June 1st will be the 41st anniversary of the release of the SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND album (it drives me nuts when I see 'SERGEANT' spelled out, by the way). [June 1st is also my parents' wedding anniversary, but I don't have much to say about that except, "Congrats!"]
Let me say right from the start that I like PEPPER. Always have, always will. Unfortunately, that doesn't include "Within You Without You," which I've always disliked and always will. It simply doesn't fit. Now, when we used to listen to LPs it was the first song on side 2, and it was easy to skip right over it and not have to suffer through it (so what if I thought "When I'm 64" started with a burst of laughter? It sure looked like I had it right groove-wise when I eyeballed it for the needle drop!] Unfortunately, in the era of CD and digital players it sits like a speed bump right in the middle of the album: I begin to think about it as "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" heads towards its wondrous end and I'm not back up to speed again until the first notes of "When I'm 64."
I know I'm not the first - and surely not the last - to complain about "Within You Without You." It's probably the bane of every serious critic when discussing the album. Fortunately for the Beatles, however, the rest of the album packed such a wallop that WYWY can be politely dismissed as the weak track on PEPPER, as opposed to a sure sign that the Beatles were out of their minds to include it on the album in the first place. Just imagine if they'd opted to put "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) on PEPPER as well. Oof.
I was only two years old when PEPPER was released, but I'm thinking that the Harrison fans of the time must have been quite disappointed when they heard PEPPER. ["He had three great songs on REVOLVER! What the heck happened?!"] And to think that his track for the follow-up project was "Blue Jay Way" doesn't exacly absolve George of his musical responsibility either. But i digress...
41 years later PEPPER is still considered the undisputed Beatles masterpiece. Which it isn't, of course: they don't have one. Each of their albums are masterpieces in their own way (except LET IT BE, but I don't count that one for reasons I won't go into at this moment), but now I think I'm contradicting myself. :-0
Happy 41st birthday SGT. PEPPER!
Jeremy Boob
Let me say right from the start that I like PEPPER. Always have, always will. Unfortunately, that doesn't include "Within You Without You," which I've always disliked and always will. It simply doesn't fit. Now, when we used to listen to LPs it was the first song on side 2, and it was easy to skip right over it and not have to suffer through it (so what if I thought "When I'm 64" started with a burst of laughter? It sure looked like I had it right groove-wise when I eyeballed it for the needle drop!] Unfortunately, in the era of CD and digital players it sits like a speed bump right in the middle of the album: I begin to think about it as "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" heads towards its wondrous end and I'm not back up to speed again until the first notes of "When I'm 64."
I know I'm not the first - and surely not the last - to complain about "Within You Without You." It's probably the bane of every serious critic when discussing the album. Fortunately for the Beatles, however, the rest of the album packed such a wallop that WYWY can be politely dismissed as the weak track on PEPPER, as opposed to a sure sign that the Beatles were out of their minds to include it on the album in the first place. Just imagine if they'd opted to put "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) on PEPPER as well. Oof.
I was only two years old when PEPPER was released, but I'm thinking that the Harrison fans of the time must have been quite disappointed when they heard PEPPER. ["He had three great songs on REVOLVER! What the heck happened?!"] And to think that his track for the follow-up project was "Blue Jay Way" doesn't exacly absolve George of his musical responsibility either. But i digress...
41 years later PEPPER is still considered the undisputed Beatles masterpiece. Which it isn't, of course: they don't have one. Each of their albums are masterpieces in their own way (except LET IT BE, but I don't count that one for reasons I won't go into at this moment), but now I think I'm contradicting myself. :-0
Happy 41st birthday SGT. PEPPER!
Jeremy Boob
6 comments:
Hey Jeremy,
You've really boobed up your assessment of the Pepper LP on its upcoming anniversary!
Within You Without You is a highlight of the album, and 41 years after its release it has aged *better* than nearly every other Sgt. Pepper track. It's a beautiful song and deserves its prominent placement leading off side 2 of SPLHCB.
Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, Mr Kite, 64, and Rita are the most skippable Pepper tracks, and before any of you try to cast me as anti-Macca, I would also argue that She's Leaving Home is the quintissential McCartney song. Nothing else, before or since, sums up Macca so perfectly.
By all means celebrate Pepper, but include WYWY!! You owe it to yourself to give it a proper listen.
How about "Within You Without You" being the Indian-themed highlight of the album? ;-)
Good point about it having aged "better" than most of the other songs though.
Does it, however, have a contemporary Indian feel? I must admit I wouldn't know.
Thanks for comments!
Jeremy
I can't help but feel that you haven't really listened to Within You Without You the same way some of us have. Plus, the other day you said you were disappointed with the Dark Horse album: Dude, truly a masterpiece of an album there.!!
Jeremy
I like Within You Without You but as you can see by some of the responses, everyone has different opinions. Having said that I would not say it is one of the stronger tracks, rather, it is one of those songs that I have learned to appreciate more with the passage of time. I disagree with Rick, but again thats just me. I feel lucky that I appreciate and still love almost everything they did.
Michael Green
Yes, everyone's different. I happen to love Within You Without You. I loved it when Sgt. Pepper came out and I love it now, because of the Indian sound and the philosophical message. I am always surprised to hear people say that they don't like it, or even loathe it! When George passed away, I was irked that radio stations didn't include WYWY in their tributes. I thought it was among his best. It certainly deserves to be on Sgt. Pepper and where it's located on the album -- I agree with Rick.
Far from being the bane of every serious music critic, WYWY is constantly highlighted as remarkable.
Alan W. Pollack (author of the the most in-depth musical analysis of The Beatles' canon) said:
" This intense and musically complex synthesis of Beatles' pop, summer-of-'67-sensibility, and classical Indian music is not to be taken lightly, and certainly not with ease. Along with "Love You To" and "The Inner Light", it represents George's most unabashed, full-blown, and unadulterated embrace of the Indian musical style.
Lewisohn speaks of how the song was conceived in three large sections from the start, and indeed, this conception survives clearly in the finished product; a sprawling ABA structure, with two vocal sections that surround a central instrumental break.
One thing I'll say is that this song displays a tremendous melodic gift; with many long arch-like phrases as well as a sensitivity to the need for carefully paced passionate peaks; all of which is brought off with almost textbook-like proficiency but never a hint of the pedantic"
Amen, brother.
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