Description
1st edition, 2017
176 pages
9″ x 9″
Hardbound
full color throughout
ISBN# 978-0-9832957-4-7
The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fans’ Perspective
The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fans’ Perspective is just that — a book about Sgt. Pepper, written by fans for fans.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most famous album by the most famous band in the history of rock ’n’ roll. It became the soundtrack for the Summer of Love (1967), with its music constantly flowing out of Hi-Fi systems, portable record players and radios throughout the world. That summer, people weren’t just listening and dancing to Sgt. Pepper, they were discussing its music, its sounds, its lyrics and its remarkable cover. The attention to detail taken by The Beatles for every aspect of the album, from its recording down to the red and white psychedelic inner sleeve that held the vinyl disc, made Sgt. Pepper an all-encompassing and mind-blowing experience collectively shared by millions.
In addition to essays written by Spizer, Al Sussman, Frank Daniels, Piers Hemmingsen and Bill King, the book contains over 80 fan recollections ranging from “everyday people” to Beatles authors (Mark Lewisohn) and musicians (Peter Tork of The Monkees, Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens, former Wings drummer Denny Seiwell and Billy Joel). The book has over a hundred full color and original black and white images, including intimate photographs from 1967 of fans holding the album cover. These images and heart-felt memories add a personal touch demonstrating the true impact of the act we’ve known for all these years, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
As with Bruce’s other books, and in keeping with the spirit of the Sgt. Pepper album, The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fans’ Perspective is a treat both visually and from an information and story-telling experience.
Digital $20
Hardcover $30
SPECIAL OFFER: Save $10 when you order both the Standard Hardcover Edition and the Digital Edition. Just add both items to your cart – Discount will be applied there.
Collector’s Edition $75 (includes free Digital Edition)
Table of Contents
“And the jukebox kept on playin’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…”
An American Beatles fan perspective by Bruce Spizer
Remember Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club is The Beatles
Canada’s Centennial Celebration Gets A Present From The Beatles by Piers Hemmingsen
The Communal Sgt. Pepper by Al Sussman
The World of Sgt. Pepper: Pop Music Came to a Crossroads in 1967by Al Sussman
Call his wife in: Influences on and of Sgt. Pepper by Frank Daniels
Fan Recollections
A Fan’s Notes: 1967— It Really Was the Summer of … Change by Bill King
Sgt. Pepper Invades the World
Who Am I To Stop A Good Rumor? The Sgt. Pepper Packaging
Recording History: Who Did What?
Fab Four Fan Favs
Collector's edition extras
Reviews
Bruce’s passion does the world a service. He creates a way station for people like me who believe that what The Beatles created (in all of its musical incarnations, manifestations and associated product analysis) is an emotional connection to something more than just pop music. Bruce helps us to see into frameworks of creative, cultural and stylistic importance that wouldn’t be mined were it not for his passion. It is all so endlessly fascinating to me and this book is so necessary because the damn album is that important!—John French
I’ve just scrolled through the pdf of the book, and then again backwards. It looks beautiful, interesting and useful, which does not, of course, surprise me at all. Looking forward to really digging into it.–Allan Kozinn
I had a vision of what the book would be like…and that vision was pretty impressive. But you (and all of your contributors from Tom Frangione…love that photo!) to Billy Joel to Mark Lewisohn (another priceless photo!) to Mark Lapidos and the story about his brother…you all exceeded any expectation I had. This book is priceless. It is absolutely beautiful. You should be So. Very. Proud. Wow.–Jude Southerland Kessler
Comments & Recollections
We welcome you to leave your comments and memories about The Beatles, or a specific Beatles album.
Greg Sinclair –
One of my favorite memories of the Beatles revolves around the release of Sgt Pepper to radio. There was always a day when radio could begin playing a new release by an artist. Clearly, there was no artist more anticipated than the Beatles and especially Sgt Pepper. I lived in a small central California town and in 1967, AM radio was still king. Although, I don’t remember the date, that Pepper was released to radio (Bruce, I’m sure you do) I remember laying in bed, waiting for midnight and the birth of a new day. At the stroke of midnight I began with my favorite top 40 station, as they played a new Beatles song. But, it was still top 40 radio and playing an entire LP or even more than one song at a time didn’t happen. So, I spent my time for hours with my transistor radio plugged in my ear, wandering up and down the radio dial stopping when I heard a new song that could be the Beatles. Those who didn’t grow up as first generation Beatle fans, will never completely understand the absolute thrill of Beatles music heard by everyone almost simultaneously for the first time.
The exhilaration of being part of something so part of the “now” was amazing!
I spent the better part of that night, remembering and piecing together this groundbreaking record. It was a glorious night to be a teenager in 1967.
Michael Rinella –
In June of 1967, I was twelve years old and living in Kewanee, Illinois. I had been a dedicated Beatles fan for over three years and regularly visited the few places in town that sold records. One of them was the local Osco Drug. As I was browsing through the modest-sized record section at the store, I noticed a couple of sealed copies of the new Beatles album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in the rack. I also noticed an opened mono copy of the album on a stack of records at the bottom of the rack. I asked a clerk why that record was there, and he told me that it had been returned as defective, but if I wanted it, I could have it for $2. I figured it was worth a shot.
I took the record home and played it on my little battery-operated record player on a table in the den of my parents’ house. (There was a minor skip on Side 2 that eventually went away so I certainly got my $2 worth.) As soon as I heard the crowd noise at the beginning of the title cut and looked at the colorful artwork and lyrics on the gatefold cover, I knew this was going to be something different. And it was. It was definitely the Beatles, and yet there was music on this record that was different than anything the band had done before. At the end of the album, I liked the fact that there was a reprise of the title cut, followed by a piece of music that was unlike anything I had ever heard. It was “A Day In The Life.” It blew me away.
Impressed with the album I had just heard, I immediately flipped the record back over to Side 1 for a second listen. It sounded even better the second time through. I think I played the entire record three or four times that afternoon, liking the album more and more after each listen.
It is a great album with ”Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and “A Day in the Life” becoming instant classics. And it is a varied album too, from the vaudeville feel of “When I’m Sixty Four,” to the swirling psychedelia of the circus poster that is “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” There’s also the sad balladry of “She’s Leaving Home,” as well as the hard rock of the title cut, not to mention “Within You, Without You,” venturing into the sounds of the sitar and India.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the Beatles’ best album. Arguments can be made for several others taking that spot. However, it is probably the Beatles most influential album, ushering in what was to become known as the “Summer of Love.” And it has influenced countless songs and records in the fifty years since its release.
I’m sure by the time of the record’s half-century anniversary this June, we will be tired of reading “It was fifty years ago today” as the opening line of all the commemorative articles. Still Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the most important entries in the Beatles’ canon and the history of rock and pop. I’m proud to be one of the first generation of Beatles fans who heard that record shortly after it was recorded. The Osco Drug where I bought my first copy of the album is long gone, as is the little battery-operated record player I first heard it on in Kewanee. But I still have that record and the very clear memories of the first time I heard it.
Scott Korf (verified owner) –
I started to seriously listen to The Beatles in 1995, which was my sophomore year of high school. This was fortunate timing, as this was the year of The Beatles Anthology documentary airing on ABC, along with the initial Anthology CD release. If I recall correctly, the first few Beatles CD’s I owned were “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Help!” and “Anthology 1”. My next purchase was “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, which obviously is a significant musical departure from the other releases in my collection at the time. The music was so different from what I had previously heard in the band’s catalog that it took me several listens before I came to love the album. “Sgt. Pepper’s” showed me, as a young listener discovering the album in the 1990’s, that the music of The Beatles was not just rock and roll, but rather encompassed styles and genres that other artists were not incorporating into their work. It is also worth noting that the cover art is unlike any other album cover in history and is proof that music releases are ideally owned in a physical format, as a digital version will not be adequate to showcase that brilliant Peter Blake design.