If one single pop album is to stand out for its influence in western culture, If there ever has been a single piece of work by a musician to influence other musicians decades after, If you were to take one, and only one CD/LP/Cassette to the moon, this would be Pepper. Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band was Paul's idea. As he flew back home from the last American Tour (and the last overall tour) He thought that they had had enough of fame. It would be nice to play as a bogus band, using another name, customes and for just once not being The Beatles. The idea, developed into something bigger than an LP. About 50000 pounds big, with 5 months of work and 700 hours in the studio. Compared with their 400 pounds, 13 hours Please Please Me, those four years seem like ages. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was a first in many fields. It is widely regarded as the first "concept album". Although this idea faded gradually away as the LP got on, linking all the different songs together, havin the inner groove recorded with strange sounds, the title track and the reprise, together with Billy Shears and the costumes gave this impression finally. Pepper was the first album to feature the full lyrics of the songs and also to have a gatefold sleeve, cut outs, and due to marketing reasons it wasn't packaged with some Sgt. Pepper memorabilia like pencils and badges. The cover is with no doubt the most imitated (maybe a close contest with Abbey Road) The Beatles appeared with over 50 persons (some of them famous, some of them not even real) in a totally innovative design by Peter Blake. Brian Epstein did never agree with it because he thought it didn't give The Beatles enough importance. When EMI got the bill for the cover photograph, they couldn't believe the ammount, much higher than the cost of most of other LPs, but it wasn't The Beatles recording them. As for the studio work, the Sgt. Pepper album is nothing short of a miracle. For any of you who like to play around playing with your 4 track recorders or doing Midi files, the whole Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP was recorded in 4 track machines. It's true that not in a single machine, which made easier reducing tracks and yet the final songs only were layed down in 4 tracks. Furthermore, not only George Martin's job as a producer was out of his time, but also the engineers job was vital to the album. Some of the sounds in the LP are incredible, technical innovations were pushed to the limit to achieve sounds like the ones featured in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" or in "A day in the life" As soon as the LP came out, it became a myth. People would stay at home listening to it endlessly. Hidden messages were 'found' in its songs. Drugs (which The Beatles were consuming in considerable quantities at the time) politics and even visionary messages were found by people looking for answers. Critics admired it from the moment it was published and musicians in the whole world were copying it a few days after its release. There is only one thing to be held against the Sgt. Pepper album. It's perfect in it musical balance, great in its conception, psychidelic and yet melodic and a classic. A whole concept with great separate parts. But The Beatles maybe would have achieved the divine by including Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane in it, as it was intended. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Recording Dates December 20th 1966 - April 21st 1967 Release Date: June 1st, 1967 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band McCartney John:Backing Vocal Paul:Rythm Guitar, Bass Guitar and Lead Vocal George:Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal Ringo:Drums James W. Buck, Neil Sanders, Tony Randall and John Burden: French Horns The Pepper project, wasn't really that, until this great song by Paul was recorded. The idea of a brass band with a life of its own, also playing rock in the middle of the psychedelic era soon grew up in Paul's mind as an excuse to make a new album. The song itself is probably one of the most exciting Beatles songs. George's guitar leads the way in, in a way only surpased by Ringo's intro in the Reprise. The Beatles provoked a new technologic breakthrough in recording techniques. The engineers at Abbey Road came out with Direct Injection. This meant that the electric guitars could be directlyt plugged in the recording console, rather than being recorded with a mic from the amp. Waht nowadays is something we expect any 4 track machine to be equiped with, was then an external box, called DI. Later on most musicians have preferred to keep recording from the amps, apealing to a better sound. But only after The Beatles they can choose. The sound effects are crucial to the song's final result. The musicians tuning up at the beginning were recorded before the orchestral build up for "A Day In The Life". The Audience came from Abbey Road's famous vault of sound effects. The brass section of the song (Sgt Pepper and his boys) was performed by four session musicians with French Horns. The song vocals, incredible, by Paul, end up with a harmony introduction of the band singer, Billy Shears... With a Little Help From My Friends Lennon-McCartney Working Title:Badfinger Paul:Bass Guitar, Piano and Backing Vocal John:Cowbell, Backing Vocal George:Lead Guitar and Tambourine Ringo:Drums and Lead Vocal George Martin:Hammond Organ Although the end of Sgt Pepper, the Billy Shears phrase was really recorded as the beginning of With a Little Help From My Friends. Apparently, Paul came up with the melody and the lyrics were worked out at John's House one afternoon. During the session, whenever they got stuck, they played rock numbers, old hits and even Paul sketched what was to be The Fool on The Hill. Ringo's vocal is probably one of the best ever, and the song captured the singalong mood that was intended for it perfectly. The fact that over 100 covers have been recorded, and that Joe Cocker got a number 1 with it says it all. The working title Paul gave the song, was later to derive into the name of a gruop signed by Apple, Badfinger. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Lennon John:Lead Guitar and Lead Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar and Backing Vocal George:Fuzzed Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal Ringo:Drums Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is probably one of The Beatles songs with more story behind it. I remember, being a kid, when I got interest of my own in the group, a friend of mine (11 year old as well) told me how the Beatles were into drugs after seeing Yellow Submarine. "Do you know Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds? Well if you take the initials it spells out LSD" "Really??" I answered. "Are you sure of that?" "Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Listen to the song" Lucy was a friend of Julian's at school. One day, when he got back from school, he showed John a drawing he had made. "It's Lucy dad, in the sky with diamonds". The drawing has been published (A Hard Day's Write) and obviously portrays someone in the sky with what seem to really be diamonds. John always denied the LSD meaning of the title and it's widely accepted that Julian's drawing inspired his dad. When in 1974 archaeologists found in Ethiopia what was then, the oldest ancestor of human beings, the Australopithecus afarensis, the song was playing in the excavation camp speakers. She became from that moment Lucy and once again The Beatles influenced history (even 12 years later when an older homo habilis was found, they called it Lucy's Daughter. As for the song itself, it's just a wonder of modern music. The lyrics seem to come out of one of Lewis Carroll stragest poems which John used to love and was able to retain their musicality. John's voice seems to take you to the land of dreams with plasticine porters and newspaper taxis. The chorus is one of the catchiest in any Beatles songs and the intro is one of the best in history of modern music. The song was recorded with great ammount of varispeed. To achieve the several sound effectsin the song some parts were recorded at different speed. As you will probably know by playing with your turntable or your hi-speed dubbing tape recorder, when things are speeded up they change to higher pitch frequencies. The Beatles recorded almost every beat of the song at a different speed to achieve the final result we all know (Check Lewishon's Recording Sessions for details) Getting Better McCartney John: Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar and Vocals George:Lead Guitar, Tamboura and Backing Vocal Ringo Starr:Drums and Bongos George Martin:Piano The only time one of The Beatles had to be substituted for illness, was during the summer 1964 world Tour. Ringo had to go through surgery and Jimmy Nicols, a drummer with no significant past, and as time was to prove a future far from popularity, was cho sen for this exact reason to play drums for The Beatles. Nicols who did not share too many words with the guys was requested to play live having rehearsed only once with The Beatles. As concerts went on, after every one of them he was asked by the three Beatles how things were going. His answer was always the same "It's Getting Better" Three years later Paul McCartney was walking his dog Martha in Primrose Hill and as the spring morning grew warmer, he recalled the phrase. He later told John that the phrase would do a nice song title. A clear example of joint compossition, Getting Better really gives the impression of having been written by two voices, one clearly stating that things are going better while the other says that they couldn't go much worse. Of course Paul's optimism was the one against John's realism. In this song George played tamboura, another indian instrument which gives a rythm backing rather than producing some clearly defined notes. On top of that we have a great song with excelent harmonies, and a strong syncopated feeling fantastically enhaced by the piano, played by George Martin. Fixing a Hole McCartney John:Maracas and Backing Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar and Lead Vocal George:Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal Ringo:Drums George Martin?:Harpsichord The first time The Beatles recorded in a studio other than Abbey Road in Britain, was the night of February the 9th, when after finding that Abbey Road was booked they decided to move on to Regent Studio. George Martin, no longer an EMI employee followed them, but Geoff Emerick couldn't due to the company policy. The first takes of the song were recorded this day, although later remixes followed in Abbey Road with the usual staff The song, written by Paul McCartney was again interpreted as Paul getting a 'fix' of Heroin. However as it has been referenced in several books, what Paul meant in his own words was "This song is just about the hole in the road where the rain gets in; a good old analogy -the hole in your make-up which lets the rain and stops your mind from going where it will. It's you interfering with things.... If you're a junkie sitting in a room fixing a hole then that's what it will mean to you, but when I wrote it I meant if there's a crack or the room is uncolorful, then I'll paint it' There has been some debate around regarding who plays harpsichord in the song. While Neill Aspinall credited Paul with it, as Lewisohn points out, the bass was recorded at the same time and it certainly sounds as McCartney. Presumably George Martin, present at the time, was the person to play it, and certainly the most adequate to do so. She's Leaving Home McCartney John:Lead Vocal Paul:Lead Vocal Erich Gruenberg, Derek Jacobs, Trevor Williams, Jose Luis García:Violins John Underwood, Stephen Shingles:Violas Dennis Vigay, Alan Dalziel:Cellos Gordon Pearce:Double-Bass Sheila Bromberg:Harp An excellent Song by Paul in which like in Eleanor Rigby, the music is played by session musicians. In this case a double string quartet plus a double-bass and a harp (playing the delightful intro) But this time we can't credit the score to George Martin. The night Paul decided to do the score Martin was busy with some of his other acts, and couldn't write it. Paul was quite in a hurry and told Mike Leanders to write it for him. George Martin (naturally) didn't like this. He however fixed a couple of notes in the score and produced the great song. If we are to listen to the score carefully, it somehow lacks from the work George Martin liked to give to strings, and although quite simple is really effective. A song again out of the Daily Mirror, this time it was about a girl called Melanie Coe. Although Paul had to make up most of the data, the truth is that he got it quite right according to Melanie, a 17 year old at the time (Turner). Her parents wondered why she had left... 'she had everything she wanted'. In the real life, Melanie didn't meet a man from the motor trade, but instead a croupier, and left in the afternoon while her parents were at work. The adventure ended a week later. Of special interest in the song are the vocals by John and Paul singing in falsetto as the voices of the parents. The two voices, presumibly with ADT, plus the falsettos give the song the etereal effect achieved as well by the harp intro. An all time favourite. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite Lennon John:Hammond Organ and Lead Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar George, Ringo, Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall:Harmonica George Martin:Harmonium and Swirling Organ The moment John bought from an antique shop in Sevenoaks an old circus poster, he knew that he had a song in his hands. And the truth is that as it has been thoroughly referenced, the whole song is extracted from such poster with only slight changes to go with the rhyme. You can check it out for yourselves reading the exact words of the poster, as found in the The Beatles Homepage One of the best atmospheres ever created for a song was the one that the producing team in the Sgt. Pepper album achieved in Being for The Benefit of Mr. Kite. Although the average listener would never think of it in terms of production, the sounds in the song inmediately take anyone listening to the song to a fair or a circus. However taking a closer look to the passage, will notice that it isn't just an organ passage. A Harmonium, an organ and several harmonicas tried to give the impression of a fair. But John wanted to "smell the sawdust on the floor". George Martin thought that a Calliope would do the job (an instrument in which sound is produced by steam flowing through tubes played with a keyboard) The only ones available were the ones played by punch-in cards, so it couldn't be played to serve the song. Finally, pieces of tape of Calliope were cut and thrown in the air, to later put them together. According to Lewisohn, 16 pieces were taped together and re-ordered again to achieve the magical atmosphere of the song. Within Without You Harrison Working Title:Untitled George:Tamboura and Lead Vocal Session Musicians:Swordmandel, Dilruba Erich Gruenberg, Alan Loveday, Julien Gaillard, Paul Scherman, Ralph Elman, David Wolfsthal, Jack Rothstein and Jack Greene:Violins Reginald Kilbey, Allen Ford and Peter Beavan:Cellos Probably the most Indian song the Beatles ever wrote (and you can assume George Harrison was behind it) was Within Without You. George wrote it while he was at Klaus Voorman's (artist who designed the Revolver and Anthologies covers, and played bass several times with some of the Beatles in their solo career). The only Beatle present at the recording sessions of Within Without You was George. The rythm track was provided by several Indian musicians and a string section performing a George Martin score. The result is an almost mystic track which was vey appreciated by those experiencing with drugs at the time. By the way, anyone wants to bet if George ever got a name for a song before it was finished? When I'm Sixty-Four McCartney John:Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal George:Backing Vocal Ringo:Drums, Bells Robert Burns, Henry Mackenzie, Frank Reidy:Clarinets The Quarrymen were playing early versions of When I'm 64 as early as 1957. The song was clearly influenced by Paul's father, who was a musician in the twenties. Probably, the many hours Paul spent next to him while playing the piano did have a strong influence on some of McCartney's songs. Although some books indicate that the song was directly written FOR his father, who was turning 64 at the time of its release, Paul clearly stated that when he wrote it Jim McCartney was about 56. 64 made reference to a year before the retirement age in Britain. The song is a Beatles jewel, both musically (with that antique feeling that only Honey Pie and Your Mother Should Know posses) and in terms of its lyrics. The backing vocals and the perfect score for the clarinets provide an all time favourite. Lovely Rita McCartney John:Acoustic Guitar, Comb and Toilet Paper and Backing Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal George:Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocal Ringo:Drums George Martin:Piano Paul McCartney composed this excellent song based on the American term used for the British traffic wardens. Quite evident is the own musicality of the title. One of the song's most curious aspects are the echoed sounds that are heard at the end. John Lennon using heavy echo in his headphones experimented with all kinds of cha chas, and even hittin a toilet paper with a comb. Specially delightful are the backing vocals provided by John and George before the piano solo in Honky-Tonk style provided by George Martin. Good Morning Good Morning Lennon John:Lead Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar and Backing Vocal George:Lead Guitar Ringo:Drums Barrie Cameron, David Glyde, Alan Holmes:Saxophones John Lee, A.N. Other:Trombones Session Musician:French Horn (Tom...) Good Morning is probably the weakest song in Pepper, written by one of the weakest Lennons. And yet, it has quite a lot behind it. In this period of his life John used to stay in his house and got the inspiration for his songs in posters, newspapers and TV. A Kellogg's Corn Flakes commercial with a jingle saying "Good Morning Good Morning. The best to you each morning. Sunshine Breakfast, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, crisp and full of fun" turned into the song we all know. Musically the song is not a great prodigy, and yet there's a lot of production work behind it. The wind section inmediately gives the song its own particular style (note that only the first name of the French Horn player is known). Of great interest is the succession of animal sounds that can be heard, out of Abbey Road's magic sound collection. Although it is referenced in many places as being "almost a chaos" and that sounds were applied at random, Lewisohn helpfully points out that it follows an order. The sound of each animal should appear as if escaping from the next one able to devour him. We can find: Cock crowing Cat Meawing Dogs Barking Horses neighing Sheep bleating lions roaring elephans snorting Finally there's a fox, being chased by bloodhounds, a cow lowing, and at last, a hen clucking. This last sound was found to be similar enough to a distorted guitar note. A guitar note that would lead to... Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) McCartney John:Maracas, Lead Guitar and Lead Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar, Organ and Lead Vocal George:Lead Guitar and Lead Vocal Ringo:Drums and Lead Vocal Once again Paul's count to four (with John saying bye between 2 and 3) leads to a great, thrilling song. Sgt Pepper's band could not end the show without saying goodbye to the audience. Just as the record began, now it was about to end. The Reprise, is probably the best Reprise in the history of music. Many of us like better this second version recorded in just 4 tracks in Abbey Road's number one studio. All four Beatles sing the lyrics to this shortly over a minute version of the great track. Specially remarkable are: The tonal change in the middle of the Reprise (which even gives it a more frantic feeling) The splendid line "we're Sgt. Pepper's one and only lonely hearts club band" with a musicality of its own certainly outstanding. Personally, the Reprise is for me one of the great moments in Pepper. Although recorded in a hurry, for Paul was to leave for the States and they only had a session before the album was released, the song is more than adequate to lead the listener to a pre-climax which will end with... A Day In The Life Lennon-McCartney Working Title:In The Life Of... John:Acousic Guitar, Piano Chord and Lead Vocal Paul:Bass Guitar, Piano, Piano Chord and Lead George:Bongos and Piano Chord Ringo:Drums, Maracas and Piano Chord George Martin:Harmonium Chord Mal Evans:Bar Count, Alarm Clock and Piano Chord 40 piece Orchestra A Day In The Life is one of those mythical songs. For every serious fan, a subject of deep and interesting study. For the rest a catchy song that whenever is heard makes them say "hey, this is a great song!" In every aspect, A Day In The Life is a masterpiece. This song is one of the few at these stages of The Beatles career that can be simultaneously credited both to John and Paul. However strictly speaking it wasn't a direct collaboration between them, John had his unfinished song and Paul had another unfinished song that would probably fit in the gap. The truth is that even knowing that they were at some stage two separate songs, one cannot think of one without the other, and no other "filler" would have suited John's song better than Paul's. Once again an evident proof that these two musical minds were made to complement the other. John's part of the song is, as one might have guessed, the first one, and then again the end of the song. The lyrics originated in January 1967, and they may be traced to their different sources: Man Who Blew His Mind: Tara Browne, 25 years old, grandson of Edward Cecil Guiness (the famous brewer), died on December 18th 1966. Tara was a friend of The Beatles, but John didn't copy the accident.... "Tara didn't blow his mind out. But it was in my mind when I was writing that verse". Although the accident occurred in Dec '66, the coroner's report was issued on Jan '67, when John read about it. I saw a Film today: John filmed "How I Won the War" in Almería, Spain. The film featured him as a soldier of the English army winning the war. Although the premier was not until October 1967, several articles were written about it during the period we have already mentioned. 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancanshire: On Jan 17th 1967, a Blackburn City Council survey was published, which showed that there was on twenty-sixth of a hole for each Blackburn resident. The Albert Hall filling reference was a result of rhyming small. Paul's part was his remembrance of school days when he used to catch the bus after having a smoke. in 1968 he admitted that the "turn-on" part of the song was a direct reference to marijuana, and yet the ONLY reference to drugs in the album (Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and Fixing a Hole weren't making such reference) The musical part of A Day in The Life, is even more interesting than the lyrics origins. It is necessary to understand the several stages the track went through to fully understand the final result. Lewisohn describes in the Sessions every detail of the recording process. Both John and Paul had their songs put together, although Paul's lyrics weren't yet decided. They also didn't know what should be fitted between verses 2 and 3. However the number of bars (the length of the interval) was already fixed at 24. Mal Evans counted the bars, with a heavy echo being added every time he said a number, until finally his words were just an echoing nonsense. A tinkling piano helped to do the count. An alarm clock was ringed after the 24 bars to indicate The Beatles when they should start again recording Paul's bit. Throughout the song John's voice used heavy echo applied life to his cans (headphones) so he could get a feeling of what it would sound like. It was Paul's idea to record 90 musicians in an orchestral build-up to fill the song's middle eight. 40 session musicians (details of the line up can be found in Lewisohn sessions) were engaged to persform the "score" written by George Martin. Each one of them was to start with the lowest possible note in his instrument, and finishing in a note of an E major chord, increasing in the smallest possible note intervals the tone of the note during 24 bars. They were not to listen to the pace in which other instruments were increasing the note pitch to accomplish the desired effect. Afterwards, the tape was superimposed 4 times, so the equivalent of a 160 musicians orchestra was obtained. The last chord of the song was to be played in 3 pianos by George, Paul, Joh nand Mal Evans, with the only purpose of making it as long as posible. Just an E major chord (with which the orchestral build-up had ended). A Harmonium was also added by George Martin, and after 9 takes, a 53 second chord was obtained. With today's technology, the chord turns out to be even longer and as Geoff Emerick pointed out in 1987 when Pepper was released on CD, they could have make it last a little longer. Finally, it was John's idea to include (only in the first pressing of the British LP) a dog whistle to make dogs perk up. During the pressing stages of the record such a task was performed adding a 15KHz tone, which those of you with sharps ears may hear after the dying sound of the chord (sounds like a TV when it's on). The nonsense with which the record ends, was recorded in the inner groove of the LP, so those with non-automatic turntables would listen to it forever. Rumours of a hidden backwards message were spread, but listening to it doesn't show anything obvious (you can always imagine "hidden messages"). The re-issue in 1987 of the CD included again the 15KHz tone and the chatter in the inner groove.