New Cover Art: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1 Viewer)

[Brian Kidd]

That tour (ever hear the bootleg audience tapes?) is for me, the nadir of great rock and roll...

Meaning you thought it was the lowest point of rock?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. It's not that I can't appreciate the movie at all. It just isn't a very good movie and doesn't have enough spectacularly bad moments to make it enjoyable. I used to like it quite a lot when I was a child, but having seen it again a couple of years ago, it just didn't hold up.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

D'oh! :b

"Nadir" - no! Zenith - yes!

For some weird reason, I always thunked that the two words meant something similar, but they don't: nadir is the opposite of zenith.

Simply put Neil Young's Tonight's The Night period is one of the greatest moments in the rock pantheon.

As for the movie of Sgt. Pepper, it's so bad, it's... bad!

Universal financed some ultra-weird movies in the late Seventies. Even stuff like Where The Buffalo Roam still baffles me! I'm not sure if they had a 'big hit' between 1977-80, or did they? It's not been the best day for my brain. :p)

Must be the humidity.


Gordy

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

04. Leo Sayer- I Am the Walrus (3:27)

Oh I have to hear this!

 

[andrew markworthy]

Sigh, I thought this movie would been cut a little slack in this post-"Moulin Rouge"-era. Apparently not. So, Its ok to put "Sound of Music," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lady Marmalade" & "Your Song" in a musical set in late 1800's Paris, But Frampton & the Bee Gees are still burning at the stake for doing something similar 20-odd years earlier?

Nope - hated that as well. Garbage is garbage, no matter what age it is.

 

[Jack_TN]

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

04. Leo Sayer- I Am the Walrus (3:27)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh I have to hear this!

::shudder:: I don't even want to think about it

Jack

 

[chrisMCG]

I've never actually seen this flick - but the terrible word of mouth makes me want to see it so much - it's like looking at a train wreck - you can't help but watch.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Maybe I am too harsh when I pass judgment on the musical and cultural worth of The Beatles, but I can only state what I feel inside of me, and that is that I don't like 90% of their songs.

Nor do I, but as for the 10% ...

The Ramones and The Stooges better than the Beatles? - oh God, how the heady days of 1977 come flooding back (I must dig out my old Desperate Bicycles singles). Well, everyone is entitled to their tastes, however odd. I can put forward a sound case for Abba or Kraftwerk as better songwriters than the Beatles, but sorry, at the end of the day the Beatles get the prize because they were the *first*. And whilst Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Honey Pie et al could be dropped in the garbage with no loss, to be without Something, Back in the USSR, Hey Jude, Strawberry Fields, A Day in the Life, etc would leave pop music significantly poorer.

Which is why the crock of poo that is the Sgt Pepper movie is so awful. It's like hearing a kazoo band playing Beethoven's 9th. There's nothing wrong with cover versions per se (arguably Joe Cocker's treatment of A Little Help From My Friends improves on the original), but only if done with sensitivity and/or wit.

Incidentally, IMHO there are one of two reasonable covers on All This and World War II, but I found the overall effect fairly tacky (having said that, I'd just been watching The World At War, which may have coloured my opinions).

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Yeah, granted: that 10% is mind-blowing, but so many other bands have a great 10% or 25% or whatever.

There's nothing wrong with cover versions per se (arguably Joe Cocker's treatment of A Little Help From My Friends improves on the original), but only if done with sensitivity and/or wit.

Ever see the John Belushi impersonation of Mr Cocker on Saturday Night Live? Pure gold!

The World At War is a big inspiration of mine. I think it is one of the greatest pieces of work television - that declining medium ever gave birth to. Amazing stuff. I have been planning and researching a documentary that I pitch as "The rock and roll equivolant of The World At War!"

But it is SO complicating! Agonizing stuff. :frowning:

Sigh... hey hey, my my...



Thanks for such a superb response, Andrew!


Gordy

 

[Patrick McCart]

Gordon, did the Beatles kill your parents with cinderblocks?

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/nobeatles.html

 

[chrisMCG]

Patrick - that cartoon was pretty funny

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Gimme The Stooges

I always thought Shemp's bass playing was weak.

 

[Marc Colella]

I wanted to stay clear of this thread because the only thing I can offer would be considered "thread crapping".

But since so many have jumped in already, I feel better about stating that this movie is TOTAL CRAP.

I hope noone purchases this thing blind.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

The movie is indeed TOTAL CRAP.

And it's so worth seeing just to see to what depths of horrific cheesiness a single film can achieve. Sgt Peppers blows any other movie ever made out of the water in that regard. Nothing else comes close.

It simply must be seen.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I always thought Shemp's bass playing was weak.

Well, I have a soft spot for his work on the hit single, With A Little Help From My Knuckleheads.

 

[Chucky P]

I agree with Matthew

To crap on the film does not mean you are crapping on the thread.

It's bad but I am compelled to see the film again (and in its proper ratio for the first time). There's something about bad films that make them more watchable then the mediocre ones.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

The Beatles were simply the single greatest rock band of all time. Its a fact I've come to realize over my 35 years. From King Crimson to Kiss, from Clash to Husker Du, from The Velvet Underground to Frank Zappa ... all the stuff I've listened to, it boils down to the Beatles.

Their collection of work, while rather small, is simply brilliant and defined how to write a song. Its mind blowing how utterly brilliant Lennon and McCartney were.

And while McCartney tended to write stuff like Michelle, its the craftsmanship of a perfect pop song that should be appreciated. And if you listen closely, a good 90% of the songs are perfect.

I'd like to see this movie again. But I don't hold too much against it because its doomed by simply equating the Bee Gees with the Beatles.

 

[chrisMCG]

Since this is turning into a music debate, I think I'll throw in my 2 - To me it wasn't just the music the Beatles made (I don't listen to all of it, but let's admit there's a lot of different styles to choose from) - it was their message which was a unified belief of cultural harmony which was seen through their music and also their seperate projects.

The Beatles did have some pop hits - but pop is such a bland description (we throw Britney Spears in that category for god sakes), and I really can't say that their songs were simply pop - their influences were true musical legends, and since they've become the legends they've influenced more bands than we can probably name...


Just keep the BeeGees outta it.

 

[Keith Paynter]

Movie - bad.

Album - alright.

The standout for me is (as mentioned previously) Steve Martin singing Maxwell's Silver Hammer. Aerosmith's version of Come Together and EWF's Got To Get You Into My Life were successful enough on the charts to sell tons of copies of the double LP.

George Martin produced the soundtrack, lending the album its only credibilty.

This movie is right up there with Xanadu and Can't Stop The Music for bad 70's musicals from Universal, and is one of the great Golden Turkey Award nominees.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

A-HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAH!

No Deep Purple for you ya grungy hippies!

Yeah, uh... I had a similar problem with Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac killed my momma and my poppa. They blew them up with uh... dynamite on Christmas Day of all friggin' days. Not nice people.

What was the name of that guy who had a comedy song called "Don Henley Must Die"? And some kid took offense and sent the guy DEATH THREATS but then at some gig, Henley appeared as a special guest on the song, "Don Henley Must Die"!

"Touring can make you crazy." - Frank Zappa


Gordy

 

[James_Garner]

This movie is right up there with Xanadu and Can't Stop The Music for bad 70's musicals from Universal

Um, "Can't Stop The Music" was an EMI/Associated Film Distribution production. Universal did handle some AFD movies ("Legend of the Lone Ranger", "Great Muppet Caper", "On Golden Pond") but "CSTM" was not one of them