Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Album, The Beatles, and the World in 1967

By Brian Southall

 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play..."

In fact, it was fifty years ago in 1967 when the Beatles released their momentous, game-changing eighth album. Ronald Reagan was sworn in as California's governor, Elvis married Priscilla, students protested the Viet Nam war, and a twenty-year-old Brian Southall was writing a pop music column for a London paper. The Beatles ruled the pop music roost and the Summer of Love was the perfect time to experiment with their new psychedelic sound.

Designed to look like an LP and split into two distinctive parts, Southall—who worked with the Beatles as a publicist at EMI Records—dissects the artists and the times they were living in. The "A-side" is all about the Beatles, the music on the album, the recording process, how the disc was received at the time and how it has been acknowledged as one of hte greatest albums ever recorded. The "B-side" looks at the state of the world in 1967 and what was influencing the boys from Liverpool.

Fascinating photographs and text build a complete picture of the world as it was when one of the most famous albums of all time was released.

Guaranteed to raise a smile!

 

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What people are saying:

"Visually enticing, with tons of quotes and photos galore (many of which depeict the Fab Four in delightfully garish hippie garb), it's ripe for browsing."
- Library Journal

 

Beatles insider Brian Southall began writing about music in the 1960s on a local newspaper before graduating to the likes of Melody Maker and Disc. From there he pursued a thirty year career in the record business with A&M, Tamla Motown, EMI (where he was Head of Press and dealt with the Beatles' solo projects) and Warner Music. His first book—the official history of Abbey Road Studios—was published in 1982 and he also wrote Northern Songs, The Rise and Fall of EMI Records, Sex Pistols: 90 Days at EMI (Omnibus Press), Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection (Goodman), Jimi Hendrix: Made in England (Red Planet Publishing), and more. He lives in England.