.Music videoon' Strawberry Fields Forever' is a song by the English band. It was released in February 1967 as a single with '. The song was written by but credited to the songwriting partnership.

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The promotional film for 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was the more experimental of Goldmann's clips and underlined the Beatles' ties to the avant-garde scene. The band's new look was the focus of much scrutiny, as promotion for the single and its musical content left many listeners unable to recognise the act as the Beatles.

Lennon wrote the song in, Spain, where he was filming a role in the anti-war comedy. He drew inspiration from his childhood memories of playing in the garden of, a near to where he grew up in Liverpool.The song was the first track recorded during the sessions for the Beatles', starting in November 1966, and was intended for inclusion on the album.

Instead, with pressure from their record company and management for new product, the group were forced to issue the single, and then adhered to their philosophy of omitting previously released singles from their albums. The double A-side peaked at number 2 on the chart, behind 's ', thereby breaking the band's four-year run of chart-topping singles in the UK. In the United States, 'Strawberry Fields Forever' peaked at number 8 on the. To the Beatles' displeasure, the song was later included on the US LP.Lennon identified 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as his highest achievement as a member of the Beatles.

In an effort to satisfy Lennon's requirements, the band recorded three separate versions of the track. The released recording was created from the editing together of two separate takes – each one entirely different in, mood and – and incorporates reverse-recorded instrumentation, and a fade-out/fade-in. The finished recording also includes flute sounds, a cello and brass arrangement by producer, and an Indian. The discarded first version of the song was issued on the 1996 outtakes compilation.' Strawberry Fields Forever' represented a departure from the Beatles' previous singles and a novel listening experience for the contemporary pop audience. While the song initially divided and confused music critics and the group's fans, it was highly influential on the emerging genre. The band's promotional film clip for the track, featuring experimental techniques such as reverse effects, animation, jump-cuts and, is similarly recognised as a pioneering work in the medium of music video.

The in New York's is named after the song., and featuring are among the many artists who have covered the track. In 1990, a version by the group became a top-ten hit in the UK and Ireland. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was one of the most technically complex recordings the Beatles ever attempted. The song was recorded entirely on a four-track machine.After Lennon played the song for the other Beatles on his acoustic guitar, on 24 November, he changed to his electric guitar for the recordings. McCartney played Mellotron, which, following Lennon's lead, the other three Beatles had acquired their own examples of, through keyboardist. Harrison also played electric guitar, emphasising a bass line beside Lennon's rhythm, and played drums. McCartney wrote the melody for the Mellotron introduction, although on the first take the instrument appears more in the role of backing accompaniment, relative to its prominence on the officially released recording.Take 1 opened with a verse, starting 'Living is easy with eyes closed', instead of the chorus, which starts the released version.

The first verse also led directly to the second, with no chorus between. Lennon's vocals were automatically from the words 'Strawberry Fields Forever' through the end of the last verse. The last verse, beginning 'Always, no sometimes', has three-part harmonies, with McCartney and Harrison singing 'dreamy background vocals'. Onto this take 1, Harrison also overdubbed parts over the choruses, played on the Mellotron's guitar setting and using the instrument's pitch control to achieve the slide effect. This version was soon abandoned; it went unreleased until a new mix was included on the compilation in 1996, although the harmony vocals were cut from the track. A 1960s-era Mellotron, similar to that used on the Beatles recordingOn 28 November, the band reassembled to try a different arrangement.

The second version of the song featured McCartney's Mellotron introduction followed by the chorus. The instrumentation on the basic track was similar to that for take 1, but with the inclusion of. Take 4 was considered sufficient for mix down and overdubs, which included a lead vocal by Lennon, McCartney's bass guitar, and Harrison again playing the slide parts, including what author John Winn terms 'Morse code blips', on Mellotron. Having taken acetates home overnight, the band decided to redo the song again on 29 November, using the same arrangement. The second take that day was chosen as best and subjected to overdubs, such as vocal and bass guitar. In his lead guitar part, Harrison plays chord patterns, after Lennon had struggled to master the picking technique.Lennon's vocal was recorded with the tape running fast so that when played back at normal speed the tonality would be altered, giving his voice a slurred sound.

During the subsequent mix-down process, creating what became take 7, Lennon added a second vocal over the choruses; the other final overdubs were piano and further bass. This version would be used only for the first minute of the released recording. Take 26 After recording the second version of the song, Lennon wanted to do something different with it, as Martin remembered: 'He'd wanted it as a gentle dreaming song, but he said it had come out too raucous.

He asked me if I could write him a new line-up with the strings. So I wrote a new score (with four trumpets and three cellos).'

For this purpose, another basic track was recorded on 8 and 9 December, with the group attempting the song at a faster tempo than before. At the start of the first session, recording was overseen by Dave Harries, an EMI technical engineer, in the temporary absence of Martin and, the Beatles' usual recording engineer.

The band focused on achieving a percussion-heavy rhythm track, which included Starr's drums, and backwards-recorded and cymbals. The latter process involved writing down the parts before Starr played them, as Harrison had done for his backwards guitar solo on '.

Described by Winn as a 'cacophony of noise', the 8 December tape also included and bongos, played by McCartney and Harrison, and other percussion, which, in Harries' account, was provided by Beatles associates, and.At the start of the 9 December session, parts of two of the fifteen new takes were edited together into one performance, which was then mixed down to a single track on the four-track master. The second of those takes (numbered take 24) consisted of the heavy drum break and accompanying percussion used over the song's coda, and included Lennon's spoken comments 'Calm down, Ringo' and 'Cranberry sauce'.

In Lewisohn's description, further percussion, including a pounding drum part by Starr, and Harrison's swarmandal were recorded onto one of the available tracks at this time. Other overdubs, which appear towards the end of the track, included lead guitar (played by McCartney), piano and the coda's reversed Mellotron flutes. Based on the evidence of bootlegs available by 2009, Winn dates the addition of swarmandal to after Martin's orchestral overdubs.

With regard to the main piano part, he describes it as the Mellotron's 'piano riff' tape', rather than a genuine instrumental contribution.The session for Martin's brass and cello arrangement took place on 15 December. Another mix down was then carried out, reducing all the contributions to two tape tracks. Author comments that Martin's contribution heightens the song's Indian qualities, as represented first by the swarmandal, through his scoring of the cellos to 'weave exotically' around McCartney's '-like' guitar figures before the coda. Further overdubs, on what was now named take 26, were two vocal parts by Lennon, the second one doubling the main vocal over the choruses. Lennon re-recorded one of his vocals on 21 December, singing a harmony over the final chorus. Some piano was also added at this time, along with a part.

Final edit After reviewing the acetates of the new remake and the previous version, Lennon told Martin that he liked both the 'original, lighter' take 7 and 'the intense, scored version', and wanted to combine the two. Martin had to tell Lennon that the orchestral score was at a faster tempo and in a higher key than the earlier recording. Lennon assured him: 'You can fix it, George.' On 22 December, Martin and Emerick carried out the difficult task of joining takes 7 and 26 together.

With only a pair of editing scissors, two tape machines and a control, Emerick compensated for the differences in key and speed by increasing the speed of the first version and decreasing the speed of the second. He then spliced the versions, starting the orchestral score in the middle of the second chorus. Since take 7 did not include a chorus after the first verse, he also spliced in the first seven words of the second chorus from that take. The pitch-shifting in joining the versions gave Lennon's lead vocal an otherworldly, 'swimming' quality.During the editing process, the portion towards the end of take 26, before the arrival of the reversed Mellotron flutes and siren-like trumpet blasts, was faded out temporarily, creating a false ending. On the completed take from 15 December, however, the swarmandal and other sounds were interrupted by the abrupt entrance of the coda's heavy drum and percussion piece. Martin said that the premature fadeout was his idea, to hide some errors in the busy percussion track. Among the faintly audible comments over the coda, 'Cranberry sauce' was taken to be Lennon intoning 'I buried Paul' by proponents of the hoax, a theory that contended that McCartney had died in November 1966 and been replaced in the Beatles by a lookalike.

Shortly before, Lennon expressed dissatisfaction with the final version of the song, saying it was 'badly recorded' and accusing McCartney of subconsciously sabotaging the recording. Martin remained proud of the track; he described it as 'a complete tone poem – like a modern '. Promotional film.

The Beatles filmed their promo clip for the song around a large tree in in Kent.By January 1967, Epstein was under pressure from their record company to release a new single by the Beatles. Martin told him that the group had recorded 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane', which, in his opinion, were 'two all-time great songs'.

The decision was made to issue them as a single, a format the Beatles had used for their previous single, ' / ', in August 1966. The Beatles produced a film clip for 'Strawberry Fields Forever', in a continuation of their policy since 1965 of avoiding the need to promote a single with numerous personal appearances on television. It was filmed on 30 and 31 January 1967 at in, Kent. The following week, the band shot part of the promotional film for 'Penny Lane' at the same location.The clip was directed by Peter Goldmann, a Swedish television director who had drawn inspiration in his work from Lester's style in the Beatles' 1964 film.

Goldmann was recommended to the Beatles by their mutual friend. One of the band's assistants, Tony Bramwell, served as producer. Bramwell recalls that, inspired by Voormann's comment on hearing 'Strawberry Fields Forever' – that 'the whole thing sounded like it was played on a strange instrument' – he spent two days dressing up a large tree in the park to resemble 'a piano and harp combined, with strings'. Writing in 2007, music critic remarked that Bramwell's set design reflected the 'collision of serenity and almost gothic eeriness' evident in the finished song.

Lennon in 1967The clip presented the Beatles' new group image, since all four now sported moustaches, following Harrison's lead when he left for India in September 1966. In addition to a, Lennon wore his round 'granny' glasses for the first time as a member of the Beatles, in keeping with his look as Private Gripweed in How I Won the War, for which he had also shorn off his long hair. Combined with their psychedelic clothing, the band's appearance contrasted sharply with the youthful 'moptop' image of their touring years; this former image and identity had instead been adopted by, an American television and recording act based on the Beatles as they had appeared in A Hard Day's Night and In author Kevin Courrier's description, Lennon now resembled a character from an mystery, while Harrison looked equally austere, with his beard and heavy balaclava. McCartney, Harrison, Starr and Lennon pouring paint over the piano–harp construction. Journalist and broadcaster Joe Cushley describes the clip as 'the mad music professors' outdoor seminar'.Instead of a performance of the song, the clip relies on abstract imagery and features reverse film effects, animation, jump-cuts from day- to night-time, and shots. The Beatles are shown playing and later pouring paint over the upright piano; at one point, McCartney appears to leap from the ground onto a branch of the tree. In his commentary on the promo clip, music critic Chris Ingham writes:Beautifully and spookily lit much attention is given to close-ups of The Beatles' faces and facial hair, as if the viewer is invited to contemplate the significance of the newly furry Fabs.

There's an appropriately surreal air about the film which, when experienced simultaneously with The Beatles' extraordinary new music, is deliciously disorientating. The final scene of The Beatles pouring pots of coloured paint onto the 'piano' is oddly shocking, but brilliantly memorable as a statement of iconoclastic artistic intent. The reaction when you played 'Strawberry Fields Forever' to people was weird.

'Penny Lane' was a bit Beatley; 'Strawberry Fields' really wasn't.– Beatles associate Tony BramwellThe double A-side single was issued by in the US on 13 February 1967 (as Capitol 5810), and by EMI's label in the United Kingdom on 17 February (as Parlophone R 5570). Aside from the compilation album, issued in the UK but not the US, it was the first release by the Beatles since Revolver and their August 1966 single. It was also the first Beatles single in the UK to be presented in a picture sleeve. The front of the sleeve contained a studio photo that again demonstrated the band's adoption of facial hair; on the back cover were individual pictures of the four Beatles as infants.

Recalling the reaction to the new single and the expectations it created for Sgt. Pepper, music critic later wrote: 'If this extraordinary music was merely a taste of what The Beatles were up to, what would the album be like?' Comparing the two sides in his book Electric Shock, likens 'Penny Lane' to in its evoking 'multifaceted substance out of the everyday', and describes 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as, 'self-consciously excluding the mass audience'.The promotional film for 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was the more experimental of Goldmann's clips and underlined the Beatles' ties to the avant-garde scene. The band's new look was the focus of much scrutiny, as promotion for the single and its musical content left many listeners unable to recognise the act as the Beatles. The films were first broadcast in America on and in Britain on, a day before the respective release dates in those two countries.

On 25 February, they aired on, a traditional US variety program hosted by actor. Amid screams from female members of the studio audience, Johnson bemusedly introduced 'Strawberry Fields Forever' with the comment: 'It's a musical romp through an open field with psychedelic overtones and a feeling of expanded consciousness If you know what that means, let me know ' The films attracted a similar level of confusion on the more youth-focused, on 11 March, where invited comments from his studio audience. In the description of author Doyle Greene, the varied opinions towards the 'rebranded 'counterculture Beatles' and their new music demonstrated a 'gendering' of popular culture: male reaction was marginally more favourable than female, and women variously focused on the 'weird', 'ugly' or 'grandfather'-like appearance of the band members. Courrier says the hostility towards 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was reflective of how pop fans felt abandoned by the Beatles, with one teenager commenting that the group had turned 'deliberately weird' and 'ought to stop being so clever and give us tunes we can enjoy'.In Britain, 'Strawberry Fields Forever' / 'Penny Lane' was the first Beatles single since ' in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on 's chart (later the ). The single was held at number 2 behind 's ', even though the Beatles record sold considerably more. This was due to chart protocol whereby only the sales of the best-selling side of a double A-side were eligible, and the record's overall sales were effectively halved.

Following the speculation that the Beatles were due to disband, their failure to secure the number 1 spot was trumpeted in the UK press as a sign that the group's popularity was declining. At the time, McCartney said he was not upset because Humperdinck's song was a 'completely different type of thing', while Harrison acknowledged that 'Strawberry Fields Forever', like all of the Beatles' latest music, was bound to alienate much of their audience but would also win them new fans. On the national chart compiled by magazine, however, the combination topped the singles list for three weeks.In the US, 'Penny Lane' topped the for one week, while 'Strawberry Fields Forever' peaked at number 8. The single was certified by the on 20 March 1967.

As in Britain's Record Retailer, 'Penny Lane' was the side favoured by chart compilers in Australia, where the single was number 1 for five weeks. The single was also number 1 in Canada and Norway, and peaked at number 4 in France. Critical reception Among contemporary reviews of the single, Melody Maker said that the combination of musical instruments, studio techniques and vocal effect on 'Strawberry Fields Forever' created a 'swooping, deep, mystic kaleidoscope of sound', and concluded, 'The whole concept shows the Beatles in a new, far-out light.'

The 's Derek Johnson confessed to being both fascinated and confused by the track, writing: 'Certainly the most unusual and way-out single The Beatles have yet produced – both in lyrical content and scoring. Quite honestly, I don't really know what to make of it.' According to Beatles biographer Robert Rodriguez, Johnson's comments typified the 'bewilderment' and 'mood of disquiet' that the song initially aroused in the music press. 's entertainment reporter wrote: 'What's happening to the Beatles? They have become contemplative, secretive, exclusive and excluded – four mystics with moustaches.'

In the United States, the single's experimental qualities initiated an upsurge in the ongoing critical discourse on the aesthetics and artistry of pop music, as, centring on the Beatles' work, writers sought to elevate pop in the cultural landscape for the first time. Among these laudatory appraisals, magazine hailed the song as 'the latest sample of the Beatles' astonishing inventiveness'. The writer said that, since 1963:The Beatles have developed into the single most creative force in pop music. Wherever they go, the pack follows. And where they have gone in recent months, not even their most ardent supporters would ever have dreamed of. They have bridged the heretofore impassable gap between rock and classical, mixing elements of Bach, Oriental and electronic music with vintage twang to achieve the most compellingly original sounds ever heard in pop music.Time concluded by saying that the multitude of 'dissonances and eerie space-age sounds' on the track were partly the product of altered tape speed and direction, and commented: 'This is nothing new to electronic composers, but employing such methods in a pop song is electrifying.' In his review of Sgt.

Pepper in June 1967, of recognised the Beatles as the originators of the vogue for 'electronically-manipulated clusters of sound', and he added: 'In some records, it's just a generalised effect. But in 'Strawberry Fields', it was poetically and precisely applied.'

Of describes 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as 'one of The Beatles' peak achievements and one of the finest Lennon-McCartney songs'. Ian MacDonald wrote in his book that it 'shows expression of a high order few if any contemporary composers are capable of displaying feeling and fantasy so direct, spontaneous, and original.' According to music critic, the song 'transformed Lennon's creative arc' by 'expanding the hallucinogenic drone of 'Rain' into layered colors that shifted when lit by his vocal inflections' and by inaugurating his use of free-form verse as a lyrical device.

Riley adds that while it represented Lennon's 'first glimpse of life' outside the Beatles, 'part of the recording's ironic pull lies in how the Beatles drape a group sensibility around Lennon's abstract psyche, something only the most intimate of musical friends could do.' In his commentary on the track in The Beatles' Diary, Peter Doggett describes the song as 'the greatest pop record ever made' and 'a record that never dates, because it lives outside time'. He rues the single's failure to top the now-official UK chart as 'arguably the most disgraceful statistic in chart history'.In the June 1997 issue of magazine, included 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in his list 'Psychedelia: The 100 Greatest Classics' and wrote: 'When this first came on radio in early 1967, it sounded like nothing else, with its wracked vocal, out-of-tune brass section and queasy strings.' In 2004, ranked the track at number 76 on its list of the '500 Greatest Songs of All Time', a placing the song retained in the magazine's 2011 'definitive' list. On a similar list compiled by in 2006, it appeared at number 31. In 2010, Rolling Stone placed 'Strawberry Fields Forever' at number 3 on its list of the '100 Greatest Beatles Songs'. It was ranked as the second-best Beatles song by Mojo in 2006, after '.

The song was estimated to be the 16th most celebrated song of all time. Cultural influence and legacy. Featuring backwards cymbals, cascading Indian harp guitar solos, timpani, bongos, trumpets and cellos, this was the lushest music The Beatles had recorded up to then From its weird Mellotron opening to its fake drum forward reprise where John's voice could be heard saying 'Cranberry sauce', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' inaugurated 1967 like no other song on earth.– Author Mark Prendergast, 2003of the US band recalled first listening to the single at home with his producer,. In Lindsay's recollection: 'When the song ended we both just looked at each other. I said, ' Now what the fuck are we gonna do?' With that single, the Beatles raised the ante as to what a pop record should be.'

Lindsay said he then ensured that the clips for both songs were broadcast on the Raiders' television show,. 's, a regular on London's psychedelic club scene, described 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as 'utterly bizarre, creative, strange and different'., who had been struggling to complete ' album, first heard 'Strawberry Fields Forever' on his car radio while under the influence of. In the recollection of his passenger at the time,: 'Wilson just shook his head and said, 'They did it already – what I wanted to do with Smile. Maybe it's too late.'

' Vosse recalled that the two then exchanged laughter, but at 'the moment he said it, he sounded very serious.' According to author, the 'wondrous and different-sounding' quality of the Beatles' single was one of several factors that accelerated Wilson's emotional descent and led to him. In response to a fan's question on his website in 2014, Wilson denied that hearing the song had 'weakened' him and called it a 'very weird record' that he enjoyed.Although the Mellotron had been a feature of 's late 1966 hit single 'Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James', its appearance on 'Strawberry Fields Forever' remains the most celebrated use of the instrument on a pop or rock recording. Pinder, whose band the Moody Blues went on to make extensive use of Mellotron and swarmandal in their work, said he was 'in bliss' when he heard the keyboard's flute sound on the Beatles' single.

Together with the resonant tone of Starr's drums, the cello arrangement on 'Strawberry Fields Forever', as with ', was much admired by other musicians and producers, and proved highly influential on 1970s bands such as and.Ian MacDonald recognises the track as having 'extended the range of studio techniques developed on Revolver, opening up possibilities for pop which, given sufficient invention, could result in unprecedented sound images'. He views it as having launched both the 'English pop-pastoral mood' typified by bands such as, and, and English psychedelia's LSD-inspired preoccupation with 'nostalgia for the innocent vision of a child'. The song was influential on and, in Chris Ingham's description, it established 'the standard and style for the entire movement that would follow'. Walter Everett identifies the song's ending as an example of the Beatles' continued pioneering of the 'fade-out–fade-in coda', further to their use of this device on the 1966 B-side 'Rain'. He cites ' as a later example, as well as 's 1969 track ' and, as a direct response to the Beatles' lead, both sides of ' August 1967 single, ' and '. According to historian David Simonelli, further to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' in 1966, 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' 'established the Beatles as the most avant-garde pop composers of the postwar era'.

He also says that the single heralded the group's brand of as a central tenet of psychedelic rock, which ensured that 'The Beatles' vision dominated the entire rock music world.' In his contribution to the book In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs, describes the single as the 1960s' most important work of art and 'the one that articulated the era's hopes for a crossover of pop art and high intricacy'.

– and trumpet. –. –. – maracas. Tony Fisher – trumpet. Greg Bowen – trumpet. – trumpet.

Stanley Roderick – trumpet. John Hall – cello.

– cello. Norman Jones – celloCharts Beatles version Chart (1967)PeakpositionAustralian National Top 40113(Wallonia)1Netherlands 1Netherlands 1New Zealand Chart5Norwegian Singles1Swedish1UK2US8US Top 10010Candy Flip version Chart (1990)PeakpositionAustralian29Belgian (Flanders)477New Zealand20311Notes. Martin described Lennon's performance of the song, on acoustic guitar, as 'magic absolutely lovely'. Author identifies allusions to the Beatles' upbringing throughout Sgt. Pepper that are 'too persuasive to ignore'. These include evocations of the postwar Northern tradition, references to Northern industrial towns and Liverpool schooldays, Lewis Carroll-inspired imagery, the use of brass instrumentation in the style of park bandstand performances such as at, and the album cover's flower arrangement akin to a.

Although 'Strawberry Fields Forever' is primarily Lennon's composition, in 1967 Lennon said that McCartney had contributed to the song, just as he had helped McCartney complete 'Penny Lane'. In 2017, a version of the take with the harmony vocals restored was released on the of Sgt. Pepper, with a section of the original warm-up added. Joseph Brennan, a researcher who wrote an expansive study of the recording of 'Strawberry Fields Forever', questions part of Beatles historian 's description of the track. While Brennan makes no mention of piano on take 7 but includes a second bass part, Winn omits either of these and instead writes that an overdub on 'Mellotron (piano and guitar settings)' was among the last additions to take 7. Harrison's use of swarmandal marked the instrument's introduction into Western pop music. It had 21 strings, which he tuned specifically to suit the part.

Over this ending, marked by the end of the final chorus, Everett identifies swarmandal as the instrument that interplays with the cellos and electric guitar, as does. Austerlitz, Saul (2007). Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes. New York, NY: Continuum. Babuik, Andy (2002). Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments, from Stage to Studio.

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Ever since they were sent into World War I battle in 1918, Sergeant Pepper and his Lonely Hearts Club Band of Heartland, USA have been spreading the message of joy and love to the world, which has made them and Heartland famous. Upon Sergeant Pepper's death in 1958, the band's instruments have been housed on display at Heartland City Hall as symbols of that love and joy. Before his death, Sergeant Pepper asked his adolescent grandson Billy Shears to take on the reins of forming his own band to continue to spread the message of joy and love. With Billy's brother Dougie Shears as their Manager, Billy, now an adult, and his three best friends, brothers Mark, Dave, and Bob Henderson, embark on their lives as a new Lonely Hearts Club Band. They quickly come to the attention of Hollywood music producer B.D. Hoffler Of B.D.

(Big Deal) Records. With the boys off to Hollywood to spread the words of joy and love to the world, enter into Heartland the evil and demented Mr. Mustard, an ex-real.

Naw, actually, it was twenty-FIVE years ago today, that producer Robert Stigwood had a flea placed in his ear by SOMEBODY, (maybe agent/co-producer Dee Anthony, who repped both the Bee Gees AND Peter Frampton at the time,) and the flea said: 'What is the greatest rock-and-roll album of all time? Who right now are the greatest, most popular music stars? And how can you possibly lose if you combine them both?' Answer that question with a question: How could you possibly WIN??? To those who decry the defacing of a sacred cow, first of all, and pay close attention to this, people: THIS MOVIE IS A PRODUCT OF ITS TIME. Nothing in the late Seventies succeeded (or exceeded, as it were) like excess. If big was good, then bigger was even better, and the King of Media Overkill was Robert Stigwood at this period.

Which was his standout quality, and his company's undoing. (Not to mention the undoing of quite a few careers along the way.) Second of all, as it has already been pointed out, the timing SUCKED, even moreso than the movie itself. The SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER backlash was just beginning with PEPPER'S release, and even though Peter Frampton had proven himself still able to chart with such current hits as his cover of 'Signed, Sealed and Delivered' and 'I'm In You,' (please hold your snickers), his album sales had begun to wane, a surefire indicator that his status as a pretty-boy guitar god was fading fast. For the most part, the audience demographic the movie was aimed at was served as well as they could be. None of the teenybopper females in the theater audience I saw it with, (yes, I DID see it in a theater), gave one whisker on a rat's bee-hind that the album the movie was derived from was a classic, or that George Martin actually produced the soundtrack (well, most of it.) They sighed in rapture on cue when a dreamy closeup of The Brothers Gibb or Frampton came whizzing by, or sobbed uncontrollably at the 'oh-my-GAWD-this-is-so-maudlin' ending. I swear, THIS is the audience the producers should've seen it with, when the reviews came in chopping the entire project to shreds.

So, for a movie that represents everything that was both bad AND good about That Decade simultaneously, was there anything of merit to observe? First of all, for the most expensive musical ever made in its day ('tupping the bill' at a whopping $60 mil plus), every cent is evident on-screen. Owen Roizman (who shot THE EXORCIST) managed to get every shot right, even if the pastels were enough at times to send an epileptic into grand mal seizures, and there was enough condescending sweetness for twelve diabetic comas. Also, contrary to the rabid rantings of Beatlemaniacs everywhere, the soundtrack is the best part of the movie.

I guess what makes it so hard for most people to watch, are the scenes that are almost painful indicators of what the movie COULD'VE been, because the energy and drive is so different from the rest of the goings-on. Meaning Aerosmith's ball-busting cover of 'Come Together,' the finger-snapping, funk-injected 'Got To Get You Into My Life' from Earth, Wind and Fire, and Steve Martin's super-manic 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' echoing his even better turn to come in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. No matter how much the remainder may induce severe bouts of wincing and cringing, these moments almost redeem Henry Edwards' 'Yellow-Submarine-on-peyote-buttons' screenplay.

I bought this (and I'd be embarassed to tell you how much I spent) for a So-Bad-It's-Good movie party I decided to throw for some friends on New Year's Eve. Just to see if it was as bad as I remembered, (and as bad as people have credited it to be), I gave it a spin just for old time's sake. Time does heal old wounds, I guess, and as much as I snickered, groaned and chortled at the outlandishness of it all, I have to admit that at the very least, I was entertained. Kind of like when you're watching virtually nothing on Saturday night, until a rerun of 'Donnie and Marie' comes on Nick At Night.

And though you'd never tell your friends you did, you watched every painfully corny moment of it.and actually enjoyed it. So that's how I think of PEPPER now, as a very secretively guilty pleasure. And for those reading that last line and yelling 'Is he CRAZY??? This is the BLACK HOLE OF MUSICALS!!' I can only say this: you have not lived as long as I have, or seen as many movies to be able to make that statement with any kind of confidence.

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How do I know? Let me ask you: have you ever seen the musical version of LOST HORIZON? Mae West in SEXTETTE? Lucille Ball in MAME? Go sit through even ONE of those, boys and girls. We can talk about really bad musicals after you've weathered THAT ordeal. I did.and lived to tell about it.