Beatles, The: Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition (4xCD/DVD/BluRay)

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.

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.


The six-disc boxed set features the album’s new stereo mix on its first CD; two CDs with 33 additional recordings from the studio sessions, most previously unreleased and mixed for the first time from the four-track masters, sequenced in chronological order of their recording dates; a fourth CD with the remastered original mono mixes of the album and the “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” singles, Capitol Records’ U.S. promotional single for “Penny Lane,” and previously unreleased alternate mono mixes of “She’s Leaving Home,” “A Day In The Life,” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (a mix thought to have been wiped from the master reel, but discovered during tape research for the new edition); and DVD and Blu-ray discs with Martin’s new 5.1 surround audio mixes of the album and “Penny Lane,” plus “Strawberry Fields Forever” (first released in The Beatles’ ‘1+’ audio and video collection), Martin’s new high resolution (96 kHz/24-bit) stereo mixes of the album, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “Penny Lane,” and video features including the 4K restored original promotional films for “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” and “A Day In The Life,” as well as ‘The Making of Sgt. Pepper,’ a newly restored 1992 documentary film featuring insightful interviews with McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, and in-studio footage introduced by George Martin.

The album’s extravagant Pop Art cover, which finds The Beatles surrounded by a crowd of heroes in collage, and its extras-laden packaging were created by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth in collaboration with The Beatles. The artwork is showcased across the suite of anniversary edition releases, including the album’s original pull-out sheet of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ cutouts. Housed in a 12-inch by 12-inch box with lenticular artwork and two bonus posters, the six-disc special collector’s edition is presented in a 144-page hardcover book featuring McCartney’s written introduction, comprehensive song-by-song details and recording information, in-depth essays about the design of the cover, the album’s musical innovations and its historical context by Giles Martin; Beatles historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett; composer and musicologist Howard Goodall; music producer and writer Joe Boyd; and journalists Ed Vulliamy and Jeff Slate, plus rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten lyrics, Abbey Road Studios documentation, and original ‘Sgt. Pepper’ print ads.

“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.


Tracklist

Disc 1 (CD) – new 2017 stereo mix, complete with the original UK album's 'edit for LP end' run-out groove.

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

Disc 2 (CD) – outtakes:

1. Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1)
2. Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 4)
3. Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7)
4. Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26)
5. Strawberry Fields Forever (2015 stereo mix)
6. When I'm Sixty-Four (Take 2)
7. Penny Lane (Take 6: instrumental)
8. Penny Lane (vocal overdubs and speech)
9. Penny Lane (2017 stereo mix)
10. A Day In The Life (Take 1)
11. A Day In The Life (Take 2)
12. A Day In The Life (orchestra overdub)
13. A Day In The Life (hummed last chord: Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11)
14. A Day In The Life (The Last Chord)
15. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 1: instrumental)
16. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 9 and speech)
17. Good Morning Good Morning (Take 1: instrumental, breakdown)
18. Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8)

Disc 3 (CD) – outtakes:

1. Fixing A Hole (Take 1)
2. Fixing A Hole (speech and Take 3)
3. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (speech from before Take 1; Take 4; speech at end)
4. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (Take 7)
5. Lovely Rita (speech and Take 9)
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Take 1, speech at end)
7. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (speech, false start, Take 5)
8. Getting Better (Take 1: instrumental; speech at end)
9. Getting Better (Take 12)
10. Within You Without You (Take 1: Indian instruments only)
11. Within You Without You (George coaching the musicians)
12. She's Leaving Home (Take 1: instrumental)
13. She's Leaving Home (Take 6: instrumental)
14. With A Little Help From My Friends (Take 1: false start; Take 2: instrumental)
15. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (speech, Take 8)

Disc 4 (CD) – mono mixes:

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
14. Strawberry Fields Forever (original mono mix)
15. Penny Lane (original mono mix)
16. A Day In The Life (unreleased first mono mix)
17. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (unreleased mono mix: No. 11)
18. She's Leaving Home (unreleased first mono mix)
19. Penny Lane (Capitol Records US promo single: mono mix)

Disc 5 (DVD) – Sgt Pepper in 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo:

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
14. Strawberry Fields Forever
15. Penny Lane
16. The Making Of Sgt Pepper
17. A Day In The Life
18. Strawberry Fields Forever
19. Penny Lane
20. Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
21. Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
22. Sgt Pepper's Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
23. Strawberry Field Forever/ Penny Lane Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
24. Video Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
25. Making of Chapter 1 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
26. Making of Chapter 2 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
27. Video Setup Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Disc 6 (Blu-ray) – Sgt Pepper in 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo:

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
14. Strawberry Fields Forever
15. Penny Lane
16. The Making Of Sgt Pepper
17. A Day In The Life
18. Strawberry Fields Forever
19. Penny Lane
20. Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
21. Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
22. Sgt Pepper's Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
23. Strawberry Field Forever/ Penny Lane Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
24. Video Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
25. Making of Chapter 1 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
26. Making of Chapter 2 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
27. Video Setup Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band