The Act You’ve Known For All These Years: The Life & Afterlife Of Sgt Pepper
by Clinton Heylin

A fresh look at the Lonely Hearts Club band

It was 20 years ago today – 20 years ago. The 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ most iconic album is a predictable date to throw the publishing world into a frenzy. Heylin’s thoughtful study of the 1967 musical climate warrants greater attention than the lion’s share of lightweight quickies destined for the bookstore.

Rather than settle for the bogstandard making-of, Heylin takes a couple of steps back and assesses the broader cultural landscape of the times. Hence, the jacket features, in addition to the Fab Four, pictures of Dylan, Hendrix, The Beach Boys and Syd Barrett. It serves to suggest that, although the group (and Lennon & McCartney in particular) were the unassailable top dogs, they were constantly looking over their shoulders. Thus, the early chapters are as much about Pet Sounds or Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn than they are about Pepper.

The album’s lasting impact is also considered, not least the purists’ distaste for George Martin’s mixing for the album’s overdue CD debut, its effect on subsequent production techniques and its ever more shaky and questionable status as the greatest record ever made. Heylin stresses that it’s a brilliant album, but isn’t so blinkered as to insist that it’s never been bettered.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 978841959559

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
<< Back to Issue 338

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