ALBUM OF THE MONTH

As this is being written (June 2007) you can still hear the BBC 40th anniversary special, where they got the original engineer Geoff Emerick to re-record a handful of songs from Sgt Pepper's with contemporay artists. The BBC page is here.

Bryan Adams, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, The Fray, Magic Numbers, Oasis, The Killers, James Morrison, The Fratellis, The Zutons, Richard AshcroftTravis and Stereophonics are the artists that go to record using the same technology used by The Beatles in 1967.

If you happen to read this after the two BBC programs have disappeared from the BBC site, we're sure with a thorough search of the Internet you'll find them both someplace else ;)

Album #64 is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles from 1967.

O.K. What can we say that hasn't been said already?
Here's a classical album from a classic group. An album that set out to break the rules of a pop album back in 1967 and still sounds great 40 years later. Even if you don't know the history behind it or where around to experience the excitement when it was released all those years ago.

If you start to check it out you'll find a lot of fascinating facts that could possibly have you scrutinizing Sgt. Pepper's... for the rest of your life.

There are books written about this record and countless articles. You can start by browsing the Internet. We managed to find out - among other things - that

1) There's a big difference between a mono and a stereo mix of an album, and that The Beatles where only present during the mono mixing of the record. The mono verison - never released on CD - is the "original" Sgt. Pepper's...

2) "Dexterization" is what makes early Beatles records sound different in the US compared to the rest of the world. One Dave Dexter is to blame...

3) The engineers had to wear ties in the studio at all times during the recording.

4) Hitler was there as one of the cardboard people meant to grace the cover. At the last moment he was removed, but can in pictures be seen "sulking" on the side.

And so on...

To spice things up we're of course not just playing the stereo version, but also the mono version plus alternative versions of the songs found on other Beatles albums. We're also playing cover versions of Sgt. Pepper's-songs this the month Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band turns 40 years old.

N.S. - June 2007.