As valid and thought-provoking as this article is (was?) I find myself struck by two things: 1) Written in 1968? That was fifty years ago! How greatly our world has changed in that time in terms of culture, yet the Beatles music feels as fresh and immediate today as then. How innocent some songs are "I want to hold your hand" - to a degree it would be inconceivable on today's vulgar radio.

2) The references to contemporary composers of the 30s and 40s were almost totally lost on me. The big bands, the jazz & blues men, and such were familiar. Shows just how few compositions (and more rarely, composers) stand the test of time.

For a delicious counterpoint, I suggest this: https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/music/sgt-pepper... A reviewer who called Sgt Pepper (Rolling Stones #1 rated of 500 albums) “Busy, hip and cluttered”, “a surprising shoddiness in composition” and “fraudulent.”

There's no accounting for taste, it seems.