Sunday, March 6, 2022

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [double album version]

 


Free of the confines of being a touring band and refreshed after several weeks of vacation, The Beatles began work on the band's eighth album. Initially, the group thought about creating an album with songs reflective of their childhood in Liverpool. This resulted in the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane." Other early tracks included "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Only a Northern Song." 

However, the need for a new single resulted in the first two tunes being used as a double A-side. And since The Beatles normally kept singles separate from albums, neither "Strawberry Fields Forever" nor "Penny Lane" made the album and the childhood theme was abandoned. Since then, some folks -- including producer George Martin -- have lamented that those two songs didn't make the album's tracklist. But even if they'd had a change of heart at the time, at least two, and maybe three, other songs would have to have been cut to make room. As it was, "Only a Northern Song" didn't show up for record buyers until the Yellow Submarine soundtrack the following year.

There was another alternative -- The Beatles could have made Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band into a double album. Here's my track list for what could have been:

SIDE A

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. With a Little Help from My Friends

3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

4. Fixing a Hole

5. She's Leaving Home

6. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

SIDE B

1. Good Morning Good Morning

2. When I'm Sixty-Four

3. Getting Better

4. Lovely Rita

5. Within You Without You

SIDE C

1. Only a Northern Song

2. Penny Lane

3. Strawberry Fields Forever

4. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

SIDE D

1. Carnival of Light

2.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

3.  A Day in the Life

To double the size of Sgt. Pepper's, I included the two songs from the single, a few outtakes and one fake. Added tracks here include "Only a Northern Song," "Penny Lane," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" and "Carnival of Light."

I've always thought that "Good Morning Good Morning" would have made a better opening track for the second side rather than "Within You Without You," which I moved to the end of the second side.

"You Know My Name..." was unfinished during the Pepper sessions and attention was not returned to it until 1969 before it was released as a single B-side the following year. How much of the track was completed in 1967 is unknown, but presumably, it could have been polished off at the time. "Carnival of Light" was a 13-minute sound collage that The Beatles recorded for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. It was heard in public that one and only time and has never been commercially released. Fake versions exist on YouTube (and frankly might actually turn out to be better than the real one).

I like how although each album side is close in length, the actual number of tracks progressively decreases by one. It wasn't deliberate, but seems so Pepperish anyway.

For the cover, I used the album's original artwork, created by the Dutch design collective The Fool, and added titles.

7 comments:

  1. Great stuff! I'd just like to add that during the same sessions that spawned "You Know My Name", the Beatles also recorded "Magical Mystery Tour", "Baby You're a Rich Man", and "All Together Now". Maybe they could be inclded here as well?

    Those four songs were recorded from April 25 to May 17, 1967, no more than five days after the main Sgt. Pepper sessions ended! And since you already included one of them here...

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    1. You're right, but I saw those songs as being for a whole separate project. And maybe You Know My Name was too at the time.

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  2. I agree with The Reconstructor that MMT BYaRM and ATN could've also been included on Sgt. Pepper, assuming that EMI had the patience to allow the Beatles and George Martin to add the finishing touches. This is what I came up with:

    Side A
    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    With a Little Help from My Friends
    Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
    Only a Northern Song
    Fixing a Hole
    She's Leaving Home
    Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

    Side B
    Penny Lane
    Good Morning Good Morning
    Lovely Rita
    Baby You're a Rich Man
    When I'm Sixty-Four
    Within You Without You

    Side C
    Magical Mystery Tour
    Strawberry Fields Forever
    Getting Better
    All Together Now
    Sgt. Pepper's Reprise
    A Day in the Life

    Side D
    You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
    Carnival of Light

    My restructuring of Sgt. Pepper was that so there were three sides' worth of (mostly) conventional music and that the fourth side be purely experimental. The question is, would it still be the Beatles' best album or too much of a good thing? Either way, it'd still probably define the Summer of Love.

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    1. In addition, I've compiled an album with the leftovers from both Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine as well as other tracks from the same timeframe. I don't have a name for it, so I simply call it Across the Universe:

      Side A
      Hello, Goodbye
      Hey Bulldog
      The Fool on the Hill
      Flying
      Blue Jay Way
      I Am the Walrus

      Side B
      Lady Madonna
      The Inner Light
      Across the Universe (Wildlife version on Past Masters)
      Your Mother Should Know
      It's All Too Much
      All You Need is Love

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    2. Very cool - and I like your "Across the Universe" album too

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  3. In this case, "the good and brief twice as good". A double album is a very, very dense thing.
    Better to leave it on a solo lp, we remove "lovely Rita" and "when I'm 64" for "Strawberry fields forever" and "Penny Lane", as George Martin wanted and we have the masterpiece of the Beatles.

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    1. I agree with you, except I would have removed the maudlin She's Leaving Home , along with 64 to make room for Penny lane and Strawberry Fields.

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