Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
	Produced by George Martin
	Released on June 1967
	UK CHART POSITION #1 (RE-CHART #3 in 1987, #6 in 1992) . . . US CHART POSITION #1 . . . GOLD RECORD (6/15/67), 11x PLATINUM (1/10/97)
	Find it at GEMM
EAS-80558 cover [high resolution photo]

I n lieu of the usual platitudes, let’s talk about love. (True love, the kind you read about in books.) I’ve loved Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band since I first heard it as a boy. This and Abbey Road were the first two albums I owned, and what a wonder they were to an 8-year-old mind. The way the opening track just clicked, and then the way everything “clicked” thereafter, this was a work of art. Like true love, I couldn’t find a flaw in any groove, a beat out of place, an angle from which the whole body of work didn’t look wonderful. Obviously, any album I heard hereafter was found wanting in some regard. Why doesn’t your hair smell like “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” your heart weep like “She’s Leaving Home,” your conversation drop like “A Day In The Life?” As with the truest of love, any objective imperfection becomes a means of scaling the great wall, and The Beatles are quick to toss us a line with “A Little Help From My Friends.” I knew that Ringo wasn’t the world’s greatest singer, that “When I’m Sixty-Four” was just a silly love song. And, yes, I even skipped over “Within You Without You” on occasion. But I’ve never forgotten you, my first love, even after my world became crowded with Jethro Tull and Yes, Genesis and Rush, I’d kept my Sgt. Pepper’s badge pinned on the inside. I wouldn’t argue that Sgt. Pepper’s is where progressive rock begins, but it is the first Beatles album to actively engage entirely in role playing. Obviously, the band had earlier adopted the singer-as-storyteller role on Revolver (“Eleanor Rigby,” “Yellow Submarine”), but Sgt. Pepper’s nearly becomes a concept album by keeping the band’s true identity under wraps. But enough. My love lies in repose, and I study the lines on her face, and she becomes more beautiful every day.

EAS-80558 inner gatefold	EAS-80558 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND    2:04
2. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS    2:40
3. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS    3:27
4. GETTING BETTER    2:48
5. FIXING A HOLE    2:36
6. SHE'S LEAVING HOME    3:34
7. BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE!    2:36
8. WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU    (George Harrison)    5:05
9. WHEN I'M SIXTY-FOUR    2:37
10. LOVELY RITA    2:41
11. GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING    2:43
12. SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (REPRISE)    1:19
13. A DAY IN THE LIFE    5:13
    
    All songs written by John Lennon/Paul McCartney unless noted

CREDITS

GEORGE HARRISON --
JOHN LENNON --
PAUL McCARTNEY --
RINGO STARR --
M C Productions and The Apple -- cover
Peter Blake and Jann Haworth -- cover staging
Michael Cooper -- photography
Madame Tussauds -- wax figures

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