The Beatles is an English rock group whose contribution to world music cannot be overestimated. They were famous all over the world and each of their albums was a success from the point of view of popularity, commercial level and artistic significance. One of the brightest albums of this group is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is the eighth album of the group recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London during the period of nearly four months. This album is of great value for the music fans and professional musicians; for the first, it represents the diversity and harmony of different music styles connected with rock, and for the latter, it highlights the opportunity of becoming a successful musician by way of experimenting with different styles and techniques; “The use of sound collage – crowd noises, the band tuning up – functions both as a narrative source and as a psychological way of creating a mood of shared festivity” (Whiteley, 1992).
The key production personnel include all the four members of the rock group The Beatles, but they’re also were some additional musicians involved in the production of the album, because the album is a mixture of various styles and techniques, such as rock and roll, jazz, and the traditional music of Indians. Thus, a great number of new additional instruments were used. Thereby hired musicians were responsible for playing some new instruments. They are Geoff Emerick (responsible for mixing and recording tracks, and introduction of different sound effects); George Martin (the producer of the group; was playing harpsichord and many other extraordinary instruments such as glockenspiel and harmonium); Neil Aspinall (played harmonica and a special instrument named tamboura in order to achieve truly Indian sounds); and other different hired musicians who played uncommon instruments in order to make the songs sound in some international tone.
The album of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is of great artistic significance. This album was called the best album of all time according to the list of the 500 greatest albums by Rolling Stone magazine (Wenner, 2003).
“Incredibly, the RSO Sgt. Pepper soundtrack debuted on the Billboard Top Pop Album chart at Number 7 in August. The following week the album rose to Number 5, where it remained for six straight weeks. The album initially received an enormous amount of pre-sale airplay, which trailed off as radio programmers became cautious” (Denisoff, 1991).
It had success due to its brightness and diversity of styles mixed with the basic rock style of the group.
During the recording of the album, many new techniques were used, but the most distinctive one included the method of bouncing down. Thus there were four basic tracks and other ones were recorded on their basis and connected into one multi-track. The general mood of the album was a very optimistic one: “Certainly the opening track encapsulates the mood of optimism that seemed to characterize 1967. There is a strong sense of togetherness and communality” (Whiteley, 1992). Thus, the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also helps to understand the mood of the album’s contemporaries and the time, when the album was recorded and released. Thereby the eighth studio album of the Beatles represents a great historical value.
The commercial success was achieved due to actions of the group’s producer, George Martin, who gave certain tracks to the radio station before the album was ready for release, so the fans became aware of some tracks earlier: “Pirate station Radio London became the first station to play Penny Lane on the air” (Miles, 2001).
Works Cited
Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. (1991). Risky Business: Rock in Film. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Miles, Barry, and Keith Badman. (2001). The Beatles Diary: The Beatles Years / Barry Miles. London: Omnibus Press.
Wenner, S. Jann. (2003). The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Web.
Whiteley, Sheila. (1992). The Space Between the Notes: Rock and the Counter-Culture. London: Routledge.