- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (19 Jun 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1847671055
- ISBN-13: 978-1847671059
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 14.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 784,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"* '...if you want a dispassionate voice to separate the hoopla, myth and mystique from the actual Sgt Pepper recordings. His is as articulate, intelligent and reasonable as any I've read.' - Mail On Sunday * 'Rather than settle for the bog-standard making-of, Heylin takes a couple of steps back and assesses the broader cultural landscape of the times.' - Record Collector * 'The shift from pop to Rock, from entertainment to art - signposted by Sgt. Pepper - was a fraught and exciting period in popular music. Clinton Heylin gleefully resurrects all the old arguments and discussions that accompanied the transition, which was by no means a smooth one... Like reading a personal diary of the time.' - Barry Miles"
Mail on Sunday
... a dispassionate voice to separate the hoopla, myth and mystique from... Sgt Pepper... articulate, intelligent and reasonable...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poorly written attempt to put Sgt Pepper in some kind of cultural context,
By russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: The Act You've Known for All These Years: The Life, and Afterlife, of Sgt. Pepper (Hardcover)
40 years on from it's release and all the hyperbole about Sgt Pepper is building up nicely . So a cerebral meditation on the albums cultural impact and legacy is most welcome. Unfortunately this rather sour "li,l tome" as Heylin hilariously calls it in the prologue is about as cerebral as a GMTV staff party.
Clinton Heylin has previously written about punk and grunge and err Bob Dylan and while this book isn't a complete hatchet job its abundantly clear that Heylin is not only not a fan of The Beatles but views this revered album as an overambitious sprawling mess. It's a curious stance to take given that that most people who read this book will be Beatles fans but those looking a radical touch of iconoclasm will find this most tantalising. Rather disingenuously the sleeve notes give no hint of the abrasive attitude taken by the author citing the book as "The story of the life and times of one of the most iconic albums ever made". Heylin attempts to put Sgt Pepper in some critical context by citing albums by other artists released around the same time as more original and superior musically. He cites Pink Floyds "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" recorded in the same studio's as the more revolutionary work ( which to be fair it probably is)but then undermines his argument by saying the same about Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home". There is also some blathering about the Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones which with the Beach Boys again is fair enough to a point but the Stones ...gimme a break. In fact so much space is given over to other acts he sometimes seems to forget he's actually writing about The Beatles. Heylin most annoyingly is not even a particularly good writer. You could take some of the guff written here if it was done with a pithy turn of phrase or with genuine wit but there are clunking malapropisms galore hence Joe Boyd was "shocked but not totally surprised " at the collapse of Syd Barrett .Some of the statements border on the truly bizarre and his attack on Ian MacDonald's "Revolution In The Head" is just spiteful and given this effort laughable . Let me say here that as a fans of The Beatles I don't think Sgt Pepper is their best album by any means , and I think a lot of people think the same. I personally prefer Abbey Road, Revolver, The White Album and Rubber Soul but I can acknowledge that on it's release in 1967 it caught the cusp of the psychedelic revolution while still harking back to more traditional song writing .With one song -"A Day In the Life" they did both at the same time. Originally meant as a song suite about the north the album emerged as a concept album with no real concept . But Heylin chooses to overlook the fact that this massively successful band strove to take their music forward rather than stagnate like so many of his beloved punk bands. The Beatles meant nothing to me he declares in his introduction. So why write about them then you Muppet? Never mind ,I will console myself with the fact that Sgt Pepper will still be talked about in another forty years while this bitter "L,il tome" will be forgotten about in forty days.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
BITTER, TWISTED AND A BIT SAD.....,
By
This review is from: The Act You've Known for All These Years: The Life, and Afterlife, of Sgt. Pepper (Hardcover)
I BOUGHT THIS BOOK BECAUSE I'M A BIG FAN OF THE BEATLES. I LOVE THE SGT.PEPPER ALBUM. IT MAY NOT BE THE BEST ALBUM EVER MADE, BUT IT'S CERTAINLY THE MOST ICONIC.
THE FACT THE AUTHOR DECLARES THAT HE IS NOT A BEATLES FAN WAS NOT A PROBLEM. I THOUGHT I MIGHT GET AN INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON AN ALBUM I LOVE. HOW WRONG WAS I ?? THIS BOOK IS NOTHING MORE THAN A BITTER RANT FROM SOMEONE WHO COMES ACROSS AS A BIT SAD. FOR BIG CHUNKS OF THE BOOK HE SEEMS TO FORGET HE IS DEALING WITH THE BEATLES ! WE GET MENTIONS OF BOB DYLAN NON-STOP ! WE GET TOLD HOW JUST ABOUT EVERY ALBUM FROM THAT ERA IS BETTER THAN SGT PEPPER. WE GET BILE AND WE GET A BADLY WRITTEN, POORLY RESEARCHED BOOK. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUY THIS BOOK WILL BE BEATLES FANS..AND THEY WILL FIND PRECIOUS LITTLE TO INTEREST OR STIMULATE THEM. I WOULD ADVISE AVOIDING THIS BITTER LITTLE BOOK AND INSTEAD LOOK OUT IAN MACDONALDS EXCELLENT READING OF THE BEATLES CAREER IN "REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD"
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I read this book today....oh boy!,
By
This review is from: The Act You've Known for All These Years (Hardcover)
The bottom line on this one folks is that the author takes a fairly dispassionate view of The Fabs and the Sgt Pepper album - fair enough?
Well yes, I agree to some extent that this is long overdue and as a life long fan of the band and being fairly well read in all things Beatles, it makes a refreshing change. It's also great to have 1967 and the events surrounding Sgt Pepper put into a musical context and a big thumbs up for the mention of The Move throughout(an underrated band if ever there was one!). However, what really frickin' jars with this reader is the authors propsensity for including a pun in oh....say every other line! I'm willing to indulge the odd pun every so often but after 100 pages or so in, it's an unwanted distraction and is basically annoying. Also, why waffle on about Brian Wilson if the piccy of the Beach Boys included in the otherwise spot-on period photos doesn't actually include the man himself? My only other complaint is the underlying premise that the fabs were alright but what about Bob Dylan aye? He could knock out a toon or two apparently and was a genius to boot! Yeah fab gear and all that but aren't you just fanning the flames of another rock n' roll myth???? Buy only if you're tired of Beatles Books which continually kiss the feet of JPG&R and enjoy the odd pun or 3 million.
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