It's The Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band (1977) Poll

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
Got To Get You Into My Life - Earth, Wind & Fire 15
Maxwell's Silver Hammer - Steve Martin & Chorus 2
Come Together - Aerosmith 2
Fixing A Hole - George Burns 2
3When I'm Sixty-Four - Frankie Howerd, Sandy Farina 1
Because - Alice Cooper, The Bee Gees 1
I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Bee Gees, Diane Steinberg, Paul Nicholas, Donald Pleasence, Stargard 1
Strawberry Fields Forever - Sandy Farina 1
Mean Mr. Mustard - Frankie Howerd and Robots 0
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight - Peter Frampton/The Bee Gees 0
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - Maurice Gibb, Peter Frampton, George Burns, The Bee Gees 0
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends - The Bees, Paul Nicholas/Peter Frampton, The B0
Oh! Darling - Robin Gibb 0
You Never Give Me Your Money - Paul Nichols, Diane Steinberg 0
She's Leaving Home - The Bee Gees, Jay MacIntosh, John Wheeler 0
Good Morning, Good Morning - Paul Nicholas, Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees 0
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Dianne Steinberg, Stargard 0
Getting Better - Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees 0
Here Comes The Sun - Sandy Farina 0
The Long And Winding Road - Peter Frampton0


Eazy, Monday, 3 March 2008 19:31 (seventeen years ago)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Sgtpepperdvd.jpg

Eazy, Monday, 3 March 2008 19:31 (seventeen years ago)

I may go with "Mean Mr. Mustard":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-2SOVJKOqo

Eazy, Monday, 3 March 2008 19:36 (seventeen years ago)

Steve Martin (because of the fight sequence):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kshEbKxOkw8

dad a, Monday, 3 March 2008 19:36 (seventeen years ago)

I was about to vote for Peter Gabriel before I realized that his version was from another sucky Beatles cover concept.

Pleasant Plains, Monday, 3 March 2008 19:50 (seventeen years ago)

Where's Billy Preston and "Get Back?" That would get my vote.

Jazzbo, Monday, 3 March 2008 20:14 (seventeen years ago)

Oh and this movie sucked rhino dicks.

Jazzbo, Monday, 3 March 2008 20:14 (seventeen years ago)

I'll say My Morning Jacket -- "Going to Acapulco." Oh wait, wrong musical...

QuantumNoise, Monday, 3 March 2008 20:31 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBBN0T5PYXY
^^^^^
this, and it's ain't even close.

Eric H., Monday, 3 March 2008 20:36 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, that's a cool version. Aerosmith's Come Together ain't bad either.

chap, Monday, 3 March 2008 20:42 (seventeen years ago)

I'm voting Aerosmith. I love how this film turns rock and roll into the great evil.

QuantumNoise, Monday, 3 March 2008 20:52 (seventeen years ago)

this, and it's ain't even close.

otm. i read (i think in mojo's piece on this movie) that this was geoff emerick's and george martin's favorite song on the soundtrack, by a wide margin. it was the last song they recorded, and at the end of the session they basically looked at each other and said, "fuck, we should have recorded all of the songs this way, with the bands just doing it their way instead of trying to copy the beatles!"

Lawrence the Looter, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 02:26 (seventeen years ago)

Duh!

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 02:34 (seventeen years ago)

"Duh!" to Geoff/George, not to you, Lawrence.

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 02:35 (seventeen years ago)

If this movie was a person, I would beat up its face! You can't even resuscitate this thing as camp. (I know - I tried.)

Yes, the EWF cut is the best. But I'm voting in protest for the completely clueless "Fixing a Hole" courtesy of Mr. Gracie Allen. I don't know about y'all, but whenever I hear "Fixing a Hole," I think "gazebo!" Jackasses! Gawd, I think I'd rather watch Song of Norway.

I gotta admit, though, that I do get some sort of pleasure out of the final singalong. At least it's grotesque, horrifying. And I'll always buy a ticket to watch enraged Beatles fans dancing with apoplexy at the sight of all these fat cats Sgt. Peppering about. Wonder how much they got paid.

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 02:43 (seventeen years ago)

This movie is a guilty pleasure for me - I watched it a *lot* when I was a kid - but I want to vote for the cast-of-B-listers' "Sgt. Pepper" reprise. Guess I'll have to give another EWF vote.

Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 06:24 (seventeen years ago)

Another vote for EWF. By a continental mile.

Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 08:49 (seventeen years ago)

abs!

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 12:18 (seventeen years ago)

I'm going with "Because" by Alice Cooper. I *would* go with Aerosmith, but watching the "Future Villain Band" get literally beaten up by Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees is unforgivable.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:04 (seventeen years ago)

If this movie was a person, I would beat up its face!

Quote of the day.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:05 (seventeen years ago)

I envy you guys that actually saw this film. Would that I had that kind of time to waste! Actually, no I do envy you gtastf. But I don't actually envy you guys that saw this film more than once tho.

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:07 (seventeen years ago)

I saw it when it opened in a theatre (because I'm old). Haven't seen it since, which is not an accident.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:13 (seventeen years ago)

I can imagine.

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:16 (seventeen years ago)

I saw it when it opened in a theatre (because I'm old).
Me too, Alex. I'd still like to get my $3.50 back.

Jazzbo, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:25 (seventeen years ago)

I wish I could hear Frankie Howerd doing "Mean Mister Mustard"

Tom D., Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:27 (seventeen years ago)

George Burns singing Fixing a Hole is very very weird.

chap, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:28 (seventeen years ago)

I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Bee Gees, Diane Steinberg, Paul Nicholas, Donald Pleasence, Stargard

Tom D., Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:29 (seventeen years ago)

Always a few competitively-priced copies with the top right hand corner cut out in your local MVE basement for those intrigued.

Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:29 (seventeen years ago)

xxxpost - he doesn't really sing it, he just does some adlibs. It's actually sung by some robots.

chap, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:29 (seventeen years ago)

I guess I should find the video. Not a DVD, a vid. Just so I could watch in ten minute bits.

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:31 (seventeen years ago)

I'd be surprised if the video ever came out in anything other than Betamax.

Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:32 (seventeen years ago)

I got a 'souvenir' book of this film for christmas from my mum. In 2001.

Lots of pics.

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:33 (seventeen years ago)

Best Frankie Howerd records are "Three Little Fishes" - which Tom would have had to write about on Popular if the charts had started earlier than 1952 - "Up Pompeii" and "Je T'aime" with June Whitfield as Jane Birkin.

Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:36 (seventeen years ago)

To say nothing of his "punk" sketch with Cilla playing Sid.

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 14:08 (seventeen years ago)

It's actually sung by some robots.

This is so much like my dreams, it's scary.

Still voting for EWF, though.

Sara Sara Sara, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 14:27 (seventeen years ago)

I wish I could hear Frankie Howerd doing "Mean Mister Mustard"

The YouTube link is above - you can see for yourself!

I watched this movie for the first time in 30 years while house-sitting last weekend -- it's showing free of charge in the On Demand section of Comcast cable. No wonder I loved it then -- it's a perfect movie for a six-year-old.

Not only is rock'n'roll the bad guy, but disco is the bad guy too (see the endless disco break during "She's So Heavy").

Eazy, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:46 (seventeen years ago)

disco is the bad guy/Bee Gees lolz

Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:50 (seventeen years ago)

The YouTube link is above - you can see for yourself!

That's the point though, I can't hear it!

Tom D., Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:51 (seventeen years ago)

Ooo, I really want to hear the version of She's So Heavy with disco breakdowns! Doesn't seem to be on YouTube.

chap, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:53 (seventeen years ago)

George Burns

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 17:04 (seventeen years ago)

The youtube clips are painfully bad. This movie had porno lighting!

abanana, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 17:14 (seventeen years ago)

Sgt. Pepper vs. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park

QuantumNoise, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 17:35 (seventeen years ago)

Kiss should have been in this instead of Aerosmith. Robin Gibb kicking Gene Simmons' ass would've been awesome.

QuantumNoise, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 17:36 (seventeen years ago)

Sgt. Pepper vs. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park

Good lord, that's a tough one.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 18:40 (seventeen years ago)

It's a bit long after the fact (to put it mildly), but herewith my review of "Kiss Meets The Phantom of The Park" (linked to Culture Catch from my silly weblog). It should be noted that since this DVD came out, it has been "officially officially" re-released by Kiss themselves as part of the Kissology series (appended with ersatz MST3k style commentary).

Anyway, Click here if you care.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 18:46 (seventeen years ago)

I'd be surprised if the video ever came out in anything other than Betamax.

I own it on both VHS and DVD. Like I said, guilty pleasure. (It makes a great twofer with either the Village People's Can't Stop the Music or the starless The Apple.)

Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 19:21 (seventeen years ago)

The Apple crushes both of these films no contest (so does the completely unrelated 1997 Iranian film of the same name). Can't Stop the Music would've been much improved with at least half an hour shorn. Sgt. Pepper is ultimately too dull to be a guilty pleasure. Esp. since it moves from dull to infuriating. Then death happens to all involved with your imaginary finger pistol aimed at the screen. That's prolly another reason why the finale is such an up - you can pick off each guilty participant off one by one with ease.

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 20:57 (seventeen years ago)

scratch that second "off"

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 20:57 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Sunday, 9 March 2008 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

Also missing from poll:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1I3YW9aZM-o&feature=related

kingkongvsgodzilla, Sunday, 9 March 2008 00:56 (seventeen years ago)

he didn't do it bluegrass then?

Mark G, Monday, 1 July 2013 17:52 (eleven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddtDTy_UuDA

From around the same time, another double LP soundtrack came out, this time for *this* also flop movie...

Mark G, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 11:35 (eleven years ago)

Can't see what that is here at work - The Wiz?

Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 13:43 (eleven years ago)

oh wait, a better guess: All This and World War II?

Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 13:45 (eleven years ago)

Yes.

Mark G, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 14:05 (eleven years ago)

six months pass...

did every studio make a massive flop musical as a taxloss or something? it's incredible so many bad ones were made; The Wiz, Xanadu, Can't Stop The Music, this. did we ever have a Bad Seventies Musicals poll/thread? i'd sure like to see one if so.

piscesx, Friday, 10 January 2014 14:56 (eleven years ago)

I would participate in that thread.

Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Friday, 10 January 2014 15:01 (eleven years ago)

I think The Wiz and Xanadu are legitimately great in a lot of ways. Can't Stop the Music and The Apple, otoh, phew!

Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Friday, 10 January 2014 15:01 (eleven years ago)

The Apple is awesome!

Mr. Snrub, Friday, 10 January 2014 16:02 (eleven years ago)

pumpin' power by the hour

how's life, Friday, 10 January 2014 16:03 (eleven years ago)

Xanadu has some really good songs in it (so does the Wiz) but man the film itself is just wall to wall ineptitude. it makes me feel sorry for Gene Kelly.

Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 10 January 2014 16:25 (eleven years ago)

The Wiz has probably my favorite song score of any musical I can think of.

Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Friday, 10 January 2014 16:26 (eleven years ago)

crazy talk

Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 10 January 2014 16:31 (eleven years ago)

The Wiz is one of those things where it looks like a decent musical, but its directed by someone with no clue about how to film it. All these long, wide static shots. just stupid

Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 10 January 2014 16:32 (eleven years ago)

The direction is a disaster, no doubt. But Q's arrangements and the enthusiasm of the performers manage to cut through Lumet's predictable ineptitude.

Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Friday, 10 January 2014 16:42 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

My wife, recalling childhood fondness for this movie and disbelieving my and the video store clerk's claims to its awfulness, made me sit through this the other night. I had forgotten that there is absolutely zero dialogue

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 19:47 (ten years ago)

The Wiz, Xanadu, Can't Stop The Music, this. did we ever have a Bad Seventies Musicals poll/thread?

also ^^^ this. why were so many of these made in such a short time, were they all chasing Grease or something? it's just nuts.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 19:51 (ten years ago)

Everything I said upthread about The Wiz, posted over again here.

Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:03 (ten years ago)

you think the enthusiasm of the performers really cuts through the dreck?

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:10 (ten years ago)

The Wiz feels like it's about the remnants of humanity singing and dancing their way through their final days on a barren earth. Those long distant shots of bizarre, empty cityscapes are terrifying.

Doggy McBaby (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:11 (ten years ago)

I think The Wiz might have some of the most enthusiastic performers this side of Flaming Creatures.

Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:12 (ten years ago)

I meant in regards to Sgt Pepper's

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:14 (ten years ago)

At least The Wiz had been a successful Broadway musical; making a film out of it wasn't a batshit idea (on paper), especially compared with the others mentioned.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:14 (ten years ago)

cuz a lot of the Sgt Pepper's performances are, how to put it kindly, lackluster. The Bee Gees are clearly hating it/fucking around (they make Maurice play the drums for chrissakes!), Aerosmith can barely stand up, etc.

xp

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:15 (ten years ago)

Which is worse: Sgt. Pepper's or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WmOvoqlmZE

Doggy McBaby (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:19 (ten years ago)

I'd only read about that ^ ...it's even more bizarre than I imagined. There really were dancing strawberries!

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:21 (ten years ago)

I did have a go at watching it in ten-minute sections. I think I made it through 40 mins.

It even might still be on my pad here, hang on..... Yep. One hour 51 mins total..

Mark G, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:32 (ten years ago)

good god what is the story with that Rolling Stone thing that is unbelievable

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:34 (ten years ago)

Nixon singing I'm a Loser

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:36 (ten years ago)

Beatles tributes suck, that's the rule.

There was one cd that was almost ok, once..

Mark G, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:37 (ten years ago)

that one sucks in ways previously unimaginable.

Broadway has so much to answer for.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:42 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Bee Gees, Diane Steinberg, Paul Nicholas, Donald Pleasence, Stargard

Nowhere near enough Donald Pleasance tbh.

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Friday, 26 May 2017 12:08 (eight years ago)

three years pass...

I can't stop laughing at this amazing bit of self-delusion.

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/16/archives/inventing-a-plot-for-sgt-pepper-sgt-pepper.html

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 14 March 2021 04:58 (four years ago)

When Mr. Stigwood and I talked, the entire music industry was abuzz with the startling success of the tasselhaired rock performer Peter Frampton, whose gentle, folk‐flavored romantic approach was breaking LP sales records as they'd never been broken before. Old‐fashioned sentiment and melody were in, and it seemed to me that a contemporary pop movie should reflect this return to romance. So I decided to cast “Sgt. Pepper” in the tradition of those American films that presented a vision of an unspoiled small town whose innocence was threatened by villainy from the slick, mean city.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 14 March 2021 04:59 (four years ago)

Which is worse: Sgt. Pepper's or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WmOvoqlmZE

― Doggy McBaby (Old Lunch)

This video should be played in rehab clinics. “You know how you think you’re so cool when on drugs? Well here’s a documentation on how it actually looks like”

✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 14 March 2021 05:15 (four years ago)

Yeah, EWF's track is great, and Aerosmith's is actually a decent cover.

I always wondered how EWF felt about everything else sucking. It's kind of embarrassing that they brought their A game, only to have it wasted on a pile of shit. Two piles of shit if you want to count the film and soundtrack separately.

birdistheword, Sunday, 14 March 2021 05:37 (four years ago)

Just saw half hour of this shit on youtube and I think I hate The Beatles now.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 14 March 2021 08:11 (four years ago)

Can’t believe there isn’t a name yet for that genre of 70s disco flop cash-in movies. I sure do love reading about them. There should be a book about them all.

piscesx, Sunday, 14 March 2021 09:56 (four years ago)

Fun fact: the film was directed by Michael Schultz, who also directed Cooley High.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 14 March 2021 12:45 (four years ago)

Mr. Stigwood eradicated the notion that there could be a “wrong”solution. He felt he could stimulate good work by never displaying a disapproving attitude. Everyone working on “Sgt. Pepper” felt this generosity.

That squares with this (via wikipedia):

The Bee Gees blamed their declining popularity in part on their involvement with the whole project, coupled with their mutual struggles with drug addiction. The latter was exacerbated by the environment of making the film and its soundtrack, with Maurice Gibb expressing shock at seeing crew members carrying around bags full of cocaine.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 14 March 2021 14:35 (four years ago)

This video should be played in rehab clinics. “You know how you think you’re so cool when on drugs? Well here’s a documentation on how it actually looks like”

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, March 13, 2021 9:15 PM

https://i.imgur.com/ZlgwBVW.png

was it directed by david lynch ffs????

Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Sunday, 14 March 2021 18:02 (four years ago)

I always wondered how EWF felt about everything else sucking. It's kind of embarrassing that they brought their A game, only to have it wasted on a pile of shit. Two piles of shit if you want to count the film and soundtrack separately.


I think they were happy to be the only act to emerge unscathed. Theirs was the highest-charting/biggest-selling single from the soundtrack (it may have outsold the album itself, which famously returned platinum), they won a Grammy for it, and put it on their 1978 best-of, so they certainly didn’t run from it. They were also the only group to not “act” in the film; they just had to show up and be Earth, Wind, and Fire, whereas even Aerosmith’s decent performance was tainted by them being the “villain band,” with Steven Tyler having to fight Peter Frampton(‘s “character,” Billy Shears).

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 14 March 2021 19:51 (four years ago)

From what I remember of the one time I heard the soundtrack, George Martin was all over it trying to make sure nobody departed too far from the original recordings he had made (with some help from some band or other called the Beatles). I'm assuming the EWF track was 100% Maurice White and that George Martin would not have been allowed anywhere near the recording studio.

Woke For Luck (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 March 2021 19:59 (four years ago)

Yep, the EWF track was indeed produced by Maurice White, far from the Martin-produced sessions.

And Martin only (and reluctantly) took on the project because he figured, if someone else was at the helm, they’d really screw it up. Also, I believe a truckload of money was involved. But he supposedly later said that the EWF track was by far his favorite on the record.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 14 March 2021 20:09 (four years ago)

It would probably have been a lot better if Martin hadn't been involved.

Woke For Luck (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 March 2021 20:18 (four years ago)

Just imagine what Donald Pleasance could have managed with "I Want You" if left to his own devices.

Woke For Luck (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 March 2021 20:19 (four years ago)

*evil jazzbo vibes*

“I want YOU...to die.”

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 14 March 2021 20:34 (four years ago)

I can imagine Barry Gibb or somebody in the studio trying to record something and George Martin standing over him, in his suit and tie, droning away, "No no, the boys would never have done it that way, that just won't do".

Woke For Luck (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 March 2021 20:37 (four years ago)

I believe George heard the EWF track and said 'we should have let everybody do it their own way' (or wtte)

Mark G, Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:41 (four years ago)

Plus, 'All this and world war 2' came out around the same time, with more OK beatles covers than this. (I even thought the EWF track came from that)

Mark G, Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:44 (four years ago)


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