Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Five decades later, this iconic album is still making sound waves, says Ronald Cassar.

When the Beatles released Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on June 1, 1967, some hailed it as a groundbreaking milestone in popular music. Others said that with their eighth studio album – which Rolling Stone magazine readers named as the best album of all time – the Liverpool band had abandoned the innocence of their early hits with an overly ambitious bid for artistic respectability.

In the five decades since, the debate has raged on among Beatles fans. Further fuel was thrown into the fire last week, with the release of the 50th anniversary edition of the legendary album, newly remixed in stereo by Giles Martin, son of the album’s original producer, Sir George Martin.

The anniversary edition is the most elaborate reissue yet of any individual Beatles album. It is being offered in several configurations: on CD, digital and on vinyl � the last in a half-speed mastered pressing that ups the audio fidelity one more notch and is accompanied by a second LP containing alternate mixes of all 13 hits.

A six-disc deluxe set includes new stereo and mono mixes of the album on CD with two more CDs containing dozens of outtakes, alternate versions and studio chatter, plus a Blu-ray and DVD including a 1992 documentary on The Making of Sgt Pepper created for the album’s 25th anniversary but never released commercially.

It also comes with a 145-page book with artwork, handwritten lyric sheets, essays, photos and detailed session information on each of the Sgt Pepper songs.

The newly-remixed album is not by any stretch a radical reworking of the original – rather, the new remix brings a new dimension, clarity and presence to the instruments and vocals. It’s also an attempt to introduce the work to younger audiences and sound more akin to contemporary digital recordings.

In late 1966 and early 1967 when the Beatles set to work on Sgt Pepper, mono sound was the dominant format.

Stereo counterparts often were created hastily for the US and other foreign markets. Because the Sgt Pepper stereo mix was better known in the US, John Lennon once famously stated: “You haven’t heard ‘Pepper’ until you’ve heard the mono version.”

“There is a thing about the mono mix,” Sir George Martin said at the time. “There is immersion that comes from the depth they put in there, even though it is just coming out of one speaker. I was trying to create that [in stereo]. No one can say the [1967] stereo mix is not a great-sounding record. But there’s a way to get the best of both worlds.”

When we made Sgt Pepper, I made a suggestion. I said that we needed to get away from ourselves – how about if we just become sort of an alter ego band?- Paul McCartney

The legendary album cover, designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth from an ink drawing by Paul McCartney, includes a colourful collage featuring the Beatles in costume, 57 photographs and nine wax works. It won the 1968 Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts.

Various actors, sportsmen and scientists are portrayed in the front-cover collage, including singers Bob Dylan and Marlene Dietrich, actors Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe, and writers H.G. Wells and Oscar Wilde.

When asked why rock ‘n’ roll sensation Elvis Presley was not included on the cover, McCartney was quoted as saying: “Elvis was too important and too far above the rest even to mention... so we didn’t put him on the list because he was more than merely an artist… he was Elvis the King”.

Sgt Pepper belongs to a specific time and yet simultaneously, is timeless. Released in the mid-1960s – a time of liberal counterculture and psychedelia – the follow-up to Revolver became the soundtrack to the Summer of Love of 1967.

On its release, the album was an immediate success, spending 27 weeks at the top of the UK albums chart and 15 weeks at number one in the US.

Sgt Pepper was lauded for its innovations in music production, songwriting and graphic design, bridging a cultural divide between popular music and legitimate art.

The album won four Grammy Awards in 1968, including album of the year, the first rock LP to receive this honour.

According to William D’Amato from D’Amato Records Shop, Sgt Pepper was an instant hit locally, selling hundreds of copies.

“From the records we have, the album was well received by the Maltese. Even today, Sgt Pepper is still very much in demand, especially in vinyl format.

“It is popular both with people who lived during the actual release of the album but also with many youngsters.

“This innovative piece of work from the most innovative band ever has been described by seasoned musicians as revolutionary and a huge accomplishment,” he said.

Sgt Pepper has left an impact on various artists as well as people working in the music scene. Joan Baez, the American folk singer had stated that the album “put the 1960s into song”.

Roger Waters quoted Sgt Pepper as the album that affected Pink Floyd’s music very deeply and was a masterpiece that Pink Floyd aspired to.

“The album was met with phenomenal success throughout the world and Malta was no exception,” D’Amato added.

“In fact, my father remembers when the album was first shipped in at D’Amato Records Shop, local Beatles fans were eagerly waiting at the shop for the consignment to arrive.

“Word had spread that it was going to be on sale at the shop on the day following its UK release. The staff at D’Amato did not even find the time to check the contents of the parcels as they were surrounded by numerous enthusiastic Beatles fans intent on acquiring a copy.

“Hundreds of copies of the album were already pre-sold due to the large amount of pre-orders. Even to the present day, Sgt Pepper is still one of the bestselling albums at our shop.

“The album has always been stocked at the shop since its first release up to the present day,” said D’Amato.

Over the years, Sgt Pepper was released in various formats. However, the comeback of vinyl in the past years has increased the demand for the album and it may be considered to be one of the bestsellers at the shop till the present day.  In fact, Sgt Pepper, as well as all other Beatles albums form part of the D’Amato Record Store’s main shop window to this day.

The summer of love

John Guillaumier remembers the anthems of a new generation

Fifty years ago, a sociocultural revolution engulfed millions of young people all over the world. The year 1967 brought us the Summer of Love, flower power, the hippies and a new wave of pop music.

At the heart of the whole phenomenon were the Beatles and their album Sgt Pepper. When released, the album was instantly proclaimed by music critics and fans alike as the greatest rock-and-roll record ever made. Newsweek compared them to T.S. Eliot and The New York Review of Books called Sgt Pepper “a new and golden Renaissance of Song”.

William Mann, music critic for The Times, said, in hindsight: “It seemed to encapsulate the spirit of 1967”. Timothy Leary, a spokesman for the counterculture, thought that, “the 1960s really started with Sgt Pepper.” The album compounded the already enormous influence of the Beatles among young people all over the world. It became the cultural totem for a rebellious generation’s coming-out party – 1967’s Summer of Love.

“It seemed to symbolise what everybody was feeling at the time,” said political activist Jerry Rubin. “There was a new generation that was creating a new society.”

No longer were the Beatles symbols of good times  and the best salesmen for Swinging London.

They had become pacesetters of a vast, seething counterculture that had goals more high-minded than merely swinging. In a satellite television broadcast to 200 million people in June 1967, the Beatles sang All You Need is Love. This song became the new anthem of the youth revolution.

It was in the summer of 1967 that San Francisco displaced London as the city of the decade. The myth of Swinging London was overwhelmed by the myth of the hippies. In the first week of July 1967, the hippies made the cover of Time magazine. In his hit single San Francisco, Scott McKenzie invited America’s youth to the city: “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair... You’re gonna meet some gentle people there.”

The Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco became the hub of the hippie subculture. A random congress of ex-beatniks, disenchanted lefties, folk-rockers, street people and dropouts had begun to see themselves as a new tribe. They presented themselves to the world as the dawn of the new age. These flower children expressed their growing sense of community in street fairs, solstice celebrations, love-ins, freak-outs and rock concerts.

Rock music as an essential element of hippie life was enshrined at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967.

The music at Monterey defined the new sound of the late 1960s: Ravi Shankar, the Who, the Byrds, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Simon and Garfunkel. Back in the UK, the Beatles left for Wales in August to attend a 10-day seminar hosted by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The following spring, the Beatles were to follow the Maharishi to Rishikesh in India. Many hippies took the cue and trekked to the shrines of India, Nepal and Tibet. Stars and celebrities, including Donovan, Mia Farrow, and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, as well as countless others, turned to transcendental meditation.

In October 1967, at the end of the Summer of Love, the media reported that the long-awaited-for universal brotherhood of humankind seemed, at last, to be within reach. Off-Broadway, in the same month, the chorus of the hippie musical Hair proclaimed “the dawning of the age of Aquarius”.

An album of memories

I remember when I first bought Sgt Pepper. What had first intrigued me was the packaging. The lyrics written on the back cover were different from the mainstream LPs I was used to, opening up to a huge colourful photo of my idols in cool uniforms.

Then the serious stuff – listening to the record, it sounded different from the other Beatles albums I had experienced. That it was surprising is an understatement.

And the music was magical, imaginative, creative, charismatic… you soon run out of adjectives.

“For the benefit of Mr Kite… there will be a show tonight!”

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There are those who even though they weren’t even born when Sgt Pepper was released, they still acknowledge its status.

Antonella Callus is 25 and she was not even born when the Beatles went their separate ways 47 years ago – however, the Fab Four are her favourite band.

“Good music is a big part of my life since it brings with it profound emotions whenever I listen to it.

My favourite era is the 1960s because back then, a new lifestyle and music were born.

“The Beatles are, without any doubt, my all-time favourite band. They have a catalogue of brilliant hits and whenever I listen to their music, it makes me nostalgic for that era, which I never experienced, but only read about.

“Their music makes me want to sing along no matter what mood I’m in. The four lads from Liverpool  will remain legendary with those who appreciate good music.

“Sgt Pepper has it all: great lyrics, and different genres and styles, among them psychedelic, Indie and rock music, all mixed together to produce a revolutionary album, which was so innovative at that time.”

For Callus, the band will never die.

“No matter the age gap, their brilliance will continue to shine through among music lovers. The legend will live on.”

Side one

No.	Title	Lead Vocals	Length
1	Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band	Paul McCartney	2:02
2	With a Little Help from My Friends	Ringo Starr	2:44
3	Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds	John Lennon	3:28
4	Getting Better	McCartney	2:48
5	Fixing a Hole	McCartney	2:36
6	She’s Leaving Home	McCartney with Lennon	3:35
7	Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!	Lennon	2:37

Side two

No.	Title	Lead Vocals	Length
1	Within You Without You	George Harrison	5:04
2	When I’m Sixty-Four	McCartney	2:37
3	Lovely Rita	McCartney	2:42
4	Good Morning Good Morning	Lennon	2:41
5	Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band(Reprise)	Lennon, McCartney and Harrison	1:19
6	A Day in the Life	Lennon and McCartney	5:39