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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical Recordings and
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   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover
   Studio album by The Beatles
   Released June 1, 1967
   Recorded Abbey Road December 6, 1966 – April 1, 1967
   Genre Rock, Psychedelic
   Length 39:43
   Label Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
   Producer(s) George Martin
   Professional reviews
     * All Music Guide 5/5 stars link
     * Robert Christgau (A) link
     * Ink Blot link
     * Rolling Stone 5/5 stars 27/08/87

   The Beatles chronology
   A Collection of Beatles Oldies
   (1966) (UK)
     __________________________________________________________________

   Revolver
   (1966) (US) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
   (1967) Magical Mystery Tour
   (1967)

   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth album by The
   Beatles. It is often cited as the most influential album of all time by
   prominent critics and publications, including Rolling Stone (which put
   it atop their 500 " Greatest Albums" list in 2003). It was recorded by
   The Beatles over a 129-day period beginning on December 6, 1966. The
   album was released on June 1, 1967 in the United Kingdom and on June 2,
   1967 in the United States.

   On release the album was an immediate critical and popular sensation.
   Innovative in every sense, from structure to recording techniques to
   the cover artwork, the artistic effect was felt immediately and
   influenced nearly every album that came after it.

Overview

   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was recorded as early Beatlemania
   was waning. The Beatles had grown tired of touring and had quit the
   road in late 1966, burned out after the drama of the " bigger than
   Jesus" controversy and a tumultuous tour of the Philippines which saw
   the band expelled from the country more or less at gunpoint.

   Retirement from touring gave them, for the first time in their career,
   more than ample time in which to prepare their next record. As EMI's
   premier act and Britain's most successful pop group ever, they had
   almost unlimited access to the state-of-the-art technology of Abbey
   Road Studios. All four band members had already developed a preference
   for long, late-night sessions although they were still extremely
   efficient and highly disciplined in their studio habits.

   By the time The Beatles recorded the album, their musical interests had
   grown from their simple blues, pop and rock beginnings to incorporate a
   variety of new influences. They had become familiar with a wide range
   of instruments, such as the Hammond organ and the electric piano; their
   instrumentation now covered the entire range, including strings, brass,
   woodwind, percussion and a wide range of exotic instruments, including
   the sitar. Paul McCartney, although unable to read music, had scored a
   recent British film The Family Way with the assistance of
   producer-arranger George Martin, which earned him a prestigious Ivor
   Novello award.

   The Beatles also used new modular effects units like the wah-wah pedal
   and the fuzzbox, which they augmented with their own experimental
   ideas, such as running voices and instruments through a Leslie speaker.
   Another important sonic innovation was McCartney's discovery of the
   direct injection (DI) technique, in which he could record his bass by
   plugging it directly into an amplifying circuit in the recording
   console. While the still often-used technique of recording through an
   amplifier with a microphone sounds more natural, this setup provided a
   radically different presence in bass guitar sound versus the old
   method.

   The Sgt. Pepper period also coincided with the introduction of some
   important musical innovations, both from within the band and the rest
   of the musical industry. The work of Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Phil
   Spector, and Brian Wilson was radically redefining what was possible
   for pop musicians in terms of both songwriting and recording. Studio
   and recording technology had already reached a high degree of
   development and was poised for even greater innovation. The old rules
   of pop songwriting were being abandoned, as complex lyrical themes were
   explored for the first time in popular music, and songs were growing
   longer (such as Dylan's " Desolation Row," " Like a Rolling Stone," and
   " Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues").

Technical innovation

   Since the introduction of the core technology of magnetic recording
   tape in 1949, multitrack recording had progressed rapidly, with 8-track
   tape recorders already available in the USA and the first 8-tracks
   coming on-line in commercial studios in London in late 1967, shortly
   after Sgt. Pepper was released.

   All of the Sgt. Pepper tracks were recorded at Abbey Road using mono,
   stereo and 4-track recorders. Like its predecessors, the recording made
   extensive use of the technique known as bouncing down, in which a
   number of tracks were recorded across the four tracks of one recorder,
   which were then mixed and dubbed down onto one track of the master
   4-track machine. This enabled the Abbey Road engineers to give The
   Beatles a virtual multi-track studio, since 8-, 16- and 24-track
   recorders did not exist at this time.

   The build-up of noise during repeated dubbing was a major problem for
   engineers. The Abbey Road album was one of the first to use the Dolby
   noise reduction system. The album remains a landmark in the history of
   sound recording and is remarkable for the clarity, fidelity and
   quietness of the transfers.

   Magnetic tape had also led to innovative use of instruments and
   production effects, notably the tape-based keyboard sampler, the
   Mellotron, and effects like flanging (a term invented by Martin, an
   effect used as early as 1959 on Toni Fisher's "The Big Hurt") and
   phasing, and a greatly improved system for creating echo and
   reverberation.

   Several then-new production effects feature extensively on the
   recordings. One of the most important was automatic double tracking
   (ADT), a system that used tape recorders to create an instant and
   simultaneous doubling of a sound. Although it had long been recognised
   that using multitrack tape to record 'doubled' lead vocals gave them a
   greatly enhanced sound (especially with weaker singers) it had always
   been necessary to record such vocal tracks twice, a task which was both
   tedious and exacting.

   ADT was invented specially for The Beatles by EMI engineer Ken
   Townshend in 1965, mainly at the behest of Lennon, who hated tracking
   sessions and regularly expressed a desire for a technical solution to
   the problem. ADT quickly became a near-universal recording practice in
   popular music.

   Also important was varispeeding, the technique of recording various
   tracks on a multi-track tape at slightly different tape speeds. The
   Beatles use this effect extensively on their vocals in this period. The
   speeding up of vocals (also known as 'tweaking') also became a
   widespread technique in pop production. The Beatles also used the
   effect on portions of their backing tracks (as on " Lucy in the Sky
   With Diamonds") to give them a 'thicker' and more diffuse sound.

   In another innovation, the album (in its original LP form that was
   later released on CD) ends in an unusual way, beginning with a
   15-kilohertz high-frequency tone (put on the album at John Lennon's
   suggestion, said to be "especially intended to annoy your dog"),
   followed by an endless loop made by the runout groove looping back into
   itself.

   The sound in the loop is also the subject of much controversy, being
   widely interpreted as some kind of secret message. However, it seems
   that in reality it is nothing more than a few random samples and tape
   edits played backwards. The loop is recreated on the CD version which
   plays for a few seconds, then fades out. Although most of the content
   of the runout groove is impossible to decipher, it is possible to
   distinguish a sped-up voice (possibly Paul McCartney's) reciting the
   phrase "never could see any other way".

Instrumentation

   Sgt. Pepper features elaborate arrangements — for example, the clarinet
   ensemble on " When I'm Sixty-Four" — and extensive use of studio
   effects including echo, reverberation and reverse tape effects. Many of
   these effects were devised in collaboration with producer George Martin
   and his team of engineers.

   One of the few moments of discord came during the recording of " She's
   Leaving Home", when an impatient McCartney, frustrated by Martin's
   unavailability on another recording session, hired freelance arranger
   Mike Leander to arrange the string section — the only time during the
   group's entire career that he worked with another arranger, with the
   exception of some backing orchestration used in the Magical Mystery
   Tour film (12 October 1967 session; see Lewisohn), which were also
   arranged by Leander.

   Another example of the album's unusual production is John Lennon's song
   " Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite", which closes Side 1 of the album.
   The lyrics were adapted almost word for word from an old circus poster
   which Lennon had bought at an antique shop in Kent. The flowing sound
   collage that gives the song its distinctive character was created by
   Martin and his engineers, who collected recordings of calliopes and
   fairground organs, which were then cut into strips of various lengths,
   thrown into a box, mixed up and edited together in random order,
   creating a long loop which was mixed in during final production.

   The opening track of Side 2, " Within You Without You", is unusually
   long for a 'pop' recording of the day, and features only George
   Harrison, on vocals and sitar, with all other instruments being played
   by a group of London-based Indian musicians. These deviations from the
   traditional rock and roll band formula were facilitated by The Beatles'
   decision not to tour, by their ability to hire top-rate session
   musicians, and by Harrison's burgeoning interest in India and Indian
   music, which led him to take lessons from sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

Mono version

   The Beatles themselves mixed the album in mono and the LP was
   originally released as such alongside a stereo mix prepared by Abbey
   Road engineers (with the mono version now out-of-print on vinyl and
   never released on CD). The two mixes are fundamentally different. For
   example, the stereo "She's Leaving Home" was mixed at a lower pitch
   than the original recording and plays at a slower tempo. Similarly, the
   mono version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" is considerably slower
   than the stereo version and features much heavier gating and reverb
   effects. McCartney's yelling voice in the coda section of "Sgt. Pepper
   (Reprise)" (just before the segue into " A Day In The Life") can
   plainly be heard in the mono version, but is inaudible in the stereo
   version. The mono version of the song also features drums that open
   with much more presence and force, as they are turned well up in the
   mix. Also in the stereo mix, the famous segue at the end of " Good
   Morning Good Morning" (the chicken-clucking sound which becomes a
   guitar noise) is timed differently and a crowd noise tape comes in
   later during the intro to "Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)". Other variations
   between the two mixes abound.

Themes and structure

   With Sgt. Pepper, The Beatles wanted to create a record that could, in
   effect, tour for them — an idea they had already explored with the
   promotional film-clips made over the previous years, intended to
   promote them in the United States when they were not touring there.

   McCartney decided that they should create fictitious characters for
   each band member and record an album that would be a performance by
   that fictitious band. The idea of disguise or change of identity was
   one in which The Beatles, naturally enough, had an avid interest — they
   were four of the most recognisable and widely known individuals of the
   20th century.

   The Beatles' recognizability was the motivation for their growing
   moustaches and beards and even longer hair, and was an inspiration for
   the disguise of their flamboyant Sgt. Pepper costumes. McCartney was
   well known for going out in public in disguise and all four had used
   aliases for travel bookings and hotel reservations.

   Thus, the album starts with the title song, which introduces Sgt.
   Pepper's band itself; this song segues seamlessly into a sung
   introduction for bandleader "Billy Shears" (Starr), who performs " With
   a Little Help from My Friends". A reprise version of the title song was
   also recorded, and appears on side 2 of the original album (just prior
   to the climactic "A Day in the Life"), creating a "bookending" effect.

   However, The Beatles essentially abandoned the concept after recording
   the first two songs and the reprise. Lennon was unequivocal in stating
   that the songs he wrote for the album had nothing to do with the Sgt.
   Pepper concept. Since the other songs on the album are actually
   unrelated, one might be tempted to conclude that the album does not
   form an overarching theme. However, the cohesive structure and careful
   sequencing of and transitioning between songs on the album, as well as
   the use of the Sgt. Pepper framing device, has led the album to be
   widely acknowledged as an early and groundbreaking example of the
   concept album.

Critical reception

   Upon release, Sgt. Pepper became both popular and critically acclaimed.
   Various reviews appearing in the mainstream press and trade
   publications throughout June 1967, immediately after the album's
   release, were generally quite positive. In The Times prominent critic
   Kenneth Tynan described Sgt. Pepper as "a decisive moment in the
   history of Western civilization." Others including Richard Poirier, and
   Geoffrey Stokes were similarly expansive in their praise, Stokes
   noting, "listening to the Sgt. Pepper album one thinks not simply of
   the history of popular music but the history of this century." One
   notable critic who did not like the album was Richard Goldstein, a
   critic for the New York Times, who wrote, "Like an overattended child,
   this album is spoiled. It reeks of horns and harps, harmonica quartets,
   assorted animal noises, and a 41-piece orchestra," and that it was an
   "album of special effects, dazzling but ultimately fraudulent" (18th of
   June, quoted in The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by
   Allan F Moore, Cambridge University Press). One rock musician who
   apparently did not like the album was Frank Zappa, who accused The
   Beatles of co-opting the flower power aesthetic for monetary gain,
   saying in a Rolling Stone article that he felt "they were only in it
   for the money." That criticism later became the title of the album (
   We're Only In It For The Money), that mocked Sgt. Pepper with a similar
   album cover. Zappa's record company decided to keep that cover from
   ever being displayed, and it was only after 20 years had passed that
   the original satirical cover was seen on the CD version. Ironically,
   when recording of Sgt Pepper was completed, Paul was quoted saying
   "This is going to be our Freak Out!" referring to Zappa's 1966 debut
   album which in turn is considered by many as the first concept album.
   Also, punk rock icon Iggy Pop has said that he doesn't like Sgt.
   Pepper, calling it "boring" and "depressing." It was reported that when
   a cut from Sgt Pepper came on the radio, Bob Dylan said "Turn that crap
   off!"

   Within days of its release, Jimi Hendrix was performing the title track
   in concert, first performing it for an audience that included Harrison
   and McCartney, who were greatly impressed by his unique version of
   their song. Also, Australian band The Twilights — who had obtained an
   advance copy of the LP in London — wowed audiences in Australia with
   note-perfect live renditions of the entire album, weeks before it was
   even released there.

   The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the first rock
   album to do so, and Best Contemporary Album in 1968.

   It has been on many lists of the best rock albums, including Rolling
   Stone, Bill Shapiro, Alternative Melbourne, Rod Underhill and VH1. In
   1997 Sgt. Pepper was named the number 1 greatest album of all time in a
   'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The
   Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number
   7, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 10; In 2003,
   the album was ranked number 1 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the
   500 greatest albums of all time.. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings
   chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording
   Registry.

   In the years since the album's release some have criticized the album
   for the trends that it started, such as supposed "over-indulgence" on
   the part of artists, spending a great deal of time and money producing
   high minded concept albums, and the beginning of supposed decadence in
   rock and roll. Many critics have also become more negative about the
   album's music, many claiming that other albums such as Revolver are
   superior.

Historical relevance

   A period of experimentation in The Beatles' music had begun with their
   album Rubber Soul in late 1965. During this period, new influences and
   instruments from as far afield as India were incorporated in their
   recordings, which evolved further from simple teen pop and into more
   artistic sounds. Sgt. Pepper continued this process and became more
   avant-garde in style and form than previous or subsequent recordings.

   McCartney cited The Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds and Frank Zappa's
   album Freak Out! as key influences.

   Their follow up, Magical Mystery Tour contained songs that were
   stylistically very like those on Sgt. Pepper, but after two years at
   the forefront of psychedelic rock, The Beatles began to return to more
   conventional musical expression in 1968 beginning with the jazzy,
   piano-based " Lady Madonna".

   Two songs dropped from Sgt. Pepper, " Strawberry Fields Forever" and "
   Penny Lane", were both recorded in late 1966 and early 1967. The
   unusually long gap between Beatles releases, combined with the group's
   withdrawal from touring, saw producer George Martin placed under
   increasing pressure by EMI and Capitol to deliver new material. He
   reluctantly issued the two songs as a double-A-sided single in February
   1967. In keeping with the group's usual practice, the single tracks
   were not included on the LP (a decision Martin maintains he regrets to
   this day). They were only released as a single in the UK at the time,
   but were subsequently included as part of the American LP version of
   Magical Mystery Tour (which was issued as a 6-track EP in Britain).

   The Harrison composition, " Only A Northern Song," was also recorded
   during the "Pepper" sessions but did not see released until January
   1969 when the soundtrack album to the animated feature Yellow Submarine
   was issued.

Album cover

   The Grammy Award-winning album packaging was created by art director
   Robert Fraser, mostly in collaboration with McCartney, designed by
   Peter Blake, and photographed by Michael Cooper. It featured a
   colourful collage of life-sized cardboard models of famous people on
   the front of the album cover; and, as a bow to the interest that
   Beatles' songs now inspired, the lyrics were printed on the back cover,
   the first time this had been done on a pop LP. The Beatles themselves,
   in the guise of the Sgt Pepper band, were dressed in eye-catching
   military-style outfits made of satin dyed in day-glo colours. Among the
   insignia on their uniforms are:
     * MBE medals on McCartney and Harrison's jackets
     * The Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom, on Lennon's right
       sleeve

   Art director Robert Fraser was a prominent London art dealer who ran
   the Indica Gallery. He had become a close friend of McCartney and it
   was only at his strong urging that the group abandoned their original
   cover design, a psychedelic painting by The Fool.

   Fraser was one of the leading champions of modern art in Britain in the
   1960s and beyond. He argued strongly that the Fool artwork was not
   well-executed and that the design would soon date. He convinced
   McCartney to abandon it, and offered to art-direct the cover; it was
   Fraser's suggestion to use an established fine artist and he introduced
   the band to a client, noted British 'pop' artist Peter Blake, who in
   collaboration with his wife, created the famous cover collage, known as
   "People We Like".

   According to Blake, the original concept was to create a scene that
   showed the Sgt Pepper band performing in a park; this gradually evolved
   into its final form, which shows The Beatles, as the Sgt Pepper band,
   surrounded by a large group of their heroes, which were created as
   lifesize cut-out figures. Also included were wax-work figures of The
   Beatles as they appeared in the early '60s, borrowed from Madame
   Tussauds. Appearing to be looking down on the Beatles name in flowers
   as if it were a grave, it's been speculated that it symbolizes that the
   innocent mop-tops of yesteryear were now dead and gone. At their feet
   were several affectations from the Beatles' homes including small
   statues belonging to Lennon and Harrison, a small portable TV set and a
   trophy. A young delivery boy who provided the flowers for the photo
   session was allowed to contribute a guitar made out of yellow
   hyacinths. Although it has long been rumoured that some of the plants
   in the arrangement were cannabis plants, this is untrue. Also included
   is a doll wearing a sweater giving homage to the Rolling Stones (who
   would return the favour by having the Beatles hidden in the cover of
   their own " Their Satanic Majesty's Request" LP later that year).

   The collage depicted more than 70 famous people, including writers,
   musicians, film stars and (at Harrison's request) a number of Indian
   gurus. Starr reportedly made no contribution to the design. The final
   grouping included Marlene Dietrich, W.C. Fields, Bob Dylan, Sigmund
   Freud, Aleister Crowley, Edgar Allan Poe, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde,
   Marlon Brando, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and controversial comedian
   Lenny Bruce. Also included was the image of the original Beatles bass
   player, the late Stuart Sutcliffe. Pete Best said in a later NPR
   interview that Lennon borrowed family medals from his mother Mona for
   the shoot, on condition he not lose them. Adolf Hitler was originally
   requested by John Lennon, although he eventually bowed to pressures
   from the rest of the band to not include Hitler on the final cover. A
   cardboard printout of Hitler was actually made, and can be seen leaning
   against the wall in several photographs taken of the photoshoot. The
   entire list of people on the cover can be found at List of images on
   the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

   The package was also one of the first ' gatefold' album covers, that
   is, the album could be opened up like a book, to reveal a large picture
   of the Fab Four in costume against a yellow background. The reason for
   the gatefold was that The Beatles planned on filling two LPs for the
   release. The designs had already been approved and sent to be printed
   when they realized they would only have enough material for one LP.

   Originally the group wanted the album to include a package with pins,
   pencils and other small Sgt. Pepper goodies but this proved far too
   cost-prohibitive. Instead, the album came with a page of cut-outs, with
   a description in the top left corner:

          SGT. PEPPER
          CUT-OUTS

    1. Moustache
    2. Picture Card of Sgt. Pepper
    3. Stripes
    4. Badges
    5. Stand Up of the band

   The special inner sleeve, included in the early pressings of the LP,
   featured a multi-coloured psychedelic pattern designed by The Fool.

   The collage created legal worries for EMI's legal department, which had
   to contact those who were still living to obtain their permission. Mae
   West initially refused — famously asking "What would I be doing in a
   lonely heart's club?" — but she relented after The Beatles sent her a
   personal letter. Actor Leo Gorcey requested payment for inclusion on
   the cover, so his image was removed. An image of Mohandas Gandhi was
   also removed at the request of EMI, who had a branch in India and were
   fearful that it might cause offense there. John Lennon had, perhaps
   facetiously, asked to include images of Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler,
   but these were rejected because they would almost certainly have
   generated enormous controversy. Most of the suggestions for names to be
   included came from McCartney, Lennon and Harrison, with additional
   suggestions from Blake and Fraser (Ringo said he'd be okay with
   whatever the others chose). Beatles manager Brian Epstein (who died
   just after the album's release) had serious misgivings, stemming from
   the scandalous U.S. Butcher Cover controversy the previous year, going
   so far as to give a note reading “Brown paper bags for Sgt. Pepper” to
   Nat Weiss as his last wish.

   The collage was assembled by Blake and his wife during the last two
   weeks of March 1967 at the London studio of photographer Michael
   Cooper, who took the cover shots on March 30, 1967 in a three-hour
   evening session. Both Lennon and Harrison were tripping on LSD while
   the photographs were being taken. The final bill for the cover was
   £2,868 5s/3d, a staggering sum for the time — it has been estimated
   that this was 100 times the average cost for an album cover in those
   days.

   The cover was subsequently parodied by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of
   Invention in the cover art of their album We're Only In It For The
   Money (although McCartney initially refused permission for the Mothers
   parody cover to be released, he later relented). It was also parodied
   in the opening credits of an episode of The Simpsons. It has also been
   mimicked by Dutch comic artist Koen Hottentot as Sgt Croppers Yearly
   Fairport Band for the a Fairport Convention festival programme and
   subsequent poster. Swedish artist David Liljemark did a parody of the
   cover for a magazine, depicting a hypothetical future for the band
   Sven-Ingvars. The August 13, 2001 issue of the The Sporting News
   featured a version of this album when New York City was selected as
   their best sports city during the July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 time
   period (one of the last images of the World Trade Centre shown in
   popular culture before the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001). MAD
   Magazine also parodied the cover in its August 2002 issue (#420),
   featuring "The 50 Worst Things About Music." Rolling Stone's 1,000th
   issue (May 18-June 1, 2006), consisted of a lenticular, 3-D cover with
   154 rock & roll and pop cultural figures, including, prominently, The
   Beatles themselves, arranged in a style reminiscent of the famed Sgt.
   Pepper's cover.

Billy Shears

   Billy Shears was Ringo Starr's alias on Sgt. Pepper. Billy Shears is
   only mentioned in the title song and, implicitly, as the singer of the
   segued-into " With a Little Help from My Friends", and even more
   implicitly, in the title song reprise.

   It is sometimes rumoured that Billy Shears is in fact William Shears
   Campbell, supposedly a replacement for Paul McCartney after his "
   death".

   Billy Shears was later mentioned in Ringo's 1973 hit "I'm the
   Greatest", written by John Lennon: "Yes, my name is Billy Shears / You
   know it has been for so many years."

   In the 1978 RSO movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a
   character called Billy Shears is played by Peter Frampton.

   In the 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine, John asks Jeremy "Who in
   the Billy Shears are you?" and the Billy Shears line from the song is
   played, but referring to John instead.

Track listing

   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first Beatles album to be
   released with identical track listings in the United Kingdom and the
   United States (although the American release did not contain the Side
   Two runout groove and inner groove sound effects). All songs written by
   Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

   Side one
    1. " Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – 2:02 SAMPLE (121k)
    2. " With a Little Help from My Friends" – 2:44
    3. " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" – 3:28 SAMPLE (99k)
    4. " Getting Better" – 2:47
    5. " Fixing a Hole" – 2:36
    6. " She's Leaving Home" – 3:35
    7. " Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" – 2:37

   Side two
    1. " Within You Without You" ( Harrison) – 5:05
    2. " When I'm Sixty-Four" – 2:37 SAMPLE (114k)
    3. " Lovely Rita" – 2:42
    4. " Good Morning Good Morning" – 2:41
    5. " Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" – 1:18
    6. " A Day in the Life" – 5:33 SAMPLE (178k)

   Side one (alternate)
   The 1987 Compact Disc release for Sgt. Pepper includes additional notes
   mentioning an alternate track listing for the album's A side. The
   running order below is shown as the album was originally conceived.
    1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
    2. "With a Little Help from My Friends"
    3. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
    4. "Fixing a Hole"
    5. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
    6. "Getting Better"
    7. "She's Leaving Home"

   By properly programming the CD version in an applicable player, one can
   hear the album as it was initially intended.

Album outtakes

   Four additional songs were recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions but
   left off the album:
    1. " Strawberry Fields Forever": The first song recorded for the
       album, written by John Lennon in reference to a Salvation Army
       orphanage he lived near during his childhood in Liverpool. It was
       set aside, along with "Penny Lane," for single release in early
       1967, and did not see LP release until the U.S. version of Magical
       Mystery Tour.
    2. " Penny Lane": A Paul McCartney song kept off the record in favour
       of release as the flip-side of "Strawberry Fields Forever." Like
       Lennon's song, it was written about nostalgia in Liverpool and was
       not released on LP until the American Magical Mystery Tour.
    3. " Carnival of Light": A Paul McCartney sound collage reportedly
       lasting ten to fifteen minutes, the song was recorded for use at
       the psychedelic "Carnival of Light Rave" and evidently expanded on
       the use of tape loops as pioneered on " Tomorrow Never Knows."
       Remarkably, the recording has never seen public release - even on
       bootlegs.
    4. " Only a Northern Song": A George Harrison-penned tune attacking
       the conventions of pop and the record industry. The song was
       featured in the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, as well as the
       soundtrack album released the following year.

Release history

   Country Date Label Format Catalog
   United Kingdom June 1, 1967 Parlophone mono LP PMC 7027
   stereo LP PCS 7027
   United States June 2, 1967 Capitol Records mono LP MAS 2653
   stereo LP SMAS 2653
   Worldwide reissue June 1, 1987 Apple, Parlophone, EMI CD CDP 7 46442 2
   Japan March 11, 1998 Toshiba-EMI CD TOCP 51118
   Japan January 21, 2004 Toshiba-EMI Remastered LP TOJP 60138

Recording details

   The following is a summary of the recording of each song in the order
   they were recorded.
     * "When I'm Sixty-Four". Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey
       Road on December 6, 1966. Album version mixed from take four.
       Writer: Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George Martin. Recording
       engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Phil McDonald.
     * "A Day in the Life". Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey
       Road on January 19, 1967. Album version mixed from takes six and
       seven. Writers: John and Paul. Lead vocal: John, with Paul.
       Producer: George Martin. Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second
       engineer: Richard Lush, Phil McDonald.
     * "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Recording commenced in
       studio two at Abbey Road on February 1, 1967. Album version mixed
       from take ten. Writer: Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George
       Martin. Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard
       Lush.
     * "Good Morning Good Morning". Recording commenced in studio two at
       Abbey Road on February 8, 1967. Album version mixed from take
       eleven. Writer: John. Lead vocal: John. Producer: George Martin.
       Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!". Recording commenced in studio
       two at Abbey Road on February 17, 1967. Album version mixed from
       take nine. Writer: John. Lead vocal: John. Producer: George Martin.
       Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Fixing a Hole". Recording commenced at Regent Sound Studio,
       Tottemham Court Road, London, on February 21, 1967, and later
       completed at Abbey Road. Album version mixed from take three.
       Writer: Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George Martin. Recording
       engineers: Adrien Ibbetson (Regent Sound) and Geoff Emerick (Abbey
       Road). Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Lovely Rita". Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey Road on
       February 23, 1967. Album version mixed from take eleven. Writer:
       Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George Martin. Recording
       engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Recording commenced in studio two
       at Abbey Road on March 1, 1967. Album version mixed from take
       eight. Writer: John. Lead vocal: John. Producer: George Martin.
       Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Getting Better". Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey Road
       on March 9, 1967. Album version mixed from take fifteen. Writer:
       Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George Martin. Recording
       engineers: Malcolm Addey, Ken Townsend, Geoff Emerick, Peter Vince.
       Second engineer: Graham Kirkby, Richard Lush, Keith Slaughter.
     * "She's Leaving Home". Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey
       Road on March 17, 1967. Album version mixed from take nine.
       Writers: John and Paul. Lead vocal: Paul. Producer: George Martin.
       Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush,
       Keith Slaughter.
     * "Within You Without You". Recording commenced in studio two at
       Abbey Road on March 22, 1967. Album version mixed from take two.
       Writer: George. Lead vocal: George. Producer: George Martin.
       Recording engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "With a Little Help from My Friends". Recording commenced in studio
       two at Abbey Road on March 29, 1967. Working title 'Bad Finger
       Boogie'. Album version mixed from take eleven. Writers: John and
       Paul. Lead vocal: Ringo. Producer: George Martin. Recording
       engineer: Geoff Emerick. Second engineer: Richard Lush.
     * "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)". Recording
       commenced in studio one at Abbey Road on April 1, 1967. Album
       version mixed from take nine.

Charts

Album

   Year Chart          Position
   1967 USA Pop Albums 1

Singles

   Year Single Chart Position
   1978 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from
   My Friends" Pop Singles 2

Awards

Grammy awards

   Year Winner Award
   1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album of the Year 1967 Sgt.
   Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts
   1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Best Engineered Recording,
   Non-Classical
   1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Contemporary Album

Grammy Award nominations

   Year Nominee Award
   1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Group Vocal Performance
   1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Contemporary Vocal Group
   1967 "A Day in the Life" Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying
   Vocalist(s)

Works directly inspired by Sgt. Pepper

Stage musical and film

   The LP was adapted as a stage musical in the mid-1970s, which would
   itself provide the partial basis for a widely-panned 1978 movie
   version, produced by Robert Stigwood and starring Peter Frampton as
   Billy Shears and The Bee Gees as the Hendersons, with an all-star
   supporting cast including George Burns and Steve Martin. Although The
   Beatles authorised the use of the title, and new versions of many
   Beatles songs in the film, they did not appear in the film or play on
   the soundtrack. Despite the fact that The Bee Gees were among the
   hottest stars in music at the time, the movie was a critical and
   commercial flop.

Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father

   In 1988 the New Musical Express released an album called Sgt. Pepper
   Knew My Father, in aid of the charity Childline. It featured cover
   versions of all the Sgt. Pepper tracks by various artists. The track
   list was as follows:
    1. Three Wize Men - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
    2. Wet Wet Wet - "With a Little Help from My Friends"
    3. The Christians - "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
    4. The Wedding Present with Amelia Fletcher - "Getting Better"
    5. Hue and Cry - "Fixing a Hole"
    6. Billy Bragg with Cara Tivey - "She's Leaving Home"
    7. Frank Sidebottom - "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"
    8. Sonic Youth - "Within You Without You"
    9. Courtney Pine - "When I'm 64"
   10. Michelle Shocked - "Lovely Rita"
   11. The Triffids - "Good Morning Good Morning"
   12. Three Wize Men - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
   13. The Fall - "A Day in the Life"

   A double A-sided single featuring the Wet Wet Wet and Billy Bragg
   tracks was released and reached No.1 in the UK charts.

Big Daddy

   A Los Angeles-based comedic pop group that emerged in 1983 on Rhino
   Records, Big Daddy released their version of “Sgt. Pepper’s” on June 2,
   1992 (UPC: 081227037123), performing the entire LP, song-by-song, in
   the styles of 1950’s and early ‘60s rock & roll. e.g. “Sgt. Pepper’s
   Lonely Hearts Club Band” as Doo Wop; “With a Little Help from My
   Friends” in the style of Johnny Mathis; “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
   if done by Jerry Lee Lewis; “Fixing a Hole” a la “The Wanderer” by
   Dion; “She’s Leaving Home” by way of Paul Anka’s “Diana”; “Being for
   the Benefit of Mr. Kite” as “Palisades Park” by Freddy Cannon; “Within
   You Without You” recited by a Beat poet accompanied by bongos, flute &
   bass; “When I’m 64” done like “Sixty-Minute Man” by Billy Ward and His
   Dominoes; “Lovely Rita” if Elvis Presley had covered it; “Good Morning
   Good Morning” as a Doo Wop a cappella; and “A Day in the Life” with
   Buddy Holly singing it as “Oh Boy” with “Peggy Sue” drumming & an
   “Everyday” middle section.

The Exciting Sandwich

   Sgt. Pepper's was re-recorded in 2005 by a collective of musicians
   calling themselves 'The Exciting Sandwich'. One of the musicians
   involved was Adam Leonard.

The Beachles

   The Beachles' Sgt. Petsound's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a
   track-for-track mash-up record by Clayton Counts which combined Sgt.
   Pepper's with the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. At seventy minutes long,
   it is less of a traditional mash-up than a work of noise music.

Personnel

    1. John Lennon: Guitars, keyboards, piano, percussion, vocals.
    2. Paul McCartney: Bass guitar, guitars, piano, keyboards, vocals.
    3. George Harrison: Guitars, Fuzz, mouth organ, percussion,
       tambourine, sitar, piano, vocals.
    4. Ringo Starr: Drums, percussion, mouth organ, bells, piano, vocals.
    5. George Martin: Keyboards, piano, harmonium.
    6. Geoff Emerick: Recording Engineer
    7. Mal Evans: Piano, mouth organ, harmonium, percussion, vocals.
    8. Neil Aspinall: Mouth organ, tamboura.
    9. James Buck: horn on "Sgt, Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
   10. Neil Sanders: horn on "Sgt, Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
   11. Tony Randall: horn on "Sgt, Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
   12. John Burden: horn on "Sgt, Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
   13. Erich Gruenberg: Violin on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   14. Derek Jacobs: Violin on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   15. Trevor Williams: Violin on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   16. Jose Luis García: Violin on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   17. John Underwood: Viola on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   18. Stephen Shingles: Viola on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   19. Dennis Vigay: Cello on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   20. Alan Dalziel: Cello on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   21. Gordon Pearce: Double Bass on "She's leaving Home" and "A Day in
       the Life".
   22. Sheila Bromberg: Harp on "She's leaving Home".
   23. V. Lankshwarna: Swordmandel on "Within you Within you"
   24. Shambu-Das: Dilruba on "Within you Within you"
   25. Ravi Shankar: Dilruba and Sitar on "Within you Within you"
   26. Erich Gruenberg: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   27. Alan Loveday: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   28. Julien Gaillard: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   29. Paul Scherman: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   30. Ralph Elman: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   31. David Wolfsthal: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   32. Jack Rothstein: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   33. Jack Greene: Violin on "Within you Without you"
   34. Reginald Kilbey: Cello on "Within you Without you"
   35. Allen Ford: Cello on "Within you Without you"
   36. Peter Beavan: Cello on "Within you Without you"
   37. Robert Burns: Clarinet on "When I'm Sixty Four" and "A Day in the
       Life".
   38. Henry Mackenzie: Clarinet on "When I'm Sixty Four" and "A Day in
       the Life".
   39. Frank Reidy: Clarinet on "When I'm Sixty Four".
   40. Barrie Cameron: Sax on "Good Morning Good Morning".
   41. David Glyde: Sax on "Good Morning Good Morning".
   42. lan Holmes: Sax on "Good Morning Good Morning".
   43. John Lee: Horn on "Good Morning Good Morning".

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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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