Sgt Pepper mark its 50th anniversary June 2nd making its North American release coinciding with the Summer Of Love social event in San Francisco that was followed by similar events in London and some other parts of the world.
The band is set to release the album in four different formats: a single CD, a double CD,double vinyl and a six disc super deluxe edition comprising of all the aforementioned recordings plus a 144 page hard book with new introductions from Paul McCartney and Giles Martin.
With an expanded track and several packages in different formats,Sgt Pepper proved to be one of the most significant albums that ever came out half a century later.
The concept for the album dates back with Paul McCartney having a thought of an imaginary band as an alter ego to the Beatles. The band went through rough times touring around the world and decided to retire from touring and concentrate more on the music they were making in the studio.Making such decisions gave them more time to experiment and be more adventurous on their approach.
Though not really the first concept album to ever come into existence[ a lot of people consider Frank Zappa's 1966 release Freak Out! as the first],George Martin was obviously the man behind the console and did all those magic and up until then the Beatles have created an album at least at that time that is quite impossible to replicate in concert.
Looking back,how much influence does this album had on other musicians in the past fifty years? Not too many? Well,considering other artists who have followed the Beatles' footsteps on creating such a concept masterpiece.We begin with the Rolling Stones on their flower power output Their Satanic Majesties Request in which funny enough,has garnered much hatred from John Lennon's sharp tongue,describing on how the Stones wanted to copy his band first hand.There's Prince with his concept album Around The World In A Day in which he wholeheartedly admitted that was influenced by Pepper,considering the manner in which he delivered the master tapes to his record label wherein he sat on the floor surrounded by flowers while the record execs examine what would be his 1987 masterpiece.There's Red Hot Chilli Peppers dressed in Pepper clothings for a rock magazine,Green Day having a concept album American Idiot,Phil Collins praising Ringo's drumming on "A Day In The Life" and the list just goes on...
Considering the importance of how significant this album is on changing not only the lives of people who sat and listened,but on how it changed the whole procedure of how music is recorded and an amazing feat perhaps that the album has crossed generations and time space.The album just went to number one in the charts as I am writing this and its just overwhelming.
We can only wonder in awe as we think what will happen for another fifty years. Time,people changes but the Beatles were always there for us.
(c) 2017 Keith Vernon Adagio
