Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?
As its title implies, *Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?* is a tribute of sorts to the bygone psychedelic era. Where the actual Beatles album was an expression of peace, hope and love at a time of expanded drug-induced consciousness and studio technology, the Massacre’s collection shows up 43 years later with all the years of Flaming Lips, Spacemen 3/Spiritualized, Ride, Mercury Rev and Neutral Milk Hotel albums to help redefine the territory. This *Pepper* is more like an answer record to the Rolling Stones’ *Their Satanic Majesties’ Request* than anything from the Fab Four. Singer and leader Anton Newcombe usually hosts a boisterous party, but here he lurks in the background, often turning the lead vocals over to others and cheerleading from behind the soundboard. The tribal, trance-inducing textures of “Tunger Hnifur” and “Let’s Go F\*\*\*ing Mental,” the Public Image Limited “Albatross” beats of “This Is the First of Your Last Warning (Icelandic)” and the Joy Division-derived “This Is the One Thing We Did Not Want to Have Happen” make BJM more like classic rockers who have rewritten the rules upside down. Fun for all.
The latest from Anton Newcombe's band finds him attempting to revitalize BJM's sound with disco rhythms, drum loops, and house-diva wails.
The 2000s saw Brian Jonestown Massacre on a consistent downward slide, it the apparent victim of both Anton Newcombe's creative eccentricities as well as his own self-destructive urges.
Despite serving as a father figure to many young acts, (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Warlocks), TBJM’s Anton Newcombe has more recently been pigeonholed as a musical madman following many well d