Photo of the Day: Abbey Road

Abbey Road Wall, May 22nd 2017

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Reissue.

It was 50 Years Ago Today: The Sgt. Pepper Reissue for the 50th Anniversary of the album.

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is considered by many to be the Beatles' greatest album of all time. Indeed, the greatest album of all time by any band.

Pepper was released at a time when the world had no idea what had happened to the Beatles. Other bands of the teenybopper years of 1963 - 66 had broken up and the press were keen to apply the same label to the Beatles. Indeed, since August 1966, very little had been seen of them save for a single release in February 1967 (Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane) which in their native UK, had been pipped to the number one spot in the charts by Englebert Humperdinck and 'Please Release Me'.

So, with the months going by, the Press decided to sound the death knell of the Beatles and began to ponder the future without them. Then, in June 1967 they were back and the press loved them. The album going down in history as the greatest they had ever made.

50 years later and the Beatles are at it again, but this time going for a full blown three deluxe edition set which will feature unreleased complete takes of all 13 songs. The complete list as reported by Rolling Stone will be:


Super Deluxe [4CD/DVD/Blu-ray box set]

CD 1

Sgt. Pepper 2017 Stereo Mix

CD 2 (Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)

1. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 1]
2. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 4]
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 7]
4. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 26]
5. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Stereo Mix - 2015]
6. "When I'm Sixty-Four" [Take 2]
7. "Penny Lane" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
8. "Penny Lane" [Vocal Overdubs And Speech]
9. "Penny Lane" [Stereo Mix - 2017]
10. "A Day In The Life" [Take 1]
11. "A Day In The Life" [Take 2]
12. "A Day In The Life" [Orchestra Overdub]
13. "A Day In The Life" (Hummed Last Chord) [Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11]
14. "A Day In The Life" (The Last Chord)
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
16. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 9 And Speech]
17. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 1 - Instrumental, Breakdown]
18. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 8]

CD 3 (Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)

1. "Fixing A Hole" [Take 1]
2. "Fixing A Hole" [Speech And Take 3]
3. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End]
4. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Take 7]
5. "Lovely Rita" [Speech And Take 9]
6. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Take 1 And Speech At The End]
7. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Speech, False Start And Take 5]
8. "Getting Better" [Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End]
9. "Getting Better" [Take 12]
10. "Within You Without You" [Take 1 - Indian Instruments Only]
11. "Within You Without You" [George Coaching The Musicians]
12. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
13. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
14. "With A Little Help From My Friends" [Take 1 - False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" [Speech And Take 8]

CD 4 (Sgt. Pepper and bonus tracks in Mono)

1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of Sgt. Pepper Original Mono Mix
14. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Original Mono Mix]
15. "Penny Lane" [Original Mono Mix]
16. "A Day In The Life" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
17. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Unreleased Mono Mix - No. 11]
18. "She's Leaving Home" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
19. "Penny Lane" [Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single - Mono Mix]

DISCS 5 & 6 (Blu-ray & DVD)

Audio Features (both discs):
- New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of 'Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
- High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 'Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
- The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
- Promotional Films: "A Day In The Life;" "Strawberry Fields Forever;" "Penny Lane" [4K restored]

As superb as the 2017 Stereo mix of the original album will be, it's all the extra stuff that is getting me excited. The studio chatter and instrumentals of the classic tracks look to be a goldmine for the fans and for the fans of mono mixes, the Super Deluxe will be perfect for them too. (I'm all about the Stereo mixes, personally!)

All these reissue packages are released May 26th and are available by clicking on the picture below.

Beatles Interview Series: 1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Launch Party

In keeping with the Sgt. Pepper theme of this week (check out the latest podcast here), part six of our Beatles Interview Series includes an interview that took place on May 19, 1967 at Brian Epstein's flat in London.  Guests of the party included several prominent radio personalities as well as influential music journalists.  Among the guests was Kenny Everett, representing BBC Radio.  According to Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience:

"Everett was part of the program 'Where It's At,' hosted by Chris Denning. Everett would manage to record a few brief conversations with John, Paul and Ringo throughout the evening. Clips from Everett's recording would be used for a special edition of the program the next afternoon -- featuring a sneak preview of select tracks from the not-yet-released album, intercut with Everett's brief interview segments from the night before."

PAUL: (introducing the opening of the program) "This is Paul McCartney saying 'This is where Chris Denning's at.' This is where it's at, Chris. Take it!"
JOHN: (introducing the title track, in hushed announcer voice) "We're sitting in the hushed semi-circular theatre, and waiting for the Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to come on. (suddenly louder, excitedly) And here they come now playing the first number, ah let's go! (pauses, then to Kenny) Alright? I can't do it for 'em all or I'll be dizzy."
(Songs heard: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends)

KENNY: "Well, by George, in the studio we have old Ringo Starr of The Beatles fame. Ringo, what have you been doing since I last saw you in America a year ago?"
RINGO: "Umm, very much."
KENNY: (mock-disbelief) "Really?"
RINGO: (laughs) "Uhh, well, I went on holiday... We made an LP... We've made a few more tracks, so we've been busy."
KENNY: "What do you think of this new LP? It's a bit strange compared to the others. Would you term it 'Psycho-Deeelic'?"
RINGO: "Only if you want to think of it as psycho-deeelic."
JOHN: "Now we'd like to play you one. It's a sad little song. (pause) Where's it gone?"
PAUL: (giggles)
JOHN: "Oh, this is it, yeah. Picture yourself on an old-fashioned elephant. Lucy in the sky for everyone, now."
(Songs heard: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Fixing A Hole)

KENNY: (regarding the effects used in the studio) "How long would you say... you got into technical details like phasing?"
JOHN: (excitedly) "Oh, phasing is GREAT!"
PAUL: "Double-flanging."
JOHN: "Double-flanging, we call it. Now there you go, right? We're on the same thing. Flanging is great. We're always doing it."
KENNY: "You used it on 'Lucy In The Sky'..."
JOHN: (giggling) "You name the one it isn't on! You know, you name it!"
PAUL: (laughing)
JOHN: (giggling) "You spot it, you get a prize! You get a Sgt. Pepper badge!"
KENNY: (jokingly) "I'll pick a moustache."
(Songs heard: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, When I'm Sixty-Four)

KENNY: "How many takes did you usually do on this album before you got the perfect take?"
PAUL: "We did quite a few on each one. But, uhh, it's just 'cuz it's changed, you know. In the old days of the LP 'Please Please Me,' we went in and did it in a day, 'cuz we knew all the numbers and we'd rehearsed them and done 'em. We'd been playing them for about a year. But nowadays we just take a song in, and all we've got is the chords on the guitar, and the words and the tune. So we've got to work out how to arrange it, and that. So we do a lot of takes on each one."
(Songs heard: She's Leaving Home, Lovely Rita)

KENNY: "Do you like to have a lot of people in the studio when you're recording, or do you like to do it completely alone?"
PAUL: "It doesn't matter. We had a lot of people on some of the tracks, and sometimes we use 'em, you know, and ask them to clap, and that. Depends if it's good people who don't hassle anyone and don't try and mess the session up. Then it's great, you know, 'cuz it's good company."
KENNY: "I hear you had the Rolling Stones in this session."
PAUL: "They came down 'cuz we had a lot of people there, you know, 'cuz it was a big session and we wanted to make a happening happen. (giggles) And it happened."
(Songs heard: Sgt. Pepper (Reprise), Getting Better, Good Morning Good Morning)



 

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from audio copy of the radio program

 

Tea & A Butty Podcast 08 - 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'

Here is our first Podcast of 2016 and the eighth one of the Beatles album series! This time we are taking a look at the eighth Beatles album 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Enjoy!

Tea & A Butty Podcast 08 - 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' by Teabutty on Mixcloud

And here is a clip from the BBC One magazine show 'The One Show' and their interview with Melanie Coe and her story that inspired 'She's Leaving Home'

The Beatles Art by Sabrina Villareal

Sabrina Villareal is a very talented artist in Berkley, California and she has kindly allowed us to display her illustration of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper uniforms.

Aren't these fantastic? You can see more of Sabrina's art here