“Is this just a coincidence or a conscious decision? I guess we will probably never know.” OUTRAGE AND CENSORSHIP You can see something and not remember it, but end up producing something that is clearly influenced by it. “It’s an interesting testament to how creativity works.
“In the case of Mercblecket Beats The Beatles the two covers do bear a resemblance,” says Associate Professor Pollard.
Rumours circulated that McCartney got the idea from a Swedish band that had produced an EP of Beatles covers. Others are also obscured – Albert Einstein is blocked by Lennon’s shoulder and Bette Davis was covered by Harrison.” “Those involved in the making of the cover say Hitler is there but he’s covered by the fab four. Swedish band Mercblecket claimed to have given McCartney a copy of their EP of Beatles covers when the band visited Stockholm in 1964. Gandhi didn’t appear because India was a big market and his inclusion might adversely affect sales and Jesus Christ was a no-go after Lennon’s earlier comments in America. John Lennon wanted Gandhi, Hitler and Jesus Christ. “There are various myths about who features and who doesn’t. A lot of Sgt Pepper expense came from licensing and artist fees,” says Associate Professor Pollard. “Most covers cost around £50 ($85) at the time. At the time, it was the most expensive produced, to the tune of £3000 (more than $5000 Australian dollars). It was the first to include lyrics inside the cover and a host of other “goodies”. Sgt Pepper was a hugely expensive album to make, not just in terms of the music but also the album production. “Interestingly the Beatles’ producer George Martin is quoted as saying that ‘without Pet Sounds, Sgt Pepper wouldn’t have happened’.” “Multi-tracking and sonic colouring in pop music was pioneered by the Beach Boys in Pet Sounds, but the Beatles really created some magic with how they used it in Sgt Pepper,” says Associate Professor Pollard. Their 1966 album Pet Sounds was a major influence for Sgt Pepper. The team behind the album experimented with multi-tracking, sound effects and juxtaposing orchestral and band sounds to create the unique Sgt Pepper sound experience.
This is an extraordinarily artistic album made by a group of people who were ruthless about reflecting what was going on at the time through their own creative lenses.”
“There are a lot of psychedelic moments, but the sound is not necessarily informed by the band members being high during all the sessions. “It was the convergence of technology and socio-political experiences that forced the production values and sound of that album,” says Associate Professor Pollard. Often hailed as the first concept album (it wasn’t – but it was the first to make the LP concept front and centre) Sgt Pepper features experimental sounds designed to conjure a ‘dream-like state’, where the listener experiences the Beatles’ alter ego in concert from beginning to end. They were also keen to have more time to write. In late 1966 the Beatles had decided to stop touring, tired of being unable to hear themselves above the screaming crowds and stung by a drop in attendance at their US concerts following John Lennon’s proclamation they were “more popular than Jesus”. The album was never intended for live performance. “We expect songs and the album to be packaged through sound production techniques and for the studio to be integral to the unique final sound.” “ Sgt Pepper, and its iconic precursor, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, led to the pop music production values we have now,” says Associate Professor Mark Pollard, from the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. For many, Sgt Pepper is the Beatles’ best album and one of the greatest ever produced. Written amid a culture of experimentation with ‘alternative states of being’, the music and the myths are forever bound together the influence of hallucinogenic drugs and the hidden “I buried Paul” message chief among them.īut perhaps the most notable legacy of the album is its place in the shifting pop landscape – with its preference for studio production over live performance, and as one of the first albums to be marketed as a holistic LP package. Very much a product of its time, the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album was the soundtrack to the 1967 Summer of Love a psychedelic explosion of sound and colour that pushed back against the last vestiges of Victorian values.Ĭelebrated by many, criticised as over-hyped by others, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, remains one of the most awarded, iconic and influential albums ever produced.
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