It was 50 years ago today… looking back on half a century of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: The next Beatles album didn’t have a name, let alone a concept, but the band already knew it had to be different. Very different. Along with his assistant engineer, 18-year-old Richard Lush, and under the gaze of producer George Martin, Emerick cajoled the primitive equipment into creating the extraordinary soundscapes for a band that had no respect for the limitations of the four track tape. Geoff Emerick now lives in Los Angeles, while Richard Lush has lived in Australia since the 1970s. Both of them spoke to 7.30 about the making of one of the most influential albums of the 20th century.
Sgt. Pepper’s redux: Should you buy the $$$ new version of The Beatles classic or save your money? Giles Martin and his team went back to these four track element reels and reassembled Sgt. Pepper’s from these earlier generation tapes, which had been kept in the EMI vaults. The results, whether the new stereo mix or the surround treatment, are remarkable. From the opening moments of the audience anticipating the start of a rock concert, you just know that you are about to experience something amazing—what audiophiles call an “eargasm.” It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as if I was really there standing among the audience—or in Abbey Road studios—waiting for the show to begin. Red lights, green lights, strawberry wine, if you know what I mean. And then BOOM it’s on. The title track rocks like a motherfucker.
Meet the critic who panned ‘Sgt. Pepper’ then discovered his speaker was busted. He’s still not sorry. He is 72, with a thin beard and easy laugh, and lives with his husband, Tony Ward, in a 14th-floor apartment Greenwich Village. He stopped writing about music in the late ’60s, but he never left journalism. For decades, Goldstein covered the arts and gender identity issues at the Village Voice, where he eventually served as executive editor. These days, he teaches “Pepper” in a course on the ’60s at his alma mater, Hunter College. Now comfortable in his own skin, Goldstein can explain why he feels he rejected “Pepper” all those years ago. The broken stereo, he says, had nothing to do with it.
Inside Unheard ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Outtakes: Exclusive First Listen: No matter how well you know the album, this remix is full of nuances any fan will notice, especially the bottom end —Ringo’s kick drum really reveals new dimensions. It’s a tribute to the band and their producer. “My dad, especially on Pepper, was almost like a satellite dish that managed to capture all their ideas and mash them down to this little black piece of plastic that changed the way people listen to music.” But the real treasures are the 34 bonus tracks, which will dazzle hardcore Beatlemaniacs — “the socks and sandals brigade,” as Giles Martin fondly calls them.
Sgt Pepper – Meet the Band: As The Beatles’ iconic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album turns 50, discover its cover stars through the BBC archive – a presentation by arts series Arena for BBC Music.
Sgt Pepper: listen to an unreleased outtake of the Beatles’ classic.
To celebrate 50 years since the release of the Fab Four’s masterpiece, we have an exclusive recording from the legendary sessions: Ahead of the re-release of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ this May, you can listen to a previously unreleased take of its titular track. The reissue of ‘Sgt. Pepper ‘was announced earlier this month and will celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary with unreleased takes of each song being available across its various packages. You can check out the title track now at The Guardian. The new Super Deluxe Boxset will be out on May 26, and includes a 144 page book along with 15 recordings from the Sgt. Pepper sessions, most of which have never been released.
