The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Ok so this has been coming for a long time so here it is. One of the most influential albums ever produced, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Amazingly this was The Beatles eight studio album, took 129 days to record, was produced by George Martin and a host of engineers and was released on June 1st 1967.

By the time they began recording the album the Beatles had decided that they would no longer tour.The idea behind Sergeant Peppers was to create and album that could tour for them, thus the creation of a fictitious group Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The theme is a bit loose it must be admitted, as the only Sgt. Peppers band bits are the introduction and With A little Help With My Friends both of which are sung by Ringo Starr aka band leader Billy Shears. The rest of the album albeit astounding is not really connected to any overarching concept, but who cares!

The use of state of the art recording technology and innovations in the use of this equipment was far ahead of its time, but then again they had free reign in the studio for 129 days. Even on the album itself there are loads of little quirks, such as in the run-out groove the band put in some playful sounds, there is a high pitch tone that was put there to annoy peoples dogs and instead of the record just repeatedly winding at the end there is laughter and gibbersh.

The arrangements on the album are also quite elaborate, and required a team of engineers and musicians. There was a clarinet ensemble on When I'm Sixty Four the George Harrison song song, Whithin You Without You is quiet long and features a group of Indian muscians and Harrison on sitar ad acoustic guitar. The John Lennon song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
is made up of a sound collage recorded and pieced together by George Martin and his team of engineers. The explosion of orchestration on A Day In The Life is an unforgettable moment in pop history and somehting that had never been heard before by pop fans. For the nerds out there there are some clips of the recording of A Day in the Life right here on youtube, which was recorded as part of a planned for TV special that never came to fruition.

When Sgt. Peppers was released most people got it straight away, well the critics anyway. The New York Times called it "an over attended child". Frank Zappa thought the Beatles were cashing in on the flower power generation. Even without Mr Zappa's criticism it, of course went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic.

The front cover of the album has become part of rock iconography and has been imitated on a number of occasions. It was designed by Peter Blake, the packaging was created by Robert Fraser and all in close collaboration with Paul McCartney. as a means to divert your attention from a days work we have included a picture of the cover with all those involved named, for the lazy just click here for an interactive picture.

Sgt. Peppers is one of the most important records of all time, it is fun and exciting and part of the Zeitgeist at the time. It is also the last album where The Beatles actually sound like they are having fun.

Track Listing

Side 1

1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – 2:04
2. "With a Little Help from My Friends" – 2:46
3. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 3:30
4. "Getting Better" – 2:49
5. "Fixing a Hole" – 2:38
6. "She's Leaving Home" – 3:37
7. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" – 2:37

Side 2

1. "Within You Without You" (George Harrison) – 5:07
2. "When I'm Sixty-Four" – 2:37
3. "Lovely Rita" – 2:44
4. "Good Morning Good Morning" – 2:43
5. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)" – 1:20
6. "A Day in the Life" – 5:33

1. Sri Yukteswar Gigi (guru)
2. Aleister Crowley (dabbler in sex, drugs and magic)
3. Mae West (actress)
4. Lenny Bruce (comic)
5. Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)
6. W.C. Fields (comic)
7. Carl Gustav Jung (psychologist)
8. Edgar Allen Poe (writer)
9. Fred Astaire (actor)
10. Richard Merkin (artist)
11. The Varga Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)
12. *Leo Gorcey (Painted out because he requested a fee)
13. Huntz Hall (actor one of the Bowery Boys)
14. Simon Rodia (creator of Watts Towers)
15. Bob Dylan (musician)
16. Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
17. Sir Robert Peel (politician)
18. Aldous Huxley (writer)
19. Dylan Thomas (poet)
20. Terry Southern (writer)
21. Dion (di Mucci)(singer)
22. Tony Curtiss (actor)
23. Wallace Berman (artist)
24. Tommy Handley (comic)
25. Marilyn Monroe (actress)
26. William Burroughs (writer)
27. Sri Mahavatara Babaji(guru)
28. Stan Laurel (comic)
29. Richard Lindner (artist)
30. Oliver Hardy (comic)
31. Karl Marx (philosopher/socialist)
32. H.G. Wells (writer)
33. Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (guru)
34. Anonymous (wax hairdresser's dummy)
35. Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle)
36. Anonymous (wax hairdresser's dummy)
37. Max Miller (comic)
38. The Pretty Girl (by artist George Petty)
39. Marlon Brando (actor)
40. Tom Mix (actor)
41. Oscar Wilde (writer)
42. Tyrone Power (actor)
43. Larry Bell (artist)
44. Dr. David Livingston (missionary/explorer)
45. Johnny Weissmuller (swimmer/actor)
46. Stephen Crane (writer)
47. Issy Bonn (comic)
48. George Bernard Shaw (writer)
49. H.C. Westermann (sculptor)
50. Albert Stubbins (soccer player)
51. Sri lahiri Mahasaya (guru)
52. Lewis Carrol (writer)
53. T.E. Lawrence (soldier, aka Lawrence of Arabia)
54. Sonny Liston (boxer)
55. The Pretty Girl (by artist George Petty)
56. Wax model of George Harrison
57. Wax model of John Lennon
58. Shirley Temple (child actress)
59. Wax model of Ringo Starr
60. Wax model of Paul McCartney
61. Albert Einstein (physicist)
62. John Lennnon, holding a french horn
63. Ringo Starr, holding a trumpet
64. Paul McCartney, holding a cor anglais
65. George Harrison, holding a flute
66. Bobby Breen (singer)
67. Marlene Dietrich (actress)
68. Mohandas Ghandi (painted out at the request of EMI)
69. Legionaire from the order of the Buffalos
70. Diana Dors (actress)
71. Shirley Temple (child actress)
72. Cloth grandmother-figure by Jann Haworth
73. Cloth figure of Shirley Temple by Haworth
74. Mexican candlestick
75. Television set
76. Stone figure of girl
77. Stone figure
78. Statue from John Lennon's house
79. Trophy
80. Four-armed Indian Doll
81. Drum skin, designed by Joe Ephgrave
82. Hookah (water tobacco-pipe)
83. Velvet snake
84. Japanese stone figure
85. Stone figure of Snow White
86. Garden gnome
87. Tuba