Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, April 18

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, April 17. Order within 18 hrs 32 mins

Select delivery location

In Stock

$$140.64 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Ships from

Amazon.com

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE Returns

CD that is used but still in very good condition. No damage to the jewel case or item cover, no scuffs, scratches cracks, or holes. The cover art and liner notes are included. CD box is included. The teeth of disk holder are undamaged. Minimal wear on the exterior of item. No skipping on CD. Ships direct from Amazon!

FREE delivery Friday, April 19. Order within 18 hrs 32 mins

Select delivery location

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$140.64 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Sold by SecondSpinDisk and Fulfilled by Amazon.

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available
To view this video download Flash Player

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe

Deluxe Edition

4 CD, Box Set

The Beatles Format: Audio CD

2,261

$140.64 with 6 percent savings

List Price: $149.98

FREE Returns

$114.61 with 24 percent savings

List Price: $149.98

FREE Returns

See all 4 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Audio CD, Box set, May 26, 2017

"Please retry"

$140.64

$98.42

Vinyl

"Please retry"

$599.00

—

Includes FREE MP3 version of this album. Provided by Amazon Digital Services LLC. Terms and Conditions. Does not apply to gift orders. Complete your purchase to save the MP3 version to your music library.

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

Report an issue with this product or seller

Frequently bought together

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe

$140.64

Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 18

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [2CD]

$19.99

Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 18

In Stock

Sold by STMedia Group and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.

$108.33

Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 18

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

The Beatles
13,574
Vinyl
1 offer from $32.75
The Beatles
3,898
Audio CD
2 offers from $22.59
The Beatles
3,890
Audio CD
18 offers from $9.87
The Beatles
1,161
Audio CD
31 offers from $16.43
The Beatles
1,445
Audio CD
30 offers from $7.03
The Beatles
158
Vinyl
48 offers from $18.00

From the brand

Amazon Exclusive Vinyl
Best Sellers
New Releases
Digital Albums on Amazon Music

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017 Mix)
2	With A Little Help From My Friends (2017 Mix)
3	Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (2017 Mix)
4	Getting Better (2017 Mix)
5	Fixing A Hole (2017 Mix)
6	She's Leaving Home (2017 Mix)
7	Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (2017 Mix)
8	Within You Without You (2017 Mix)
9	When I'm Sixty - Four (2017 Mix)
10	Lovely Rita (2017 Mix)
11	Good Morning Good Morning (2017 Mix)
12	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (2017 Mix)
13	A Day In The Life (2017 Mix)

Disc: 2

1	Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1)
2	Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 4)
3	Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7)
4	Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26)
5	Strawberry Fields Forever (Stereo Mix - 2015)
6	When I'm Sixty - Four (Take 2)
7	Penny Lane (Take 6 - Instrumental)
8	Penny Lane (Vocal Overdubs And Speech)
9	Penny Lane (Stereo Mix 2017)
10	A Day In The Life (Take 1)
11	A Day In The Life (Take 2)
12	A Day In The Life (Orchestra Overdub)
13	A Day In The Life (Hummed Last Chord, Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11)
14	A Day In The Life (The Last Chord)
15	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 1 - Instrumental)
16	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 9 And Speech)
17	Good Morning Good Morning (Take 1 - Instrumental, Breakdown)
18	Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8)

Disc: 3

1	Fixing A Hole (Take 1)
2	Fixing A Hole (Speech And Take 3)
3	Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End)
4	Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (Take 7)
5	Lovely Rita (Speech And Take 9)
6	Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Take 1 And Speech At The End)
7	Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Speech, False Start And Take 5)
8	Getting Better (Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End)
9	Getting Better (Take 12)
10	Within You Without You (Take 1 - Indian Instruments Only)
11	Within You Without You (George Coaching The Musicians)
12	She's Leaving Home (Take 1 - Instrumental)
13	She's Leaving Home (Take 6 - Instrumental)
14	With A Little Help From My Friends (Take 1 - False Start And Take 2
15	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Speech And Take 8)

Disc: 4

1	Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Mono)
2	With A Little Help From My Friends (Mono)
3	Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Mono)
4	Getting Better (Mono)
5	Fixing A Hole (Mono)
6	She's Leaving Home (Mono)
7	Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! (Mono)
8	Within You Without You (Mono)
9	When I'm Sixty Four (Mono)
10	Lovely Rita (Mono)
11	Good Morning Good Morning (Mono)
12	Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Mono)
13	A Day In The Life (Mono)
14	Strawberry Fields Forever(Original Mono Mix)
15	Penny Lane (Original Mono Mix)
16	A Day In The Life (Unreleased First Mono Mix)
17	Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Unreleased Mono Mix - No. 11)
18	She's Leaving Home (Unreleased First Mono Mix)
19	Penny Lane (Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single - Mono Mix)

Disc: 5

1	The Making of Sgt. Pepper DVD Music Video

Disc: 6

1	Blu - Ray Audio Music Video

Editorial Reviews

Comes in Card Box with item inside box for postage and to stop damage. Item is not wrapped inside box as custom made by manufacturer

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.55 x 4.92 x 0.47 inches; 6.45 Pounds
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Capitol
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 5745532
Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2017
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ April 6, 2017
Label ‏ : ‎ Capitol
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06WGVMLJY
Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 6

Best Sellers Rank: #35,918 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #17,092 in Rock (CDs & Vinyl)

Customer Reviews:
2,261

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

2,261 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

johnf

An Incredible Edition of the Album That Was the Peak of the Sixties.

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2017

Verified Purchase

We're all used to a wave of hoopla whenever a big product is released, but in the case of Sgt. Pepper it's all true. Sgt. Pepper was not just a great album by the Beatles; it was the high point of the Sixties decade itself.It was the unexpected artistic triumph of all that had begun in early 1964.

THE ERA::
Beatlemania and the British Invasion precipitated a virtual mass extinction event for almost the entirety of the Early Sixties pop music scene. Almost everyone who had been big then never had a hit again and the few acts that survived (Lesley Gore, Gene Pitney, Jan & Dean, Elvis) were never as big as they had been after a final hit or two in '64. Only the Beach Boys went on to greater heights. Dismissed as a teen-idol type fad that would soon die out, the second wave of British Invasion groups that included the Animals, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones showed that there was more to this music than at first seemed the case.

Coincidentally by 1965 the Folk Music Scene which had been big from 1961-63 was winding down very fast with less and less interest being shown by anyone but die-hard fans. Bob Dylan's going electric seemed to act as a signal, sending many of the creative artists of folk into the pop/rock scene which had been so re-energized by not only the British Invasion but also the concurrent rise of Motown. First came Folk-Rock, but there was far more to it than jingle-jangle 12-string guitars and Dylan songs. The folk people brought in a whole new set of musical values that included literate lyrics, topics besides romantic love and the idea that the album was the thing, not just two hit singles and a bunch of covers. Artists from folk would be in many of the top groups or solo acts of '65-'66 including the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, the Loving Spoonful, the Association, Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan etc.

The Beatles did not ignore all this. They responded in two releases. Yesterday was accompanied by a string quartet and by doing this, opened the door to rock & pop absorbing classical influences and instrumentation, a major trend in 1966-67. Then with the acoustic, folk-influenced Rubber Soul, they indicated their joining with the folk artists and their views on making truly artistic albums. By this point the rock/pop scene was open to virtually all influences. By late summer of '66, everything went into a kind of hyper-drive; in the period roughly bookended by Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, everyone was doing their finest work, even the pure pop artists, with great material coming from every quarter. By this time people couldn't ignore this any longer and even the adult media who typically dismissed the teen scene had to take notice, peaking with Leonard Bernstein, in patrician tones, extolling the value of this music on the CBS special, Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution in Spring, 1967.

Music was not all that was changing. To understand the Sixties you must understand it as being a time of total and unbridled optimism. Since the late Fifties in the U.S. and Western Europe there had been a feeling that everything was really wonderful, prosperity was the new normal and what few problems there were would soon be solved by science. You must understand that environmental problems were still unknown (Silent Spring had only been out a few years) and it was believed the Civil Rights Act alone would cure past racial disparities. The only problems were those of "The Affluent Society". From their prosperous lives the Sixties teens looked out at the world and saw things weren't so nice everywhere, and like a whole generation of Siddhartha's sought to save the world from its problems. The old order began to fray, especially on the two coasts (hings stayed the same in the interior much longer) and a new youthful counterculture began to arise, their answer being Universal Love. Naive? Yes, but it was very sincere and well-intended, and music became the vehicle that spread it.

At the peak of all this, with much anticipation after Rubber Soul and Revolver, the Beatles produced Sgt. Pepper to absolute and universal acclaim from all quarters. It was seen as the great fulfillment of all the recent trends in pop music, the greatest pop album ever made, perhaps even one of the greatest works of art ever made. The superlatives were endless. It sold far beyond any album before it. Though it had no singles, radio stations played it as if every track was a single, even all of the five minute A Day In the Life, especially at night, its double crescendo seeming to sum up everything that was going on. It was like an explosion, played everywhere all summer long, with other pop music almost at a standstill, reacting to it. All the rest of 1967 and early 1968 were enveloped in its psychedelic haze. Then everything changed again, almost all the mid-Sixties artists vanished, and the new, heavier era of the Late Sixties began.

THE BOX SET: This is everything a die-hard Beatles fan could possibly want. A 3-D cover curiously recalling Their Satanic Majesty's Request. An original LP facsimile inside containing four CD's of music and DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the 1997 documentary and a beautiful hard-cover book full of photos of the band and era. The CD's are the original mono and new stereo mix of the album, plus two discs of the Sgt. Pepper sessions that include various takes of the songs in development, some being vocal or instrumental tracks only, plus Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. Those two songs were originally intended for the album but were released in early '67 as singles because the Beatles needed something after Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby. George Martin truly regrets that they weren't included but I'm happy the way they were. Sgt. Pepper is already 40 minutes long, pushing the length of a 60's LP before sound quality was lost. It is also a fairly light-spirited album with two "heavy" tracks of five minutes each, and adding Strawberry Fields may have been too much. It's perfect as it is. Besides, Strawberry Fields was a major event in itself. What kind of pop song was this? Nothing like it had been done before. It was a remarkable breakthrough that showed the Beatles were rapidly advancing. Penny Lane was a perfect bright foil, a bouncy, cheery song guaranteed to get major airplay; a perfect single between two important albums. Though the two extra discs will be of most interest to lifelong fans (of any age) they do show the importance of George Martin, the true fifth Beatle, who brought their ideas into existence.

THE SOUND: To judge the sound, especially important with not just a new remastering but a new mix, I made a playlist that song by song listed the Mono; then the original stereo (from the Beatles 2009 box set) then the new mix. Mono is mono. It's hot now in oldies CD's because people want to now hear things the way they originally did, and we all heard almost all 60's music on mono home, transistor and car radios and mono albums. Of course Sgt. Pepper was the album that caused the huge boom in sales of stereos that made stereo the norm very quickly, so the set shows this somewhat ironic transition. The new mix wins by light years. The sound is deeper, richer, more enveloping, clear, more transparent and more detailed. It's the kind of improvement that makes you think, "Well, what was I listening to before ?" It's that good.

A PERSONAL NOTE: I have to thank the makers of the box set for clearing something up for me. I was beginning to think I had a false memory. I clearly remembered a Penny Lane that ended with a trumpet fanfare instead of the cymbal fade-out, yet no such version ever appeared on CD. Finally, here it is on Disc 4, listed as "Capitol Records mono US promo mix". It seems to have been the one most played by my local radio station back then. Thank you for including it!

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

RB Soul

On the New Stereo Mix

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a field report, really. Not worked over like an essay. Just notes from an immersion. Fresh. And I hope smart.
I popped the new mix disc out of its sleeve and put it in the CD player, running it through a Denon receiver and five-way speakers cranked up in the tunnel-like listening room above our garage. As I did when the LP arrived in the Bay Area in June 1967, I listened to the whole album, straight through, except I didn’t have to turn over the vinyl, as I did then. But I did it in my mind, anyway: the album is in two acts.
Let me say two things up front, in the interest of full disclosure, as we say. First, I mildly hate digital sound. This CD had the drawbacks of all CDs, that raspy upper edge to everything. It was clean—no pops or scratches—but subtly screechy on the high end. That’s digital. I’ve only listened to this album on clean vinyl for the past decade and a half. And, second, I’ve only listened to it in its original mono. This LP is in a direct lineage from Phil Spector through Brian Wilson. It’s meant to be “wall of sound,” with a blend that stereo can never match or whose alleged “limitations” it can never pretend to rectify. There is no film conceived and shot in black and white that improves with colorization. And that’s what a stereo mix of this album will always be.
Having said that, I say: go get this mix, especially if you’ve been imbibing that putrid stereo mix that has been the only game in town since the end of the 1960s. This mix uses original master tapes that make the instruments and vocals glow with a clarity you haven’t heard. Power chords are knifier. Grace notes pop out. Counterpoint is crystalline. Overtones shine. And now, the bass (for the most part) and drums (all the time) stand out melodically in ways that will, I say it advisedly, touch you. The intricate structure of interlocking timbres the Beatles (and George Martin) dreamt up reveals itself like a finely chiseled torso.
I often quote to my students Ford Madox Ford’s statement that a good style consists of ”a constant succession of tiny surprises.” This mix gives good style. Yet it still feels solidly authentic in that you never hear anything that seems added or jacked or gimmicky. It stays true to the songs, while only occasionally slightly reimagining them, but always intelligently.
Here, a track by track rundown of impressions:
The opening track’s initial snare drum crack and distorted guitar chord literally made me exclaim, “Oh, my God.” It is so annunciatory and arresting. It demanded my attention with authority.
“With a Little Help from My Friends” is convincing, displaying more than the previous track the splendid lateral spreading and blending of instruments and voices—a distinctive trait of the whole album.
I’d hoped to be satisfied by “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” since the old stereo mix disembowels the mono so completely. This track turns out to be the greatest disappointment of the new stereo mix. In fairness: no other song is so perfectly blended in an almost hallucinatory way as this one in the mono mix. But here John’s voice still protrudes, not buried in the instrumental haze the Beatles intended. And if the phasing of the chorus that the mono includes has been restored here, it’s far too faint. That phasing gave blood to the track in its mono original.
“Getting Better,” though, is gorgeous, with its chimey hammerstroke chords and faux Beach Boys vocals. This mix got to me. I started crying almost instantly, though I’ve got to admit that this song chokes me up every time I hear it in any format. Still, this version is breathtaking.
“Fixing a Hole” offers an interesting compromise with the mono version. The lead vocal, which feels as if it’s literally buried (i.e., in a hole) in the mono, is not full-frontal here as in the old stereo mix. Rather, the engineer (Giles Martin) places it in its own echoey space, as though stuck in a cistern apart from the instruments. When I heard the maracas boosted in the coda, I thought, “Nice.”
“She’s Leaving Home” appears in the correct key (F major instead of the E major in the old stereo mix). Given the separation of lines and colors, though, this version makes the carefully articulated bowed strings (and harp) the real responsorial stars of the track. I’d never felt that so intensely before.
“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” emerges as more three-dimensional than the mono, but lacks the kind of layering of imaginary depth it could have: it’s all too frontal for my tastes. Nevertheless, the tape collage coda satisfies more than the mono. (I literally whooped when it ended).
“Within You and Without You” works better than the mono in this regard: by splitting George’s voice from the strings it reinforces the dialectic of “within” vs. “without.” The responsories of sitar and strings further bespeak the dialectic feeling.
“When I’m 64” makes the song finally feel like a crooner fronting a band (unlike the mono or the old stereo version). Unfortunately, the clarity only boosts the kitschiness of the song.
“Lovely Rita”: lovely indeed. One of the tracks where the counterpoint leads you along from moment to moment. I felt as if someone, for the first time, had cleaned the window that looks out onto the song. And, again, I cried. The coda, by the way, lacks the cool mystery of the mono, but reveals . . . something. What? Loveliness? One of the best tracks in the mix.
“Good Morning, Good Morning” offers excellent balance and a prominence of drums that kept me smiling, despite this being one of the lesser tracks in the album.
Sadly, this new stereo mix muffs the perfect transition (chicken cluck to grace-note electric guitar) from “Good Morning” to the Sgt Pepper reprise that the mono provided. Nothing about this new mix could raise the reprise from being merely pro forma, perfunctory, anyway. It did sound better in the mono, though.
“A Day in the Life.” I’m sure this was the track Giles Martin was most determined to mix just right. I think he succeeded. You will hear nuances in John’s lead vocal that make it feel more intimate than ever. The orchestral sound masses will scare you in a way different from the smudgy, less clarified version of old. It’s not so much like a dam bursting as a series of earthquakes toppling buildings one onto the other: you hear each new layer’s crash. When Paul sings “I went into a dream” the music more strikingly shifts into another dimension than the old stereo mix. I should say: it plunges you into the dream state.
The final three-piano (plus low organ) E major chord thunders, as it should. And, again, heaven forgive me, I blurted out, “Oh, my God.” The miking is so hot you hear a piano bench squeak loudly as the chord decays. It’s like a parishioner muttering “Amen.”
The old dead wax comic loop ensues (read about it elsewhere if you don’t know about this). It was a move the group devised strictly for vinyl and it juts out as silly and incorrect here.
When it ended, I couldn’t help myself: I played “Getting Better” again. And swayed and raised my hands and bobbed my head and cried one more time.
Verdict: So glad to get this new, reverential album mix and hear what pays valid and distinguished honor to a vinyl goddess.

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

José Kfouri

Boa qualidade !!! Bom lançamento !!!

Reviewed in Brazil on December 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

Excelente lançamento comemorativo de um clássico, item indispensável em qualquer acervo sério de música !

Translate review to English

Andrew Sweeney

The world changing album

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

My parents used to tell me that the "Summer Of Love" didn't really exist in the UK unless you were part of the swinging London scene. For the rest of the country it only existed in the news and on the radio... and maybe in the relaxing (and railing against) of more traditional attitudes towards a more progressive outlook. Fashion became a little more daring, skirts became shorter, but there were still strict parents there trying to make sure their groinfruit didn't partake in such subversive behaviour. For people like my parents growing up in the midlands, it's was less drugs and free love and more like a couple of pints of bitter (with wine or a fruit-based drink for the ladies) and a fumble in the pub car park.

The one things that virtually everybody, everywhere, on planet Earth recognised as a major sign that the world was changing was Sgt. Pepper. I was fortunate enough to gain the use of the family record player and my parents' modest, but respectful, collection of LPs from quite an early age and one of those records was Sgt. Pepper. It was, along with Hey Jude (the LP) and Let It Be, the album that made me a Beatles fan the moment I heard it at the age of, I think, around seven. The crowd music, the different singers, the harmonies, the eclectic instrumentation, the sheer ambition of the record... it was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It shone. It was a magical record, played by these long haired, moustachioed wizards in their colourful outfits. I wanted to look like them. I wanted to be like them. Hell, I wanted to BE them.

The only "problem" with Pepper is that it was so highly rated and overplayed over the years that it inevitably (yet unfairly) was the victim of a (mild) backlash, with even staunch Beatles fans repeating the mantra of "Pepper is overrated", with very few in the cult of Fabdom daring to say that their favourite Beatles record was Pepper, for fear of not looking like a "real" fan. Thing is, Pepper is a perfect record; its loose concept opening up the possibilities of any kind of music appearing on a pop record - vaudeville, Indian, psychedelic-circus music resplendent with backwards tape loops... with Sgt. Peppers' troupe of musicians, anything was possible. The fact that Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were recorded in the same sessions and could have been part of the album instead of a standalone single is even more mind-blowing.

The collective offering of the Pepper songs were an artistic apex they'd, until that point, never achieved. Fixing A Hole, with its dreamy, spacey vocals and meandering bassline, She's Leaving Home, one of Paul's very best kitchen sink dramas, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite which still sounds unlike anything else released before or after it, George's utterly beautiful Within You Without You which, quite honestly, might be my favourite track on the whole thing and the reprise of the Pepper theme which then segues into the grand finale, A Day In The Life, which is surely peak Beatles.

All four members shine so brilliantly on this album; Ringo's "turn" as Billy Shears on With A Little Help From My Friends as well as some truly superb drumming (especially on A Day In The Life), Paul's precocious growth as a songwriter (Pepper, With A Little Help From My Friends, She's Leaving Home, Lovely Rita), but still having his work Lennonised and improved (Getting Better) and vice-versa for John with Paul providing the supremely melodic, soaring bridge in A Day In The Life and his inspired. Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a psychedelic masterpiece and his interpretations of a circus poster (Mr. Kite) and a breakfast cereal box (Good Morning, Good Morning) showcased his talent for taking something relatively ordinary and elevating them to glorious heights. George's lead guitar work is out of this world on Pepper and his solitary songwriting composition was also other-worldly. It was arguably the last time (apart from perhaps Abbey Road) when all four Beatles were still a single "Beatles" unit instead of four individuals making music together.

Simply put, Pepper is a masterpiece. It is THE album that virtually every other album is compared with ("Sure, it's good, but it's no Sgt. Pepper"). The genius isn't just in the songwriting, it's the presentation, the Peter Blake cover, the daring concept and the colourfulness. It was the end of the black and white sixties and the dawning of a brighter, more youthful age. It's not just a record, it's a cultural milestone, a happening, an event; you can define music as pre and post-Pepper such was its importance. It remains the toppermost of the poppermost, being the height of all that is fab and gear. It takes me to another world when I listen to it, a world full of fixing metaphorical holes, of dancing psychedelic horses, of newspaper taxis and looking-glass ties, of sobbing heartbroken parents and cottages in the Isle Of Wight, of people blowing their minds out in cars and orchestral orgasms. There's no other record like it. Others have tried and failed, but there is only one Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

26 people found this helpful

El Diosito del Rock

Decostruyendo y reensamblando al Sargento Pimienta

Reviewed in Mexico on July 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

Re mezclar, remasterizar, regrabar… ¿qué fue lo que Giles Martin le hizo a este disco que suena tan diferente, pero a la vez, conserva su esencia original? ¿Qué clase de magia tecnológica utilizó para crear un disco completamente nuevo, de un álbum clásico sin siquiera haberlo grabado de nuevo?

Habrá que reconocer como clave de todo este misterio al fino oído y la maestría para grabar música que Giles Martin heredó de su padre, Sir George Martin quien tuvo el privilegio jugar un papel muy importante en la historia musical de The Beatles, al haber participado en la grabación de la mayoría de sus canciones.

La grabación de esta nueva versión de este álbum clásico no solo del rock sino de la cultura en general del siglo pasado inicia con el proyecto de recuperar los derechos legales de las grabaciones de audio y video de los Beatles disponibles una vez zanjado el casi interminable juicio sucesorio sobre los derechos, bienes y propiedad intelectual de su compañía Apple.

Este proyecto enorme en tiempo y recursos monetarios invertidos, permitió recuperar prácticamente el total de los derechos sobre las cintas maestras de las grabaciones que hizo el grupo para la compañía Parlophone (subsidiara de EMI Records), incluyendo aquellas que se grabaron en ensayos, algunas cosas en vivo y otras rarezas.

Este proyecto generó uno de los primeros éxitos en el revival de la música de los Bicles: La Antología de los Beatles (1995) que abarco la publicación de un libro, una serie de videos (postreramente reeditados en DVD) y la edición de 3 álbumes que contenían un selecto extracto de grabaciones de los ensayos, tomas alternas y mucho material en vivo, además de dos canciones “nuevas” de los Beatles. Las primeras que grababan en más de 30 años.

En la antología se utilizan nuevas técnicas de “limpieza de sonido” donde el total de las cintas análogas fueron transferidas a archivos digitales de las cuales a través de programas sofisticados de edición, fue posible restaurar el audio a niveles muy por arriba de la calidad original de las cintas análogas.

Posteriormente, estos archivos digitales fueron usados para crear el álbum “LOVE” (2006), el primer acercamiento a la creación de “nuevas canciones beatles” a partir de las cintas ya previamente existentes y muestra nuevas versiones de las canciones de los Beatles a partir de la remezcla de las cintas maestras sobre encimadas, traslapadas y remezcladas, lo que se conoce generalmente como “mash up”, una técnica muy utilizada principalmente por DJ’s y algunos productores musicales.

Este disco fue el último trabajo de George Martin con la música de los Beatles y el primero donde su hijo, Giles participa.
En 2012 y a insistencia de Paul McCartney, se edita “Let It Be… Naked”; la remezcla del álbum Let It Be (1970) desprovisto de los arreglos de Phil Spector y que a según del propio Paul “es la versión definitiva de como debió haber sido editado el álbum”. En este álbum no participo Giles Martin debido a que originalmente, su padre no tuvo ninguna participación.

Finalmente, en 2016 se reedita el único álbum “oficial” en vivo de la Banda: “Live At The Hollywood Bowl”. Este álbum fue un auténtico dolor de cabeza para George Martin ya prácticamente las cintas originales eran inservibles para editar un disco en vivo, ya que con la tecnología de la época en que fue grabado (1965) no era posible aislar la música del terrible y ensordecedor ruido constante de la audiencia gritando. En 1977 con la tecnología disponible, Martin trabajó una vez más con las cintas, logrando una mejora del sonido, pero no con la suficiente calidad; aunque por insistencia de EMI Records, se editó este álbum con esa mezcla en un tiraje muy limitado y en los ochentas, se hizo una transferencia y remasterización en CD que no mejoró el audio. No es sino hasta 2015 y con el desarrollo de nuevos adelantos en la edición digital que Giles Martin retoma el proyecto y a través de un sofisticado software y un muy buen oído, logra hacer la separación de los instrumentos de los gritos de los fanáticos de las cintas maestras del concierto, pudiendo cumplir el sueño de su padre y editar un disco en vivo de The Beatles que hiciera honor al grupo.

Considerando el éxito tecnológico, artístico y de ventas de este álbum, el siguiente paso fue quizás hasta ahora el más arriesgado: Trabajar con las cintas originales del álbum más emblemático no solo de los Beatles, sino de la música pop de todos los tiempos: “Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band” y editar una versión que estuviera a la altura de los 50 años de la edición original del álbum.

Esto no era nuevo, ya que, en la primera edición en CD de 1987 del catálogo de los Beatles, el propio George Martin realizó una masterizaciòn de los discos a fin de ajustar el sonido a los nuevos estándares del Disco Compacto; aunque con resultados muy disparejos. Posteriormente, se hizo un nuevo master para la edición del 30 aniversario del disco, en 1997 y finalmente, se hizo un trabajo más fino para las reediciones del catálogo Beatle de 2012.

La apuesta segura, habría sido una nueva remasterización de las cintas originales del álbum y quizás, la inclusión de “Strawberry Fields Forever y Penny Lane”, que fueron las canciones que se grabaron en las mismas sesiones que el Sgt Pepper, pero que fueron editadas como primer sencillo. Sin embargo, se optó por algo más arriesgado, pero a la vez, excitante: Volver a mezclar el álbum a partir de las cintas originales de la versión mononaural del álbum para crear dos nuevos mixes: uno estéreo y otro, en multicanal.

Esta decisión se basó en los estándares de producción y grabación de discos a mediados de los sesenta del siglo pasado, ya que el formato de grabación predominante era el monoarual (todos los instrumentos y voces en un solo canal). El sonido estéreo (la reproducción separada en dos canales de audio) aunque ya conocido, se consideraban màs como una moda pasajera; aunque las compañías como EMI Records, ya editaban para ese entonces sus LP’s en ambos formatos de audio.

Transformar una grabación monoaural a estéreo podía ser tan fácil como la duplicación y sincronización del master mono en dos canales o, como en el caso de productores como George Martin y otros, grabar y mezclar un master en monoaural y otro en estéreo, usando pistas diferentes para cada versión, generando en algunos casos diferencias notorias entre ambas grabaciones.

En el caso del Sgt. Pepper y en prácticamente todos los discos anteriores de los Beatles, siempre se hacía primero la mezcla monoaural, generalmente con los integrantes del grupo presentes y en caso de las mezclas estéreo, estas las hacia Martin o incluso dejaba este trabajo a los ingenieros de audio de los estudios Abbey Road.

Por tal motivo, la versión mono del álbum siempre fue la preferida por el grupo; aunque con el paso de los años, la mezcla estéreo fue la más conocida y popular.

Tomando los apuntes originales de su padre sobre aspectos técnicos y operativos realizados durante las sesiones de grabación del álbum, Giles comenzó a trabajar sobre las multipistas originales de 4 canales utilizadas para la crear la mezcla mono, separando digitalmente cada instrumento y posteriormente, volviendo a ensamblarlos en dos mezclas maestras: Una en estéreo (dos canales) usando las notas de George Martin y otra en multicanal (5.1) creada a partir de los instrumentos separados y de las voces.

El resultado final, es en el caso de la mezcla estéreo una increíble revelación musical, ya que la mezcla le otorga a las canciones un brillo inédito, dejando perfectamente claro el tono y presencia de cada instrumento, siendo la batería y el bajo los principales beneficiarios de este proceso, siendo más notorio lo anterior en la mezcla en multicanal (solo disponible en el DVD/Bluray de la edición deluxe).

Escuchar el álbum es una experiencia única, sobre todo para aquellos que tuvimos la experiencia de escucharlo en el pasado, en infinidad de versiones y formatos; y lo es porque a pesar haberse respetado en extremo la estructura, ritmo y tempo de las canciones, el sonido es tan claro que resulta por momentos extraño, pero familiar a la vez.

Considerando el éxito de este experimento, es muy posible que, en el futuro cercano, se trabaje con esta técnica (si no es que ya lo hicieron) con el resto del catálogo Beatle.

Este álbum está editado en varias versiones que van desde la versión sencilla con solo el álbum remezclado, una versión doble con un disco adicional de tomas alternas de cada canción del álbum y otra versión de lujo que incluye la nueva mezcla, la mezcla mono original y dos CD’s adicionales con grabaciones de las sesiones del álbum, màs un Bluray con la mezcla multicanal, un par de documentales y varios videos. De igual manera, se incluye un libro con la historia del álbum y dos posters. Adicional a lo anterior, hay una edición en doble vinil y por supuesto, las versiones digitales y en streaming.

Altamente recomendable para ser incluido en cualquier colección musical que se respete.

¡Óigalo recio!

23 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Stephen Bieth

The Grail! (6 Disc Box Set)

Reviewed in Canada on May 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Once again the Beatles don't disappoint. This box set is wonderful. The packaging, the book, posters and ,more then anything, the music! I had just finished high school when this album came out on CD for the first time. I remember thinking how incredibly good the recording and production was. Well here we are 30 years later (oh that hurts) and the sound managed to blow me away again! How can these sound better then the original masters? It's simple, they had all the first generation studio tapes, what that means is they had all the original tapes from the recordings. When making an album on a four track you tend to need more tracks then that so what artists did back then was bounce recordings on multiple tracks and mix them to put them on one. So say you are recording bass and drums. You desire to use two tracks for the drums and one for the bass. Well you still have tons of instruments to record and only one track left. So you mix those three track together and put all of them on one track. So now you have three tracks left. The down side of doing this, in a pre digital world, is everytime you do this you lose sound quality. You tend to get additional hiss as well. So when making this they put all the tapes on a hard drive and remixed the album from the actual tapes they made in the studio. So no sound lost and these sound wonderful.
This box however is not for everyone. If you are not a music diehard you might not appreciate the two CD's of studio work. Basically listening to the songs while they in different stages of development or early versions before they were abandoned for rethinking. You also get the album in mono. This is important to a Beatle fan because the Beatles did not do the stereo mix (stereo was not big in the UK in 1967) but they all worked on the mono. So this would be the closet to hearing what the Beatles had Envisioned.
Then you get the Blu Ray and DVD. Both have the new 5.1 mix. This is the main reason I was dying for this box. The 5.1 does not disappoint. I was a little worried when I heard the opening track because I was not blown away by the sound but by the time you get to "With A Little Help From My Friends" the sound really locks in. Especially McCartney's bass. The sound isn't bad on the opening track but these are recordings from 50 years ago so they have their limits. The other thing you get video wise is a Documentary from the 25th anniversary of the album. They say it's unreleased but I know I made a VHS copy when I saw it on CBC. So maybe they are just talking about the UK. You also get the video's of "Strawberry Feilds" and "Penny Lane" in 5.1. The reason they are here is due to the fact that they were the first songs recorded for the album. But the Beatles needed a single so they put them out as a double A side. The reason they were still not included was because George Martin and The Beatles thought they were ripping people off by making them buy the songs again on the album so ,until their later albums, the singles were always separate.
The packaging is very nice. It has a visual 3D picture of the album cover on the front and inside you get an album sized holder for all the disc's, two posters and an excellent had covered coffee table book.
I could not be happier with this purchase but I have one question. When does Abbey Road come out?

20 people found this helpful

Michael Wilmshorst

Das Beste Album aller Zeiten ist endlich voll erblüht

Reviewed in Germany on May 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

Seit meiner Jugend (Jahrgang 1950) bin ich fasziniert von der Musik der Beatles. Seit "She Loves you" und "I wan't to hold your Hand" war nichts mehr, wie vorher. Mit den Alben "Rubber Soul" und insbesondere "Revolver" wurden die Beatles deutlich experimenteller und kreativer. Für uns Jugendlich erschlossen sich diese Alben nicht sofort und nicht so, wie die ersten großen Hits. Aber dann kam "Sgt. Pepper" und man dachte, was ist dass denn und wo soll das denn noch hinführen. Das waren nicht mehr "unsere" Beatles. Dieses Album war so anders, alles alles davor. Man musste sich auf dieses Album erstmal einlassen. Der Schlussong "A Day in a Life" war für mich - aus damaliger sicht - am sperrigsten und ich konnte damit zunächst gar nichts anfangen. Der Titelsong: na ja, schon sehr rockig aber zu kurz. Ringos Song, ganz nett. Lucy in the Sky...., und fast alles was danach kam, hatte nichts mehr mit der geliebten Beat-/Rockmusik gemein. Aber: Alles braucht seine Zeit. Das ging mir in der Folgezeit durchaus öfter so (z.B. bei U2, R.E.M., Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Arcade Fire um nur einige wenige zu nennen). Mit der Zeit jedoch (es hat nicht sehr lange gedauert) erschlossen sich die Songperlen nach und nach und es wurde das Album, dass ich mir über die letzten 50 Jahre immer wieder allein mit Muße intensiv angehört habe.

Vor 50 Jahren hatte kaum jemand vernünftige Stereoanlagen sondern meist nur Plattenspieler mit vielleicht einem angeschlossenen Lautsprecher. D.h., damals haben viele das Album nur in Mono gehört. Stereo Ende der 60-iger war dann sehr oft dass so genannte Ping Pong Stereo (Stimmen auf einem Kanal, Instrumente auf dem anderen Kanal und dazwischen? Nicht viel jedenfalls. Die Qualität der Abspielgeräte und Lautsprecher haben die vielen buntem Fassetten der Musik nicht wirklich gut wiedergegeben.

Mit den Jahren wurden die Anlagen besser und die wahrgenommene Wiedrgabequalität von Platte oder in den Achtzigern die ersten CD's brachten die Musik dann schon besser zu Gehör. Dann das Jahr 2009. Die Remaster in Stereo und Mono. Endlich war der Klang entstaubt, die Musik deutlich druckvoller. Aber, es fehlte noch was. Es fehlte ein ausgewogenes Stereo-Klangbild. Das mehr aus den Ausnahmen herauszuholen war, wurde mit der Veröffentlichung von "Love" deutlich. Jetzt also endlich der Stereo-Mix, wie er den heutigen Hörgewohnheiten entspricht. Leadstimme in der Mitte, Background gestaffelt dahinter, die Instrumente nicht mehr extrem auf die beiden Lautsprecher verteilt, sondern räumlicher gestaltet. Dazu insgesamt mehr Druck im Klangbild. Der Bass von Paul (vielleicht sogar etwas zuviel) und das Schlagzeug von Ringo gewinnen deutlich an Ausdruck. Einen solchen Stereo-Mix hat man sich lange gewünscht. Das Team um Gil Martin hat hier nach meinem Geschmack fastt alles richtig gemacht. Chapeau.

Die Krönung aber ist für mich der Mehrkanal-Mix. Der Mix ist sehr subtil. Du hast das Gefühl, die Band spielt mit dem besten verfügbaren Equipment vor dir auf einer großen Bühne und du sitzt in der ersten Reihe. Der Klang ist weiträumig, die Staffelung in Breit und Tiefe ist atembraubend. Die Musik löst sich endlich fast komplett von den Lautsprechern, welche man kaum noch wahrnimmt. Einige Effekte (z.B. das Publikum im Titelsong, die Kirmesmusik von "The Benefit od Mr. Kite", die Tiergeräusche im Titel "Good Morning Good Morning" und das kakofone Orchester bei "A Day in the Life" kommen teils erkennbar aus den Rears. So hast Du diese Musik noch nie gehört. Wenn man mit dem Stilmix bisher nichts anfangen konnte, spätestens im Mehrkanal-Mix erschließt sich die ganze Faszination und Einmaligkeit dieses Albums. Gottsei Dank, dass ich das noch erleben durfte. Traurig sein müssen all diejenigen, die keine ordentliche Surround-Anlage zu Hause haben. Für dieses Album lohnt es sich (wenn man dieses Album liebt), in eine entsprechende Anlage zu investieren. Alle Kritiker, die sich über die Jahrzehnte (teils hochwissenschaftlich) zu diesem Album geäußert haben, liegen richtig, wenn Sie es zu den besten Alben aller Zeiten rechnen. Allen anderen ist eh nicht zu helfen.

Wer jetzt noch mäkelt, sollte aber bekennen, dass das auf höchtem Niveau geschieht.

Jetzt ist die Vorfreude groß auf entsprechende Mixe vom so genannten "White Album", welches im nächsten Jahr zu dessen 50-jährigen Jubiläum erscheinen soll.

Obwohl es natürlcih sehr viele tolle Alben anderer Künstler gibt (ich besitzte rund 3.500) - und darunter ist alles, was Rang und Namen hat. An dieses Album reicht nichts wirklich heran, weil dieses Album (und vielleicht noch Pet Sounds von den Beach Boys) - alles was danach an innovativer Musik kam - überhaupt erst den Weg geöffnet hat. Das haben wir uns damals beim ersten Höhren im Erscheinungsjahr so nicht vorstellen können. Den Beatles und den großartigen Köpfen Georg Martin und Geoff Emerick sei Dank. Beatles Forever. Bitte entschuldigt meinen teilweisen Pathos und wenn die Pferde mit mir durchgegangen sein sollten.

98 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

See more reviews

Return this item for free

Return this item for free

Image Unavailable