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Other known matrix variants
Known matrix stamper variants of this pressing (different mother numbers, stamper letters, or re-cuts).
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Variant 2 Scranton Mono Pressing
- A
MAS-1-2653-G5 IAM- B
MAS-2-2653-G2 #2 IAM
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Variant 3 Los Angeles Stereo Pressing
- A
SMA S-1-2653-A10- B
SMAS-2-2653-B11
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Variant 4 Scranton Stereo Pressing
- A
SMAS-2-2653-B2#2 IAM- B
SMAS-2-2653-A1 IAM
Tracklist
Side A
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1:59)
- A Little Help From My Friends (2:46)
- Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (3:25)
- Getting Better (2:47)
- Fixing A Hole (2:33)
- She's Leaving Home (3:24)
- Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (2:36)
Side B
- Within You Without You (5:03)
- When I'm Sixty-Four (2:38)
- Lovely Rita (2:43)
- Good Morning, Good Morning (2:35)
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (1:20)
- A Day In The Life (5:03)
Labels & dead wax
Visual reference for this specific pressing. Click any image to enlarge.
Mono pressing
Stereo pressing
How to authenticate this pressing
Specific verification cues for this exact variant.
The stereo covers have variations similar to those of the mono covers. The initial stereo covers do not have any references to NEMS or Maclen Music. The second batch of stereo covers add the reference to NEMS, with all such covers have this information in horizontal microprint. The final variation adds a reference to Maclen Music. The phrase “All rights for the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Philippines controlled by MACLEN MUSIC INC.” appears in the lower right corner.
The text of the perimeter print in blue on the original issue discs states "MFD. BY CAPITOL RECORDS. INC. U.S.A. T.M." to the left of a small Capitol logo" on the bottom of the label.
The US original pressing of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band does not include the inner groove (run-out groove) audio that is famously found at the end of the album.
For original pressings in North America, including the US, this "playful hidden track" was omitted. While it has been included on later compilation albums like Rarities onwards as "Sgt Pepper Inner Groove," it was not a feature of the original US LP.
(All above information comes from the Yoko Ono The Beatles records collection)
Historical context & other notes
From the main release
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Sgt. Pepper for short) is the eighth studio album by the British band the Beatles, released on May 26, 1967, in the United Kingdom and June 2, 1967, in the United States. The album was officially scheduled for release on June 1, but EMI decided on a so-called rush release six days earlier, on Friday, May 26. Mark Lewisohn, author of the most authoritative chronological study of the Beatles' career, confirms that single copies appeared in London stores the day before, on May 25, 1967, although the band's official website and Apple Corps still list June 1 as the release date. Under a new contract, which the band enforced after years of dissatisfaction with the policies of EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records was obligated to release the album without changes to the track listing and Sgt. Pepper thus became the first Beatles album to be released with an identical track sequence on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sgt. Pepper hit stores just before the so-called Summer of Love. Although the press showered the record with compliments, the BBC banned "A Day in the Life" because of the line "I'd love to turn you on," deeming it likely to "encourage drug use." The ban remained in effect until the late 1970s, although all other radio stations around the world played the song freely. The BBC was the only British national radio broadcaster at the time, so the ban effectively meant that Britons could only listen to "A Day in the Life" from their own records on their own turntables.
The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide (cumulative figures, according to BPI, RIAA, and IFPI international reports from 2017-2020), placing it among the top ten best-selling albums of all time, just behind Michael Jackson's Thriller (33 million according to the RIAA, although other sources cite higher figures) and alongside Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Fleetwood Mac's Rumors.
Sgt. Pepper is considered one of the first concept albums in popular music and a milestone in the progressive rock genre, although debate as to whether it was truly conceptual in the strict sense (like The Who's later albums Tommy from 1969 or Pink Floyd's The Wall from 1979) has raged among music historians for decades. One thing is certain: in 1967 Sgt. Pepper was the one record to rule them all.
Other releases
This album's releases in other countries, or special editions within the same market. Full per-country chronology lives in each country's hub page.
