Sgt Peppers Album Cover Art

Thanks to Dave who published this on TurnTable Talk. This time the subject was more of rock’s arty album covers…well of course I had to pick this one.

I’ll never forget buying the Sgt Pepper album. I bought it in 1977, 10 years after it was released, and I played it constantly. I remember opening it and finding this cool sheet of cardboard that contained a cutout mustache, paper pins, Sgt stripes, a cool photo of the Beatles, and Sgt Pepper himself! Thinking back…it’s cool that they included these 10 years after the release date. Here is what a 10-year-old Max found in the album. I wore that mustache for days.

Sgt Pepper Paper Items

 

I would venture to say that Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is probably the most famous album by anyone. Personally, I never thought it was their best, but I know many Beatles fans who do think that. If they had added “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” (which most bands would have done) and maybe dropped “Lovely Rita” and “When I’m 64”, then I would have probably considered it the best. Now, after saying that…I like both of those songs, don’t get me wrong. “ Lovely Rita” as a 10-year-old caught my attention. I think Revolver is very hard to beat and that is their best album artistically…personally as most of you know I have a soft spot for “The White Album” and that is my personal #1.

Sgt. Pepper’s is their most ambitious artistic statement, I think, but I listen to Revolver more often, I think it has higher replay value to me anyway. That is like comparing a great work of art by your favorite painter – you love both but see something else in one so it’s very subjective. As far as packaging… now that is where Sgt Pepper knocks it out of the park.

For really the first time on a massive scale, an album was like a work of art. The Beatles standing as Sgt Pepper’s band with a massive audience behind them. Beside them includes the younger Beatles and behind includes everyone from WC Fields to Lenny Bruce. John wanted Jesus and Hitler on the cover but was talked out of it by Sir Joesph Lockwood, the chairman of EMI.

It was designed by artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. The cover features the band members dressed in colorful, military-style outfits standing in front of a collage of life-sized cardboard cutouts of famous people. Surrounding The Beatles are cutouts of various cultural icons, artists, actors, musicians, and other notable figures. Some of these include Bob Dylan, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Karl Marx, and Oscar Wilde.

There are five people still alive who were on the cover as of right now. Bob Dylan (top right), Dion DiMucci (smiling blond guy above and to the left of Lennon), Larry Bell (between Lennon and Starr), and obviously Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

The cover cost approximately £25,000 ((equivalent to £573,000 in 2023)) to produce, which was a significant amount for an album cover at the time. In comparison, most album covers in the 1960s typically cost around £50. The high cost was due to the elaborate design, the custom-made costumes, the creation of the collage with life-sized cutouts, and the use of wax figures borrowed from Madame Tussauds.

The Beatles recorded their debut album Please Please Me in a remarkably short amount of time. The entire recording process for the album took approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes of studio time. Now let’s fast forward five years from 1962 to 1966-67. The Beatles used up to 700 hours of recording time to record Sgt Pepper. The reason why is because they wanted more tracks than just four. They connected two four-track machines together and recorded the album. That wasn’t done all of the time, and they experimented as they went. This album is one of the most important in music history if only because of the newer recording techniques and how far music advanced because of it.

Going off different memories of the albums by people who were there by the time. Some of them said that all you had to do was walk down a UK street and you would hear it from the windows. It was massively popular and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1967. It also peaked at #1 on the Billboard CD charts in 1987 when it was re-released.

The following year The Band changed the course of music in some ways. they released Music From The Big Pink and influenced a generation. Bands started to play more earthy, more roots-oriented music. The Beatles did that by recording the rootsy “White Album”.

To close out…Sgt. Pepper was a game changer. Not one single was released from the album…it does need to be listened to as a whole.

A Day In The Life

I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They’d seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords

I saw a film today, oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book
I’d love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I’d love to turn you on

Unknown's avatar

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

68 thoughts on “Sgt Peppers Album Cover Art”

  2. Thanks for the shout-out and for writing a great piece to begin with! A suitably epic cover for an epic album. It was the first one I remember looking at and being fascinated with when a little tot

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      1. as I said before too, they were brilliant, I think in having the ‘White Album’ the next year…how could you top this one artistically, so going 180 degrees the other direction was very savvy

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      2. Yes it was…but in a way Magical Mystery Tour was the kinda the followup but they did take singles and make an album with a few more original songs… MMT was more of a bridge to The White Album.

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  6. I also liked the Mothers of Invention parody of this cover. “When I’m 64” had that Paul McCartney sweetness as well as looking further forward than we expected of a generation known for Jack Weinberg’s “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” It also took on an additional poignancy when I passed 64.

    I remember when it came out and people really wondered if this was the end of the Beatles, as the band members were looking down on their own grave. Or were they telling us it was a total break from their past? New haircuts, new sound, new uniforms…and why did they all have mustaches? People were obsessed.

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    1. Thanks! I like to know what the public were thinking…I know about critics and such but not regular people as much. it’s astonishing to me they went from I Want To Hold Your Hand to this in 3 years.
      I can see why people thought it was the end.

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  7. I recall I made a comment on Dave’s site about you being only ten, most kids were buying Sesame Street I’d imagine. Great iconic album. I still recall just sitting and looking at my older brothers copy, trying to figure out what was going on.

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    1. Hey I did buy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the same year I bought Hey Jude Again in 75….so I guess I had one toe in the water lol.
      I studied this album over and over again. I could not believe this was the same band that was on Meet The Beatles.

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      3. Oh it was the Beatles…but looking at them in 1964 and then this one in 67…they didn’t look alike much at all….but I do love that Smithereen album

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      2. Randy, we lived across the highway from Meijer’s Thrifty Acres (what it was called back then) a big department/grocery store. My friend and I walked over there at least once a day, sometimes shopping, sometimes sitting upstairs at their cafeteria, chatting and looking out through the big paned windows. We both earned $$ babysitting and I’m sure that’s how we were able to buy albums. I wish I could remember which one(s) she bought. Good times in the middle of hellish family circumstances we each had.

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  9. I’m a ‘Revolver’ guy too, in fact its the only Beatles record I own, but I’ve got to give them much respect for all the game-changes they initiated. I can only imagine the difficulty of trying to sync two 4-tracks together back in the day! And to put all that music together on only 8 tracks is an amazing feat! And yes, the album art was fantastic

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    1. When they were dubbing in a guitar or anything else…it was one take or the track was messed up. That would have sucked!
      I saw a documentary with new bands coming in and recording on the very same equipment they used…each doing a song from this album…most of them could not do it and they ended up pissed off at each other because there was no copy and paste and all of that. You had to be tight then.

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    1. I remember watching that documentary from 87…they animated the album cover…it was really cool.
      WC Fields sticks out to me.

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      2. Yea I liked Revolver and Rubber Soul much more….but I did like this better than Yellow Submarine but that is a trick answer I guess….because technically it was a Beatles album but not really.

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      3. You could say the same thing for “Magical Mystery Tour.” In the UK it was a double EP, in the US Side 1 was the contents of the EP (including I Am The Walrus), Side 2 was the 1967 singles (Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Baby You’re A Rich Man, Hello Goodbye). I saw something the other day that George Martin wishes he had done what Capitol did and included the singles on the albums…

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      4. Yea….John imagine how much better Sgt Pepper would have been with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. You would have dropped Lovely Rita and When I’m 64 or any of the weaker songs….that album would have been much stronger.

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  14. It made an arty cover from a Pop base. The Beatles were unassailable by then, everything they put out was a hit. Why not , when you have a lot of clout, push for something beyond a smiling photo of the band? Why not put something up your sleeve?

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  15. You won’t be surprised I love your pick, both in terms of the cover art and the music. It also occurred to me you got your copy of the “Sgt Pepper” album a few years before I got mine. In 1977, I was still in my Elvis phase, and The Beatles hadn’t quite entered my radar screen yet.

    I agree with you that had they added “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” and dropped “Lovely Rita” and “When I’m Sixty-Four,” it would have been more compelling. That said, if I could only pick one Beatles album I’d still go with “Sgt. Pepper.”

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    1. I do love the album…just not as much as some of the others. It also obviously has some sentimental value to me. I’m 10 again when I hear it.
      Hey The White album is my album…and I think Martin said they should have made a single album out of it…I disagree with that!

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      1. They are all great albums. I think “The White Album” is the most versatile while “Revolver” represents an impressive leap for recording techniques. With “A Day in the Live” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Sgt. Pepper features two of my all-time favorite Beatles songs. And we haven’t even talked about “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be.” It’s nearly impossible to pick just one! 🙂

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      2. Oh…Sgt Peppers has what I think artistically is their best song….and that is A Day In The Life. I don’t hate the album at all…. When I first got it can you guess what my favorite song was off of it? I’ll give you a hint…it was a Lennon song but not as well known.

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      4. Nope…. Good Morning! That guitar in it just thrilled this 10 year old at the time. I still have a soft spot for it. So I don’t hate the album but on my rankings of Beatle albums…I have it at 5 but they change everyday! lol

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  16. Nice write-up, Max. IIRC, Jim did a write up on it and identified everyone on the cover. I still can’t wrap my mind around how much the cover costed to produce! It’s a great album for sure.

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    1. I think I remember that post of Jims…. Not because I’m a Beatles fan…but I do think it’s probably the most famous rock album known by name by average people.

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  20. Classic album art. Is a solid listen, but I agree it is not my favourite. I like the weird and wonderful nature of Magical Mystery Tour when the band were still together and loved Let It Be.

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