Revised Sgt Pepper album?
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| The Sunday Times: Anniversary re-release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band” due. |
According to The Sunday Times, a New edition of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is planned for release this year, with the single tracks “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” added.
The newspaper says that “The 50th anniversary of the release of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band this June will be marked with a worldwide re-release — and for fans it will mean at last hearing the album as the band had intended it to sound”.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the anniversary relaunch on June 1 will reinstate the two tracks, which George Martin agreed to release as a single several months before the album was in the shops. The Sunday Times quotes Paul McCartney:”We were then moving away from screaming girls’ gigs where no one could hear anything in the concert halls any more and were working on Sgt Pepper. John wrote this absolutely amazing song, Strawberry Fields Forever, for the new album and I was frankly a bit jealous, so I went home and wrote Penny Lane. It worked and we wanted them as the main tracks on Sgt Pepper.”
The Sunday Times also writes that “Although details of the re-release are being kept secret, it is understood that all parties involved have co-operated fully, including McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison”.
Source: Sunday Times
We must add that as far as we’re concerned, we believe that a 50th Anniversary re-release of the “Sgt. Pepper” album should do more than just add the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever single to the album’s lineup, and we do think that a far grander scheme is in the works.
Sadly, I believe that's it they're not gonna include nothing new
There there will be alternate versions.There also were a lot of different ideas, discussed on the eight track session tapes….
Sgt. Pepper was only recorded on 4-tracks.
The album was recorded on 4-track not 8.
It implies "Pepper" will be as it might have been, had Capitol not pulled Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane out of contention early in the year. However, they can't simply tag them on as bonus tracks and think that's what would have happened at the time. Other songs would have had to give way – and what about the running order? I could picture Strawberry Fields closing side 1 and Penny Lane opening side 2, but then what would have become of Within You Without You, and where would Mr Kite appear?
Parlophone. Not Capitol.
It will 100% be a remix. Giles Martin has said he's working on a "psychedelic Beatles project"
Hoping it's a remix – and not a dreary 'White Album @40'-style thing (or was it '@30'? I'm so old I can't remember…!)
Now that IS an exciting prospect!
I hope they leave it alone and maybe release it as a stereo / mono set with an extra disc of singles (Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane with the original 45 rpm picture sleeve)
A hard cover booklet of recording details and photo sessions would be great. But it's Sgt Pepper – leave it alone!!
It kinda downgrades Magical Mystery Tour doesn't it?
Carnival Of Light as a bonus track
A couple of things come to mind.
1) Since these songs were siphoned off as a single release before the project was well under way, their inclusion and the running order of the album would have to be different.
2) Stereo was still a bit of a novelty and certainly not their primary focus, so the mono version of the album was the only version that really mattered to them at the time.
Many fans prefer the sound and mix of the mono release as it is very different from the stereo.
I saw something like this coming a while back, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I thought by 2067, the album would be remembered but it would be quite different by then. It would be more a celebration of the band and of the era. I did a playlist in iTunes. I called it Sgt Pepper Reprise.
Tracks were:
Sgt Pepper
Tomorrow Never Knows
Rain (Take Unknown) (From Unsurpassed Masters)
Strawberry Fields Forever
In My Life
Hey Bulldog
Penny Lane (Ultra Rare Trax Vol 1)
I Am the Walrus
Revolution
Cry Baby Cry
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Hey Jude (from remixed 1)
Love You Too
Yer Blues
Helter Skelter
Sgt Pepper Reprise (LOVE)
A Day in the Life
17 songs, 1 hour, 1 minute.
It rocks! The alt versions make it a little more immediate sounding.
2017? I'd rather have the original album with a couple of bonus discs with outtakes, demos and remixes.
Don't care what maybe/might have been, there should be no changes to Sgt Peppers. I would suggest a 3 disc set as follows:
Disc 1 mono/stereo versions
Disc 2 outtakes/alternative mixes from the recording sessions
Disc 3 DVD with the George Martin Making of Sgt Peppers documentary and any other relevant videos.
Plus a booklet with lyrics and production information etc.
Forget Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane. They were not on the album and are now apart of the MMT album
So is there going to be any jiggery pokery of the track list or are they just going to bolt them on the end?
Surely 'Only A Northern Song' should be added also as it was the first tune presented by George Harrison during the Pepper sessions although rejected by George Martin…
Surely George Martin's rejection of Northern Song is reason enough to exclude it from the reissue
My sentiment about including Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. I reckon they'll only be included on a bonus disc anyway, but for now it's anyone's guess.
My sentiment about including Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. I reckon they'll only be included on a bonus disc anyway, but for now it's anyone's guess.
A Remixed and Remastered version would be great!
Overall this has the potential to be good news. I, like many fans, have multiple LP and cd copies of this album, so it has to offer something new in order for me to buy yet another copy. Good points about simply adding tracks: we can all create our own versions by adding songs or changing the running order, so again something more is needed. The 2009 remasters were a disappointment given how much better the Yellow Sub soundtrack sounded with the remixes, and that is 18 years ago now. The same is true of LIB Naked. What we need is a fundamental remix to gain an idea of much better / different Sgt P might sound. We've all read about the limitations of the 4 track machines and how they had to 'bounce down' several tapes onto one track to make it work. If the original tapes have been kept there could be a huge gain in fidelity if digitally mastered backing tapes were used to create a new mix. And this would invalidate the stereo / mono debate because it would be a new version with possibly a new running order.
For me the Yellow Sub soundtrack was a revelation and imo all the albums need a remix…
Absolutely.
I want The Rolling Stones to answer with reshuffled and remixed TSMR that includes We Love You and Dandelion
I agree!
Remix and place the two tracks within the current running order.
I've been wondering for a while now what if ANYTHING they would release to commemorate if not the greatest LP of all time at least one of them. I've thrown the challenge out to friends of mine to make a version of SPLHCB with both Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields included. However, the rules were basically the Beatles own rules. You would still need to have a song for Ringo, a song of George's and there would be no more than the normal 14 songs. With that in mind it is pretty difficult to find a spot for BOTH of these tracks on the record and where would they go. If they are just going to throw these 2 masterpieces onto another masterpiece without much thought i would agree that i'm not in. I'm hoping that there is some thought put into this and that they do a proper box with outtakes, alternate versions, Carnival of Light, a 5.1 Surround mix & both Mono & Stereo mixes as well as a new book – "50 Years Ago Today" or something less obvious. Since we all know they never get it right we can at least keep dreaming for another 3 months. Fingers crossed
This is exactly what i was thinking/suggesting as well!! It only makes complete sense to have Carnival of Light, SFForever without the fade, Penny Lane with the original ending, maybe Only a Northern Song in MONO of course as a bonus disc…
There better be Carnival of Light as a bonus track!
I know that Giles Martin is now the 'official' Beatles man, but the people that mixed the Yellow Submarine Songtrack should do the same to Pepper and other 67 output… Also, more of Michael Cooper's photos in high quality from the cover session would be great (like the one seen in the 2017 calendar). Great that Pepper is being commemorated, but of course this will mean no Let It Be for yet another year…
And how about the full 'It's All Too Much' with added film verse and extended coda?…
And would also love to hear a 'Songtrack' treatment of 'I Am The Walrus'.
Sgt. Peppers as it should sound it's in mono. That's how the Beatles decided to go for and designed it for.
Whatever new remixes they might get it's not going to be done with same state of mind as it was 50 years ago. I don't understand the reasoning behind remixes, that's how the artist intended or is it the fact that they are starting to sound old?
George Martin and the Beatles didn't get stereo. They thought it was for the audiophiles sitting in their easy chairs, listening for the separation on instruments and vocals. They didn't see how it was meant for pop music. This is perhaps the one instance where they were wrong.
That said, Sgt Pepper was mixed pretty good and still sounds great in the stereo mix from '67.
I hope they finally release the full versions of the SFF tracks that were issued in abridged form on Anthology. Plus other demos, takes etc of SFF, they could easily fill
up a disc or few showing the full story of this song's development!
Hi John Sanchez
If you don't understand the reasoning behind the call for remixes, then rather than write a lengthy post I will just ask you to compare 'It's all to much' from the original Yellow Sub album with the 1999 songtrack album. Or compare 'Hey Bulldog'.
As for the mono argument: I have an original pre-87 mono vinyl album and a post 2009 cd remastered release. Different, sure; better, not so sure, but no one is suggesting these should disappear. The only thing that will make me buy another copy of this album is either a new mix and /or new tracks. The latter could be a bonus disc or it could be a radical new running order. It has to offer something new or what is the point?
If there indeed is a re-release, it would have to be much more than just adding two songs to the running order. Anybody can do that in this day and age. I would imagine some deluxe package is being bandied about. Hoping Carnival of Light and other studio outtakes see the light of day here, or else why bother?
Would be ace if there was also a remix 'songtrack' style project for The Stones 60s output… Somebody posted a stereo remix of 'Have You Seen Your Mother….?' onto Youtube and it sounded fantastic. But ABKCO tends to sit on their Stones legacy/goldmine most of the time…
Wonder if the alternate footage from Knole Park and the Saville Theatre (as seen on the Revolver Records Youtube channel) will possibly be used for 'new' promos for the upcoming Pepper release?
I think the remaining members of The Quarrymen should re-record the entire album and the results should be released as a bonus disc. Then we would finally hear the album as it would have sounded if Paul, George and Ringo never joined The Beatles and John had a cold and was too sick to record.
Michael Best, check out Big Daddy's Sgt Pepper-album. It never left the fifties!
Thanks for the tip Roger. It's hilarious and brilliant at the same time!
CCC's Cracked Pepper is also worth checking out… Ten years since it was put out, but it can still be found. It's a bootleg/mashup album with every track on Pepper being done. The ELO 'A Day In The Life' and Bowie with The Beatles (the title track) are highlights.
A great mix of a Pepper track here. It's quite 10cc and even 'With A Little Luck' era Wings in style. Captures the loneliness of Paul's lyrics, which are sometimes overlooked because of the original song's 'knees-up' backing track….
youtube.com/watch?v=7hPHWjeYLYw
Georgio Herrison Avenue sonically pschyed Northern Town demo into astral plane and it was downloaded from akashic field nearly fifty lite years later by Bob Log III as the song Riverside. HaHaHeeHeeHooHoo. Wait, so if you goto YouTube and search Bob Log III Riverside and play it, goto settings and play at .75 speed and the guitarz are bent Revolver breaks. lamf.
youtube.com/watch?v=fVJdb5UtO8o
woopwoop
5.1 remix. The mono version of this album is included in the Beatles Mono Box from 2009. Or at least a 2.0 remixed copy to go and buy it. The rest of it could be the same.
For my money they should have Strawberry Fields Forever should be A side track 3 and Penny Lane B side track 3
If SFF and PL are incorporated into the album's running order, it seems to me the rub will be where to place them. I don't imagine a running order had been planned with them included since thy were pulled for a single fairly early in the process