The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" - the album that turned rock'n'roll into art

In the beginning of June, a 50-year old bargaining album once again topped the British (and Belgian) charts and ranks among the top 5 in 15 countries, including the US, Japan and a dozen European countries. The best thing is that it happened without any sad occasion - the album was reissued to celebrate its 50th anniversary and people just rushed to buy it. With Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, half a century after its triumph in the summer of 1967, the Beatles returned to the top (and not for the first time in the last 47 years since the band did not exist). "Wow! Who would think that the good old Sgt. Pepper will be number 1 again in 50 years? Great news, we are very happy. Pepper is the pinnacle! "Commented satisfied Paul McCartney. The new edition is sold in 4 different formats: a single CD, a double CD, a double vinyl, and a supersonic 6-disc edition. The first CD contains a new stereo remix of the album made by Giles Martin (George Martin's son, working with his father on mixing Love). Designed with modern and retro technology, the new mix keeps most of the peculiarities of the original mono version of Sgt. Pepper. The other discs in the collection contain alternative mixes that were not released before the album, DVD and Blu-ray tracks were recorded. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, a documentary titled It Was Fifty Years Ago Today was created! The Beatles: Stg. Pepper & Beyond. Upon his departure in 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band spent 28 consecutive weeks on top of the official charts. Today is the UK's best-selling studio album with 5.2 million copies for the past 50 years (11 million in the US, 32 million worldwide).

The best-selling one doesn't mean the best (though in the years when the Beatles are the best-selling group, they are the best). When it comes to dispute over who is the best Beatles album, usually professionals and fans mention Revolver (the most innovative), Abbey Road (the most mature) and even the "White Album" (most varied). Sgt. Pepper is best-selling, which is usually the most liked, but he is also described as the album "revolutionized modern pop music", "started rock art", "turned rock'n'roll into art." In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine placed him on top of the list of 500's greatest albums of all time. In 2006 he was chosen by Time as one of the top 100 albums of all time. That same year, musicologist David Scott Castan described Sgt. Pepper as the most important and influential album ever recorded. And, of course, it's included in Robert O'Money's mandatory "1001 album you need to hear before you die."

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I will try to explain what Sgt Pepper make it so important, but let's get back to the story first. In August 1966, Beatles ceased their concert activities and took a 3-month leave from the studio as well. The London route in November, on Paul McCartney's plane, came up with an idea for a song that included an Erdardian military orchestra. Ultimately, this idea will lead to the concept of Sgt. Pepper. Recordings begin on Nov. 24 at the Abbe Road studio with two compositions inspired by Lennon and McCartney's children's memories: Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane, but after pressure from EMI and Brian Upstein they go out as a small plate and do not come in album.

"That I agreed was one of the biggest professional mistakes in my life," George Martin admits later.

In February 1967, after recording the title song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, McCartney offers the Beatles to make a whole album on behalf of the fictional "Serpent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Orchestra." This alternative group would give them the freedom to experiment with music. During the recording, the band perfected the technological progress achieved with Revolver in 1966. Knowing that they will no longer have to perform the new tracks live, they are experimenting with composing and recording songs such as With A Little Help From My Friends , Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, A Day In A Life, and more. After finishing work on Sgt. Pepper, but before the release of the album, the Beatles take one copy at The Mamas & The Mapas home of Chessea's King's Road Square, with speakers in the open windows and at 6am they release the album with full force. Derek Taylor, their friend and the press, remembers that residents of the neighborhood massively opened their windows and listened without complaining about the unpublished new Beatles music. Only days after the official release - May 26 on the Island and June 2 in the United States, the Jimi Hendrix Experiments Trio has a concert at Saville Theater in London on June 4.

"The curtains rose and Jimmy walked forward, playing 'Sgt. Pepper '. It was a huge compliment - in fact, one of the greatest honors I've ever received in my career, "McCartney recalls.

Sgt. Pepper was adopted with superlatives by critics (though there are a few negative reviews) but the most enthusiastic was the audience for which it is the soundtrack of the summer of love. American radio stations rotate the album continuously, often without stopping - from beginning to end. From July 1 to October 13, the collection does not come from the first place in Billboard's chart. With 2.5 million sold plates for the first three months, the initial success is greater than that of all previous seven albums - and without a single song it is released as a single. Sgt. Pepper also won 4 Grammy Awards, including Best Album of the Year. The reason for the audience in the summer of 1967 to decide that this is the best production of the band so far is not only in the album itself but also in the context of its appearance. Already at the end of the concerts in 1966, persistent rumors appeared that the Beatles had fallen apart. In March of that year in an interview with British radio Lennon made the "scandalous" statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. British media do not pay attention, but in August 1966, when an American teen magazine published the interview in some places in southern states appear pyres with plates of "The Beatles" and attempts to ban or boycott of the group. Shortly thereafter, they also stop the concerts. Between the decision to stop the tours and the release of Sgt. Pepper "The Beatles" have so few public appearances that the rumors about division of the group are starting to sound more plausible. And when they finally come out with a new album, the gratitude and happiness of the fans are endless. The album, however, is not only new, it is also innovative - the Beatles are heading in a new direction. (And as it turns out later, they have not just taken on, but they have led the world of pop and rock music behind.)

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Another important factor is that Sergeant Pepper has such an abundance of sophisticated arrangements, rich orchestrations, rhythmic changes, poetic imagery, splendid tunes, harmonious novelties, and experimental techniques borrowed from avant-garde music that most serious musicologists and commentators have always seen rock'n'roll from the top, finally find the Beatles - and are amazed at the multidimensionality of the group's talents and their affiliation. For example, classical composer Ned Rørem writes essays in which he compares the Beatles with Claude Debussy and Franz Schubert. Leonard Bernstein opens common features in their songs with compositions by Robert Schumann. And a rock critic, Langdon Winner, told Rolling Stone that "at the time of the Vienna Congress in 1815, Western civilization was never as unified as last week after the Sgt came out. Pepper ". All this happened half a century ago, and since then, Time (which always has the last word) has clearly, categorically and unconditionally defined the place of the Beatles in the history of culture among the greatest musical phenomena of the twentieth century, and the reason for this is their music , still up to date and overwhelming. And the place of Sgt. Pepper is among their best albums - whether in the first, second or third place, each to decide on himself. In my personal ranking was in all three places, and is currently at the top.