Editing Strawberry Fields Forever (section)

==Critical reception==
Among contemporary reviews of the single, ''Melody Maker'' said that the combination of musical instruments, studio techniques and vocal effect on "Strawberry Fields Forever" created a "swooping, deep, mystic kaleidoscope of sound", and concluded, "The whole concept shows the Beatles in a new, far-out light."<ref>{{cite magazine|author=MM staff|title=Beatles on TV|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=11 February 1967|page=1}}</ref> The ''[[NME]]''{{'}}s Derek Johnson confessed to being both fascinated and confused by the track, writing: "Certainly the most unusual and way-out single The Beatles have yet produced – both in lyrical content and scoring. Quite honestly, I don't really know what to make of it."<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Sutherland|editor-first=Steve|title=NME Originals: John Lennon|year=2003|page=48|publisher=IPC Ignite!|location=London}}</ref> According to Beatles biographer Robert Rodriguez, Johnson's comments typified the "bewilderment" and "mood of disquiet" that the song initially aroused in the music press.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=199}} ''[[The Daily Mail]]''{{'}}s entertainment reporter wrote: "What's happening to the Beatles? They have become contemplative, secretive, exclusive and excluded – four mystics with moustaches."<ref name="O'Gorman/MojoSpecial">{{cite book|first=Martin|last=O'Gorman|chapter=Strange Fruit|year=2002|title=[[Mojo (magazine)#Special editions|Mojo Special Limited Edition]]: 1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967)|location=London|publisher=Emap|page=94}}</ref>

In the United States, the single's experimental qualities initiated an upsurge in the ongoing critical discourse on the aesthetics and artistry of pop music, as, centring on the Beatles' work, writers sought to elevate pop in the cultural landscape for the first time.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=193–94}} Among these laudatory appraisals,{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=194}} ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine hailed the song as "the latest sample of the Beatles' astonishing inventiveness".<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843470,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220082515/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843470,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 February 2008 |author=Time staff|title=Other Noises, Other Notes|date=3 March 1967|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|page=63|access-date=20 July 2008}}</ref> The writer said that, since 1963:
<blockquote>[The] Beatles have developed into the single most creative force in pop music. Wherever they go, the pack follows. And where they have gone in recent months, not even their most ardent supporters would ever have dreamed of. They have bridged the heretofore impassable gap between rock and classical, mixing elements of Bach, Oriental and electronic music with vintage twang to achieve the most compellingly original sounds ever heard in pop music.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=657}}</blockquote>

''Time'' concluded by saying that the multitude of "dissonances and eerie space-age sounds" on the track were partly the product of altered tape speed and direction, and commented: "This is nothing new to electronic composers, but employing such methods in a pop song is electrifying."{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=135}} In his review of ''Sgt. Pepper'' in June 1967, [[William Mann (critic)|William Mann]] of ''[[The Times]]'' recognised the Beatles as the originators of the vogue for "electronically-manipulated clusters of sound", and he added: "In some records, it's just a generalised effect. But in 'Strawberry Fields', it was poetically and precisely applied."<ref name="O'Gorman/MojoSpecial" />

[[Richie Unterberger]] of [[AllMusic]] describes "Strawberry Fields Forever" as "one of The Beatles' peak achievements and one of the finest Lennon–McCartney songs".<ref name="amg-sff">{{cite web |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t232901|pure_url=yes}} |title=The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever'|publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=16 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901143610/http://www.allmusic.com/song/strawberry-fields-forever-mt0011758676 |archive-date=1 September 2012}}</ref> Ian MacDonald wrote in his book ''[[Revolution in the Head]]'' that it "shows expression of a high order … few if any [contemporary composers] are capable of displaying feeling and fantasy so direct, spontaneous, and original."{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=220}} According to music critic [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]], the song "transformed Lennon's creative arc" by "expand[ing] the hallucinogenic drone of 'Rain' into layered colours that shifted when lit by his vocal inflections" and by inaugurating his use of free-form verse as a lyrical device.{{sfn|Riley|2011|p=329}} Riley adds that while it represented Lennon's "first glimpse of life" outside the Beatles, "part of the recording's ironic pull lies in how the Beatles drape a group sensibility around Lennon's abstract psyche, something only the most intimate of musical friends could do."{{sfn|Riley|2011|pp=329–30}} In his commentary on the track in ''The Beatles' Diary'', Peter Doggett describes the song as "the greatest pop record ever made" and "a record that never dates, because it lives outside time". He rues the single's failure to top the now-official UK chart as "arguably the most disgraceful statistic in chart history".{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=256–57}}