Beatles – Life Story – The Road to Sgt Papper 2015
THE BEATLES LIFE STORY – THE ROAD TO SGT. PEPPER
Admittedly “It was nearly 50 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play” doesn’t have quite the same ring as the original lyrics to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but it nonetheless doesn’t take away from the fact that the album from which that song hails – considered by many to be the crowning achievement of The Beatles – is approaching its Golden Anniversary.
From the start of their musical ascent, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr represented a band in evolution, challenging the rules of the music world and gradually rewriting them in their own image. Were they successful in their efforts? The fact that we’re writing these words and you’re reading them 45 years after they disbanded, pretty much sums up the answer to that question.
This special edition of Lífe Story magazine – The Beatles: The Road To Sgt. Pepper – has been crafted specifically to look at what we consider to be a trilogy of albums making up that journey. It starts with 1965’s Rubber Soul, which showcased the growing songwriting prowess of not only John Lennon and Paul McCartney (“Norwegian Wood,” “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” “In My Life,” “Michelle”), but George Harrison (“Think For Yourself,” “IfI Needed Someone”) as well; songwriting that even at that point was demonstrating that The Beatles were beginning to stand apart from their contemporaries.
This is followed by 1966’s Revolver, where we see even more of a deepening of their lyrics (“Eleanor Rigby,” “Taxman,” “Here, There And Everywhere,” “I Want To Tell You,” “Got To Get You Into My Life”) and an embracing of experimentation in the recording studio, paving the way for their psychedelic stage (“She Said She Said,” “Tomorrow Never Knows”). Allofwhich culminates with 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the album that embodied the Summer Of Love, was preceded by the classic dual single “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” and introduced the first of many generations to such classics as ”Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” “Fixing A Hole,” “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite;’ “She’s Leaving Home” and ”A Day In The Life,” among others.
Our exploration of each of these albums is broken into three distinct sections: an overview, which offers up a behind-thescenes look at how each carne about; a track-by-track breakdown that looks at the creation of each song, and features the comments of The Beatles themselves; and a roundtable discussion that interweaves the points of view of a number of Beatles experts who come together to analyze and dissect each of the three albums. As an added bonus, author Bruce Spizer provides a look at the Capitol Records relea.se Yesterday And Today, which bridges the gap between Rubber Soul and Revolver, and ended up creating a great deal of controversy when it was originally issued with the so-called “Butcher Block” cover. ‘ We view this as a unique look back at The Beatles, highlighting a significant aspect of ~ their legacy, and we hope you’ll join us on this particular journey. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!
