It Was 44 Years Ago Today... BEATLES Sgt. Pepper released

My first encounter with Pepper was when I was about 7 (so about 1973). I had seen the Yellow Submarine movie on TV the night before and wanted the soundtrack. The guy at the store (which sold mostly classical records but did have a small rock section) tried to tell me that I should buy something called Sgt. Pepper but I stood my ground and demanded the soundtrack. I think that was the was the last Beatles album I bought for a long time.

Finally bought Pepper about 4 years later and was blown away and was back to Beatle Fandom.

 

I hear ya, my friend. People have been telling me how The Beatles are losing their influence and significance since I've been a fan (1974). As much as they'd like to see it happen, it never really does.

IMHO Sgt. Pepper still sounds like the future. We really haven't progressed upward from that point, have we?

 

June 1967, I was just out of the third grade. I remember coming home one afternoon to find my brother (11 years older and already in college!) home visiting. He said 'I got the new Beatles record.' I remember saying that, since it had been so long since 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane,' they had probably split up - how can there be a new album? He said, go look at it, it's on the table.

I stared at it for what seemed like hours. It was unlike any album cover I had ever seen.

That's my first memory of 'Pepper.'

 

Taken from the "First album you ever bought" thread, a while back...

...which probably explains my fondness for the STEREO mix.

 

Another thing I love about "Pepper", besides the MUSIC, of course.... is how The Beatles were so into making the whole "package" different: Let's put in a whistle only dogs can hear~! Let's put something on the end of side 2 that repeats endlessly~! Let's put in paper cutouts~! Let's put the lyrics on the cover~! Even Lennon's "byee" in the Sgt. Pepper reprise.....it certainly was an infectious, "we can do anything" time in pop/rock music.

BTW I located my Beatlefan issue from the summer of '87 that has some interesting tidbits about the initial Pepper CD release. I'll post some excerpts tonight if anybody's interested.

 

Remember it like yesterday

I was living in Los Angeles right on Sunset and I remember that warm June morning. I think it may have been Tower Records on Sunset. The record had a lot of hype prior to release and by the time I got down there,there was a line going outside the store on to the sidewalk.

It was being played and the streets were alive with the sound of music. It was an event like I had never seen.

That is one thing that will never happen again. When the Beatles released an album,from the very beginning,it was an event. Everybody anticipated the new arrival.

That is unheard of ...

 

For me, Pepper was a revalatory experience that changed my concept of what music was. I first heard it at an older friend's house. Until that time, I had never listened much to The Beatles, except for a few tracks like Yesterday and Elenore Rigby, because the early mop top days had really turned me off. I grew up listening to Elvis, country, and the blues, and thought The Beatles were kiddie music. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds changed that idea forever, and my world would never be the same. So began my descent into musical madness..

 

Love these stories.

 

Continues here: Sgt. Pepper

 

On its way to reach its Half-Century mark! WOW! "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the Warning Shot to "Sgt. Pepper",I believe,if not the Revolver Lp Cover! The original Lp cover of "Sgt. Pepper" was to be done originally by "The Fool" the inspiration for "The Fool On the Hill",I think! Peter Blake was commissioned by Paul to make the second and most memorable Beatles cover..The drawing of the cover's concept is in the Booklet of the CD,BTW..the concept of the Crowd behind the group was conceived also by Paul,too..the Band was posing for a shot after a concert..Get it?.....The Title,BTW,was inspired by a Malapropisim Made by Mal Evans,their Roadie and Best Freind who'd asked for "Salt & Pepper" at the dinner before the Lp's first session..it came out "Sgt. Pepper"..the group was laughing at this,then,INSPIRATION! "Let's name the Lp this!" VOILA! Thanx to Mal! RIP,Friend!

 

Was trying to keep it a secret to those who like to trash the Beatles' threads.

Thanks for sharing your story, Steve!

 

I just saw this thread today and had a "holy crap!" moment: Yesterday morning I was looking for a CD to bring to work with me and I randomly looked on my shelf and noticed my old '87 copy of Sgt. Pepper, grabbed it and listened to it on repeat all day at work. I guess I must be psychic or something! So weird!

I first heard this album via my Dad in the early 80's - it was one of a handful of records he saved from his younger days. I was about 6 years old and was instantly attracted to the cover, although for awhile I recall being scared of the little japanese stone figure behind the "B" for some reason. I would try not to look at him everytime I browsed the cover. Anyway I really enjoyed the music and would listen to it often. Side 1 was my favorite. Later, when my Dad started recording and getting rid of his remaining old albums, I convinced him to save this one; split cover, scratches, and all. Eventually he gave it to me. I've since bought other versions of the album, but this first one, this beat up old LP will always hold those special memories for me: of the times enjoying the music with my Dad.

 

Does the Lp have the "Pink Smoke" inner Sleeve? that was also designed by The Fool,too! They didn't use this for any of the Reissues of the Lps,nor the CDs!

 

Yeah, it has the psychedlic-looking sleeve with the varying shades of red and pink. This one:


There was never a cutout insert though - my Dad must have tossed it ages ago. Thanks for the info about the sleeve - I had no idea that mine was an original pressing - another reason to hang on to it I guess!

 

They use it for the 2009 mono CD. Fab.

I bought the album at the dime store. I doubt that I bought it on the day of release. I doubt that I knew when the day of release was. I didn't know release dates until Magical Mystery
Tour.

For me, my amazement over Sgt Pepper involved the entire package.

As I mentioned earlier, this album really was THE magical mystery tour for me. Not to sound all Doug Henning or anything, but this album was filled with magic for me.

It's hard to convey at this late date the sense of wonder this album provided the fans upon original release.

The package, the music, the Beatles looking totally different from their previous moptop image.

Also, let me give a shout out to Ringo for his drumming on the whole album. I think his drums SOUND great and he plays wonderfully also. That's no surprise I guess, but Ringo certainly isn't a weak link on this album, that's for sure. Everyone rose to the occasion.

P.S. George's guitar solo in "Fixing A Hole" also. Great tone, great against the beat timing at certain points. I'm glad it wasn't played by Paul. Chalk a cool one up for George.

 

As “promised” earlier today, following are news reports on the original CD release of Sgt. Pepper from “Beatlefan“, volume 9 number 4, June/July 1987. In this issue, there was a lot of coverage of the 20th anniversary of the original album release, but since we’ve been sort of focusing on the 1987 CD release the last few pages, I’d thought I’d post these interesting excerpts. I hope it’s not too long:

The most notable feature of the anniversary was the worldwide release of the Sgt. Pepper CD. The packaging of the Pepper release was not uniform around the world, however (and as usual, U.S. fans got the short end of the stick). The U.S. edition comes in the standard 6” x 12” cardboard box and has a 28 page booklet. The British edition comes in an open-ended slipcase bearing the front and back cover art, and it’s booklet is slightly larger and includes a back page gatefold with the Pepper cutouts, where in the U.S. smaller replicas of the cutouts are on the back of the disposable box….

In the U.S. copies of the Pepper CD were released to radio May 20, and sales were embargoed until June 1, though at least one retailer---Oz Records in Atlanta---was selling it as early as May 28. Sales were extremely strong. Gary Ross, senior vice president of the 540-store Musicland Group, said it was “for our company, the most significant compact disc introduction ever”. Stores in a number of cities opened at midnight to sell the CD (as they had with the two previous batches of Beatles CDs) and many reported lines of fans waiting to buy it. New World Records in Buffalo, NY had the Beatlemania band playing a concert leading up to it’s midnight sale (The store ran out of discs at 6 am). More than 200 lined up outside a Flip Side store in the Chicago area. And National CD in Los Angeles had three checkout counters open to handle midnight “Pepper” purchases. In the U.S. the Sgt Pepper cassette has been reissued on XDR tape…..

Sgt Pepper debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top CDs chart, then moved to No, 1, where it was at press time, for the third consecutive week. At last report Revolver was at No. 14 after nine weeks (having peaked at no. 3), Rubber Soul was No. 16 (peaking at no. 2) and Help! Was No. 22 (its peak was no.4). In Britain, CDs are figured into the regular album chart, where Pepper debuted at No. 3 and then slid down to No. 18 over the next weeks.

Okay, this next bit is totally off-topic, but I thought people here would be interested. It’s from the same issue’s “Publisher’s Note” by Beatlefan publisher Bill King:

“It’s amusing to spot the ads in collectors magazines in which some speculators are desperately trying to unload their copies of the Japanese “Abbey Road” compact disc. They realize, of course, that when the superior worldwide EMI “Abbey Road” CD comes out this fall, the collectible value of the Japanese disc will be negligible. So they’re hoping to find someone to pay a premium price now. But why pay more for an inferior CD that no longer will have the cachet of being an exclusive? The time to sell those Japanese discs was last year, before EMI announced its Beatles CD releases. Of course, those who did buy them at inflated prices over the last few years must be feeling pretty sick right now.”

 

This is my all time favorite album.
I never tire of hearing these songs.

 

Did anyone ever see the " it was 20 years ago today" Special that aired on tv in 1987?

 

Yes, I watched that, I also have the accompanying book too.

 

True story ( Day in the Life )

This can be documented. Steve mentions the leak of "Day in the Life" I am certain I must have written this before,but it is just too good to not relive.

I am quite sure it was early April 1967 ?

I was living at the Hollywood Sunset Hotel at the time. (1967 ) I dropped out of college and moved to L.A. in Jan. 67.
This hotel was more like a home for young musicians. These are some of the people living there. Peter Asher,PF Sloan,The Harpers Bizarre ( sp?) Little Richard was playing in the lounge. The Grass Roots were over often etc. It turned into a hangout for the groups that were just hitting the big time.
You would cross paths with these people everyday. I remember taking the elevator with Peter several times. I always asked him the same thing. "What are you staying here for ?" Apparently he did not make that much money with Peter and Gordon. (His hair was so red it didnt look natural ).
On to the story. This sounds like something out of a romance novel. It was pouring rain outside and nothing to do except hang around somebodys room and play music.

Well,the Harpers Bizarre's (sp) manager knew all the musicians in the hotel.

I was a pretty good friend of John Petersen and Ted Templeman at the time ( When I saw where he went I was non plussed. No way could anyone see that one coming )

Randy Benjamin ( Valiant Records "SOS" ) and I were room mates. He was a charmer and we got invited to everything.

We got a knock on the door and it was the Harpers manager. He asked if we would like to come up to their suite and listen to something.
This had to have been early April 67. Nothing better to do. We get up there and there must have been every musician in the hotel there.
Once everybody was well stoned,he turned down the lights and started to thread this 1/4 inch tape into a Sony stereo tape machine. Very small and little speakers. I remember this like yesterday. He had this leather attache and took the box with the tape of it out of his attache.
He insisted that everybody shut up before he played this
.
It was a copy of "Day in the Life" not the entire album,just THAT song.

I am sure if ANY of the people I mentioned above are on the forum,they will tell you the exact same story. This had to have been almost two months before the album was released.


Everybody was dumbfounded to say the least. It was rather like. "Why are we even trying ?"

I was not aware that this song had leaked on the radio until I read Steves post. This had to have been quite some time before a radio station got hold of it.

I say that as apparently when he got the tape the caveat was. "DO NOT LET ANYONE MAKE A COPY OF THIS TAPE,OR YOU'LL NEVER WORK IN THIS TOWN AGAIN!"

 

Mmmm....That would double my money! (thinking)

 

Awesome story thanks for posting it !

 

I do know,if my memory serves me right,from looking at Andrew Sandoval's liners for The Monkees' "Headquarters" CD,two of the group were at the "Listening Party" for "A Day In the Life",while the other half stayed at the RCA studio mixing the Lp...Mike's in the Promo Film for the tune,looking a little agitaited at the cameraman who's filming him..How I'd would've loved to have been a "Fly On the Wall" for that!