Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack)

The project was managed by the Robert Stigwood Organisation (RSO). In 1975, the original plans for the album were suspended due to a dispute between Columbia and RSO.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r347245|pure_url=yes}}|title=Billboard magazine. Vol 87 No 3|date=1975-01-18|publisher=Published by Nielsen Business Media|accessdate=2009-05-21}} RSO invested $12 million into this soundtrack and the profit offset set against costs such as $1 million for promotion.{{cite book|title=Risky business: rock in film|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp | publisher=Transaction Publishers|pages=243, 244 ,245}} The creation of the soundtrack was marked with tension from the beginning, with Frampton and the Bee Gees both feeling wary of the other artist as well as being unsure as to how their music would work together on the same album.

The release made history as being the first record to "return platinum", with over four million copies of it taken off store shelves and shipped back to distributors.{{cite book|author=Smith, Jacob|title=Spoken Word: Postwar American Phonograph Cultures|publisher=University of California Press|page=206|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSU1e-XStVcC&q=return+platinum|isbn=9780520948358|date=2011-02-07}} Hundreds of thousands of copies of the album ended up being destroyed by RSO. The company itself experienced a considerable financial loss and the Bee Gees as a group had their musical reputation tarnished, though other involved bands such as Aerosmith were unscathed in terms of their popularity.{{cite book|title=The Bee Gees: The Biography|isbn=9780306820250|first=David N.|last=Meyer|author-link=David N. Meyer|pages=188–198|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A17_AgAAQBAJ&dq=pepper&pg=PA334}}

The album has been released on compact disc. Despite being performed primarily by the Bee Gees, it and the Staying Alive soundtrack remained the property of Universal Music when the band gained control of its catalogue.

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|1|5}}{{r|Erlewine/AM}}

|rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev2score = {{Rating|1|5}}{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Larkin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London|date=2006|isbn=978-0-85712595-8|page=454}}

| rev3 = The Rolling Stone Record Guide

| rev3Score = {{Rating|0|5}}{{cite book|editor-last1=Marsh|editor-first1=Dave|editor-last2=Swenson|editor-first2=John|title=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide|publisher=Random House/Rolling Stone Press|location=New York, NY|date=1983|isbn=978-0-394-72107-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/628 628]|url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/628}}

| rev4 = The Village Voice

| rev4Score = D+{{r|Christgau}}

}}

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a D+ rating with an added "Must to Avoid" warning. He wrote that, apart from the Earth, Wind & Fire and Aerosmith songs, "most of the arrangements are lifted whole without benefit of vocal presence (maybe Maurice should try hormones) or rhythmic integrity ('Can't we get a little of that disco feel in there, George?')"{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=September 4, 1978|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv9-78.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|accessdate=April 29, 2013}} Writing in The Rolling Stone Record Guide in 1983, Dave Marsh dismissed the soundtrack as an "utter travesty" and "[e]asily the worst album of any notoriety in this book." Marsh identified Aerosmith's "Come Together" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "Got to Get You into My Life" as the only competent renditions and concluded: "Two million people bought this album, which proves that P.T. Barnum was right and that euthanasia may have untapped possibilities."{{r|March/RS Guide}}

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the album suffers from clumsy performances by the Bee Gees, Frankie Howerd and Peter Frampton, as well as performers who were poorly suited to their song, including Steve Martin, George Burns and Alice Cooper. He added that the soundtrack has become "a legend in its own right", due to its unenviable reputation, and that, while it has attracted a cult following, "there's no erasing the fact that this is an absolutely atrocious record".{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0000035805 |first=Stephen Thomas|last=Erlewine|title=Peter Frampton / Bee Gees Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=March 17, 2017}}

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band debuted at number 7 on the U.S. Billboard album chart{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r347245|pure_url=yes}}| title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Sound track)| publisher=allmusic.com| accessdate=2009-05-20}} and stayed at number 5 for six weeks.{{cite book|title=Risky business: rock in film|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp | publisher=Transaction Publishers|pages=244, 245, 246}} Although there was reported resistance to the interpretation of the Beatles' songs, such as Martin's comedic take on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", Earth, Wind & Fire's version of "Got to Get You into My Life" became a million selling single,{{cite book|title=Risky business: rock in film|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp | publisher=Transaction Publishers|pages=244}} while Robin Gibb's "Oh! Darling" and Aerosmith's version of "Come Together"{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r175|pure_url=yes}}|title=Aerosmith's Greatest Hits|publisher=allmusic.com| accessdate=2009-05-20}} both charted in the top 40.

Radio airplay trailed off when the film was released with poor reviews, only five weeks later. The album immediately dropped out of the top 100 and pre-sale shipments to the USA failed to sell in the quantities predicted.{{cite book|title=Risky business: rock in film|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp | publisher=Transaction Publishers|pages=243–245}} Owing to low box office receipts, the film failed to make back its production costs, but profits from the soundtrack album and the successful singles it spawned later covered those losses.{{cite book|title=Risky business: rock in film|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp | publisher=Transaction Publishers|pages=245–246}}

The Bee Gees blamed their declining popularity in part on their involvement with the whole project, coupled with their mutual struggles with drug addiction. The latter was exacerbated by the environment of making the film and its soundtrack, with Maurice Gibb expressing shock at seeing crew members carrying around bags full of cocaine. Robin Gibb in particular spent much of this period having to dose himself with barbiturates to even be able to sleep.{{r|bio}} Some of the most vicious criticism of the soundtrack was leveled at them, and the musicians felt a particularly painful sting at being labeled as mere "Beatles imitators" since that sort of pejorative tag had been with them since they began their pop rock work in the 1960s. (Although the Bee Gees would continue to be popular into 1979, that year's backlash against disco, a genre in which the band had made their biggest impact, marred their careers for the next eight years.){{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

George Martin had agreed to become involved in the project due partly to the amount of money offered for his services, and to his wife's suggestion that any other producer might afford the songs less respect than they were due.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2010|pp=313–14}} The selections by Earth Wind & Fire and Aerosmith were the only tracks he did not work on. According to author Robert Rodriguez, Martin later rued his involvement in Sgt. Pepper.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2010|p=314}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| all_writing = John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except "Here Comes the Sun", by George Harrison.

| extra_column = Artist(s)

| title1 = Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

"With a Little Help from My Friends

| length1 = 4:42

| extra1 = Bee Gees, Paul Nicholas

Peter Frampton, Bee Gees

| title2 = Here Comes the Sun

| length2 = 3:05

| extra2 = Sandy Farina

| title3 = Getting Better

| length3 = 2:46

| extra3 = Peter Frampton, Bee Gees

| title4 = Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

| length4 = 3:41

| extra4 = Dianne Steinberg, Stargard

| title5 = I Want You (She's So Heavy)

| length5 = 6:31

| extra5 = Bee Gees, Steinberg, Nicholas, Donald Pleasence, Stargard

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Artist(s)

| title1 = Good Morning Good Morning

| length1 = 1:58

| extra1 = Nicholas, Frampton, Bee Gees

| title2 = She's Leaving Home

| length2 = 2:40

| extra2 = Bee Gees, Jay MacIntosh, John Wheeler

| title3 = You Never Give Me Your Money

| length3 = 3:07

| extra3 = Nicholas, Steinberg

| title4 = Oh! Darling

| length4 = 3:29

| extra4 = Robin Gibb

| title5 = Maxwell's Silver Hammer

| length5 = 4:00

| extra5 = Steve Martin & Chorus

| title6 = Polythene Pam"

"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window"

"Nowhere Man"

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

| length6 = 5:11

| extra6 = Bee Gees

Frampton, Bee Gees

Bee Gees

Frampton, Bee Gees

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side three

| extra_column = Artist(s)

| title1 = Got to Get You into My Life

| length1 = 3:36

| extra1 = Earth, Wind & Fire

| title2 = Strawberry Fields Forever

| length2 = 3:31

| extra2 = Sandy Farina

| title3 = When I'm Sixty-Four

| length3 = 2:40

| extra3 = Frankie Howerd, Farina

| title4 = Mean Mr. Mustard

| length4 = 2:39

| extra4 = Howerd

| title5 = Fixing a Hole

| length5 = 2:25

| extra5 = George Burns

| title6 = Because

| length6 = 2:45

| extra6 = Alice Cooper, Bee Gees

| title7 = Golden Slumbers"

"Carry That Weight

| length7 = 3:24

| extra7 = Frampton

Bee Gees

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side four

| extra_column = Artist(s)

| title1 = Come Together

| length1 = 3:46

| extra1 = Aerosmith

| title2 = Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

| length2 = 3:12

| extra2 = Maurice Gibb, Frampton, Burns, Bee Gees

| title3 = The Long and Winding Road

| length3 = 3:40

| extra3 = Frampton

| title4 = A Day in the Life

| length4 = 5:11

| extra4 = Barry Gibb, Bee Gees

| title5 = Get Back

| length5 = 2:56

| extra5 = Billy Preston

| title6 = Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Finale)

| length6 = 2:13

| extra6 = The Cast

| total_length = 83:08

}}

Credits adapted from LP liner notes.{{cite AV media notes |title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hears Club Band: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack |year=1978 |type=LP liner notes |id=RS-2-4100 |publisher=RSO Records |url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Sgt.html |location=California}}

Musicians

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Max Middleton – keyboards, synthesizer
• Robert Ahwai – guitars
• Wilbur Bascomb – bass guitar
• Bernard Purdie – drums, percussion
• George Martin – additional keyboards
• Peter Frampton – guitar solos
• Tower of Power horn section:
• Greg Adams – trumpet
• Emilio Castillo – tenor sax
• Mick Gillette – trombone, trumpet
• Steve Doc Kupka – baritone sax
• Lenny Pickett – tenor sax, synthesizer
• Jeff Beck – guitar
• Larry Carlton – guitar
• Ricky Hitchcock – guitar
• Ray Russell – guitar
• Freddie Tackett – guitar
• Clive Chapman – bass guitar
• David Hungate – bass guitar
• David Paich – keyboards
• David Dowell – drums
• Jeff Porcaro – drums
• Tommy Reilly – harmonica
• Francis Monkman – Moog synthesizer
• Ray Cooper – percussion
• Victor Feldman – percussion
• Bee Gees – vocals for special effects ("She's Leaving Home")

{{div col end}}

Technical

• George Martin – producer, arranger (except "Got to Get You Into My Life"), co-producer ("Come Together")
• Maurice White – producer ("Got to Get You into My Life")
• Jack Douglas – co-producer ("Come Together")
• Harry Bluestone – orchestra leader
• Gavyn Wright – orchestra leader
• Geoff Emerick – engineer
• Anthony D'Amico – assistant engineer
• Nigel Walker – assistant engineer
• John Golden – mastering
• Glenn Ross – art direction
• Tim Bryant – album design (Gribbitt!)
• Paul Gross – album design (Gribbitt!)
• Tom Nikosey – logo design
• Susan Herr – logo design

• "Come Together" – Aerosmith: Reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite book|author1=Denisoff, Serge R. |author2=Romanowski, William D. |name-list-style=amp |title=Risky business: rock in film| publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=244}}

• "Get Back" – Billy Preston: Reached No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite book|title=The rock & roll film encyclopedia|author=Muir, John Kenneth|publisher=Applause Theatre & Cinema Books|page=249}}{{Cite magazine |title=Billy Preston |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/billy-preston/chart-history/hsi/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}

• "Got to Get You into My Life" – Earth, Wind & Fire: Reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on U.S. R&B charts.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t825653|pure_url=yes}}|author=Hogan, Ed|title=Got To Get You Into My Life|publisher=allmusic.com| accessdate=2009-05-20}}

• "Oh! Darling" – Robin Gibb: Reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r347245|pure_url=yes}}| title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Sound track)|publisher=allmusic.com|accessdate=2009-05-20}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|award=Silver|relyear=1978|certyear=1978|id=5771-1509-2|title=Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=Various Artists}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|award=Platinum|relyear=1978|certyear=1978|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=Soundtrack}}

{{Certification Table Bottom| nosales=true}}

• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)
• The Robert Stigwood Organisation
• Bee Gees discography
• List of music considered the worst

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Ashyia, Gale and Henderson, N. Contemporary Black Biography. Gale / Cengage Learning (2001). Digitized 17 Sep 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-7876-4620-2}}
• Denisoff, Serge R. and Romanowski, William D. Risky Business: rock in film. Transaction Publishers (1991). {{ISBN|978-0-88738-843-9}}
• Martin, George and hornsby, Jeremy. All you need is ears. Reprint. St. Martin's Press (1994). {{ISBN|978-0-312-11482-4}}
• Muir, Kenneth John. The rock & roll film encyclopedia. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books (2007). {{ISBN|978-1-55783-693-9}}.
• {{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Robert|title=Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=Milwaukee, WI|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4165-9093-4|url=https://archive.org/details/missodellmyhardd00odel}}

• {{IMDb title|qid=Q2532586|id=tt0078239|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band}}

{{Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1978 soundtrack albums

Category:Glam rock soundtracks

Category:Polydor Records soundtracks

Category:A&M Records soundtracks

Category:RSO Records soundtracks

Category:The Beatles tribute albums

Category:Albums produced by George Martin

Category:Comedy film soundtracks

Category:Musical film soundtracks