Funny all this "Sgt Pepper" stuff going on. For us religious devotees (we all know who we are) it's strange. "Pepper" has never been my favourite, but hearing it like this - repeatedly, with it's shiny brand-new coat on - it sounds more and more...relevant. Like we need to hear it. Oh I know, I'll be accused of absurd romanticism but getting by "With A Little Help From My Friends" has never seemed so important as it does now. The optimism of it. "When I'm 64" - which I've always thought was just McCartney fluff... But it's important what happens to us when we're 64 and the picture the song paints is attractive and hopeful. And it's "Getting Better". It's getting better all the time (it can't get no worse). Yes. Isn't that what we want? To fix the holes?
Then there's the music itself. The new mix makes the record sound modern. All the records that have come since June 1967, so many records that were inspired by the way these songs were played: the note choices, the timbres, the way the voices attack the melodies. The Beatles really were that good. And they were right too. The music rings true. It's nice, sometimes, to be reminded. Faith needs the odd miracle.