Release Date and Formats Revealed for Beatles Expanded ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Reissue

[That 70s Guy]

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Details have started to emerge as the Beatles prepare an expanded 50th anniversary reissue of 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – including the extra content, a release date and information regarding various formats.

A sprawling six-disc Super Deluxe Edition is being offered, as are two-CD, two-LP and single-disc configurations. Confirmed among the extras are “previously unreleased sessions takes” that “capture the band in the studio as the album was made,” according to the above promotional video.

The super-deluxe edition is specifically promising “100 minutes of of outtakes, many previously unheard and unreleased,” as well as a special mono mix that features six extra tracks, including a “lost” version of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” The set is rounded out with DVD and Blu-ray versions of a documentary on the making of Sgt. Pepper plus 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo mixes, a 114-page booklet, two posters and a replica insert from the original album release.

The video also confirms that the Beatles have restored both “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” two standalone singles recorded during the same sessions. George Martin, the Beatles’ longtime producer, was once quoted as saying that releasing those two tracks four months before the arrival of Sgt. Pepper, rather than including them in the original running order, was “a truly terrible mistake.”

George’s son Giles Martin helped oversee this much-anticipated reissue. He comes with his own Beatles-related credentials, having remastered 2016’s Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He also collaborated on the Cirque du Soleil production Love, the George Harrison documentary Living in the Material World and on Paul McCartney‘s most recent studio album, New.

The Sgt. Pepper Super Deluxe Edition is listed for $149.98, while the others range from $18.98-$38.98. They all share the same release date of May 26, 2017.


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[That 70s Guy]

ultimateclassicrock.com



After spending much of the week fueling speculation about their plans for an expanded 50th anniversary edition of their 1967 masterpiece Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles have officially announced all the details.

The biggest surprise is that the big rumor surrounding the reissue — that “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” two songs recorded at the start of the album sessions but released months before the LP and not included in its track listing, would be reinstated in the running order — turns out to be false. The songs are not included in the album’s original 13-song lineup. But they do show up in various forms on the additional discs.

There are several configurations available on the upcoming release, which is due May 26, including a two-CD Deluxe edition, a Deluxe vinyl version and, most impressively, a four-CD/DVD/Blu-ray Super Deluxe boxed set.

The first disc includes a new stereo mix of the original LP by Giles Martin, son of the Beatles’ late producer George Martin. The other discs include “complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates,” a disc of rare mono mixes and a DVD and Blu-ray with video content, including a previously unreleased 1992 movie, The Making of Sgt. Pepper.

You can see the track listing for the Super Deluxe Edition below.

In addition to 5.1 surround audio, the box also features special packaging, including a 144-page hardcover book loaded with photos, recollections and more from the recording of the album. In total, the set spotlights 33 previously unreleased recordings from the sessions (but the fabled “Carnival of Light,” the holy grail of lost Beatles recordings, isn’t one of them).

The two-disc version whittles the box down to one CD of the original album in its new mix and a CD with 18 songs from the sessions, like the first take of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” an instrumental version of “She’s Leaving Home” and a run-through of “Lovely Rita” with a speech.

The Beatles, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Super Deluxe’ Track Listing
CD 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix

CD 2: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
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]

CD 3: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
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 – Instrumental]
15. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Speech And Take 8]

CD 4: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and bonus tracks in Mono
(Tracks 1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Original Mono Mix)
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]

DISCS 5 & 6 (Blu-ray & DVD)
Audio Features (both discs):
– New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
– High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 ‘Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
– The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
– Promotional Films: “A Day In The Life;” “Strawberry Fields Forever;” “Penny Lane” [4K restored]


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