Let's start off with the cover, shall we? From looking at the cover you can immediately see that THIS is the mother of all concept albums. Many people have tried to do a concept album...but none have suceeded as profoundly as this one...There's lots of stuff on the cover...as you can tell...if you do not personally own the album, this page will be quite useful and interesting to you. If you do well, then just skip over this stuff about the cover and get to more interesting stuff near the bottom.
Ok...to make the first list a "little" shorter let's start off with what is NOT on the cover...Use the diagram below to help...it may be easier to follow than the actual album cover...
WHAT'S not ON THE COVER...
~Right between The Varga Girl [11] and Huntz Hall [13] was supposed to be Leo Gorcey [12] but he was painted out because he requested a fee.
~Between Marlene Dietrich [67] and Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos [69] was supposed to be Mohandas Karamchad Ghandi (Indian Leader)[68]. He was painted out at the request of EMI.
EVERYTHING ELSE...
Here's a list of everything else that IS on the cover...use your handy-dandy little diagram for reference...
1.)Sri Yukteswar (guru) 2.)Aleister Crowley (dabbler in sex, drugs, and magic) 3.)Mae West (actress) 4.)Lenny Bruce (comic) 5.)Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer) 6.)W.C. (William Claude) Fields (comic) 7.)Carl Gustav Jung (psychologist) 8.)Edgar Allen Poe (writer) 9.)Fred Astaire (actor) 10.)Richard Merkin (artist) 11.)The Varga Girl (by the artist Alberto Vargas) 13.)Huntz Hall (Actor with Leo Gorcey, one of the Bowery Boys) 14.)Simon Rodia (creator of Watts Towers) 15.) Bob Dylan (musician) 16.)Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator) 17.)Sir Robert Peel 18.)Aldous Huxley (writer) 19.)Dylan Thomas (poet) 20.)Terry Southern (writer) 21.)Dion (di Mucci)(singer) 22.)Tony Curtis (actor) 23.)Wallace Berman (actor) 24.)Tommy Handley(comic) 25.)Marilyn Monroe (actress) 26.)William Burroughs (writer) 27.)Sri Mahavatara Babaji (guru) 28.)Stan Laurel (comic) 29.)Richard Lindner (artist) 30.)Oliver Hardy (comic) 31.)Karl Marx (philosopher/socialist) 32.)H.G. (Herbert George) Wells (writer) 33.)Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (guru) 34.)Anonymous (wax hairdresser's dummy) 35.) Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle) 36.)Anonymous (wax hairdresser's dummy) 37.)Max Miller (comic) 38.)The Petty Girl (by artist George Petty) 39.)Marlon Brando (actor) 40.) Tom Mix (actor) 41.)Oscar Wilde (writer) 42.)Tyrone Power (actor) 43.) Larry Bell (artist) 44.)Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer) 45.)Johnny Weismuller (swimmer/actor) 46.)Stephen Crane (writer) 47.)Issy Bonn (comic) 48.)George Bernard Shaw (writer) 49.)H.C. (Horace Clifford) Westermann (sculptor) 50.)Albert Stubbins (soccer player) 51.)Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru) 52.) Lewis Carrol (writer) 53.)T.E. (Thomas Edward) Lawrence(soldier, a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia) 54.)Sonny Liston (Boxer) 55.)The Petty Girl (by artist George Petty) 56.)Wax model of George Harrison 57.)Wax model of John Lennon 58.)Shirley Temple (child actress) 59.)Wax model of Ringo Starr 60.)Wax model of Paul McCartney 61.)Albert Einstein (physicist) 62.)John Lennon, holding a french horn 63.)Ringo Starr, holding a trumpet 64.)Paul McCartney, holding a cor anglais 65.)George Harrison, holding a flute 66.)Bobby Breen (singer) 67.)Marlene Dietrich (actress) 69.)Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos 70.)Diana Dors (actress) 71.)Shirley Temple (child actress) 72.)Cloth grandmother-figure by Jann Haworth 73.)Cloth figure of Shirley Temple (child actress) by Jann Haworth 74.)Mexican candlestick 75.)Television set 76.)Stone figure of girl 77.)Stone figure 78.)Statue from John Lennon's house (Also used by Peter Blake as the basis for the cut-out of Sgt. Pepper 79.)Trophy 80.)Four-armed Indian doll 81.)Drum-skin, designed by Joe Ephgrave 82.)Hookah (water tobacco-pipe) 83.)Velvet snake 84.)Japanese Stone Figure 85.)Stone figure of Snow White 86.)Garden gnome 87.)Tuba
More about the cover...
~The location for the photo shoot was in Chelsea Manor Studios, Floral Street, London
~The date this photo was taken was Thursday March, 10th, 1967.
Above: Peter Blake's original rough outline of the cover.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band didn't start out life as a "concept album" but it very soon developed a life of its own. I remember it warmly, as both a tremendous challenge and a highly rewarding experience. For me, it was the most innovative, imaginative and trend-setting record of its time."---George Martin
"The Beatles already had a cover designed by a Dutch group called the Fool, but my gallery dealer, Robert Frasier, said to Paul, "Why don't you use a 'fine artist', a professional, to do the cover instead?" Paul rather liked the idea and I was asked to do it. The concept of the album had already evolved: it would be as though the Beatles were another band, performing a concert. Paul and John said I should imagine the band had just finished the concert, perhaps in a park. I then thought that we could have a crown standing behind them, and this developed into the collage idea."---Peter Blake
"The album sleeve was the first to feature printed lyrics, and it was one of the first to have a gatefold sleeve. It was also the first to have anything other than a plain inner bag too, the first pressing coming in a slightly psychedelic sleeve designed by Simon and Marijke of the Fool. And we also had a card with the cut-outs, which I had originally planned to be a small packet with badges and pencils and such like. That was stopped because it would have caused EMI big marketing problems."---Peter Blake
The cut-outs were to be a moustache, a picture card, stripes, badges, and a stand up.