Sunday, May 28, 2017

Sgt. Peppers as it should have been...

With the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", it got me thinking about what should have been:

When the Beatles started the recording sessions of what would become Sgt. Pepper on 24 November 1966, two of the first songs they recorded were Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. (The third was When I'm Sixty-Four, another song about their childhood growing up in Liverpool.) Because of the pressure to release a single, Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever was released in February 1967 as a double-A side. Because their producer George Martin and manager Brian Epstein thought "it was inappropriate to require fans to pay twice for the same material", they left these songs off Sgt. Pepper. Martin later described the decision to drop these two songs as "the biggest mistake of my professional life".

So...if we "restored" these two songs to Sgt. Pepper, where would they go? I couldn't see how to place them on side one without completely re-ordering the album. But I saw one logical and artistic place: put both songs on side two, right after the first song "Within You Without You". As the new 2nd song, "Penny Lane" is a strong comeback after "Within You Without You". Then if "Penny Lane" is followed with "Strawberry Fields Forever", it's another good change of pace, and preserves the mix of Lennon/McCartney songs on the album. It also makes side 2 and the whole album much stronger in my opinion. 

Here is how I would include "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" on Sgt. Peppers. What are your thoughts?

Side one
No.
Title
Lead vocals
Time
1.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
McCartney
2:02
2.
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
Starr
2:44
3.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "
Lennon
3:28
4.
"Getting Better"
McCartney
2:48
5.
"Fixing a Hole"
McCartney
2:36
6.
"She's Leaving Home"
McCartney with Lennon
3:35
7.
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Lennon
2:37


Side two
No.
Title
Lead vocals
Time
1.
"Within You Without You"
Harrison
5:04
2.
"Penny Lane"
McCartney
3:00
3.
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
Lennon
4:05
4.
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
McCartney
2:37
5.
"Lovely Rita"
McCartney
2:42
6.
"Good Morning Good Morning"
Lennon
2:41
7.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
Lennon, McCartney and Harrison
1:19
8.
"A Day in the Life"
Lennon and McCartney
5:39

Side note: The issue for this version of the LP is length. Side 2 clocks in at 27:05 (up from 20:02), vs 19:50 for side 1. The standard LP mastering technology allows 23 minutes per side. LPs longer than 23 minutes per side are possible, and can be 30 minutes or longer, but with a loss of fidelity. So if these two songs were added, it's likely there would have been other changes to the song order, and possibly which songs were included!