LAKE COUNTY >> Fifty years ago, the Beatles sang, “I’d love to turn you on.”
And turn on youngsters in America and the world they did.
The ways the Beatles and their music influenced us rippled throughout 1960s culture from fashion and hairstyles to spirituality and, yes, drugs.
The ripples — sometimes waves — have never stopped coming, 47 years after the group — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — split up, never to reform.
That final line from the last song on the most remarkable album in history sums up how many Beatles fans, including three local musicians — a drummer, keyboardist and guitarist — feel about the Beatles’ landmark concept recording, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The assessment: Sgt. Pepper’s is a real turn-on, from start to finish.
Released in the United States on June 2, 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s heralded in the heady hippie-led Summer of Love — with its epicenter being San Francisco and the Bay Area.
It marked the metamorphosis of the mop-topped Fab Four from a touring group with a series of Number One hits into mature studio-centric musicians embracing psychedelia and experimentation in their songs, other Apple Corp. projects and into their lives.
In three years -1963 through 1966 — they went from “Love Me Do” (from Please, Please Me) to “Love You Too” (from Revolver). Then, in mid-1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band hit radios and record players and everything changed.
The 13-song record gave us “She’s Leaving Home,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and the crescendo of orchestral sound that ends the LP’s epic finale, “A Day in the Life.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the album that Rolling Stone magazine has named the best album of all time.
To commemorate the anniversary, Apple Records released an updated and remixed version of Sgt. Pepper’s — plus a box set — on May 26, produced by Giles Martin, son of the Beatles’ legendary studio producer, the late George Martin.
The elder Martin’s rapport with the group, his studio wizardry and his constant pushing of the band to always do better rightfully earned him the title of the fifth Beatle.
The deluxe version of the reissued album includes outtakes and alternate versions of songs along with the first two songs recorded in late 1966 for the album: Lennon’s psychedelic “Strawberry Fields Forever” and McCartney’s upbeat “Penny Lane,” both songs about two places from their childhood in Liverpool. The songs never made the album, instead they were released as a single.
Many rock music critics and fans say 1967 was the best year ever in music, with seminal albums by The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Velvet Underground, Moody Blues, Beach Boys and Rolling Stones.
But as great as many 1967 albums are — The Doors, Are You Experienced? and Disraeli Gears — Sgt. Pepper’s stands out light years ahead of them. It moved rock music from an age of catchy pop singles into an era where creative, holistic albums dominated FM radio stations.
Sgt. Pepper’s was the first album that FM or underground radio played in its entirety, from the opening title track to the closing, “A Day In the Life,” without interruption.
Keyboardist David Neft of Middletown was 17-years-old when he first heard Sgt. Pepper’s and that moment is forever etched into his memories.
“The first time I heard it was on a Bay Area underground radio station and they played the entire album,” said Neft, now 67. “The variety of the songs and the creativity of the lyrics are what struck me the most.”
Another local musician recalls the first time he heard Sgt. Pepper’s and it was a different experience for him compared to Neft’s.
“A friend bought the album the first day it came out, brought it over to my house and we put it on my little stereo record player,” said Steve Thoma of Nice, a drummer for the LC Diamonds and the Psychedellos.
“It was life changing,” he said. “Nothing was ever the same after that.”
Thoma grew up in the psychedelic era. He started playing drums at age 12 and was 16 — almost 17 — when Sgt. Pepper’s was released.
Why is Thoma’s experience listening to the album for the first time different than Neft’s?
“I was stoned,” he said. “It enhanced the experience. If you weren’t stoned when you first listened to the album, it probably wouldn’t have made sense.”
Also, he and his friends listened to the album in Thoma’s bedroom that he had painted entirely black and had DayGlo stars and planets on the ceiling, adding a psychedelic ambiance.
Larry “Mojo” Platz, 60, of Nice, was only 10-years-old when Sgt. Pepper’s was released so his first memory of listening to it was in 1970.
“Sgt. Pepper’s was my first real awareness of the Beatles,” said Platz, guitarist with the Fargo Brothers. “A friend of mine had the White Album and I kind of liked it. So I started to go backward through their albums from there.”
Although Platz, who started playing guitar at about age 14, said he preferred the Beatles’ two previous albums, Rubber Soul and Revolver, he had high praise for Sgt. Pepper’s.
“Their craftsmanship was amazing,” he said. “I once read that Sgt. Pepper’s was ahead of its times. But I think the album was the times.”
Several local musicians had a difficult time naming their favorite song from the album, instead they gave the same answer.
“I look at the album as one big song,” Platz said.”All of the songs are put together so well and it was just way out in left field.”
However, he did name three songs that he feels stand out: “A Day In the Life,” “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”
Neft echoed the synchronistic nature of the album.
“It’s difficult to say which song I like the most,” he said. “My favorite song is the album.”
Platz chimed in, “Within You, Without You” was always a favorite of mine. It’s mystical and magical. But really, I like all the album’s songs.”
“Within You, Without You” was Harrison’s contribution to the album and didn’t feature the other Beatles. Instead, it relied on Indian musicians and instruments, including the tamboura and Harrison playing the sitar.
“When I was younger, I didn’t understand it,” Platz said. “Now I do and it’s an amazing song. Harrison was always my favorite Beatle. Even after the breakup, he remained my favorite.”
Thoma said he never had a favorite Beatle, rather, “I loved them all, individually and as a group.”
However, being a drummer, Thoma admitted, “Ringo had a big influence on me and my drumming. He had a very solid backbeat but he was a simple, not busy, player.”
Sgt. Pepper’s has been called the first concept album and it was conceived that way by the Beatles, especially McCartney, who saw the Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Fab Four’s alter egos.
For Thoma, who has been playing drums for 50-plus years, the LP was life-changing.
“Nothing was ever the same after that,” he said.
Many musicians and Beatles’ fans don’t think that Sgt. Pepper’s is the group’s best effort, with most citing either Rubber Soul (1965) or Revolver (1966) as the best album. Platz agrees.
“I think of them as one album,” he said and added that he believes the two discs are the Beatles at their best in the studio.
Thoma may best sum up Sgt. Pepper’s creative staying power: “When I hear the album now, I listen to it in rapt attention,” he said. “I’m really glad it’s still being recognized fifty years later. It shows the album’s enduring legacy. It’s a masterpiece.”
And what do the Beatles have to say about their sonic coup d’état 50 years on?
“A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”
