Robert Fraser (art dealer) first met John Lennon. Fraser art-directed the cover for The Beatles' 1967 LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – he dissuaded the group from using the original design, a psychedelic artwork created by the design collective The Fool, instead suggesting the pop artist, Peter Blake, who created the famous collage cover design. Fraser also gave McCartney a small painting of an apple by René Magritte which is believed to have been the inspiration for the name and logo of the Beatles' record company, Apple Records. It was also through Fraser that Richard Hamilton was selected to design the poster
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band publications from the cultural mainstream increasingly voiced their "ecstatic approbation toward the Beatles". The vast majority of contemporary reviews of "Sgt. Pepper" were positive, with the album receiving widespread critical acclaim. Schaffner said that the consensus was aptly summed up by Tom Phillips in "The Village Voice", when he called the LP "the most ambitious and most successful record album ever issued". Among Britain's pop press, Peter Jones of "Record Mirror" said the album was "truly fine ... clever and brilliant, from raucous to poignant and back again", while "Disc and Music Echo"s reviewer called it "a beautiful and potent