I like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – The Beatles’ popular 1967 album – but more on the overall concept of it rather than the individual songs in it. I thought the follow-up ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ had more songs that I liked. Yet, I’m quite hesitant to say that ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ is a better album than ‘Sgt. Pepper’, not just because it’s not a ‘popular’ thing to say, but also because of it wasn’t supposed to be a full-length album.
‘Magical Mystery Tour’ was a film that The Beatles and they accompanied the release of the film with an EP soundtrack containing only six songs. However, Capitol Records in the US released it as an LP by adding five tracks that were previously released as non-album singles – which ended up making it sound like a strong album because it’s packed with all the memorable hitters like “Penny Lane”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “All You Need is Love”.
So I’ve always have this mixed feelings on ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘Magical Mystery’s individual albums but I love them when viewed as a single ‘Era’ in The Beatles’ discography.
So I made my preferred playlist of this so-called ‘Sgt. Pepper Era‘ tracks and arranged them into this 23-track Concept Album divided into two parts:
Part 1: Paul/Ringo dominated sing-along side
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- With A Little Help from My Friends
- Yellow Submarine
- Baby, You’re A Rich Man
- Hello, Goodbye
- Penny Lane
- Getting Better
- The Fool On The Hill
- When I’m Sixty-Four
- Your Mother Should Know
- She’s Leaving Home
Part 2: John/George dominated psychedelics side
- Magical Mystery Tour
- Flying
- Blue Jay Way
- Within You Without You
- Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite
- Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
- Strawberry Fields Forever
- I Am The Walrus
- All You Need Is Love
- Good Morning Good Morning
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
- A Day In The Life
Yellow Submarine was not from Sgt. Pepper nor Mystery Tour album but I feel like it fits with the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ theatrical feel of that era.
I also ended Part 1 with ‘She’s Leaving Home’. Which segues into the next part that’s more about embarking on this weird journey beginning with the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ to ‘Blue Jay Way’ to ‘Mr. Kite Circus’ to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
So if anyone asks me what is my favourite Beatles album, I’ll just say this playlist is my favourite Beatles album.
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You can also check out my other Beatles playlist here.