Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "A Day in the Life". Producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick helped realise the group's ideas by approaching the studio as an instrument, applying orchestral overdubs, sound effects and other methods of tape manipulation. Recording was completed on 21 April 1967. The cover, depicting the Beatles posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures, was designed by the British pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. "Sgt. Pepper" is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the use of extended form in popular music while
The Birthday Party (The Idle Race album) The Birthday Party (The Idle Race album) The Birthday Party was the first album by The Idle Race, a psychedelic pop band, released in 1968 (see 1968 in music). This quasi-concept album was the first to be composed almost entirely of songs by a young Birmingham guitarist/singer named Jeff Lynne. The LP came in a gatefold sleeve, the first of its kind since the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" and the Rolling Stones' "Their Satanic Majesties Request" albums. The inside sleeve art included a mock birthday feast attended by many British Celebrities, including most of the Radio 1 disc jockeys, the Beatles,