June 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of what many think is the greatest Beatles album. This book is a new way of telling the story of the album and is split into two distinct halves: the “A-side” is all about the Beatles, the music on the album, the recording process, how the disc was received at the time and how subsequently it has been acknowledged as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. The “B-side” looks at the state of the world in 1967, from the Summer of Love to anti-war protests, from the Six-day War to the death of Che Guevara, from the launch of Rolling Stone magazine to Jimi Hendrix’s first UK tour as a solo artist - and much more. Fascinating photographs and text build up a complete picture of the world as it was when one of the most famous albums of all time was released.

This book recaptures all the excitement surrounding the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - often lauded as the most popular Beatles album - while also assessing the impact it had on the world at the time and subsequently. The book celebrates a time when a pop album release was a hugely significant event in a year of global turmoil, when the world changed in ways that still affect us today. Those who were there will reminisce fondly and those who weren’t will discover what happened in the year a rock ‘n’ roll album changed the world … forever.