‘Unsung’ Beatles Sung

John Menniti is no "Pepper" pooper; he just thinks there's an even fabber Beatles album than "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The 46-year-old musician and his tribute band, The Fab, will perform "Revolver" in its entirety 8 p.m. Friday at the Cannery, 2121 E. Craig Road, North Las Vegas.

"It's kind of the unsung Beatles album, isn't it?" asks Menniti of the 1966 classic, which boasts among its musical gems "Eleanor Rigby," "Taxman" and "I'm Only Sleeping."

"You can listen to any song over and over again and never get tired."

Menniti plays both Paul McCartney and John Lennon in the cover band, whose five (not four) members switch up vocal and instrumental parts. (Menniti explains: "We're more excited about, 'Wow, it sounds just like them' than 'Wow, it looks just like them.' ")

Since its 1967 release, "Sgt. Pepper" has been hailed as not only the best Beatles album, but the best album album. It has topped nearly all such lists, including Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003 (which placed "Revolver" third, behind "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys). "Pepper" won the album of the year Grammy that eluded "Revolver" 12 months earlier. It was even turned into a Hollywood movie -- albeit an unwatchable one -- in 1978.

As recently as last year, when Cheap Trick decided on a single Beatles album to perform front-to-back during a run at the Las Vegas Hilton, "Revolver" lost.

"I love 'Sgt. Pepper,' " Menniti says. "But 'Sgt. Pepper' benefits from the historical perspective and the timing of when it came out."

According to Menniti and a growing legion of revisionist music historians, "Pepper" is celebrated not just because it's a great album -- but because it's a great album that came out during the Summer of Love, which maximized its potential to influence.

" 'Revolver' didn't get that same hype," Menniti says.

According to Menniti, "Pepper" also was slathered in studio overdubbing and other effects -- atonal orchestras, phase-shifting, direct-to-soundboard bass -- that blew minds at the time, but sound a bit dated now.

"It was used, done to death and then not done again for a while," he says. "The songs on 'Revolver' just sound fresh. A 12-year-old listening to the Beatles for the first time would probably like 'Revolver' a lot better than 'Sgt. Pepper.' "

Conversely, the final "Revolver" track, a looping-tape headrush of Eastern noise and philosophy called "Tomorrow Never Knows," is gaining credence as the true apex of Lennon's sonic boundary-pushing.

"For them to all of a sudden come up with something like 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was mind-blowing," says Menniti. "It broke the ground for a lot of the experimental stuff that's going on even today."

Before its 40-minute "Revolver" set, The Fab will perform an hourlong pre-show of Beatles and McCartney favorites. It also performs a free, stripped-down version of its greatest-hits Beatles show at 8 p.m. every Tuesday at Eastside Cannery, 5255 Boulder Highway.

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.