Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
An imaginary band, a cover crowded with faces and a final chord that lasts nearly a minute.
The Beatles, 1967
- Released
- 26 May 1967
- Recorded
- 24 November 1966 to April 1967
- Studio
- EMI Studios (Studio Two) and Regent Sound, London
- Label
- Parlophone
- Producer
- George Martin
- Length
- 39:36
The idea began with McCartney's notion of an Edwardian military band performing as a fictional group. "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were issued as a single in February 1967 and left off the album, which Martin later called the biggest mistake of his professional life. The sessions leaned on four-track reduction mixing, direct injection of the bass, varispeed and automatic double tracking. The record cost about 25,000 pounds. Session players included four French horns on the title track, a harpist on "She's Leaving Home", Indian musicians on "Within You Without You" and a 40-piece orchestra on "A Day in the Life".
It spent 27 weeks at number one in Britain and 15 in the United States, and won four Grammys in 1968, including Album of the Year. Allan Moore wrote that it captures its own time and place more vividly than almost anything of its era. Richard Goldstein's 1967 review in the New York Times was famously negative, and he later reversed his view.
Track listing
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band2:00
- With a Little Help from My Friends2:42
- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds3:28
- Getting Better2:48
- Fixing a Hole2:36
- She's Leaving Home3:25
- Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!2:37
- Within You Without You5:05
- When I'm Sixty-Four2:37
- Lovely Rita2:42
- Good Morning Good Morning2:42
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)1:18
- A Day in the Life5:38
Personnel
- John Lennon vocals, guitar, keyboards
- Paul McCartney vocals, bass, guitar, piano
- George Harrison vocals, guitar, sitar
- Ringo Starr drums, vocals
- George Martin producer, orchestral arrangements
- Geoff Emerick engineer
- Sheila Bromberg harp on She's Leaving Home
- Natwar Soni tabla on Within You Without You
More from The Beatles
With the Beatles (1963), Please Please Me (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Rubber Soul (1965), Help! (1965), Revolver (1966), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), The Beatles (The White Album) (1968), Abbey Road (1969), Let It Be (1970)
Sources
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Wikipedia
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: Gramophone review, 1967, Gramophone (1967)