1968 was a year of upheaval. Even in the camp of the most famous band of all: When the Beatles started working on the "Sgt. Pepper" successor in spring, hardly anything was the same - especially not this: John, Paul, George & Ringo were no gang anymore, but four grown young men. A fact that "The Beatles" shouldn't harm, though. In the following we look at the conditions, essence and consequences of the record that became famous under the unofficial title "White Album".
It's Saturday, it's hot, and all Woolton's on his feet. In the small garden of St. Peter's Church, between the drinks stand and the barbecue, there is a flatbed truck. At a quarter past four on that July 7, 1957, a few adolescents with guitars climb onto the loading area and off they go. They are one of the many skifflebands shooting out of the herb at that time in England, in this case even from the direct neighbourhood, and they are hardly better or worse than others. Their leader, a shirt-sleeved guy with an Elvis shirt and a checkered shirt, hammers on his cheap guitar and plays the usual popular tunes: the ancient folkkracher "Maggie Mae", "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie Donegan and "Come Go With Me" by the US group The Del-Vikings.
![THE BEATLES - 50 Years "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Sgt_Pepper_Gatefold%20web.jpg?itok=4m0stwIs "THE BEATLES - 50 Years "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"")
We are in a place steeped in history, where the classic "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was created: Abbey Road Studio 2. A large, high room where Giles Martin invited us in mid-April to present his arrangement, which he had tinkered with for almost a year and which proves to be a real sound miracle. The mono treasure, which appeared on 1 June 1967, is now a fully-fledged stereo epic that has been breathed new, dynamic life into with the help of state-of-the-art technology - without harming it in any way. On the contrary: "Sgt. Pepper's" never sounded so intense, so rousing and contemporary. An approach that will also inspire future generations and will probably find far more buyers than the 30 million who have bought it so far.
25. April 1967, Rhöndorf near Bonn, Waldfriedhof: It is the day on which the Federal Republic experiences the largest funeral in its history to date. Former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who blessed the temporal at the age of 91, is buried. But it is not only the deserving statesman who is said goodbye, in retrospect his funeral also symbolizes the end of an epoch - that of reconstruction, the economic miracle and a stuffy restorative social climate.
LED ZEPPELIN - The Last Remaster?
"That's it," my ass! Jimmy Page has charmingly told us about the new editions of "Presence", "In Through The Out Door" and "Coda". With "The Complete BBC Sessions" the 72-year-old Englishman once again enters the Remasters-Ring and adds eight songs to the live recordings from the late 60s and early 70s as well as a lot of discussion needs. We report what awaits the fan and discuss with Jimmy Page the new extended and revised re-release - possibly the last remaster.
THE BEATLES - Always on the move
The disappointment among the fans was great when the Beatles announced after their concert on August 29, 1966 in the Candlestick Park of San Francisco that they would never again perform in public. But after four years spent mainly on stage and in recording studios, they had had enough - of the screaming fans who often drowned out vocals and instruments; of the struggle with the problems of not being able to perform their increasingly complex music adequately in stadiums or large halls due to limited technical possibilities; but above all of the death threats John Lennon was confronted with in the USA after his statement that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
![THE BEATLES - Turn off your mind... 50 Years "Revolver"](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/BeatlesGettyImages-3278896%20web.jpg?itok=BNj877tm "THE BEATLES - Turn off your mind... 50 Years "Revolver"")
We know that without the Beatles the topography of popular music would be different. This has a lot to do with the fact that the four Liverpoolers - a quartet as painted for the optimistic and innovative sixties - were in the right place at the right time, namely in London, and were thus able to rise to shining icons of a decade whose achievements have shaped our world to the present day. Much, perhaps even much more, but this had to do with the unique musical talent that was bundled in the Beatles and was supported by a brilliant producer in the form of George Martin, who also had the best recording studio to be found in the kingdom.
ROGER WATERS - "The Wall" and its creator 2.0
It was the absolute sensory overload. Nobody who attended one of the 219 shows could record everything that happened on stage. A sea of symbolic images, a flood of messages. A Roger Waters completely changed compared to 1980. Everything documented in impressive scenes in the new film "Roger Waters The Wall". eclipsed talked to the Pink Floyd founder about the change of "The Wall" and himself.
THE BEATLES - As the tones learned to walk
As is so often the case, at the beginning coincidence was the godfather. Until 1964, it was common for pop acts to appear on television to present their latest songs. When Richard Lester finished the Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night" he omitted the performance of the song "You Can't Do That" at London's Scala Theater due to lack of space. At the end of 1964, the makers of the "Ed Sullivan Show", which had been the door opener for the US market for the Beatles in February, asked Lester to broadcast exactly this recording. Lesters employee John Victor Smith edited the recordings into a short clip that imitated the aesthetics of the film. It was the first time that the Beatles could be seen on television without being in the studio themselves.
