Beatles, The: Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Dlx. Edition (2xCD)

The Beatles will release an expanded, newly remixed and lavishly presented edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in several configurations on May 26, just ahead of its June 1 anniversary. This is the first time ‘Sgt. Pepper’ has been remixed and presented with previously unreleased recordings from the studio sessions.

“It’s crazy to think that 50 years later we are looking back on this project with such fondness and a little bit of amazement at how four guys, a great producer and his engineers could make such a lasting piece of art,” says Paul McCartney in his newly-penned introduction for the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ anniversary edition.

“Sgt. Pepper’ seemed to capture the mood of that year, and it also allowed a lot of other people to kick off from there and to really go for it,” says Ringo Starr in the anniversary edition’s book.

To create Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’s new stereo, 5.1 surround, and high resolution audio mixes, producer Giles Martin oversaw an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London. All of the anniversary edition releases include Martin’s new stereo remix of the album, sourced from the original, Beatles-preferred mono mix produced by his father, George Martin, from the four-track masters.

George Martin once explained, “We were into another kind of art form where you were putting something down on tape that could only be done on tape.” The Beatles clocked more than 400 hours in Abbey Road’s Studio 2 to record Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, wrapping sessions in April 1967.


Deluxe Anniversary Edition: Expanded 2CD adding Martin’s stereo mixes for “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” plus previously unreleased alternate takes for each of the album’s 13 tracks, sequenced in the same order as the album. The deluxe edition’s 2CD digipak is slipcased with a 50-page booklet abridged from the box set’s book.


Tracklist

CD1 (Sgt PEPPER NEW STEREO MIX)

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life.


CD2 (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SESSION TAKES)

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9]
2. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 - False Start And Take 2]
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1]
4. Getting Better [Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End]
5. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
6. She's Leaving Home [Take 1 - Instrumental]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 4]
8. Within You Without You [Take 1 - Indian Instruments]
9. When I'm Sixty-Four [Take 2]
10. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
11. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Take 8]
13 A Day In The Life [Take 1 With Hummed Last Chord]
14. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 7]
15. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 26]
16. Strawberry Fields Forever [Stereo Mix - 2015]
17. Penny Lane [Take 6 - Instrumental]