SGT Pepper album turns 40 this week
danger boy
Posts: 15,722
True.. and hard to believe.. but Sgt Pepper was recorded 40 yrs ago this week. :eek: 
From a recording point of view, people have forgotten how groundbreaking it was given the recording technology at the time," said Jo Phillips, director of 10 Alps, the company commissioned to create the documentary. "Production capabilities were so limited. So much was up to the imagination of the producers."
It was the first British album done with eight-track recording, running a pair of four-track machines in synch.
"Sgt. Pepper" was recorded at the Abbey Road studio in London over more than 400 hours spanning 129 days, and was released on June 1, 1967.
Arriving on a wave of psychedelia in the so-called Summer of Love, the album was meant to be played and experienced from start to finish-an innovative concept at the time.
The band had tired of touring by the late 1960s - they had played their last live concert in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 1966 - and spent their time recording novel technical elements into the music, ushering in a new era both in their own music and in rock 'n' roll as a whole.
One music critic called the album "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilization."
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 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.
From a recording point of view, people have forgotten how groundbreaking it was given the recording technology at the time," said Jo Phillips, director of 10 Alps, the company commissioned to create the documentary. "Production capabilities were so limited. So much was up to the imagination of the producers."
It was the first British album done with eight-track recording, running a pair of four-track machines in synch.
"Sgt. Pepper" was recorded at the Abbey Road studio in London over more than 400 hours spanning 129 days, and was released on June 1, 1967.
Arriving on a wave of psychedelia in the so-called Summer of Love, the album was meant to be played and experienced from start to finish-an innovative concept at the time.
The band had tired of touring by the late 1960s - they had played their last live concert in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 1966 - and spent their time recording novel technical elements into the music, ushering in a new era both in their own music and in rock 'n' roll as a whole.
One music critic called the album "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilization."
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 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.
PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
Post edited by danger boy on
Comments
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****, I remeber this was first released on CD for the 20th anniversary. It seems like yesterday:( The liner notes provides some curious information. It give the track lineup the way the Beatles had intended to release it on the album. Because of the difficulty fittely the songs in the order they wer intended. George Martin scrambled them up so they could fit the 33 RPM 10" record. The CD has them in the same lineup of the LP. However, they tell you the intended confiuration of the tracks so you can program and listen to St. Pepper in the track order that the Beatles had assembled the music. Check out the liner notes and give it a whirl. No special messages here, just a different perspective on the music. Good fun!Carl
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Another interesting bit of trivia. McCartney and Lennon were absolutely blown away by Brian Wilson's production of Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Brian did some really creative studio recording along with multiple melody and score changes combined with intricate use of instruments and layers of chords, rhythum, vocals (of course) and instruments. The result was the music on Pet Sounds became very airy. Ground breaking material that stunned the Beatles and gave them inspiration and motivation for St Pepper.
It's interesting to not that during the Beatles hey day in 1965 - 1967, The Beach Boys were actually outselling the Beatles in England. The Beatles were a phenomial success in the US and Worldwide, but only number 2 in their own country. George Martin once said that Pet Sounds was probably the greatest recording ever. Pet Sounds was universally critically acclaimed by the music critics worldwide. However, it hasd limited commercial success. The album didn't go Plantinum until sometime in the mid 90's. By this time, Brian's two bothers Carl and Dennis were dead.
Brian Wilson set out to record a masterpiece when he conceived Pet Sounds. Brian was the creative talent for writing and recording most of the Beach Boys music. By the time Brian set out to make Pet Sounds the Beach Boys already had nearly two dozen hits, several in the top ten and had sold millions of records. Brian Wilson, was only 23 years old.Carl -
****, I remeber this was first released on CD for the 20th anniversary. It seems like yesterday:( The liner notes provides some curious information. It give the track lineup the way the Beatles had intended to release it on the album. Because of the difficulty fittely the songs in the order they wer intended. George Martin scrambled them up so they could fit the 33 RPM 10" record. The CD has them in the same lineup of the LP. However, they tell you the intended confiuration of the tracks so you can program and listen to St. Pepper in the track order that the Beatles had assembled the music. Check out the liner notes and give it a whirl. No special messages here, just a different perspective on the music. Good fun!
dude.. you are old!!!! JK.
that is interesting about the track lineup. I had never heard this. I will have to check it out and listen to it that way.. although, we've become so accustomed to listening to it this way. it may seem odd. but fun too.PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
Another interesting bit of trivia. McCartney and Lennon were absolutely blown away by Brian Wilson's production of Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Brian did some really creative studio recording along with multiple melody and score changes combined with intricate use of instruments and layers of chords, rhythum, vocals (of course) and instruments. The result was the music on Pet Sounds became very airy. Ground breaking material that stunned the Beatles and gave them inspiration and motivation for St Pepper.
It's interesting to not that during the Beatles hey day in 1965 - 1967, The Beach Boys were actually outselling the Beatles in England. The Beatles were a phenomial success in the US and Worldwide, but only number 2 in their own country. George Martin once said that Pet Sounds was probably the greatest recording ever. Pet Sounds was universally critically acclaimed by the music critics worldwide. However, it hasd limited commercial success. The album didn't go Plantinum until sometime in the mid 90's. By this time, Brian's two bothers Carl and Dennis were dead.
Brian Wilson set out to record a masterpiece when he conceived Pet Sounds. Brian was the creative talent for writing and recording most of the Beach Boys music. By the time Brian set out to make Pet Sounds the Beach Boys already had nearly two dozen hits, several in the top ten and had sold millions of records. Brian Wilson, was only 23 years old.
I was reading about this last week, in fact, and remember hearing some tidbits.... from Wikipedia :Beatles producer George Martin stated that "Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."[1] After Sgt. Pepper was released, Wilson was so despondent that he went to bed for months
Also, on a slightly different tangent, supposedly "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" (Lennon and McCartney's respective odes to their childhood neighborhoods) were actually singles from Sgt. Pepper, but the practice at the time was to release singles and NOT put them on the full-length album. George Martin says that not putting those songs on Sgt. Pepper was the biggest mistake of his career.If you will it, dude, it is no dream. -
danger boy wrote: »dude.. you are old!!!! JK.
I know Al, sigh.:(
But I'm not too old to rock and roll!:D
CarlCarl -
Yes, and 'Smile', only recently released - was the Beach Boys original answer to Sgt Pepper......Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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George Martin says that not putting those songs on Sgt. Pepper was the biggest mistake of his career.
I'd say his biggest mistake is the gawd awful butcher job he did mastering those wonderful pieces of music.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
some people actually consider George Martin a genius. I don't know if I would go quite that far.. but he was also considered the 5th Beatle
I think he had something to do with their success actually.PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
I'd say his biggest mistake is the gawd awful butcher job he did mastering those wonderful pieces of music.
:eek: Are you sure you're not thinking of Phil Spectre of Let It Be fame?If you will it, dude, it is no dream. -
bobman1235 wrote: »:eek: Are you sure you're not thinking of Phil Spectre of Let It Be fame?
I believe George wasn't doing the engineering but he was overseeing the production of them and choose the sound which was "gawd awful." -
BTW "Pet Sounds" always gets the nod as one of the top ten best from all of the audio rags and writers.
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Wow 40 years, holy smokes I feel old...Rockin' In My House
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