Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Stereo)

BEATLES LP TRACKS NAMES, OUT IN MAY?

THE Beatles’ next LP, which has already taken over seven months to record, is at last nearing completion. Titled “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” it will be finished during the second week of April. Release is tentatively set for late May. Tracks and titles from the album were exclusively revealed to the NME this week.

Among tracks now completed are “A Day In The Life”, a John Lennon solo on which he is backed by a 41-piece orchestra; “When I’m 64”, a novelty number in ‘early phonographic style’ featuring Paul McCartney; “Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning”, a John and Paul duet augmented by Sounds Inc.; “She’s Leaving Home”, arranged by Mike Leander and employing added strings; and “Sergeant Pepper’s Blues”.

Another John Lennon solo titled “Meter Rita” incorporates three four-track machines, and took over a month to prepare. It also features “a comb and paper played backwards”!

These six tracks are the product of over 24 hours recording at EMI’s Abbey Road studios. The uncompleted tracks include a George Harrison composition (sung by George and featuring Indian instrumentation), and Ringo’s solo, which is still not written. The LP will probably contain less than the standard 12 items, as some of the tracks are of considerable length.

The LP sleeve is being designed by two Dutch “impressionists”, Simon and Marijka, who are also designing and painting John Lennon’s electric organ. The duo have painted all the Cream’s new instruments and have been commissioned to design the Hollies’ next LP sleeve.

It now looks as though the Beatles’ long-awaited third film will not now go into production until at least mid-summer, possibly later. Even with a crash shooting programme this means the picture would not be ready for screening until Christmas.

Although the Beatles and film producer Walter Shenson have agreed on an acceptable story line they have not yet been able to approve a suitable final script. The screenplay is currently being rewritten for their further consideration. No further progress has been made on the Beatles’ TV spectacular since the one filming session earlier this year. The group has decided to shelve this project until finishing its LP, upon which the TV show will be based.

From New Musical Express – April 1, 1967

AT LAST – BEATLES LP DATE, TITLES

THE Beatles’ eagerly-awaited LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which has taken nearly nine months to prepare, is at last scheduled for release. It will be issued by Parlophone on Thursday, June 1.

The album comprises 12 brand new numbers, although 13 tracks are featured. The title song is included on both sides.
Titles of six of the tracks were exclusively revealed in the NME five weeks ago. As forecast, there are no separating bands between the tracks and the whole disc is virtually continuous.

All but one of the numbers are Lennon-McCartney compositions. The exception is George Harrison’s self-penned solo. Full details of the tracks, with featured soloists listed in brackets, are as follows:

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (Paul).
“With A Little Help From My Friends ” (Ringo).
“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (John).
“Getting Better” (Paul).
“Fixing A Hole” (Paul).
“She’s Leaving Home” (John and Paul).
“Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” (John).
“Within You, Without You” (George).
“When I’m 64” (Paul).
“Lovely Rita” (Paul).
“Good Morning, Good Morning” (John).
Reprise of title song (Paul).
“A Day In The Life Of” (John and Paul).

The George Harrison track is a solo item on which the other three Beatles do not appear — he is backed by Indian musicians. The closing number features a 41-piece orchestra; “Good Morning, Good Morning” is augmented by Sounds Inc; and “She’s Leaving Home” is arranged by Mike Leander, and employs added strings.

EMI has announced that the Beatles’ total world disc sales have now reached 200 million. This is calculated on the basis of counting an LP as six singles, and an EP as two. The group is now closely challenging Bing Crosby’s all-time sales figure of 250 million.

From New Musical Express – May 6, 1967

NEW BEATLE ALBUM RELEASED ON JUNE

THE new Beatles LP, “ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” is to be released officially on Thursday, June 1, said EMI this week. The album has been completed and thirteen tracks will be included in rapid succession with virtually no bands between tracks. Twelve tracks are John Lennon-Paul McCartney compositions and the remainder is a solo George Harrison original.

Side One opens with the album title track “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” with lead vocalist Paul. Then comes “With A Little Help From My Friends” on which drummer Ringo takes the vocal; “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” featuring John; “Getting Better” with Paul; “Fixing A Hole,” with Paul; “She’s Leaving Home” sung by John and Paul; and finally “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite,” from John.

Side Two kicks off with George’s “Within You Without You” featuring only Beatle George backed by Indian musicians; then comes “When I’m 64” sung by Paul; “Lovely Rita” sung by Paul; “Good Morning, Good Morning” sung by John; another track of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and finally “A Day In The Life” featuring both John and Paul.

From Melody Maker – May 6, 1967

BEATLES cartoon by Neil Smith – LP IN FULL

TRUST the Beatles to come up with something different! Their latest LP, “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” is a sort of concert. It starts with that number and ends with it, except for a finale piece called “A Day In The Life.” In between the two renderings of “Sergeant Pepper” we get ten tunes, all varied and interesting, with George’s sitar – and – song startler, “Within You, Within You,” the most memorable. But I must admit I also liked Paul’s amusing “When I’m 64” and “Getting Better”; and John’s melodrama-in-song, “She’s Leaving Home”; and Ringo’s homely “With A Little Help From My Friends” very much.

Whether the album is their best yet, I wouldn’t like to say after one hearing. Whether it was worth the five months it took to make, I would argue. But it is a very good LP and will sell like hot cakes.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney have written all the songs, except for “Within You” by George Harrison. Here is a title by title (there are no breaks between songs, so we can’t say track-by-track) report on them:

SERGEANT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND: An orchestra is tuning up, then noises of a studio, then Beatles guitars and drums break in. It’s a beat-raver, with Paul shouting out the lyrics about the band and what a pleasure it is to play for such a great audience “We’d like to take you home,” which brings big cheers and screams at the end. This leads into, without a pause…

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS: a sort of question and answer song, with John and Paul asking questions like : “Do you need anyone” and Ringo answering: “I need someone to love,” and a repetitive line: “Gonna try with a little help from my friends.” Very pleasant beat-and-melody tune.

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS: A fantasy, sung by John in high-pitched voice, with distorted, long-way-off sound to start with, then as tune gets beatier, his voice is nearer. Verses are taken slowly, with chorus — a repetition of the title sung three times — faster. Song is about a girl and a pier, with its electric lights. Slow, insistent beat.

GETTING BETTER: Lighter stuff, reminiscent of early Beatles’ songs, with John and Paul singing the word “Better” three times, each time higher up the scale, like they used to do. Paul takes the lead vocal and tells happily of how it’s better now that the girl is his and he’s not cruel to her any more. It’s the vocal effect that puts this over — the instrumental is a steady plonk-plonk.

FIXING A HOLE: Slower, a lazy c-and-w sound, with Paul singing about fixing a hole where the rain gets in. George creeps in with a good guitar solo in the middle of this.

SHE’S LEAVING HOME: John starts by singing about it being 5 am and the girl is tip-toeing out of her home to be free. Then there’s drawn-out, falsetto singing of “She-is-leaving” at the same time as the parents’ views of her escapade are sung in a lower key. This is most effective, and comes in twice during the song, which tells why the girl left home and how the parents react. Mike Leander has added a wistful strings sound, with a deep cello prominent, which reminded me of Paul’s music over the titles of the film “The Family Way.” A very clever musical essay on a real life drama.

BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE: The song tells of a special performance by circus people and incorporates the sounds of flying over a sawdust ring and of horses. It’s fairground music brought up to date and quite fascinating to hear. John sings the song.

That completes the first side and takes 21 minutes to play.

WITHIN YOU, WITHIN YOU: This side starts (and ends) with tapping noises, then there’s a weird Indian “tune up” of strings, before the percussion comes in, and George Harrison and his Indian friends (there are no other Beatles on this tune) get moving. George sings softly in English the lyric, but it is hard to make out the words because they merge with the sitar music so closely they are often drowned by it, but I could make out phrases like “With our love” and “We were talking about you.” George sometimes strains his voice to a high pitch to follow the music, but mostly he is relaxed. The deep, rich rhythm from the percussion is most appealing. This seems to be the longest tune on the LP, and at the end the audience come in, laughing a bit.

WHEN I’M 64: Paul sings this soft, quiet tune (not unlike a fox-trot jog of the ’30s and in the New Vaudeville vein a bit) with relaxed charm. He asks his girl if she’ll still need him and feed him when he’s 64, and looks forward to mending fuses and doing the garden when he gets to that age. A bit of a mickey-take, this one.

LOVELY KITA: More Paul, with John and George coming in with “Rita” occasionally. A piano is much in evidence here and I smiled at the rhyming of Rita and “parking meter.” It’s a saucy song, with a jog-beat which will get your toes moving, as Paul tells you “Got the bill and Rita paid it, took her home and “nearly made it.”

GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING: Starts with a cock crowing, then John tells of a day on which he’s got nothing to say, but it’s okay. The lyric gets tricky, with fast-sung words at times, and the music has a restless rush about it, depicting modern living. I’m told the Sounds Incorporated are on this track as well as Beatles, and maybe they joined in the chorus at times. The tune ends with sounds of dogs, horses, a lion, more dogs and then another a crow.

REPRISE OF “SGT. PEPPER…” Starts with a “1, 2, 3, 4,” then into the first number, with a tambourine being beaten and Paul singing that he hopes you’ve enjoyed the show and thanks for coming, which brings huge applause, then goes into…

A DAY IN THE LIFE: which starts with a light-voiced John saying he’s read the news about man who blew his mind out in a car. Then he tells of seeing a film about the English army which won the war. This leads to the loudest thunderings of war noises, which build up and up and suddenly stop, for John to go on singing about catching a bus and having a smoke and going off on a dream, which lead into orchestral and vocal sounds depicting the dream, and then back to John, who sings about holes in Lancashire and how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall, which brings back the sounds of war again, which swell up and go into the sound of a plane diving, then rumblings and fading as the notes try to die but hang on and on, but eventually just become the tap-tap-tap we heard at the start of the side. This is a most eerie piece of music and the final sounds of the 41-piece orchestra are really frightening.

No one can deny that the Beatles have provided us with more musical entertainment, which will both please the ear and get the brain working a bit, too!

From New Musical Express – May 20, 1967

Beatles recording manager George Martin talks about their most ambitious LP

IT’S like painting the Forth bridge: after spending 700 hours in the studios since November working on “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, I’ve been starting all over again to record more material for future Beatles’ releases. We’ve already completed three new tracks.

“Sergeant Pepper” was certainly the most ambitious Beatles album yet. It took a long time because they’re perfectionists and wanted to get the LP exactly the way they had it in their minds. They’ve always wanted to be one step ahead — a policy that is courageous, dangerous but inevitable too if they wanted to survive. Relying on a well-trusted, “can’t fail” formula would be ineffective as well as contrary to the Beatles’ temperaments.

Obviously, the pressure is there. When you have succeeded so tremendously you wonder if you will continue to be successful. It was almost a relief when “Penny Lane” did not hit Number One. They’d had such a long string of consecutive Number Ones and they knew that sooner or later the chain would be broken. Ironically, “Penny Lane” has sold more copies than the previous “Yellow Submarine”/“Eleanor Rigby” single which did get to the top place.

The aim of “Sergeant Pepper” is to sound like a complete programme, ostensibly by the club band. The title song gives you the feeling of being in a hall. There are sounds of applause and laughter from the audience. Then comes a solo from Billy Shears (Ringo). Each number follows hard on the heels of the previous one and though you lose the audience sound effects during the LP we return to it at the end of side 2 which concludes with animal sounds, including a hunt in full cry. A chicken clucking blends into a guitar note for the ending.

Fortunately for me, I’d had experience of building up sound pictures (which is what The Beatles were after) through recording Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Michael Ben-tine, Peter Ustinov and “Beyond The Fringe” team. In fact, it was those old Peter Sellers’ comedy LPs that first enabled me to hit it off with the Beatles. When the boys realised I’d recorded Sellers (whom they much admired) a little of the glory rubbed off on me! But in many ways the Beatles and I have different ways of life. They’re night people and they don’t like working in the mornings. Usually we start recording at seven in the evening and work through till three. Working on “Sergeant Pepper” I several times had to carry on until seven a.m. That was the most arduous part of the LP for me.

I certainly think the result has justified the effort we put into it. On George’s track “Within You Without You” we used Indian musicians and on John’s “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” we had an organ effect like a fairground noise. I played Hammond organ, the Beatles’ road managers Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall played mouth organs and I added a variety of electronic effects. On other tracks we also used string players — as many as 41 musicians for one track.

Whenever The Beatles put out a bunch of new compositions there are always plenty of artistes waiting to hear them and record their own versions. I discussed this with John and Paul and they liked the idea of singers we record in the AIR London stable doing covers. So I’ve recorded David and Jonathan on “She’s Leaving Home” and Bernard Crib-bins on “When I’m Sixty-Four”. They’ll be released on the first of June. GEORGE MARTIN

Track-by-track in depth review

POP round to Brian Epstein’s Belgravia home, have a chat with the Beatles, listen to the LP… ask any questions you want. That was the urgent invitation. It was accepted with urgency. And the first sensation that broke was the banning of “A Day In The Life”, sung on the album by John, with some background noises of planes and guns and general thunderings.

Says John, adamantly: “The banners have got it all wrong. We got the idea from a newspaper headline. It’s nothing to do with drugs.” But it IS the first Beatle song ever to run into banning trouble…

But back to the LP, track by track. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” comes over as a sort of way-out concert. Tuning-up sounds, deliberately corny old vaudevillian phrases in the lyrics (sung by Paul) and we’re introduced to the singer… Billy Shears, alias Mr. R. Starr.

Which features “A Little Help From My Friends”. Pretty strong melody here, with answering bits in the lyrics, and a strong back-beat. If the authorities are REALLY going to inspect the lyrics here, well… there’s one line they can latch on to. And be wrong again over it!

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, sung by John, is absolutely tremendous, lyrically. A fantasy treatment and a fantasy song… about rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies… and plasticine railway porters with looking glass ties. Rather an electronic triumph, this one. Enhanced by fade-ins and fade-outs, to put it simply.

“Getting Better”, taken all round, is one of my favourites. Maybe it’s because it’s less “progressive”… it’s a reminder of what the Beatles used to do. Simpler, well handled mainly by Paul, and a pleasant antidote to the advanced productions of some of the others.

On to “Fixing A Hole”… the hole is where the rain gets in and is either in Paul’s head or in the ceiling… not too sure. But it relaxes the tempo a little, is rather less fierce, and the good George weighs in with a memorable guitar solo mid-way. Thus far, one is perhaps more impressed with the lyrics than with some of the instrumental sounds. But then the lyrics are reported in full on the sleeve — in some cases, that’s a downright blessing for first-time hearing.

“She’s Leaving Home” is all poignant and plaintive, especially the way John handles it. A girl leaves home… five o’clock in the morning, note on the mantelpiece, must find her freedom. And there are the stock, cliche-ridden parental replies to this domestic disaster. Darned clever, especially the arrangement which features dramatic-yet-wistful strings — I believe Mike Leander arranged this one.

“Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”: Some people were knocked out by this, but I found the whole idea just a trifle dreary. It’s John singing about a charity performance by circus folk for one of their kind. It’s carousel-roundabout material somehow. Maybe if I was keener on the smell of the sawdust etc…

Side two starts with a lengthy sitar-Indian-whining item “Within You Without You”, written and sung by George. He’s the only Beatle featured on it and it reflects completely his fascination with Eastern music. I found it hard picking out his lyrics because tonally voice and Indian instruments merged too closely. Again, some people hearing the LP for the first time, have regarded this as a bit of a “take-on”, a sort of non-Beatle item. But it’s only one track, after all.

“When I’m 64” next. Paul sings, it’s all about old-age, retirement and so on. First time of hearing you figure it’s all very charming. Second time you feel it’s a mickey-take. Third time you can see Paul’s tongue fixed firmly in cheek. Very good indeed.

“Lovely Rita”, mostly Paul again, is also amusing, a bit cheeky and dead catchy. Good piano break. All about a romance with a parking-meter warden!

A cockerel crowing heralds “Good Morning, Good Morning”. In parts, it is a sort of pet’s corner, with dogs and cats joining in. Big backing arrangement, John singing about “one of those days” where nothing much happens. Fast-moving and complex, lyrically. Use your song-sheet to follow this one in full.

Then it’s back to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” again — Paul explains how he hopes we enjoyed the show, but it’s time to go and there’s only one number to come.

Which happens to be the controversial “A Day In The Life”. One way or another, it’s obviously a form of dream sequence. About how there are four thousand holes in Blackburn, were counted — so now he knows how many it’ll take to fill the Albert Hall.

End of an LP which has many brilliant highlights, seems well worth the wait… and it is the sort of popular music which will exercise the brain cells as well as the entertainment tissues. Packaged in a good full-colour sleeve, with lyrics and with a cardboard cut-out slip including a picture of Sgt. Pepper himself, and his three stripes! Tongue-in-cheek and clever. Not TOO clever, you understand — but once or twice right on the borderline.

From Record Mirror – May 27, 1967

As you rush to buy your copy of the new Beatles LP, ponder these words of wisdom by CHRIS WELCH in a unique meeting with Sgt Pepper. And don’t forget the love bit, either

Now let boring controversy begin!

WHO are the Beatles’ greatest influences? Some might consider them to be William Byrd, Richard Strauss and Ravi Shankar. We humbly guess at George Formby, Lonnie Donnegan and an elderly lady school- teacher image, locked deep in the Beatles’ collective childhood memory.

The Beatles have always loved telling a tale, sometimes sadly, sometimes with wry humour, often mixing depressing sentiments with a chirpy bounce in the grand music hall tradition. And odd women constantly crop up in Beatle song themes. It was Eleanor Rigby on the classic “Revolver” album.

This time it’s “Lovely Rita” on “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Rita is a female traffic warden or “meter maid” for whom Paul McCartney (bass) expresses the desire to take out for tea. Rita is obviously one of those iron-lipped, jack-booted femmes fatale who stalk unwary motorists, and whose very iciness contains a sensual allure. The novelty of an ode to a lady traffic warden is typical of the whole jolly approach of “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Whatever the influences at work on the Beatles band, the lads have brought forth yet another saga of entertainment and achievement so solid and inspired that it should keep the British pop industry ticking over securely for another six months at least. Already several of the tracks on this 13-song album are being feverishly covered by other artists, from Bernard Cribbins to David and Jonathan.

It’s all presented like one of those phoney “live” LPs with dubbed applause and laughter coming in at the oddest moments, but the effect is used with subtlety and is not allowed to spoil the musical content. Some astute listeners have concluded that the faintly self-mocking undercurrent that runs throughout might indicate this is the Beatles’ last album. We can only hope that phrases heard on the album like “we hope you enjoyed the show” are simply references to the work in hand.

From the title track, which has Paul blasting away some James Brown soul through to the final “A Day In The Life” which features John, Paul and a 41-piece orchestra, song after song prove the Beatles — creatively speaking — are bursting into a hundred different directions at once. Yet all the music retains the Beatle stamp of humour, sorrow, sympathy and cynicism. For example Ringo sings a deadpan vocal on “With A Little Help From My Friends.” “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” is a tale about a trampoline expert. George entertains with some hot sitar music, and Paul does his George Formby bit on “When I’m 64.” “Good morning, Good morning” by John is an observation on the ritual conversation gambits of those who have nothing to say. The Beatles new album is a remarkable and worthwhile contribution to music. Now let the boring controversies begin!

From Melody Maker – June 3, 1967

BEATLES SELL 250,000 SGT PEPPER ALBUMS

THE Beatles’ new album “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” has already sold almost a quarter of a million copies — one week after its official release date. A spokesman for EMI told the MM on Monday: “The LP is approaching the 250,000 mark.” Many shops were selling the LP before the official release date because of an advanced distribution by EMI. The group are still recording, but neither EMI nor Nems Enterprises have any details of a release date for a new Beatles single.

From Melody Maker – June 10, 1967

COVER THE BEATLES – it’s not so easy now!

IN July 1966, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr sat in a penthouse suite in Munich’s Bayerische Hof hotel. It was late afternoon, torrential rain streamed down on several thousand fans waiting patiently outside the hotel for a glimpse of the Beatles. George Harrison lounged on a divan playing a preview of their latest LP, and Paul McCartney, listening intently to the far-from-perfect reproduction from the machine, turned and commented to me: “They’ll never be able to copy this.”

Well, Paul was referring to “Revolver,” the album that marked the Beatles’ most significant leap ahead of the rest of the pop world. But with their new album, almost a year later, they seemed to have had the same idea in mind. For the remarkable thing about “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is not that there are five single “cover” versions out — but that there are only three songs covered. The Young Idea and Joe Brown have covered “With A Little Help From My Friends,” Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen and Bernard Cribbins rushed onto the music hall-flavoured “When I’m Sixty Four” and David and Jonathan, who scored with “Michelle” (from the “Rubber Soul” album) have gone rather on a limb by doing “She’s Leaving Home.” At the time of writing, the Young Idea’s record seemed to have the best chance of success.

Last summer, six songs from “Revolver” were given the cover treatment from various artists from the She Trinity (who made “Yellow Submarine”) to the Fourmost, Episode Six and Brian Withers with “Here There And Everywhere.” But it was Nems stablemate Cliff Bennett — who was on the Beatles German tour immediately prior to the release of the album — who scored most heavily. His version of “Got To Get You Into My Life” — the Paul McCartney vocal on the LP — was a big hit and climbed to number six in the MM’s Pop 50 last September.

Six songs covered from their last album, only three from their new “Sergeant Pepper” bestseller. All of which indicates that the Beatles are progressing more and more away from the idea of conventional commercially.

It’s not enough today to nip in quick and cover the Beatles. In that sense they are less commercial today. It’s the Beatles themselves, the combination of their talent and their own material which creates the magic that adds up to “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” topping a quarter of a million sales in under a fortnight.

The Beatles own fertile brains and musical imagination are killing the old idea of a quick hit from the new Beatles album. — Alan Walsh.

From Melody Maker – June 17, 1967