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Happy Birthday Sgt. Pepper!
Submitted by imaginary char on June 1, 2007.Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Here are some facts about the album to help celebrate:
It was the first British album done with eight-track recording, running a pair of four-track machines in synch.
It was recorded at the Abbey Road studio in London over more than 400 hours spanning 129 days, and was released on June 1, 1967.
The album was meant to be played and experienced from start to finish.
In 1968, Sgt. Pepper was the first pop album to win the Grammy award for album of the year. It also won best contemporary album.
Rolling Stone magazine placed the album in the No. 1 slot on their list of the 500 best albums of all time.
Within weeks of its release, Jimi Hendrix was performing the title track in concert.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was treated as a real band, and the album cover art, designed by Peter Blake, shows the group presiding over the funeral of the Beatles surrounded by a congregation of pictures of famous figures such as Marlon Brando, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan and Karl Marx.
In honor of the 40th anniversary, the Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, the Fray and some other bands have joined to record songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Anyone have any good stories about this album they'd like to share with the rest of the intraweb?
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james~shake said on June 2, 2007:
actually, it was mostly recorded on 4 track - it was only the orchestral part of A Day In The Life that was done syncing two 4 track machines. pretty amazing.
and it was Paul who was supposed to be dead - the american dj who concocted that whole thing suggested the album cover depicted a funeral and that some of the flowers appeared to spell out "Paul?", suggesting it might have been his.
each beatle chose the celebrities they wanted on the cover - three of lennon's that didn't make the cut were jesus, hitler and gandhi.
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greggoir said on June 4, 2007:
However, we know the money making machine that is Paul Mac will never die. I know his nephew, Paul sends flowers for his birthday.
Surely Razorlight/the Fray/etc. don't embody the experimental pop this album was?
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imaginary dana said on June 4, 2007:
I was actually in London on the 40th anniversary! My one and only day in the UK. Pretty cool!
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Joseph Riippi said on June 4, 2007:
I know as far as the whole "Paul is dead" thing goes there is a left-handed bass in the flowers (Paul's instrument) and Paul is the only one facing forward, implying he was a cardboard cutout. He is also a few inches taller than the rest of the badn in the lineup, somethig that's not true to life. It was meant to imply that he was ascending (although, given his most recent video, I'd say he owes a good year or so in purgatory).
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Reviews
Erik Gonzalez said on June 1, 2007:
Isn't this the album cover that was supposed to suggest that George Harrison was dead?