There have been a lot of rumors recently about special 50th anniversary editions of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band but little firm information.
All the Beatles have previously released were two ten second videos (see below) that are, obviously, teasers for something Sgt. Pepper related but no details.
There were also social media comments from the artist and those close to them.
First, Ringo himself posted:
Coming soon peace and love peace and good ?✌️??????☮ pic.twitter.com/ad0PeHQ0bW
— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 31, 2017
Former Raiders member Keith Allison, a friend of Ringo’s, also recently posted the following:
If you’re a Beatle fan you might like this this story…I know I do. *This June 1st will be the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper album. March 30th is the anniversary of cover photo shoot.
A couple months ago I was at Ringo’s home. We were in his man cave watching tv, when a delivery from England came in. It’s was from Giles Martin, George Martins son. What’s this? It’s the Sgt. Pepper album remastered. I said, “I haven’t listened to this in I don’t know how long.” Ringo exclaimed, “You haven’t heard it in a long time? I haven’t listened to it in decades.” So we decide to listen to it on his high def top of the line system. So here we are sitting on the sofa, facing the Tv, muted, but with soap operas playing. We listened to every track together. I thought, this is a historically great moment. Sitting here with my friend, listening to Sgt. Pepper, that he’s on as a Beatle, and that he hasn’t listen to track by track, since it came out.
Only two copies of the remastered Sgt. Pepper album were sent out, one to McCartney and one to Ringo, to be approved by them both. So what did Ringo think? He thought it was great! Why? Because it originally was recorded on a 4-track with a lot of over dubs, which buried the drums. Now, the drums have been lifted and come through as they should. He was pleased. You’ll be glad to know it was remastered at EMI Studios where it was originally recorded.
I remember the first time I heard Sgt. Pepper. It was in Carmel, at Raiders drummer Mike ‘Smitty’ Smith’s home. He got an advanced copy prior to its release. We sat there listening to it, in its entirety. Revisiting certain songs.
#thebeatles #sgtpepper #ringostarr #gilesmartin #emi #paulmccartney
Today, we finally received some real information. Look for multiple versions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on May 26, just five days before the 50th anniversary of the album’s release on June 1, 1967.
The formats:
Single-CD
Double-CD
Double Vinyl LP
6-CD Super Deluxe Edition
It is unknown what is being added to the multi-disc sets although numerous sources have speculated it will be versions of Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane that were originally slated for the album; however, George Martin made the decision to hold them for a single release. Martin later called that decision the worst of his career.
As the Beatles’ Anthology releases supposedly had mined the archives for unreleased songs and alternate versions, our guess is that the Beatles will be taking a course much like the Beach Boys have done with a couple of their albums, a number of discs of studio outtakes and banter along with things such as isolated vocals and instrumentation.
