I got Sgt. Peppers the other day, only had the "1" album up till now. i was really loking forward to listening to Peppers, but honestly I just feel a bit underwhelmed. There's some class songs on it, i love the first 3, it goes a bit suspect in the middle (the annoyingly long Within You Without You with the weird indian thingy), picks up again a bit at the end. A day in the life is a good song, but again way overhyped, best song of all time?!?! I think not. The weird gibberish at the end of it freaked me out the first time i listened tho!
So overall, it's a decent album I feel, maybe it will grow on me with time, but I do feel it's overhyped. If it wasn't the beatles, would this album get anywhere near as much recognition? I think it's difficult to judge beatles music as everyone has such massive preconceptions, it's hard to separate the music from the culture and feelings of nostalgia etc. that go with it. On the other hand, who's to say that this shouldn't be considered as part of the music as a whole? But then that's what makes it harder for me to appreciate the album, as I can only judge it on the music alone.
Anyway, it's still left a fairly good impression with me, I'm thinking of getting the Lennon greatest hits set, amazon are doing it for a fiver, Lennon seems to be the one whose songs I appreciate more, though McCartney does have his moments.