Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

Sgt. Peppers isn't the greatest album or even a good one. In the scheme of musical conceptions it isn't even a true album. The Beatles felt like it was a breakthrough for them because of the high level of experimentation relative to earlier efforts. The concept is that the album is being played by a mock band called Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, a kind of marching band that represents all different facets and personalities of the band. The fact that the Beatles would deal with different personalities was to be expected because the band was growing more tired with their original incarnation in every new album. The problem is that they had no good idea to go about showing the personality splits amongst the bandmembers. Instead of making a cohesive album filled with thematic, tonal and structural similarities, they made an album that is a collection of songs with no similaritiy amongst each other at all. The tie in to the concept is that each bandmember was able to mold and shift the songs to their design, but it was all for the purpose of an idea that wasn't even a concept. It's a rationalization. In Sgt. Peppers they also ditched a lot of their pop song structure with songs that challenged the bandmembers vocal abilities. Paul McCartney most notably comes up short and sings many songs with a lackluster thud. He wouldn't develop a great range until Abbey Road with the powerful stylings on such songs like, "Oh, Darling". The power behind that singing would have helped some songs on Sgt. Peppers. Abbey Road also was the album that did combine all the sounds of the Beatles and match it into an album that was an album. Different musical interests are everywhere, but all are tied with similar sounds and structures that appear through out. Plus a slightly more interesting concept drapes the album, but concepts were never the band's strong suit anyways