Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe

We're all used to a wave of hoopla whenever a big product is released, but in the case of Sgt. Pepper it's all true. Sgt. Pepper was not just a great album by the Beatles; it was the high point of the Sixties decade itself.It was the unexpected artistic triumph of all that had begun in early 1964. THE ERA:: Beatlemania and the British Invasion precipitated a virtual mass extinction event for almost the entirety of the Early Sixties pop music scene. Almost everyone who had been big then never had a hit again and the few acts that survived (Lesley Gore, Gene Pitney, Jan & Dean, Elvis) were never as big as they had been after a final hit or two in '64. Only the Beach Boys went on to greater heights. Dismissed as a teen-idol type fad that would soon die out, the second wave of British Invasion groups that included the Animals, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones showed that there was more to this music than at first seemed the case. Coincidentally by 1965 the Folk Music Scene which had been big from 1961-63 was winding down very fast with less and less interest being shown by anyone but die-hard fans. Bob Dylan's going electric seemed to act as a signal, sending many of the creative artists of folk into the pop/rock scene which had been so re-energized by not only the British Invasion but also the concurrent rise of Motown. First came Folk-Rock, but there was far more to it than jingle-jangle 12-string guitars and Dylan songs. The folk people brought in a whole new set of musical values that included literate lyrics, topics besides romantic love and the idea that the album was the thing, not just two hit singles and a bunch of covers. Artists from folk would be in many of the top groups or solo acts of '65-'66 including the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, the Loving Spoonful, the Association, Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan etc. The Beatles did not ignore all this. They responded in two releases. Yesterday was accompanied by a string quartet and by doing this, opened the door to rock & pop absorbing classical influences and instrumentation, a major trend in 1966-67. Then with the acoustic, folk-influenced Rubber Soul, they indicated their joining with the folk artists and their views on making truly artistic albums. By this point the rock/pop scene was open to virtually all influences. By late summer of '66, everything went into a kind of hyper-drive; in the period roughly bookended by Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, everyone was doing their finest work, even the pure pop artists, with great material coming from every quarter. By this time people couldn't ignore this any longer and even the adult media who typically dismissed the teen scene had to take notice, peaking with Leonard Bernstein, in patrician tones, extolling the value of this music on the CBS special, Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution in Spring, 1967. Music was not all that was changing. To understand the Sixties you must understand it as being a time of total and unbridled optimism. Since the late Fifties in the U.S. and Western Europe there had been a feeling that everything was really wonderful, prosperity was the new normal and what few problems there were would soon be solved by science. You must understand that environmental problems were still unknown (Silent Spring had only been out a few years) and it was believed the Civil Rights Act alone would cure past racial disparities. The only problems were those of "The Affluent Society". From their prosperous lives the Sixties teens looked out at the world and saw things weren't so nice everywhere, and like a whole generation of Siddhartha's sought to save the world from its problems. The old order began to fray, especially on the two coasts (hings stayed the same in the interior much longer) and a new youthful counterculture began to arise, their answer being Universal Love. Naive? Yes, but it was very sincere and well-intended, and music became the vehicle that spread it. At the peak of all this, with much anticipation after Rubber Soul and Revolver, the Beatles produced Sgt. Pepper to absolute and universal acclaim from all quarters. It was seen as the great fulfillment of all the recent trends in pop music, the greatest pop album ever made, perhaps even one of the greatest works of art ever made. The superlatives were endless. It sold far beyond any album before it. Though it had no singles, radio stations played it as if every track was a single, even all of the five minute A Day In the Life, especially at night, its double crescendo seeming to sum up everything that was going on. It was like an explosion, played everywhere all summer long, with other pop music almost at a standstill, reacting to it. All the rest of 1967 and early 1968 were enveloped in its psychedelic haze. Then everything changed again, almost all the mid-Sixties artists vanished, and the new, heavier era of the Late Sixties began. THE BOX SET: This is everything a die-hard Beatles fan could possibly want. A 3-D cover curiously recalling Their Satanic Majesty's Request. An original LP facsimile inside containing four CD's of music and DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the 1997 documentary and a beautiful hard-cover book full of photos of the band and era. The CD's are the original mono and new stereo mix of the album, plus two discs of the Sgt. Pepper sessions that include various takes of the songs in development, some being vocal or instrumental tracks only, plus Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. Those two songs were originally intended for the album but were released in early '67 as singles because the Beatles needed something after Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby. George Martin truly regrets that they weren't included but I'm happy the way they were. Sgt. Pepper is already 40 minutes long, pushing the length of a 60's LP before sound quality was lost. It is also a fairly light-spirited album with two "heavy" tracks of five minutes each, and adding Strawberry Fields may have been too much. It's perfect as it is. Besides, Strawberry Fields was a major event in itself. What kind of pop song was this? Nothing like it had been done before. It was a remarkable breakthrough that showed the Beatles were rapidly advancing. Penny Lane was a perfect bright foil, a bouncy, cheery song guaranteed to get major airplay; a perfect single between two important albums. Though the two extra discs will be of most interest to lifelong fans (of any age) they do show the importance of George Martin, the true fifth Beatle, who brought their ideas into existence. THE SOUND: To judge the sound, especially important with not just a new remastering but a new mix, I made a playlist that song by song listed the Mono; then the original stereo (from the Beatles 2009 box set) then the new mix. Mono is mono. It's hot now in oldies CD's because people want to now hear things the way they originally did, and we all heard almost all 60's music on mono home, transistor and car radios and mono albums. Of course Sgt. Pepper was the album that caused the huge boom in sales of stereos that made stereo the norm very quickly, so the set shows this somewhat ironic transition. The new mix wins by light years. The sound is deeper, richer, more enveloping, clear, more transparent and more detailed. It's the kind of improvement that makes you think, "Well, what was I listening to before ?" It's that good. A PERSONAL NOTE: I have to thank the makers of the box set for clearing something up for me. I was beginning to think I had a false memory. I clearly remembered a Penny Lane that ended with a trumpet fanfare instead of the cymbal fade-out, yet no such version ever appeared on CD. Finally, here it is on Disc 4, listed as "Capitol Records mono US promo mix". It seems to have been the one most played by my local radio station back then. Thank you for including it!

Where do I begin when commenting on the awesomeness that is this set? I'll go disc-by-disc. Before I do, I'll start with the packaging. It starts with a beautiful slip cover which boasts a three-dimensional image of the album cover. Take the slip cover off and you'll see a gorgeous replica of an EMI tape box. Open that, and you'll see all the goodies to behold - a 144-page book that'll take days to read. The articles seem so interesting that you'll read these over and over again. The image of an alternate, more contemporary design of the bass drum cover is featured on the Blu Ray slip cover, and it's good the Beatles didn't use this one because it's too garish, whereas the victorian design they chose fits the overall mood of the album. The alternate design has a sloppily-placed valentine between the words "lonely" and "hearts", and the overall design looks very "slapdash", it doesn't indicate the time and care the artist gave the drum design we all know and love. There are posters of images I've loved over the years - the British advert which says "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - New Beatles LP Here Now" with a majestic-looking image of the EMI logo as it was then. God, I miss EMI. Too bad it went bankrupt and got scooped up by Universal Music. The compartment which houses the four compact discs and two video discs is designed after the album cover art and at first glance, you'd think the LP was included. It's not - that'll be an additional 25 to 30 bucks for that one. Thanks, Universal-dearest. Now for the main event. 1- STEREO REMIX - Perfection. The mix was based on the mono mix. With more tracks available in this day and age, Giles Martin was able to source the original tapes before they were mixed down and bumped over to another 4-track recorder in order to enable more sounds to be mixed in. We can now hear everything that was a part of the overall sound. This is now the psychedelic masterpiece the Beatles intended to release. 2 - Outtakes of the following - "Strawberry Fields Forever", and its 2015 stereo mix, which was featured in "1+" and was on the flip side of the Record Store D**K edition of the single last month. I'm sorry that should say Record Store Day, but that was ruined by all the d**k moves pulled by hustlers in order to flip items for outrageous amounts on e-Bay. The rest of the outtakes are from When I'm 64, Penny Lane, including the RSD stereo mix, orchestral overdubs and "HUM" outtakes of A Day in the Life. If the humming was chosen as the ending, the only thing saving it from being a joke on the Beatles is if George Harrison's Within You laughter was edited onto it, to make it a joke BY the Beatles. Two takes of the title track and Good Morning Good Morning round this out. Listening to these as well as on the 3rd disc are indeed a splendid time - I guarantee it. 3 - Outtakes of Fixing a Hole, Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite, Lovely Rita, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Getting Better, Within You Without You, She's Leaving Home, With a Little Help from my Friends and the Sgt Pepper Reprise. On Within You, Harrison is heard talking a musician through one of the riffs which is repeated several times and becomes quite hypnotic. I didn't want it to end. She's Leaving Home includes a 4-syllable cello riff after the first two times Paul sings "for so many years" at the end of the chorus. With a Little Help from My Friends is the basic instrumental track on which you can now really hear the opening guitar cascade before RIngo's vocal. Not only does it sound like "Wouldn't It Be Nice", but the rest of the backing tracks sounds like an outtake from either Pet Sounds or Smile. This brings home the fact that the Beatles nicked a thing or two from the Beach Boys back then. This is rounded out by a basic rehearsal of the Sgt Pepper Reprise, a different take than what we all heard on Anthology 2. 4 - Now for the main event within a main event - the original 1967 mono mix (it says so on the back of the cover) of the album. I'll have to give this a side by side comparison to see whether or not this is another issue of the 2009 mono remaster. This is where headphones come in handy. This is rounded out by the original mono mixes of Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. Then there's the first mono mix of A Day in the Life, with variations of bass and drums and Paul's vocal as heard on Anthology 2. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds doesn't sound terribly different in this "long-lost" mono mix, but She's Leaving Home certainly does with that extra aforementioned cello riff. Now, for the grand finale - the Capitol Records Promotional Mix of Penny Lane with the 7-syllable trumpet line at the end. I thought they were joking at first, but this turns out to be a needle-drop of the Capitol 45 RPM record - not a pristine remastered tape of RM 11, but a needle-drop. I thought I heard a pop and click, and it's very AM-radio-sounding. I have a bootleg that boasts a better sound. DVD & Blu-Ray - basically the "About-Blanking-Time" release of the Disney Channel's 1992 "Making of Sgt Pepper" special - no difference between this and what we watched 25 years ago, but it was great to see it finally given a proper commercial release. It's a nice companion to the Anthology, so you can toss out your homemade VHS tape of it. It looks and sounds very nice here. The 5.1 Dolby and DTS and 2-channel stereo mix of the album sounds very nice here, but I don't favor the DVD/Blu Ray versions over the CD version, that'll be up to you to decide. So - that's it in a long and winding nutshell - it's not exactly limited edition, but I don't see very many shops carrying it and you'll never know what they'll gouge you for on e-Bay, so now's the time to pick it up.

My parents used to tell me that the "Summer Of Love" didn't really exist in the UK unless you were part of the swinging London scene. For the rest of the country it only existed in the news and on the radio... and maybe in the relaxing (and railing against) of more traditional attitudes towards a more progressive outlook. Fashion became a little more daring, skirts became shorter, but there were still strict parents there trying to make sure their groinfruit didn't partake in such subversive behaviour. For people like my parents growing up in the midlands, it's was less drugs and free love and more like a couple of pints of bitter (with wine or a fruit-based drink for the ladies) and a fumble in the pub car park. The one things that virtually everybody, everywhere, on planet Earth recognised as a major sign that the world was changing was Sgt. Pepper. I was fortunate enough to gain the use of the family record player and my parents' modest, but respectful, collection of LPs from quite an early age and one of those records was Sgt. Pepper. It was, along with Hey Jude (the LP) and Let It Be, the album that made me a Beatles fan the moment I heard it at the age of, I think, around seven. The crowd music, the different singers, the harmonies, the eclectic instrumentation, the sheer ambition of the record... it was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It shone. It was a magical record, played by these long haired, moustachioed wizards in their colourful outfits. I wanted to look like them. I wanted to be like them. Hell, I wanted to BE them. The only "problem" with Pepper is that it was so highly rated and overplayed over the years that it inevitably (yet unfairly) was the victim of a (mild) backlash, with even staunch Beatles fans repeating the mantra of "Pepper is overrated", with very few in the cult of Fabdom daring to say that their favourite Beatles record was Pepper, for fear of not looking like a "real" fan. Thing is, Pepper is a perfect record; its loose concept opening up the possibilities of any kind of music appearing on a pop record - vaudeville, Indian, psychedelic-circus music resplendent with backwards tape loops... with Sgt. Peppers' troupe of musicians, anything was possible. The fact that Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were recorded in the same sessions and could have been part of the album instead of a standalone single is even more mind-blowing. The collective offering of the Pepper songs were an artistic apex they'd, until that point, never achieved. Fixing A Hole, with its dreamy, spacey vocals and meandering bassline, She's Leaving Home, one of Paul's very best kitchen sink dramas, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite which still sounds unlike anything else released before or after it, George's utterly beautiful Within You Without You which, quite honestly, might be my favourite track on the whole thing and the reprise of the Pepper theme which then segues into the grand finale, A Day In The Life, which is surely peak Beatles. All four members shine so brilliantly on this album; Ringo's "turn" as Billy Shears on With A Little Help From My Friends as well as some truly superb drumming (especially on A Day In The Life), Paul's precocious growth as a songwriter (Pepper, With A Little Help From My Friends, She's Leaving Home, Lovely Rita), but still having his work Lennonised and improved (Getting Better) and vice-versa for John with Paul providing the supremely melodic, soaring bridge in A Day In The Life and his inspired. Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a psychedelic masterpiece and his interpretations of a circus poster (Mr. Kite) and a breakfast cereal box (Good Morning, Good Morning) showcased his talent for taking something relatively ordinary and elevating them to glorious heights. George's lead guitar work is out of this world on Pepper and his solitary songwriting composition was also other-worldly. It was arguably the last time (apart from perhaps Abbey Road) when all four Beatles were still a single "Beatles" unit instead of four individuals making music together. Simply put, Pepper is a masterpiece. It is THE album that virtually every other album is compared with ("Sure, it's good, but it's no Sgt. Pepper"). The genius isn't just in the songwriting, it's the presentation, the Peter Blake cover, the daring concept and the colourfulness. It was the end of the black and white sixties and the dawning of a brighter, more youthful age. It's not just a record, it's a cultural milestone, a happening, an event; you can define music as pre and post-Pepper such was its importance. It remains the toppermost of the poppermost, being the height of all that is fab and gear. It takes me to another world when I listen to it, a world full of fixing metaphorical holes, of dancing psychedelic horses, of newspaper taxis and looking-glass ties, of sobbing heartbroken parents and cottages in the Isle Of Wight, of people blowing their minds out in cars and orchestral orgasms. There's no other record like it. Others have tried and failed, but there is only one Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Good brand new

Tutto perfetto!! Bellissimo cofanetto!

アウトテイクもしっかり聴くことができて、サージェント〜を良く感じることができるボックスでした。 一瞬、輸入盤のように見えましたが、実際は国内盤と同じで同梱品もしっかり付属されていました。破格の値段で買えて本当に良かったです。

Seit meiner Jugend (Jahrgang 1950) bin ich fasziniert von der Musik der Beatles. Seit "She Loves you" und "I wan't to hold your Hand" war nichts mehr, wie vorher. Mit den Alben "Rubber Soul" und insbesondere "Revolver" wurden die Beatles deutlich experimenteller und kreativer. Für uns Jugendlich erschlossen sich diese Alben nicht sofort und nicht so, wie die ersten großen Hits. Aber dann kam "Sgt. Pepper" und man dachte, was ist dass denn und wo soll das denn noch hinführen. Das waren nicht mehr "unsere" Beatles. Dieses Album war so anders, alles alles davor. Man musste sich auf dieses Album erstmal einlassen. Der Schlussong "A Day in a Life" war für mich - aus damaliger sicht - am sperrigsten und ich konnte damit zunächst gar nichts anfangen. Der Titelsong: na ja, schon sehr rockig aber zu kurz. Ringos Song, ganz nett. Lucy in the Sky...., und fast alles was danach kam, hatte nichts mehr mit der geliebten Beat-/Rockmusik gemein. Aber: Alles braucht seine Zeit. Das ging mir in der Folgezeit durchaus öfter so (z.B. bei U2, R.E.M., Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Arcade Fire um nur einige wenige zu nennen). Mit der Zeit jedoch (es hat nicht sehr lange gedauert) erschlossen sich die Songperlen nach und nach und es wurde das Album, dass ich mir über die letzten 50 Jahre immer wieder allein mit Muße intensiv angehört habe. Vor 50 Jahren hatte kaum jemand vernünftige Stereoanlagen sondern meist nur Plattenspieler mit vielleicht einem angeschlossenen Lautsprecher. D.h., damals haben viele das Album nur in Mono gehört. Stereo Ende der 60-iger war dann sehr oft dass so genannte Ping Pong Stereo (Stimmen auf einem Kanal, Instrumente auf dem anderen Kanal und dazwischen? Nicht viel jedenfalls. Die Qualität der Abspielgeräte und Lautsprecher haben die vielen buntem Fassetten der Musik nicht wirklich gut wiedergegeben. Mit den Jahren wurden die Anlagen besser und die wahrgenommene Wiedrgabequalität von Platte oder in den Achtzigern die ersten CD's brachten die Musik dann schon besser zu Gehör. Dann das Jahr 2009. Die Remaster in Stereo und Mono. Endlich war der Klang entstaubt, die Musik deutlich druckvoller. Aber, es fehlte noch was. Es fehlte ein ausgewogenes Stereo-Klangbild. Das mehr aus den Ausnahmen herauszuholen war, wurde mit der Veröffentlichung von "Love" deutlich. Jetzt also endlich der Stereo-Mix, wie er den heutigen Hörgewohnheiten entspricht. Leadstimme in der Mitte, Background gestaffelt dahinter, die Instrumente nicht mehr extrem auf die beiden Lautsprecher verteilt, sondern räumlicher gestaltet. Dazu insgesamt mehr Druck im Klangbild. Der Bass von Paul (vielleicht sogar etwas zuviel) und das Schlagzeug von Ringo gewinnen deutlich an Ausdruck. Einen solchen Stereo-Mix hat man sich lange gewünscht. Das Team um Gil Martin hat hier nach meinem Geschmack fastt alles richtig gemacht. Chapeau. Die Krönung aber ist für mich der Mehrkanal-Mix. Der Mix ist sehr subtil. Du hast das Gefühl, die Band spielt mit dem besten verfügbaren Equipment vor dir auf einer großen Bühne und du sitzt in der ersten Reihe. Der Klang ist weiträumig, die Staffelung in Breit und Tiefe ist atembraubend. Die Musik löst sich endlich fast komplett von den Lautsprechern, welche man kaum noch wahrnimmt. Einige Effekte (z.B. das Publikum im Titelsong, die Kirmesmusik von "The Benefit od Mr. Kite", die Tiergeräusche im Titel "Good Morning Good Morning" und das kakofone Orchester bei "A Day in the Life" kommen teils erkennbar aus den Rears. So hast Du diese Musik noch nie gehört. Wenn man mit dem Stilmix bisher nichts anfangen konnte, spätestens im Mehrkanal-Mix erschließt sich die ganze Faszination und Einmaligkeit dieses Albums. Gottsei Dank, dass ich das noch erleben durfte. Traurig sein müssen all diejenigen, die keine ordentliche Surround-Anlage zu Hause haben. Für dieses Album lohnt es sich (wenn man dieses Album liebt), in eine entsprechende Anlage zu investieren. Alle Kritiker, die sich über die Jahrzehnte (teils hochwissenschaftlich) zu diesem Album geäußert haben, liegen richtig, wenn Sie es zu den besten Alben aller Zeiten rechnen. Allen anderen ist eh nicht zu helfen. Wer jetzt noch mäkelt, sollte aber bekennen, dass das auf höchtem Niveau geschieht. Jetzt ist die Vorfreude groß auf entsprechende Mixe vom so genannten "White Album", welches im nächsten Jahr zu dessen 50-jährigen Jubiläum erscheinen soll. Obwohl es natürlcih sehr viele tolle Alben anderer Künstler gibt (ich besitzte rund 3.500) - und darunter ist alles, was Rang und Namen hat. An dieses Album reicht nichts wirklich heran, weil dieses Album (und vielleicht noch Pet Sounds von den Beach Boys) - alles was danach an innovativer Musik kam - überhaupt erst den Weg geöffnet hat. Das haben wir uns damals beim ersten Höhren im Erscheinungsjahr so nicht vorstellen können. Den Beatles und den großartigen Köpfen Georg Martin und Geoff Emerick sei Dank. Beatles Forever. Bitte entschuldigt meinen teilweisen Pathos und wenn die Pferde mit mir durchgegangen sein sollten.