Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles´ eighth album. Released in 1967. Produced by George Martin. Possibly the most famous album in the history of pop music.

The recording of Sgt. Pepper began in November 1966. It is a concept album consisting of 13 songs that seem to be played as a whole concert by the Beatles' Alter Egos, Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles made use of every creative impulse that came to their mind when producing the album including groundbreaking recording techniques. Many instruments were used, such as Hammond organ, harpsichord, harmonium, orchestral brass and horns, violins, harp, cellos, chimes, glockenspiel and sitar. Sgt. Pepper shows a remarkable shift from the Beatles´ previous works, such as With The Beatles or A Hard Day´s Night. The album featured a more psychedelic sound that matched 1967´s Summer of Love perfectly. The album took six months to complete and cost 50,000 Pounds to produce. It was released in the UK on June 1 1967.

Tracklist

1. Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. With A Little Help From My Friends

3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

4. Getting Better

5. Fixing A Hole

6. She´s Leaving Home

7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

8. Within You Without You

9. When I´m Sixty-Four

10. Lovely Rita

11. Good Morning Good Morning

12. Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

13. A Day In The Life

Cover

The cover of Sgt. Pepper is a remarkable collage designed by Peter Blake. The Beatles wear colourful suits and are surrounded by many famous people. The cover features, for example: Marlon Brando, Karl Marx, Edgar Allan Poe, Marlene Dietrich, Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw and Sigmund Freud.

Background of the songs

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"

Some of the lyrics were inspired by Alice in Wonderland, one of John Lennon´s favourite books. The song was banned on the BBC assuming that the initials of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" spelled out LSD. Lennon claimed that any connection with LSD is a coincidence. He stated that his son Julian came home from school one day with a picture he had drawn of a girl from his class. When Lennon asked him who it was he said that the sketch showed "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". Thus, Lennon was inspired to write a song about it (Anthology 242).

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"

The idea for the song is said to be based on a circus poster Lennon came across one day ("Late of Pablo Fanque´s fair, what a scene") (Anthology 243).

"Within You Without You"

This track on the album is the only one composed by George Harrison. It is very much characterised by the sound of the sitar and other Indian instruments (Anthology 243).

"A Day In The Life"

"A Day In The Life" features both Lennon´s lyrics he took randomly from a newspaper ("4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire", "the English army had just won the war") and McCartney´s bit about a man getting ready for work ("Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head"). The song´s finale is an extraordinary orchestral build-up (Anthology 247).

At the end of the album the Beatles added some nonsense jabbering and a sound file with a high frequency that only dogs can hear.

Reception

Sgt. Pepper was voted the greatest album of all time by the Rolling Stone Magazine:

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most important rock & roll album ever made, an unsurpassed adventure in concept, sound, songwriting, cover art and studio technology by the greatest rock & roll group of all time. From the title song's regal blasts of brass and fuzz guitar to the orchestral seizure and long, dying piano chord at the end of ´A Day in the Life,´ the 13 tracks on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band are the pinnacle of the Beatles' eight years as recording artists. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were never more fearless and unified in their pursuit of magic and transcendence" (cited from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-19691231).

References

Aldridge, Alan. The Beatles, das Illustrierte Song Book. München: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, 2000.

Beatles, The. The Beatles Anthology. München: Ullstein Verlag, 2000.

Hertsgaard, Mark. The Beatles. München: Hanser, 1995.

Womack, Kenneth. The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-19691231