Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Digipak] by Beatles (The) (CD, Sep-2009, Capitol Records USA)

In my humble opinion probably the best album to come out in my lifetime. It showcases all the Fab Four, and it highlights the pinnacle of Lennon- McCartney joint effort songwriting talents. As each one would contribute to the others songs. Wonderful to hear it with more clarity, and the original packaging enhances the "hearing it for the first time" anticipation!

THIS RE-MASTERED CD BRINGS THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES INTO THE 21ST CENTURY. THE SOUND QUALITY IS FANTASTIC. IT'S GREAT TO HEAR THIS CLASSIC ALBUM WITH SUCH HIGH QUALITY SOUND. ENJOY THEIR MUSIC LIKE NEVER BEFORE..THE COLLECTION OF SONGS ARE SOME OF THE BEST EVER WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY THE FAB 4..

I am one of those people who loves to constantly search for the best sounding Beatles stuff available. I have the original issues of all the Beatles discs that Capitol put out back in the 1980's, I have the MFSL Master Recordings on bootleg compact discs that sound excellent and are worth a fortune, and now I have the remastered versions.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the last disc I bought from this new batch of Fab Four discs. The sound is crisp and clear, but you already knew I'd say that, right? If you've heard the original issue discs and noticed how they were all lacking that warm, comfortable bass and sharp, smacking drums; then you won't be disappointed with this, the 8th disc put out by the Beatles.

This disc is not a remix. It is a remaster, and many people don't know the real difference between the two. If you want a remixed remaster of some of the songs in this disc, then go buy 1999's Yellow Submarine Songtrack disc (which I find to have some excellent remixes of my favorite Beatles songs). This new Sgt. Pepper's CD is a cleaned up version of the old CD that's been available for years sitting in the same bin of the same old bland packaged CD cases containing the same, non-remastered songs that sounded the same probably since their first release on LP. This is not the case here.

As I said, the music on this disc has a cleaner sound than any other version out there. From the orchestra tuning opening of the title track on towards the orgasmic climax of strings at the end of "A Day In The Life" (and the disc loop after the final track), this CD is filled with all the little nicks, chimes, and ticks that I have never heard before with such clarity (except the hard to obtain MFSL Gold CD edition). All the guitars are sharper as well. This is very apparent on "It's Getting Better".

"She's Leaving Home" has a more solid sound than the flat sounding version found on the original release. If you have a halfway decent stereo system with a "small Hall" audio option, then you are in for a treat with this song.

This collection of songs sounds like it was recorded yesterday; that's how good it is.

The disc's mini-documentary is alright. While it doesn't go into very much detail about the making of the album, it does a decent job of giving first time listeners the gist of what the album was about. Various audio clips from the Anthology series and other interviews were used in the mini-documentary.

The packaging is exceptional, especially considering how poor the old editions were in this department. The booklet is printed on glossy stock paper, and contains a new forward by Paul, and other liner noted by Sir George Martin and Peter Blake as well as all the lyrics to the album's songs. Some rare photos are included as well. They've been seen before, but they're still not very common unless you own the original LP which this new edition tries to resemble.

All in all, if you're already a fan of the group, then what I have to say isn't going to sway your mind; you'll probably go and buy this thing regardless. If you've lollygagged around, and never got into the Beatles before, then don't waste your mind's time listening to the garbage music that has been produced in the years since this album's 1967 release. Expand your tastes, listen to this album in its entirety, and see why the Beatles (not the Rolling Stones) are the world's greatest rock group.