albums Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake ( Small Faces , 1968) and S.F. Sorrow ( The Pretty Things , 1968). Author Jim Cullen states: "The concept album reached its apogee in the 1970s in ambitious records like Pink Floyd 's Dark Side of
8128-415: The agenda for the whole album". He explained: "It was going to be a record ... [with songs that] couldn't be performed live: they were designed to be studio productions and that was the difference." McCartney declared: "Now our performance is that record." Music papers started to slag us off ... because [ Sgt. Pepper ] took five months to record, and I remember the great glee seeing in one of
8255-454: The album with "provid[ing] a historical snapshot of England during the run-up to the Summer of Love ". Several scholars have applied a hermeneutic strategy to their analysis of Sgt. Pepper 's lyrics, identifying loss of innocence and the dangers of overindulgence in fantasies or illusions as the most prominent themes. Sgt. Pepper opens with the title track , starting with 10 seconds of
8382-454: The album's concept: "Paul said, 'Come and see the show', I didn't. I said, 'I read the news today, oh boy. ' " Everett describes Starr as having been "largely bored" during the sessions, with the drummer later lamenting: "The biggest memory I have of Sgt. Pepper ... is I learned to play chess ". In The Beatles Anthology , Harrison said he had little interest in McCartney's concept of
8509-514: The album's ethical soul" and views the line "With our love we could save the world" as a concise reflection of the Beatles' idealism that soon inspired the Summer of Love. The track ends with a burst of laughter gleaned from a tape in the EMI archive; some listeners interpreted this as a mockery of the song, but Harrison explained: "It's a release after five minutes of sad music ... You were supposed to hear
8636-444: The album's music reconciles the "diametrically opposed aesthetic ideals" of classical and psychedelia , achieving a "psycheclassical synthesis" of the two forms. Musicologist John Covach describes Sgt. Pepper as " proto-progressive ". We didn't really shove the LP full of pot and drugs but, I mean, there was an effect. We were more consciously trying to keep it out. You wouldn't say, "I had some acid, baby, so groovy," but there
8763-420: The album's overtly psychedelic material; its lyrics inspire the listener "to usurp the past by living well and flourishing in the present". He cites it as a strong example of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, particularly Lennon's addition of the line "It can't get no worse", which serves as a "sarcastic rejoinder" to McCartney's chorus: "It's getting better all the time". Lennon's contribution to
8890-521: The arrangement includes a horn section comprising members of Sounds Inc. MacDonald highlights the "rollicking" brass score, Starr's drumming and McCartney's "coruscating pseudo-Indian guitar solo" among the elements that convey a sense of aggression on a track he deems a "disgusted canter through the muck, mayhem, and mundanity of the human farmyard". A series of animal noises appear during the fade-out that are sequenced – at Lennon's request – so that each successive animal could conceivably scare or devour
9017-422: The audience anyway, as they listen to Sergeant Pepper's Show. That was the style of the album." MacDonald characterises McCartney's " When I'm Sixty-Four " as a song "aimed chiefly at parents", borrowing heavily from the English music hall style of George Formby , while invoking images of the illustrator Donald McGill 's seaside postcards. Its sparse arrangement includes clarinets, chimes and piano. Moore views
9144-652: The book All Time Top 1000 Albums , and the UK's " Music of the Millennium " poll. More than 32 million copies had been sold worldwide as of 2011. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time and was, as of 2018, the UK's best-selling studio album . A remixed and expanded edition of the album was released in 2017. We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top approach. We were not boys, we were men ... and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers. By late 1965,
9271-466: The burden of self-conscious insecurities. Womack interprets the lyric as "the speaker's search for identity among the crowd", in particular the "quests for consciousness and connection" that differentiate individuals from society as a whole. MacDonald characterises it as a "distracted and introverted track", during which McCartney forgoes his "usual smooth design" in favour of "something more preoccupied". He cites Harrison's electric guitar solo as serving
9398-405: The combined sounds of a pit orchestra warming up and an audience waiting for a concert, creating the illusion of the album as a live performance. McCartney serves as the master of ceremonies , welcoming the audience to a twentieth-anniversary reunion concert by Sgt. Pepper's band, who, led by Lennon, then sing a message of appreciation for the crowd's warm response. Womack says the lyric bridges
9525-436: The creative freedom afforded by McCartney's band-within-a-band idea, they "went along with the concept with varying degrees of enthusiasm". Studio personnel recalled that Lennon had "never seemed so happy" as during the Sgt. Pepper sessions. In a 1969 interview with Barry Miles , however, Lennon said he was depressed and that while McCartney was "full of confidence", he was "going through murder". Lennon explained his view of
9652-412: The definition a bit, to where the album is the concept, then it is clear that progressive rock is entirely a music of concept albums—and this flows rather directly of Rubber Soul (December 1965) and then Revolver (1966), Pet Sounds , and Sergeant Pepper's . ... in the wake of these albums, many rock musicians took up "the complete album approach." Popmatters ' Sarah Zupko notes that while
9779-431: The early 1960s, concept albums began featuring highly in American country music , but the fact went largely unacknowledged by rock/pop fans and critics, who would only begin noting "concept albums" as a phenomenon later in the decade, when albums became closely aligned with countercultural ideology, resulting in a recognised " album era " and the introduction of the rock concept album. The author Carys Wyn Jones writes that
9906-476: The emergence of MTV as a music video network which valued singles over albums, concept albums became less dominant in the 1980s. Some artists, however, still released concept albums and experienced success in the 1990s and 2000s. NME ' s Emily Barker cites Green Day 's American Idiot (2004) as one of the "more notable" examples, having brought the concept album back to high-charting positions. My Chemical Romance ’s The Black Parade (2006)
10033-461: The era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism , and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art , and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture . At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for
10160-455: The field of classical music has adopted the idea of the concept album, citing such historical examples as Schubert's Winterreise and Schumann's Liederkreis as prototypes for contemporary composers and musicians. Classical composers and performers increasingly adopt production and marketing strategies that unify otherwise disparate works into concept albums or concerts. Since 2019, the classical music magazine Gramophone has included
10287-703: The film How I Won the War and attended art showings, such as one at the Indica Gallery where he met his future wife Yoko Ono . Ringo Starr used the break to spend time with his wife Maureen and son Zak . While in London without his bandmates, McCartney took the hallucinogenic drug LSD (or "acid") for the first time, having long resisted Lennon and Harrison's insistence that he join them and Starr in experiencing its perception-heightening effects. According to author Jonathan Gould, this initiation into LSD afforded McCartney
10414-649: The filming of How I Won the War in southern Spain in September 1966. His anxiety over his and the Beatles' future was reflected in " Strawberry Fields Forever ", a song that provided the initial theme, regarding a Liverpool childhood, of the new album. On his return to London, Lennon embraced the city's arts culture, of which McCartney was a part, and shared his bandmate's interest in avant-garde and electronic-music composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen , John Cage and Luciano Berio . In November, during his and Evans' return flight from Kenya, McCartney had an idea for
10541-534: The first 'concept album' even though the songs were unrelated." Author Bill Martin relates the assumed concept albums of the 1960s to progressive rock : In discussions of progressive rock, the idea of the "concept album" is mentioned frequently. If this term refers to albums that have thematic unity and development throughout, then in reality there are probably fewer concept albums than one might first think. Pet Sounds and Sergeant Pepper's do not qualify according to this criterion ... However, if we instead stretch
10668-446: The first 'concept album', but Sgt. Pepper was the record that made that idea convincing to most ears." Musicologist Allan Moore says that "Even though previous albums had set a unified mood (notably Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers! ), it was on the basis of the influence of Sgt. Pepper that the penchant for the concept album was born." Adding to Sgt. Pepper ' s claim, the artwork reinforced its central theme by depicting
10795-448: The first of the album's songs to address "the crisis of middle-class life in the late 1960s" and comments on its surprisingly conservative sentiments, given McCartney's absorption in the London avant-garde scene. Lennon adapted the lyrics for " Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! " from an 1843 poster for Pablo Fanque 's circus that he purchased at an antique shop in Kent on the day of filming
10922-408: The first progressive metal albums, and was also a concept album. Thus it could be argued that from the genre's inception, progressive metal has been a hotspot for concept albums, like its rock counterpart. Other notable progressive metal concept albums are Dream Theater 's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory , Opeth 's Still Life , and Orphaned Land 's Mabool . In the 21st century,
11049-417: The first session for which took place on 6 December, and " Penny Lane ". "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were subsequently released as a double A-side in February 1967 after EMI and Epstein pressured Martin for a single. When it failed to reach number one in the UK, British press agencies speculated that the group's run of success might have ended, with headlines such as "Beatles Fail to Reach
11176-435: The first time that the Beatles had come together since September. Afforded the luxury of a nearly limitless recording budget, and with no absolute deadline for completion, the band booked open-ended sessions that started at 7 pm and allowed them to work as late as they wanted. They began with "Strawberry Fields Forever", followed by two other songs that were thematically linked to their childhoods: " When I'm Sixty-Four ",
11303-421: The form of an imperative" through the line: "Picture yourself in a boat on a river", and continues with imaginative imagery, including "tangerine trees", "rocking horse people" and "newspaper taxis". The musical backing includes a phrase played by McCartney on a Lowrey organ, treated with ADT to sound like a celeste , and tambura drone. Harrison also contributed a lead guitar part that doubles Lennon's vocal over
11430-445: The four Beatles in uniform as members of the Sgt. Pepper band, while the record omitted the gaps that usually separated album tracks. Music critic and journalist Neil Slaven stated that Frank Zappa 's Absolutely Free , released the same day as Sgt. Pepper , was "very much a concept album, but The Beatles effortlessly stole his thunder", and subsequently Sgt. Pepper was hailed as "perhaps
11557-457: The freedom to experiment musically by releasing them from their image as Beatles. Martin recalled that the concept was not discussed at the start of the sessions, but it subsequently gave the album "a life of its own". Portions of Sgt. Pepper reflect the Beatles' general immersion in the blues , Motown and other American popular musical traditions. The author Ian MacDonald writes that when reviewing their rivals' recent work in late 1966,
11684-451: The genre is generally acknowledged to have been born". Writing in his Concise Dictionary of Popular Culture , Marcel Danesi identifies the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965) and the Who's The Who Sell Out (1967) as other examples of early concept albums. Brian Boyd of The Irish Times names the Kinks ' Face to Face (1966) as the first concept album: "Written entirely by Ray Davies ,
11811-446: The group a virtual multitrack studio. EMI's Studer J37 four-track machines were well suited to reduction mixing, as the high quality of the recordings that they produced minimised the increased noise associated with the process. When recording the orchestra for "A Day in the Life", Martin synchronised a four-track recorder playing the Beatles' backing track to another one taping the orchestral overdub. The engineer Ken Townsend devised
11938-425: The group returned to Harrison's " Only a Northern Song ", the basic track of which they had taped in February. The Beatles overdubbed random sounds and instrumentation before submitting it as the first of four new songs they were contracted to supply to United Artists for inclusion in the animated film Yellow Submarine . In author Mark Lewisohn 's description, it was a "curious" session, but one that demonstrated
12065-469: The invention of progressive rock and rock opera . There is no clear definition of a "concept album". Fiona Sturges of The Independent stated that the concept album "was originally defined as a long-player where the songs were based on one dramatic idea – but the term is subjective." A precursor to this type of album can be found in the 19th-century song cycle , which ran into similar difficulties in classification. The extremely broad definitions of
12192-508: The lead vocal in the right speaker during the verses, but in the left during the chorus and middle eight . McCartney returns as the master of ceremonies near the end of the song, announcing the entrance of an alter ego named Billy Shears. The title track segues into " With a Little Help from My Friends " amid the sound of screaming fans recorded during a Beatles concert at the Hollywood Bowl . In his role as Billy Shears, Starr contributes
12319-456: The lyric also includes a confessional regarding his having been violent with female companions: "I used to be cruel to my woman". In Womack's opinion, the song encourages the listener to follow the speaker's example and "alter their own angst-ridden ways": "Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene and I'm doing the best that I can." " Fixing a Hole " deals with McCartney's desire to let his mind wander freely and to express his creativity without
12446-430: The meaning of friendship and true love; by the final verse, Starr provides unequivocal answers. In MacDonald's opinion, the lyric is "at once communal and personal ... [and] meant as a gesture of inclusivity; everyone could join in." Everett comments that the track's use of a major key double-plagal cadence became commonplace in pop music following the release of Sgt. Pepper . Despite widespread suspicion that
12573-513: The mixing employed automatic double tracking (ADT), a system that uses tape recorders to create a simultaneous doubling of a sound. ADT was invented by Townsend during the Revolver sessions in 1966 especially for the Beatles, who regularly expressed a desire for a technical alternative to having to record doubled lead vocals. Another important effect was varispeeding , a technique that the Beatles used extensively on Revolver . Martin cites " Lucy in
12700-502: The most part impossible to reproduce with the limitations imposed by their two-guitars-bass-and-drums stage lineup. On the Beatles' return to England, rumours began to circulate that they had decided to break up. George Harrison informed Epstein that he was leaving the band, but he was persuaded to stay on the assurance that there would be no more tours. The group took a three-month break, during which they focused on individual interests. Harrison travelled to India for six weeks to study
12827-570: The neighbourhood opened their windows and listened without complaint to what they understood to be unreleased Beatles music. In his book on ambient music , The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby , Mark Prendergast views Sgt. Pepper as the Beatles' "homage" to Stockhausen and Cage, adding that its "rich, tape-manipulated sound" shows the influence of electronic and experimental composer Pierre Schaeffer . Martin recalled that Sgt. Pepper "grew naturally out of Revolver ", marking "an era of almost continuous technological experimentation". The album
12954-436: The new recording technique with creating a "three-dimensional" sound that, along with other Beatles innovations, engineers in the US would soon adopt as standard practice. Artistic experimentation, such as the placement of random gibberish in the run-out groove, became one of the album's defining features. Sgt. Pepper was the first pop album to be mastered without the momentary gaps that are typically placed between tracks as
13081-511: The next three months. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, Revolver (1966), this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24 November at EMI Studios with compositions inspired by
13208-406: The papers how the Beatles have dried up ... and I was sitting rubbing my hands, saying "You just wait." According to the musicologist Walter Everett , Sgt. Pepper marks the beginning of McCartney's ascendancy as the Beatles' dominant creative force. He wrote more than half of the album's material while asserting increasing control over the recording of his compositions. In an effort to get
13335-455: The plight of a young woman escaping the control of her parents, and was inspired by a piece about teenage runaways published in the Daily Mail . Lennon supplies a supporting vocal that conveys the parents' anguish and confusion. It is the first track on Sgt. Pepper that eschews the use of guitars and drums, featuring only a string nonet with a harp. Music historian Doyle Greene views it as
13462-478: The proceedings were filmed on seven handheld cameras, with the band doing some of the filming. Following this event, the group considered making a television special based on the album. Each of the songs was to be represented with a clip directed by a different director, but the cost of recording Sgt. Pepper made the idea prohibitive to EMI. For the 15 March session for " Within You Without You ", Studio Two
13589-469: The recordings, including direct injection , pitch control and ambiophonics . The bass part on " Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band " was the first example of the Beatles recording via direct injection (DI), which Townsend devised as a method for plugging electric guitars directly into the recording console. In Kenneth Womack 's opinion, the use of DI on the album's title track "afforded McCartney's bass with richer textures and tonal clarity". Some of
13716-429: The right sound, the Beatles attempted numerous re-takes of McCartney's song " Getting Better ". When the decision was made to re-record the basic track, Starr was summoned to the studio, but called off soon afterwards as the focus switched from rhythm to vocal tracking. Much of the bass guitar on the album was mixed upfront. Preferring to overdub his bass part last, McCartney tended to play other instruments when recording
13843-408: The sessions, with Martin later recalling that the group would steal away to "have something". The 10 February session for orchestral overdubs on " A Day in the Life " was staged as a happening typical of the London avant-garde scene. The Beatles invited numerous friends and the session players wore formal dinner-wear augmented with fancy-dress props. Overseen by NEMS employee Tony Bramwell,
13970-531: The slides and bends typical of Indian music. The song's pitch is derived from the eastern Khamaj scale, which is akin to the Mixolydian mode in the West. MacDonald regards "Within You Without You" as "the most distant departure from the staple Beatles sound in their discography", and a work that represents the "conscience" of the LP through the lyrics' rejection of Western materialism. Womack calls it "quite arguably,
14097-464: The song as a synthesis of ragtime and pop, adding that its position following "Within You Without You" – a blend of Indian classical music and pop – demonstrates the diversity of the album's material. He says the music hall atmosphere is reinforced by McCartney's vocal delivery and the recording's use of chromaticism , a harmonic pattern that can be traced to Scott Joplin 's " The Ragtime Dance " and " The Blue Danube " by Johann Strauss . Varispeeding
14224-450: The songs were supposed to be linked by pieces of music, so that the album would play without gaps, but the record company baulked at such radicalism. It's not one of the band's finest works, but it did have an impact." "Popular consensus" for the first rock concept album, according to AllMusic, favours Sgt. Pepper . According to music critic Tim Riley , "Strictly speaking, the Mothers of Invention 's Freak Out! [1966] has claims as
14351-548: The songs. Though Kasher maintains that the characters' relationship differs in many key ways from his marriage, he has also stated that some of the story's events were based in reality. While the ending track is ambiguous, Kasher has stated that the couple stays together. The album is mainly considered emo , post-hardcore and indie rock . In 2014, Stereogum named "The Martyr" in their list of "30 Emo Songs: Late 90s & Early 2000s Essentials." All tracks are written by Cursive Concept album A concept album
14478-425: The specific criteria for what a "concept album" is. The format originates with folk singer Woody Guthrie 's Dust Bowl Ballads (1940) and was subsequently popularized by traditional pop singer Frank Sinatra 's 1940s–50s string of albums, although the term is more often associated with rock music . In the 1960s several well-regarded concept albums were released by various rock bands, which eventually led to
14605-406: The stereo." Most listeners ultimately heard only the stereo version. He estimates that the group spent 700 hours on the LP, more than 30 times that of the first Beatles album, Please Please Me , which cost £400 to produce. The final cost of Sgt. Pepper was approximately £25,000 (equivalent to £573,000 in 2023). Author Robert Rodriguez writes that while Lennon, Harrison and Starr embraced
14732-575: The teachings of the Hindu Vedas , while its musical form and Indian instrumentation, such as sitar, tabla , dilrubas and tamburas, recalls the Hindu devotional tradition known as bhajan . Harrison recorded the song with London-based Indian musicians from the Asian Music Circle ; none of the other Beatles played on the recording. He and Martin then worked on a Western string arrangement that imitated
14859-409: The tempo, and we weren't allowed to play as a band as much." In Lewisohn's opinion, Sgt. Pepper represents the group's last unified effort, displaying a cohesion that deteriorated immediately following the album's completion and entirely disappeared by the release of The Beatles (also known as the "White Album") in 1968. Martin recalled in 1987 that throughout the making of Sgt. Pepper , "There
14986-552: The title of " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds " contained a hidden reference to LSD, Lennon insisted that it was derived from a pastel drawing by his four-year-old son Julian . A hallucinatory chapter from Lewis Carroll 's 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass , a favourite of Lennon's, inspired the song's atmosphere. According to MacDonald, "the lyric explicitly recreates the psychedelic experience ". The first verse begins with what Womack characterises as "an invitation in
15113-424: The track well, capturing its mood by conveying detachment. Womack notes McCartney's adaptation of the lyric "a hole in the roof where the rain leaks in" from Elvis Presley 's " We're Gonna Move ". In Everett's view, the lyrics to " She's Leaving Home " address the problem of alienation "between disagreeing peoples", particularly those distanced from each other by the generation gap . McCartney's narrative details
15240-491: The track's use of Edwardian imagery thematically links it with the album's title song. Gould also views "Mr. Kite!" as a return to the LP's opening motif, albeit that of show business and with the focus now on performers and a show in a radically different setting. We're not trying to outwit the public. The whole idea is to try a little bit to lead people into different tastes. Harrison's Hindustani classical music -inspired " Within You Without You " reflects his immersion in
15367-447: The verses in the style of a sarangi player accompanying an Indian khyal singer. The music critic Tim Riley identifies the track as a moment "in the album, [where] the material world is completely clouded in the mythical by both text and musical atmosphere". MacDonald considers " Getting Better " to contain "the most ebullient performance" on Sgt. Pepper . Womack credits the track's "driving rock sound" with distinguishing it from
15494-467: Was a feeling that something had happened between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper . According to author George Case, all of the songs on Sgt. Pepper were perceived by contemporary listeners as being drug-inspired, with 1967 marking the pinnacle of LSD's influence on pop music. Shortly before the album's release, the BBC banned "A Day in the Life" from British radio because of the phrase "I'd love to turn you on";
15621-429: Was a very good spirit at that time between all the Beatles and ourselves. We were all conscious that we were doing something that was great." He said that while McCartney effectively led the project, and sometimes annoyed his bandmates, "Paul appreciated John's contribution on Pepper . In terms of quantity, it wasn't great, but in terms of quality, it was enormous." Among musicologists, Allan Moore says that Sgt. Pepper
15748-429: Was another touchstone on Sgt. Pepper , principally for Lennon and Harrison. In a 1967 interview, Harrison said that the Beatles' ongoing success had encouraged them to continue developing musically and that, given their standing, "We can do things that please us without conforming to the standard pop idea. We are not only involved in pop music, but all music." McCartney envisioned the Beatles' alter egos being able to "do
15875-401: Was recorded using four-track equipment, since eight-track tape recorders were not operational in commercial studios in London until late 1967. As with previous Beatles albums, the Sgt. Pepper recordings made extensive use of reduction mixing , a technique in which one to four tracks from one recorder are mixed and dubbed down onto a master four-track machine, enabling the engineers to give
16002-609: Was transformed with Indian carpets placed on the walls, dimmed lighting and burning incense to evoke the requisite Indian mood. Lennon described the session as a "great swinging evening" with "400 Indian fellas" among the guests. The Beatles took an acetate disc of the completed album to the flat of American singer Cass Elliot , off King's Road in Chelsea . There, at six in the morning, they played it at full volume with speakers set in open window frames. The group's friend and former press agent, Derek Taylor , remembered that residents of
16129-557: Was used on the track, raising its pitch by a semitone in an attempt to make McCartney sound younger. Everett comments that the lyric's protagonist is sometimes associated with the Lonely Hearts Club Band, but in his opinion the song is thematically unconnected to the others on the album. Womack describes " Lovely Rita " as a work of "full-tilt psychedelia" that contrasts sharply with the preceding track. Citing McCartney's recollection that he drew inspiration from learning that
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