Five decades on from its release at the height of the Summer of Love in 1967, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band remains a keystone not just of the Beatles career but also of popular music as a whole.

A carefully crafted and collectible volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of a legendary and groundbreaking Beatles album. Expert Brian Southall's unique edition recounts the story behind the music and the cultural climate of 1967 when Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band debuted. The "A-side" of this coolly curated title is all about the Beatles, the music on the album, the recording process, how the disc was received at the time and how it has been acknowledged as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. The "B-side" looks at the state of the world in 1967, from the Summer of Love to anti-war protests to the launch of Rolling Stone magazine to Jimi Hendrix's first UK tour as a solo artist--and so much, much more. Fascinating photographs and text build a complete picture of the world as it was when one of the most famous albums of all time was released.

Love Me Do tells the story of the Beatles by highlighting and then examining in detail fifty significant events in their amazing career. Taking a completely new approach to the band, Paolo Hewitt creates one of the great Beatle biographies in time for the 50th anniversary of the release of the band's first single. Using huge amounts of research and personal insight, Paolo Hewitt will take the reader on a rollercoaster ride, from little-known moments such as the Beatles' audition to be Billy Fury's backing band, the band's early recording of 'That'll be the Day' and George Harrison being deported from Hamburg, to more famous moments, such as the band's stint at The Cavern, their 1969 rooftop gig and the making of the Sgt Pepper album. Beginning with the formation of the Beatles in the late 1950s and concluding with the band's reformation in 1996 - when Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr recorded and released two of John Lennon's songs - this book traces how the Beatles influenced their generation and countless others since.

Acquired wisdom has always put Sgt. Pepper at the head of the class, but it was Revolver that truly signaled The Beatles' sea change from a functional band to a studio-based ensemble. These changes began before Rubber Soul but came to fruition on Revolver, which took an astonishing 300 hours to produce, far more than any rock record before it. The making of Revolver – hunkered down in Abbey Road with George Martin – is in itself a great Beatles story, but would be nothing if the results weren't so impactful. More than even Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds, Revolver fed directly into the rock 'n' roll zeitgeist, and its influence could be heard everywhere: from the psychedelic San Francisco sound (Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead); to the first wave of post-blues hard rock (Sabbath, Zeppelin); through movie soundtracks and pretty much everything that followed it – including every generation of guitar-based pop music and even heavy metal. More than any record before or after, Revolver was the game-changer, and this is, finally, the detailed telling of its storied recording and enormous impact.

When we think of Otis Redding, we remember his classic hits, from 'The Dock of the Bay' and 'Shake' to 'Try a Little Tenderness' and 'Respect, ' a song we often forget that he penned before Aretha Franklin made it famous. We know his music, yet we know very little about his life, which ended tragically at the age of 26, at the height of his career. According to Jonathan Gould, that knowledge gap is a shame because, while Redding might not have been as gifted as Ray Charles or as smooth as Sam Cooke, Otis - not Marvin Gaye, not James Brown, not Stevie Wonder - is 'the purest distillation of what we talk about when we talk about 'soul.' Now, in this biography, we'll finally get a fitting look at the unfinished life of the man some call 'the King of Soul.' That said, this book is not just about Redding and his music; it is also about the times from which they emerged

The inside personal story of the genius who created the Beatles.

(FAQ). 40 years after the release of the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , the Beatles continue to captivate music fans of all ages. There's something always more to discuss about the Fab Four. What were their greatest live performances? Their worst moments? Stories still unknown by most music fans, trends still unseen, history still uninterpreted are all revealed in Fab Four FAQ . Pop culture authors Stuart Shea and Rob Rodriguez provide must-know fan trivia and offer obscure Beatles facts and stories in an easy-to-read, provocative format that will start as many arguments as will end them. With more than sixty chapters of stories, history, observation, and opinion, Fab Four FAQ lays bare the whys and wherefores that made the Beatles so great, giving credit where credit is due and maybe bursting some bubbles along the way.

An NPR Best Book of the Year • Winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism “This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up? As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.

Fifty years ago, The Beatles set off on a magical adventure — and this psychedelic anniversary edition let fans of all ages join the iconic journey. It was fifty years ago today! Some 80,000 leagues beneath the sea, a colorful land of music and laughter existed called Pepperland — a place where Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band was always playing your song. That is, until the Blue Meanies burst onto the scene and chased all the magical music away. . . . So began the classic 1968 film Yellow Submarine,inspired by the eponymous song. With a refreshed midi hardcover and a cut-paper, accordion-fold gift edition marking half a century since the tale first dazzled audiences, nostalgic Beatles fans and excited youngsters alike will be clamoring for a ticket to ride.