by Lesley Aeschliman

Created on: November 02, 2009

The Beatles ended up changing the sound of pop music forever with the release of their 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. While the Beatles did some experimentation with their sound prior to the release of this album, Sgt. Pepper ultimately took the Beatles' music in a whole new direction. This change was not only characterized by the instruments used on the album that had not previously been heard in pop music. The change was also characterized by the methods used for recording the album. According to the liner notes of the album, microphones were put down into the bells of brass instruments, headphones became microphones attached to violins, and other effects were utilized in the process of recording the album.

The album opens with the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and then continues to progress through each song with very little break in between. Back when the album was issued on vinyl, there was a hidden piece after the end of "A Day in the Life," where, when the record player needle would hit it, it would keep repeating over and over. On the CD release, an attempt was made to try to recreate this trick, but it doesn't seem to be quite as effective. In many respects, this piece could be considered the first "hidden track" on an album, which would've happened a good twenty-five years before it became fashionable for an artist or a band to hide tracks at the end of a CD.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is probably best known for the song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," which some people believe is a reference to LSD. However, there was an actual person named Lucy who inspired the song, thanks to John Lennon's son, Julian. Personally, I like this song, and I honestly don't believe it's a song about LSD.

"With a Little Help From My Friends" also became a well-known song from the album, thanks to Joe Cocker's cover version being used as the theme song for the 1980's show, The Wonder Years. While Joe's version isn't bad, I think I prefer the Beatles' version more.

For me, it's hard to necessarily choose one song as my absolute favorite song from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. To me, this album is a solid piece of work, and really works best as a cohesive unit. Its no wonder to me why there were never actually any singles released for the album. In my opinion, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the strongest and best album in the Beatles' catalog. It's also my favorite Beatles album.

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