I liked Sgt. Pepper. To me, they were best when they were a bubblegum band. But for later stuff Sgt. Pepper was giood stuff.

As for the Moody Blues/ Beatle comparison, I just think the Moodies were far and away a superior band. I'm with you as far as using orchestras, because that was pretty groundbreaking at the time. Kind of how Deep Purple took it to the next level by using a well known orchestra and giving them full credit. Kind of added a bit of panache or mainstream acceptability that wasn't there before.