Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

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.

Album ExcellentAmazon send you items that had been returned.As the outer box was not sealed.So technically it was not new.Amazon wouldn't post my original review.Its obvious they did not like it

Please take the time to read the whole of this review.I am not happy with this, really not happy with this Super Deluxe version.I had ordered a couple of months ahead of the release and I waited in anticipation of the finest recording from the original master tapes that we are ever going to get.I own the original 1967 Mono vinyl, the original stereo vinyl edition and yet another stereo vinyl edition from the 1980s and I was in the front of the line at the HMV store for issue of 1987 CD release.I had this packaged up and I was going to ask for a return, £109.99 is an awful lot of money when the original Stereo CD from 1987 sounds better, more in focus, more precise than this 'So called Hi-Resolution master'Maybe i have had so much anticipation of this being the Hi-Resolution master of the original 1987 digital master and could never imagine anyone actually spoiling a classic, that i never even read the advertising blurp that comes with such an important re-issue as this is.Maybe I have been waiting for Hi-Resolution 24bit-96kHz Beatles albums for too long, anyway to save you reading any further on, ''stick to the first CD issue from 1987'' its perfect, ok its not in Hi-Resolution 24bit-96kHz Stereo but its a damned sight better than this, which could be considered as a re-recording because it bears no resemblance to the original Stereo masters.The Hi-Resolution (24bit-96kHz) LPCM Stereo only tracks on the Blu-Ray and DVD-Audio discs in this set are full of compressions and distortions, vocals placed so far back in the mix that you may have thought they had buggered off home, when they are there sibilance takes over.Where's the tuneful percussion gone, McCartneys thumping bass takes over and sod all else gets through, his vocal on 'When Im 64' again sounds so 'Lazy' as though he could not be bothered.The beautiful tuneful bells on the start of 'Lovely Rita' gone, Lennons vocal backing again sounds so lazy.If you are like most of the reviewers here shouting from the roof tops, listening to the MP3 or the streamed version and are happy with 320kbps compressed music then you will not have a clue what i'm rattling on about, ''Sound Quality'' whats that?OK a master tape that is of the age that 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' is, a bit of 'hiking up the volume during studio mastering' is going to be needed due to the original master tape 'softening' but come on 'Giles Martin' I don't think this is what we were all expecting in the Hi-End audio brigade, it may sound superb in 5.1 surround sound, the kids will love it, i wont, that's not what the Stereo Only Hi-End Brigade want, we want all ''The Beatles'' original Mono and Stereo studio masters in ''uncompressed 24bit-96kHz or greater Hi-Resolution Stereo that is within a 90% of the original master tapes not a re-recording where someone has literally ''Pissed on a PIcasso''Giles Martin you need to hang your head in shame.I do not care if the other discs in this Deluxe edition have previously unreleased material, i am not falling for it.It can stay in my collection, it will be a collectors item, everything by The Beatles ends up that way but as far as further demands for multiple reprints of this Deluxe Edition, forget it.The younger among us want everything in MP3 or to have 320kbps streamed to them, ah let them have that dross, for the price of £109.99 i expected a master recording not the dross on offer on the claimed ''Hi-Resolution'' Blu-Ray Audio and DVD-Audio discs.For this Christmas can we have a box set of all the original Mono and Stereo Masters in 'Hi-Res 24bit-96kHz on Blu-Ray Audio or SACD, i will pay up to £500 for that.Poor Show Giles.Updated January 2018.I have just Purchased the High-Res download ''just to give this a second chance'' £32.75 from HD Tracks. It sounds just as bad played via the computer then sent into the DAC section of my Marantz SA11s3 SACD/CD Player, but hang on a minute.....If you do not mind the gaps in between tracks 1 and 2 and others further on then try this, I did a what a surprise....Download the album from HD Tracks, load it onto a Micro SD memory card, put that memory card into a USB card reader and play it via the front USB socket on your High Resolution Blu-Ray player, (Marantz UD7007 or the Oppo series players etc etc) and ''WOW' its all starting to make sense now.''I TAKE IT ALL BACK'' please send my apologies to Giles Martin.''Superb job Giles''Why not market the Deluxe Edition on a SD card, akin to the 24bit-44.1kHz ''MQS release'' of the ''1'' compilation from South Korea, now I can appreciate what you are doing with the Remix.My vote increases to 5* plus for the HD Tracks download.But please ''Why could we not have got the digital stereo master from 1987 in High-Res'' whether it be a download or a hard copy disc version because this remix on the ''Hi-Resolution'' discs is poor.Amazon can you please start to retail ''Hi-Resolution downloads'' please.Thanks for taking the time to read my opinions on the Super Deluxe version and the HD Download version, I hope you find it helpful.