Sgt. Pepper 40th Anniversary - June 1, 2007!

You know what? I think I'll do the same.

Even though I was born in 1977, this is the one I grew up hearing until the late '80s. The CD still sounds wrong to me!

 

I don't know why but "Fixing A Hole" has always been my favorite tune on this great, great album!

 

I love it too. Second only to "A Day In The Life," for me.

 

I agree with this except for the blaming Aspinall or EMI part. I think its down to the Beatles (or their spouses). Paul is a moving forward kind of guy and I'm sure he'd rather just focus on promoting his album.

 

Posted on Tue, May. 29, 2007print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM
The influence of 'Sgt. Pepper' grows as time passes
By MARK BROWN
Scripps Howard News Service

Sounds of 1967
The Summer of Love's soundtrack was issued on June 1, 1967. Within days, Jimi Hendrix was playing his own version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" onstage. The music poured endlessly from radios and flew out of record shops.

"It really did kick off the Summer of Love. The timing was perfect," said the Denver DJ who goes by Archer, host of the weekly Breakfast with the Beatles show.

"With Sgt. Pepper, we were all blown away within the industry, both as a fan of the Beatles and someone who was producing music. I think the impact was greater now . . . than when it was first released," said Lou Adler, the influential producer whose Monterey International Pop Festival came less than three weeks after Sgt. Pepper was released.

"There wouldn't be 'album rock' without Sgt. Pepper. That's really the album that turned radio around. That's what started people listening to albums for what they were," Archer said. "They set the sonic pattern of what would happen next in music."

The genesis of the album was partly a result of the Beatles' decision not to go on the road after the 1966 U.S. tour.

"The earlier albums were rushed around tour schedules. They were constantly touring and constantly busy. George Martin only had them for blocks of time," said Archer.

On "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," released earlier in 1967, the band began giving the full work-over to each song rather than rushing through an album. Sgt. Pepper, one of the most complex albums in history, was completed in round-the-clock sessions with primitive equipment.

"For $300 now you can buy a home recording system for your computer that can do five times what they could do with Sgt. Pepper," Archer said, adding that the cacophony of sounds and effects were recorded on a four-track tape machine.

As John Lennon once noted, Archer said, "it wasn't really a concept album, it was a bunch of conceptual tracks stuck together."

Oddly, most Beatles fans haven't heard Sgt. Pepper the way the band intended - in mono. That's the mix the band and producer George Martin slaved over, making each note, effect and sound just right.

"They spent all their creative effort on the mono because that's how it was in those days," Archer said.

When they were done, an assistant did the stereo version, with no Beatles present. But that's the version that overtook the airwaves and got issued on CD -- the wrong version. Even with the 40th anniversary coming up, Apple has not issued the mono version.

"There's so much stuff to make a cool Sgt. Pepper box set. The mono mix, the stereo mix and a whole lot of goodies. But no," Archer said.

While the album has been named the most influential of all time, producer Martin told Archer in an interview that he likes others better.

"It's not really my favorite. I do like it very much and I'm very happy I was involved with it," Martin said. "But I've got a sneaking regard for 'Abbey Road' as being a better album."

Contact Mark Brown of the Rocky Mountain News at

 

"It worked as a concept album because we said it worked." - John Lennon 1971

At any rate, Pepper festivities in this house will kick off with the Blue labeled Odeon German LP. Stereo.

 

It's somehow unsatisfyingly fitting that the 40th anniversary of the album that virtually defined the term "album" goes unheralded in this era of the downloaded single.



Harry

 

I'll never forget walking into a music store when I was just a small little lad of five, and picking up this cassette with the strangest cover I'd ever seen. I knew it was The Beatles. My mom said to me, "Oooh, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band! You'll love that one, Jared."

Always listen to your mom. She's right.

 

I just listened to the GART/Area 51 Sgt peppers in 5.1...sorry but I just had to do it...definitely not George Martin but worth a smile anyway

 

EMI dropped the ball in the endzone on this one. Ten years more and it is public domain in Europe. Not as drastic but Ford could have came out with the updated Mustang in 2004 instead of 2005.
I will be playing my mono Pepper needledrop.

 

I'm only celebrating the 150th Anniversary!

 

Blast the mono version at Midnight June 1, then when the neighbors call the cops, I'll be listening to the stereo version with headphones!:

 

BBC Radio 2 Sat 3/16 June.07 2000H

Geoff Emerick with Richard Lush, the original EMI desk
(belongs to Mark Knopfler) and original
4t Studer, owned by Studer.
Is recording at Abbey Rd a tribute
'Pepper' with Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight etc etc .

 

Yes, this will be awesome! Oasis it to be involved too.

 

Erm, would it be remiss of me to venture that they made better albums than SP?. BTW, some naughty shops in the UK were selling copies before 1/6/67. Think I'll play Magical Mystery tour when I get home tonight - a much better album. IMO, of course. Maybe the remasters will be out in time for the 50th anniversary. Perhaps.

 

Over at YouTube, The Beatles have posted this clip today in celebration of Sgt Pepper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oEeNM_TT3U

 

What is GART/Area 51? I tried Googling it... got some Russian site with no info

 

Fake surround bootleg.

 

I can think of three, for sure.

 

So folks...does anyone here think there is ANY chance there will be an announcement of SOMETHING on June 1st?

With only a day left to go, it seems doubtful, but I suppose stranger things have happened. Needless to say, I'm going to be completely baffled (and disappointed) if the 40th anniversary goes by without a single utterance from the Beatles camp. I mean cripes, this is THE album that changed the face of pop music.

The four minute YouTube video seems like a token gesture to me. Isn't all of that audio just recycled from "Anthology"?

 

The four minute YouTube video seems like a token gesture to me. Isn't all of that audio just recycled from "Anthology"?[/QUOTE]

It is a bit lame.
Bob Geldof's production company is doing a 2 parter for BBC 2 which follows the Radio2 offering.
Oasis will only record in Abbey Rd so another EMI desk belonging to Lenny Cravitz has been shipped in from the States!
The majority of the tribute SP has been recorded at Knopflers British Grove W4
Studio with his EMI desk and Studer 4T.

 

Hey! I've been there! They've got a great selection!

The lack of any new releases reminds me of those brass plaque signs that you see occasionally:

"On this spot, in October 1825, nothing happened."

Hats off to EMI!

 

Really,only the baby boomers care,the now generation dont and they are the ones buying/spending.

 

You surprise me being from the UK saying that Magical Mystery Tour is a better album. MMT in the UK wasn't even an album until the Seventies. The double EP set was my first Beatles import. Two 45s with a color booklet was the coolest!

 

Of course, MMT is a better collection of songs than SP. Isn't it like stating the obvious?