I am pretty sure that nearly all people listening to Sgt Pepper these days were not born or were very young when it was released in 1967. I was 13, and had been following The Beatles for some time. I had (and still have) original albums and singles and I played them then and do now. Including the mono Sgt Pepper.
We heard stuff about it before it came out. No gaps between tracks. Lyrics on the cover. Cut outs and badges. Some kind of a concept (not really what we called it then, but whatever). It sounded odd, scary, different.
And it was something very special, and still is though that is often forgotten.
Yes, some tracks do run together, and it would have been great if they all had. You have to play the whole album, not cherry pick tracks. It should flow. It’s a concert. You don’t judge the individual tracks, you judge the whole.
The cover and stuff are fantastic, even by today’s standards. A good cover is a lost art these days. The inside picture always says to us, “we are proud of this record”, and so they should be.
Yes, there was a concept, at least at one point, partly because it is a concert by another band, partly because of the reflections of their early lives. You can see that Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, recorded at a similar time, fit that, as do With A Little Help From My Friends, Lovely Rita, When I’m 64, Good Morning Good Morning, She’s Leaving Home and others.
Maybe the concept is just a whole piece of work, a piece of art, rather than a collection of disconnected songs.
It’s easy now to say poor production, some weak songs (we may disagree), cliches and gimmicks… And the lack of Harrison, though his one song is perhaps the most complex on the album.
Grab an original mono copy in good condition and listen to it on a good system, not any remixed digital or even stereo copy.
It will surprise you.
And no, sorry, mine is not for sale.