![]() ![]() Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band can be bought here. More importantly, though, rock and pop has never quite been the same again… Naturally, it was also No.1 in America, as it was in many countries around the world. It debuted in the UK at No.1 – where it stayed for 22 consecutive weeks and became the soundtrack to The Summer Of Love. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first Beatles album to be issued simultaneously worldwide, and the first where the tracklistings were exactly the same for both the UK and US versions. And, of course, great songs, brilliantly performed. And then there’s Peter Blake’s artwork that is so redolent of the time, not forgetting the fact that a lyric sheet was included with the gatefold sleeve. Add to this “flanging,” the use of vari-speed, the way the record was not mastered with the customary gaps between tracks, and the use of crossfades on a couple of tracks. At manager Brian Epstein’s insistence, neither track was included on the LP, a decision that George Martin later described as “the biggest mistake of my professional life.”īut what makes the album a game-changer? The unprecedented time spent in the studio helped to make it so, as do the recording techniques developed by the Abbey Road technicians to give the Beatles more than just the basic four-track equipment that had been used previously. In the early spring of 1967, the UK press was full of reports with headlines such as “Has the Bubble Burst?” or “Beatles Fail To Reach The Top,” all because “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” had stalled at No.2 in the UK singles chart. Dettmar, writing in the Oxford Encyclopedia Of British Literature, says Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is “the most important and influential rock and roll album ever recorded.” We all know that polls don’t matter, but Rolling Stone magazine has often ranked it No.1 in its lists of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.Īnd yet it could all have been so very different. ![]() And don’t just take our word for it: Professor Kevin J. ![]() Of course, time expended does not guarantee either creativity or a brilliant result, but every second was worth it. In all, The Beatles, George Martin, and engineer Geoff Emerick spent 700 hours on the making of the record. Over the next two months work continued on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band remaining songs – “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” “Getting Better,” “She’s Leaving Home,” “Within You Without You,” and “Lovely Rita” – and the album was completed on April 21. Kite.” In the midst of all this recording, The Beatles also filmed their groundbreaking videos for both “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The new LP had a name and a loose concept, in so far as the band pretended they were giving a show as a fictitious band.īy the time their new single was released, they were underway with “Good Morning Good Morning,” “Fixing a Hole,” “Only A Northern Song” (a George Harrison song that he had originally put forward for inclusion on the album), and “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Recording continued on the new album in January, with the first of many sessions for “A Day In The Life,” and then on February 1, they began work on one of Paul’s songs, “Sgt. “Penny Lane”/“Strawberry Fields” came out on Februafter a 196-day wait – the longest time between single releases since the start of their career. The Beatles’ previous single, “Yellow Submarine”/“Eleanor Rigby,” had been released in early August 1966, and so EMI were anxious for another. Recording for “Penny Lane” began two days before New Year’s Eve and was completed nearly three weeks later. Work continued on “Strawberry Fields Forever” during December, as well as recording sessions for “When I’m Sixty-Four” which was also to be included on the new album. ![]()
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