George's experimentations with the Indian sound in 1966-1967 confused a lot of Beatles' fans. But they're pretty adventerous, innovative, gutsy, and new. Plus, they all have great melodies and orchestration.
I think I read that "Within Without You" is the one track on Sgt. Pepper that doesn't feature the other 3 Beatles (apparently they didn't want to learn sitar and tabla
). Though the song is a little flawed in places (it tries to mix the Indian raga - typically a VERY long song - with a European pop song) overall it succeeds very well with what it sets out to do. It's definitely not for everyone. And arguably it sounds a little out of place on Sgt. Pepper's. Still, it expands the breadth of the album.
What it also did was introduce Indian classical music to a whole generation of non-Indian people. It might also have inspired the nascent Bollywood (though this is pure speculation).
I love the strings and the lyrics (I'm not sure if the words were borrowed from classical texts in the same way as "Love You Too" or if George wrote them or both). I'd give it a 4.
