Pulse Music

It was 55 years ago today (June 1st, 1967), that the Beatles released the legendary Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album in the U.K. The album, which was released a day later in the U.S., was one of the most groundbreaking and influential records in history. There had been an unprecedented eight-month gap with no new Beatles music since the group's previous album, 1966's Revolver, with the exception of the double A-sided single "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever," which was recorded during the Sgt Pepper sessions. The album was highly anticipated, and was an immediate critical and commercial success.

In June 2017, the Beatles released the six-disc 50th anniversary deluxe edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album was re-released in both single and double-disc versions, as well as a two-record set. The motherload was the super deluxe six-CD set that featured a brand new stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell created from the original master tapes, with two discs including 100 minutes of never-before heard outtakes, along with new mixes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane."

Also included are both DVD and Blu-ray versions of the 1992 documentary, The Making Of Sgt. Pepper, along with 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo mixes, a 114-page booklet, two posters and a replica "cut-out" insert from the original album release. The remixed and remastered Sgt. Pepper album debuted at Number Three on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Sgt. Pepper was the first Beatles album to be recorded after the group had stopped touring. As a result, the band could now take all the time they wanted with producer George Martin, rather than try to squeeze sessions in between tours, films, and other activities. The recording sessions stretched over a five-month period, spanning from November 24th, 1966 to April 21st, 1967, at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

The album was notable for its advance in the Beatles' songwriting, its unusual arrangements and orchestration, and its groundbreaking production techniques. It also represented a musical and visual step into psychedelia and the counterculture by the world's most popular band, and its release coincided with the famous 1967 "Summer of Love." It was hailed as a masterpiece by musicians and critics in all fields, and helped show the world that pop music could be taken more seriously as art.

Many other aspects of the album raised the bar for pop music albums, from the way the songs ran into each other, to sonic jokes embedded in the tracks, to the elaborate cover photo and packaging. The album's influence on pop culture has been immense.

Because of the group's success, they were allowed unlimited studio time and creative carte blanche to rehearse, arrange, record, and overdub while in the studio. Instead of coming to the studio with finished and fully arranged tracks as they did in the past, many of their songs were brought to life on the studio floor, including "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite," and "A Day In The Life."

THE SONGS

SIDE ONE:

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - The album opener, which led many people to initially believe that the album was recorded in front of a live audience, features a searing lead guitar part from Paul McCartney. Since 1989, the song has been a concert staple for McCartney.

"With A Little Help From My Friends" - One of the last songs recorded for the project, it features Ringo Starr on lead vocals, with McCartney on piano and also playing one of his most distinctive and melodic bass parts. The song was originally called "Bad-Finger Boogie."

Since returning to the road in 1989, Starr has included "With A Little Help From My Friends" in his concert setlists, usually as the show closer

On April 4th, 2009 McCartney and Starr performed the song for the first time together in public at New York City's Radio City Music Hall during the "Change Begins Within" benefit concert.

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"- This song caused more controversy than the other tracks. The initials of the song's title were rumored to stand for the hallucinogenic drug LSD, and caused the song to be banned from British airwaves. John Lennon, who wrote the majority of the lyrics, always insisted that the song was written after his then three-year-old son Julian came home from school with a crayon drawing of a schoolmate. When Lennon asked him what the picture was of, Julian answered, "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

This was the only song from the album that Lennon ever performed live, when he sang it with Elton John on Thanksgiving night, 1974, at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"Getting Better" - The most straight-forward pop track on the album, and stylistically closest to the band's signature lineup of two guitars, bass and drums, is representative of how Lennon and McCartney were collaborating at the time. McCartney wrote the main body of the song, with Lennon supplying the "bridge" or "middle eight," of "I used to be cruel to my woman . . ."

McCartney has said that Lennon's answering vocal of "Couldn't get much worse" to his "It's getting better all the time" perfectly summed up the sweet and sour elements of their musical partnership.

McCartney cribbed the title from a pet phrase of substitute drummer Jimmy Nicol, who filled in for Ringo during the Beatles' Australian tour in 1964.

The song got its concert premiere during McCartney's 2002-2003 world tour.

"Fixing A Hole" - There is some uncertainty as to the exact instrumental lineup on this song. According to session tapes, McCartney is featured on the harpsichord, with the bass part being recorded simultaneously on the same track. Seeing as how McCartney couldn't be in two places at once, it's a safe bet George Harrison was on bass guitar. Harrison also provides the distinctive "spiraling" guitar solo in his only true six-string spotlight of the album.

"Fixing A Hole" got its live premiere in 1992 when McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater. On his 2005 tour, he performed the song alone, unaccompanied on the piano.

"She's Leaving Home" - A classic Lennon and McCartney collaboration about the burgeoning 1960's generation gap. The verses of the song were written by McCartney, with Lennon supplying the song's bridge of "We gave her most of our lives . . ." No Beatles play instruments on this track.

McCartney and George Martin got into a slight tiff over this song when McCartney enlisted the help of producer Mike Leander to score the string part for the song, rather than waiting for Martin to finish his session work with Cilla Black.

McCartney premiered the song live during his 2002-2003 world tour.

"Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" - Lennon composed the song after purchasing an 1800's circus poster which literally describes the story of the song. The song's characteristic pump organ circus sound came from Lennon playing an actual organ, combined with tape loops of an organ played by George Martin spliced, thrown into the air, and reassembled. McCartney supplies the acoustic guitar solo that sounds like a Greek stringed instrument.

An early version of the song can be found on The Beatles Anthology 3, with McCartney coaching Lennon on how to deliver the song's lead vocal.

McCartney is currently performing a note-perfect rendition of the song on his current dates.

SIDE TWO:

"Within You, Without You" - George Harrison's sole songwriting contribution to the album, this features a mini-Indian orchestra arranged by producer George Martin. It was Harrison's idea to add the laughter at the end of the track, to dispense with the overly serious mood and subject of the song.

The song, which is the longest on the album, reflects Harrison's deepening spiritual quest through Hindu teachings.

Shortly before his death in 1980, Lennon praised this song as one of Harrison's best, and said it was a personal favorite of his.

"When I'm Sixty-Four" - One of McCartney's earliest songs, which he began around 1958 but took another eight years to finish. The song has a speeded-up lead vocal with a wordless backing vocal by McCartney, Harrison and Lennon, who although admittedly not a fan of the song, supplied the names of the subject's mythical grandchildren, "Vera, Chuck, and Dave," along with other lyrics. This song, "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Penny Lane" were the only tracks on the album to have been recorded in 1966.

"When I'm Sixty-Four" and is the only McCartney tracks on the album that he has never performed live.

In 2002 Julian Lennon recorded a version of the song for an Allstate TV commercial.

"Lovely Rita" - McCartney's ode to a mythical British meter maid. The song features soaring backing vocals by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, as well as a piano solo by George Martin, and comb and paper effects by Lennon and Harrison. McCartney currently performs the song, playing a 12-string acoustic guitar.

"Good Morning, Good Morning" - Lennon was inspired by a Kellogg's Cornflake commercial for this slightly psychedelic look at suburbia. The song features the horn section of the Brian Epstein-managed group Sounds Incorporated -- who opened for the Beatles on their 1965 U.S. tour. George Harrison doesn't appear on the track, which features McCartney supplying a virtuosic raga-like lead guitar solo. In 1980 Lennon dismissed the song as "garbage."

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Reprise"- This short reprise matches its opening guitar note perfectly with the rooster crow that ends the previous track. McCartney occasionally closes his shows with the "Pepper" reprise played in medley with "The End" from 1969's Abbey Road.

"A Day In The Life" - Lennon, McCartney and George Martin's tour de force combined a stark and plaintive ballad by Lennon with a brisk shuffle by McCartney. At Lennon and McCartney's urging, George Martin arranged an orchestra to go from the lowest note of their instruments to the highest in order to create the cacophony of sound that links the sections. The song also used the orchestra part to end the song, before the final droning piano chord, which had all four Beatles hitting the chord with both hands on different keyboards.

On June 1st, 2008, in the Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England, McCartney paid a poignant tribute to both the 41st anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper and his former partner John Lennon, by performing for the first time ever their crowning production moment "A Day In The Life." Shortly after, the song was regularly featured in McCartney's setlists in medley with Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance."

The Beatles produced a promotional video for the song, filmed primarily at the orchestral session, but it was not released at the time. Studio guests seen in the footage include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithful, Donovan and the Monkees' Mike Nesmith.

At the end of "A Day In The Life," the band added two sonic "jokes" -- first, a high-pitched "dog whistle" noise many people could not hear, but which was audible to small children and dogs, and then a two-second loop of laughing gibberish in the vinyl record's run-out groove, that would continue playing indefinitely on many phonographs.

AUDIO CLIPS

In 1995's Beatles Anthology, George Harrison credited Paul McCartney with coming up with the concept of the Beatles taking on an alter-ego for Sgt. Pepper: "Well really, it was Paul who had been on a plane journey with (Beatles road manager) Mal Evans and come up with this idea of Sgt. Pepper. And he was just kind of. . . To me, we were just kind of in the studio to make the next record, and he was going on about this idea of some fictitious band."

Paul McCartney recalled that the types of names that various West Coast groups were using inspired the concept of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "At the time there were lots of those sort of bands that y'know, 'Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band Thank You Wham Bam Ma'am', kind of group names. 'Colonel Tucker's Medicinal Brew & Compound.' So I just thought, if there was a band, what would be a mad name for it?"

John Lennon claimed that despite Sgt. Pepper being called rock's first concept album, he never considered it to be one: "It's called the first concept album. It doesn't go anywhere. '(Being For The Benefit Of) Mr. Kite,' all of my contributions have absolutely nothing to do with this idea of Sgt. Pepper and his band. But it works because we said it worked, and that's how it appeared."

Paul McCartney recalled how the recording sessions for Sgt. Pepper differed from all that had come before: "'Let's pretend we're not the Beatles' -- that's a pretty big dare right there, y'know, and it changed everything. What was great about it, it was liberating, because you could go in and work on a track and whereas before someone would sort of say, 'Okay, y'know, it's 'Eleanor Rigby' -- now Paul sings the lead.' Now it could be 'Crazy Moon-dog' is going to do the vocal.'"

Not long before his 2021 death, the Monkees' Mike Nesmith recalled the group traveling to London in early-1967 -- with Nesmith and his first wife Phyllis staying with John and Cynthia Lennon at their Weybridge estate during the recording of Sgt. Pepper: "It was just a small bedroom, one of many that he had. I remember a lot about the poster for '(Being For The Benefit For) Mr. Kite' being in John's little music room and us sitting there painting that piano -- he had the paintbrushes and everything. Sitting side-by-side playing the piano with him, and when he would play 'Mr. Kite' for me. 'Showed me how it went and sharing the music space with him, that was really nice. It was good. He was, y'know, gifted."

McCartney recalls writing "A Day In The Life" with Lennon: "For instance, 'A Day In The Life," John and I sat down and he had the opening verse. I think he had the opening idea, or we then took the idea from like The Daily Mirror or something. The Black-burn Lanc-ashire, the holes, Albert Hall all got mixed, a little poetic jumble that sounded nice. It was obviously a gorgeous song when he brought it. And I say, I was a big fan of John's, you gotta remember that. It wouldn't be, 'Yes professional person, we'll write this.' It would be, 'Can't wait to get my hands on this!'"

George Martin recalled scoring the orchestra that linked Lennon and McCartney's sections together: "They told me they wanted an orchestral climax to fill these empty bars. A giant orgasm of sound rising from nothing at all to the most incredible noise."

George Harrison explained that the Beatles' drug use -- mainly pot and LSD -- greatly influenced the music they were making in the mid-'60s: "It mightn't have affected creativity for other people -- I know it did for us, and it did for me. I mean, the first thing for people who smoke marijuana and were into music, is that somehow, it focuses your attention better on the music, and so, you can hear it clearer. You can see things, or y'know, you could see things much different. I mean, LSD was something else, it wasn't just. . . marijuana was just like having a couple of beers, really (compared to acid). But LSD was more like going to the moon."

Ringo Starr recalls that although the "Fab Four" were known to party during their sessions during their "psychedelic" period, they always needed to keep it in check for the sake of the recording: "We actually learned that years ago in the Beatles. Because we weren't saints and we would work late some nights and we'd make these (laughs) records -- it was like 'Oh wow! yeah, yeah, give me a cassette, let's take that home!' And every time we'd come in the next day to EMI (Studios) (and say), 'Well we'd better re-do that.' Because the next morning it was never so thrilling."

McCartney felt vindicated after the album's release, in view of the press' constant speculation that the Beatles were breaking up: "I was very pleased 'cause the newspapers, the musical papers, had been saying recently -- a month or two before -- 'What are the Beatles up to? Drying up, I suppose.' And it was nice making an album like Pepper thinking, 'Drying up? Yeah, I suppose that's right, yeah.' So it was lovely to have that on them, you know?"

The group's recording engineer Geoff Emerick says that while the group worked out the songs' arrangements, he was happy to have the extra time to experiment on the group's sound: "They never realized what we were doing. As you know most of the tracks were constructed down in that studio. And while they were doing that it gave me the time, the luxury of time to, to be able to think up ideas of how to record different instruments in a different way and get different sounds. But they were never really aware of what we were doing, I don't think"

Paul McCartney recalled some of the snags that the Beatles faced with their label EMI while creating the mosaic of people surrounding them on the Sgt. Pepper cover: "There was a bit of dispute about this cover, y'know, everyone -- 'Oh, you can't do t hat!' Y'know? 'Cause that's the thing if you're being free, it's obviously a lot of people saying, "Naughty! Watch it.' He was great (EMI Chairman) Sir Joe (Lockwood), actually. He was very good during that time. 'Cause, I think it must've come as shock to him, all this stuff. Anyway, he came around to my house and said, 'I'm afraid old chap, we can't have Gandhi (laughs).' (I said) 'Whaddya mean, can't? He's alright! Y'know, what's wrong with him?' 'Well,' he said, 'Might offend the Indians.'"

Beatlefan magazine's executive editor Al Sussman explains that the wait for new Beatles music seemed almost intolerable: "The week that Sgt. Pepper came out was absolutely amazing, because we had been by that point it had been 10 months since the last Beatles album . . . I mean that's an eternity in those days!"

Sussman went on to say that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album was the first major example that the youth of the world were all in tune with each other: "In those days, records came out on Friday. So that weekend, everybody was listening to this album. The same thing happened when 'The White Album' came out (the year after). And you knew, that everybody, everybody, who were at all hip to what was musically relevant was listening to this. Oh yeah."

Sussman recalls that at the time most fans were noticing that their heroes might be smoking something stronger that just cigarettes: "The fold-out of Sgt. Pepper. You'd fold the picture over and look in their eyes, and you can tell. There was definitely a glint, a certain glint to their eyes, that we hadn't really seen before."

Al Sussman says that one of the album's greatest achievements is that it showed the world that rock n' roll was not just disposable kids music: "Sgt. Pepper was the first album the non-rock n' roll world looked upon as being. . . this is a significant record. Y'know, this isn't 'yeah, yeah, yeah' anymore. These guys are doing music that really says something."

After the Beatles' 1970 breakup, John Lennon re-evaluated everything he ever did with the band: "It wasn't that spectacular when you look back on it. I mean, like anything, it was great then, but people just have this dream about Pepper. And it was good for then, y'know?"

THE ALBUM COVER

The Beatles designed the album cover concept with then-husband-and-wife team Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, explaining that they wanted to appear with a crowd behind them of "people they liked." Blake created the scene of the group wearing psychedelic marching band outfits, being flanked by their audience, using mainly cardboard blown-up photographs of famous people. The final shot, which was photographed by the late Michael Cooper, has gone on to be one of the most recognizable and imitated album covers in rock history.

Among the famous figures that the group's record company EMI flat out rejected for the cover were John Lennon's suggestions of Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolph Hitler -- although a Hitler cardboard cutout was prepared.

The label made the Beatles write to each of the people appearing on the cover and ask them for permission. Prior to granting approval, Mae West responded by asking, "What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?" Only Bowery Boy star Leo Gorcey declined, after requesting $400. His face was painted over.

Among the many 72 faces featured in the cover are Lenny Bruce, W.C. Fields, Edgar Allan Poe, psychoanalyst Carl Jung, Dion, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Aldous Huxley, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Karl Marx, original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich, and Shirley Temple.

Also featured on the cover were figures on loan from Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, of former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston and the Beatles themselves with their earlier "mop-top" look.

A wax figure rumored to be the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson has cropped up on several photos from the session.

A doll featured in the corner of the cover wore a sweater declaring "Welcome The Rolling Stones," as a nod to the group's good friends and friendly rivals.

The late-Eddie Van Halen is the latest rock legend to have their death examined by the Reelz network. Blabbermouth reported Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Eddie Van Halen will premiere on Sunday, June 5th at 8 p.m. ET. Van Halen died on October 6th, 2020 at age 65 after years of battling throat cancer.

According to the show's official description, "He was a workaholic often pushing his body to the limits in order to perform while secretly battling illness. . . But if caught early Eddie's disease had reasonable survival rates so what exactly happened? Now renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter will analyze every detail of his life in order to piece together what else may have been going on in his body, ultimately leading to his untimely death."

Slash -- a close friend and longtime fan -- believes that although Eddie Van Halen has been lauded for his groundbreaking physicality -- a lot of the guitarists that followed in his wake, failed to pick up on the subtleties that made him so unique: "I don't think anybody's had as much an influence. Every kid on the block was learning Van Halen licks. In between all the technical prowess that Eddie had, there was a killer blues thing. Everybody that emulated it, nobody ever got that part. They had the hammer-ons, they had the tremelo bar stuff, and all that kind of crap -- but they never got the most important was all the really tasty stuff that was in-between. And just, like, the melodic stuff where all the soul was coming from."

Jonas Brothers are teaming with Scriber, a subscription-based texting and digital fan club service.

Billboard reports that the band will offer their fans exclusive content, including behind-the-scenes videos, early ticket access, and other updates through the brand-new platform.

Additionally, more than half the band's proceeds will go to a charitable organization selected by the group.

Nicki Minaj has been named MaximBET's first Global Ambassador. According to Rap-Up, MaximBET is a privately held, licensed sports betting and iGaming platform. In the role, Nicki will work on merchandise, parties, partnerships, fan experiences, and branding, all designed to bring together entertainment, sports, celebrity, and betting. The rapper is also the new Creative Director of Maxim magazine, special advisor to the MaximBET Board of Directors, and will be actively involved in the company's iGaming plans.

Nicki said in a statement, "I don't think I've ever been prouder of a collaboration. Merging business savvy power moves with my natural, creative, sexy, fun, and fashion-forward expression is just so spot-on as it relates to this partnership."

Her statement continued, "I'm ready to fully step into my potential as a young, influential Queen, and owner and open doors for others to dream big. Get ready for the sexy parties and remember: scared money don't make NO MONEY!!!! HA!!! Place your bets!!!! Let's GO!!!"

Yes co-founder Jon Anderson has just rolled out a 13-city 50th anniversary tour saluting the band's watershed 1972 album, Close To The Edge. Anderson will once again be backed by youngsters from the Paul Green Rock Academy -- an extension of the Paul Green School of Rock Music, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.

Jon Anderson, who'll be performing songs from across his catalogue in the shows, said in the tour's announcement:

There are so many wonderful moments in my musical life, and being onstage with these young teenagers performing Classic Yes songs makes me so happy and proud.

It's a marvel and a tremendous pleasure for me. They are a joy to be with and so much fun! I am grateful, thankful and feel very blessed to be able to sing along with them.

Jon Anderson told us that whether on his own or within the confines of Yes, over the decades, he's always jumped at the chance to further his creative explorations: "Yeah, y'know, in some ways, you reinvent yourself every day -- or every minute, some people say. But I know that over my career, I was always willing to Vangelis, or Kitaro, or Bob Fripp. Y'know, when Bob Fripp asked me to sing a song on the second (King) Crimson album, I said, 'Yes! Please!' And I think that's what life is all about. You have to be adventurous. So, I don't feel any weight at all having to prove anything ever. I've never actually wanted to have to prove anything. I'm still busy trying to create the better music."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Jon Anderson tour dates (subject to change):

July 7 - Plymouth, NH - The Flying Monkey Performing Arts Center
July 8 - Beverly, MA - The Cabot
July 13 - Huntingdon, NY - The Paramount
July 14 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater
July 16 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
July 17 - Sugar Loaf, NY - Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center
July 20 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
July 22 - Kent, OH - The Kent Stage
July 23 - Des Plaines, IL - Des Plaines Theatre
July 27 - Greensburg, PA - The Palace Theatre
July 30 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
August 3 - State College, PA - The State Theatre
August 6 - Albany, NY - The Egg

It was 37 years ago today (June 1st, 1985) that Sting released his first solo album apart from the Police. Although the collection was originally conceived as just one of the three separate solo projects he, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland embarked on following the global success of the band's Grammy Award-Winning 1983 Synchronicity album and its subsequent world tour, which stretched into 1984; barring one reunion track the following year for their greatest hits compilation, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles marked the end of the Police and the official start of Sting's solo career.

The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, which topped out at Number Two on the Billboard 200, has remained one of the decade's most important and durable albums, spawning four Top 20 hits: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (#3), "Fortress Around Your Heart" (#8), "Love Is The Seventh Wave" (#17), and "Russians" (#16).

Sting enlisted the era's top young jazz musicians for the sessions, introducing a whole new audience to such heavyweights as saxophonist Branford Marsalis, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, drummer Omar Hakim, and future Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who was then best known for his work with Miles Davis. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, which was co-produced by Sting and Pete Smith, went on to snag Grammy nominations for Album Of The Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, and Best Engineered Recording.

At the time of the album's release, Sting was far from pitching it as his first album following the split of the Police, telling Spin magazine: "The Police and my solitary projects are logically very separate. We haven't broken up, but we've become separated by our own plans for ourselves for the time being. It's nothing more than that. . . We're all extremely busy. Stewart is immersed in a successful musical life that includes a solo album this summer. Andy's working on a solo record starting next month. We're pleasantly preoccupied, which is a good sign, rather than a bad one."

Then-Musician magazine editor Vic Garbarini played a pivotal role in the sound of Blue Turtles, telling Spin: "Sting knew I was in close touch with this network of players. I said to him, 'But you don't want the older jazzmen who grew up playing bebop. What you want are the young ones who were raised on jazz, fusion and funk and are closet rock fans. In other words, a more assimilated crew but still with a contemporary edge. I suggested he sign up Branford sight unseen, because I knew Branford and his sax has got that Wayne Shorter/(John) Coltrane sensibility but also his own very contemporary funk-influenced sound. Sting agreed. Overnight, I put together workshop-type auditions with the full spectrum, from the avant-garde end of James Blood Ulmer sidemen to the neo-classical guys. By the second day, we had most of the group."

Sting told us that leaving the Police had nothing to do with ego and everything about pushing his own musical boundaries: "I think it was really about freedom. The freedom to follow my muse, to follow my curiosity about music. And a band is a very restrictive, reactionary, conservative thing -- any band -- 'Oh, we gotta be the band! We have to have our little image! And we must never change, it's what we do.' My nature is much more of a gadfly (laughs), y'know? I'm intrigued by a lot of things. I'm also intrigued by music as a universal mystery -- not just one bit of it."

He told us that despite his fans criticizing him at the time for switching musical gears -- he didn't "go jazz" -- as many Police fans accused him of doing: "It wasn't really a direction. It might've looked like a direction because of the casting of the band was very much from the world of jazz; but we weren't playing jazz. Anything but. That direction was driven by songs. Very disparate song genres. As different as 'Moon Over Bourbon Street,' which is a kind of Kurt Weil sort of (laughs) strange theater song, to "Fortress Around Your Heart," uh, "If You Love Someone Set Them Free" -- it was just a very, very disparate collection of songs. No, there was no, like, 'direction.' There was no, like, 'This is what we're doing' -- other than me exploring my freedom."

Although Sting's initial break from the Police was only supposed to be temporary -- yet open ended, solo super-stardom kept him from rejoining his bandmates for nearly a quarter century. Andy Summers told us he's got no issues with the fact that Sting essentially left the Police behind following the release of Blue Turtles: "I think he made, y'know, what was the right decision for him. Y'know, I don't point any fingers at him for doing that. Y'know, we'd had phenomenal success. . . Y'know, he wanted to do his own thing and, and he actually proved it, because he has become a very successful male solo singer. Now, a lot of guys who leave big bands, that's not true, or they don't make it, and then they have to do the reunion thing, y'know?"

Sting kicks off his latest "My Songs" Las Vegas residency on June 3rd at Caesars Palace.

Alina Mawlka is speaking out about the rumors that she split up Liam Payne and his ex-fiancée Maya Henry.

A spokesperson for the 24-year-old model told E! News Sunday (May 29th), "Aliana is very taken back by the accusations that have been made regarding a relationship with Liam while he was still engaged or involved with his ex-fiancée." They continued, "Under no circumstances would Aliana have involved herself in a public relationship as such if there was any truth to the comments that have been made."

Last week, Henry fueled the speculation that Payne was unfaithful when she commented on a photo of him and Mawlka with, "I love all of the fans so much but please stop sending me these pictures of my fiancé wrapped around another woman. This is not me and it's hard enough knowing this has happened without seeing it. Enough now."

The Rolling Stones have been digging deep in tour rehearsals ahead of opening night tomorrow (June 1st) in Madrid, Spain. The band's European run will play 14 dates across 10 countries.

According to the unofficial RocksOff.org message board, the Stones have been running through tunes from across their entire 60-year-career -- including such notable songs as "Out Of Time," "Sad Sad Sad," "Fool To Cry," the only recently-released Goats Head Soup outtake "Criss Cross," Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone," "Monkey Man," "Neighbours," "Little T & A," "She's So Cold," "Sweet Virginia," "Hot Stuff," and "Mothers Little Helper," among others.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards talked about compiling the Stones' live set: "(Mick Jagger): "We always like to do songs that we've. . . Obviously we do a lot of songs that we do know, and it's nice to find ones that we've never done before. So, we're always looking for those." (Keith Richards): "'Doin' Your Thing,' you remember that one?" (Jagger): "I do actually, but I'm not going to sing it now, though."

During an interview with Dazed, A$AP Rocky revealed that he'd like to raise "open-minded children with Rihanna. He said, "I hope to raise open-minded children. Not people who discriminate, And I'm not trying to describe a saint, but realistically, I just want a cool child with cool parents."

He continued, "Things like diversity and versatility are important, and they'll be embedded in the household."

Rocky and Rihanna welcomed their first child, a baby boy on May 13th.

Camila Cabello opened the Union of European Football associations' 2022 Champions League Final Saturday (May 28th), but was not happy with the fans' reaction to her performance.

According to Page Six, the singer took to Twitter after she left the field to chastise Liverpool and Real Madrid supporters for drowning out the sound of her nearly six-minute opener.

She wrote, "Playing back our performance and I can't believe people were winging their teams anthem so loud during our performance. Like my team and I worked tirelessly for so long to bring the right vibes and give a good show." In a follow up post she added, "Very rude but whatever. IM GLAD U GUYS LOVED IT."

Both tweets have since been deleted.

Set for release on July 1st is Elvis Costello's reunion set with pre-fame bandmate, Allan Mayes, titled, The Resurrection Of Rust. Back in the early-'70s the pair was part of a fledgling pub rock ensemble named Rusty that split before ever earning the big bucks or heading into the studio. The two old friends have now teamed up to produce what Costello calls, "The record we would have cut when we were 18, if anyone had let us."

Costello -- who was still then known as D.P. MacManus -- explained in the album's announcement, "The EP contains new renditions of songs from our 1972 club repertoire; our duets on two Nick Lowe tunes from 1972; 'Surrender To The Rhythm' and 'Don't Lose Your Grip On Love' -- and closes with an arrangement incorporating Neil Young's 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' and 'Dance, Dance, Dance,' which marks my recording debut on the electric violin."

Elvis Costello shed light on his decades as a hard working musician, songwriter, singer, and bandleader: "I don't really have a choice, but I know people who really feel that way about music and don't have the opportunities that I have. So, some of it is luck, some of it is what you've been given -- and some of it just is work. That is the part of it that people miss that there is just a lot of work. The playing the show is joyfully or maniacally or whatever frame of mind you're in. . . There's a lot of miles and there's a lot of thinking. I have to tell people, 'When it looks like I'm just sitting still, I'm pondering sometimes. 'Cause that's what I do. I live on my wits."

Jack Antonoff is engaged.

According to People, the 38-year-old Bleachers musician is set to tie the knot with 27-year-old Maid star, Margaret Qualley.

The actress was recently spotted wearing a diamond ring at the Cannes Film Festival last Wednesday (May 25th), where her latest film, Stars at Noon, held it's premiere.

The outlet reports that the couple has been dating since last summer and went public with their romance earlier this year at the AFI Awards Luncheon in March.

Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman. The big surprised happened when Davidson asked if he could bring a plus-one and then invited Robert Pattinson.

Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Kelly explained that one Easter, when Davidson showed up at his house with beer, he took him to Sandra Bullock's house, where they ran into Jennifer Aniston and other major stars.

The two have become good friends and Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman.
• Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"
• Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.

Madonna was spotted sitting next to Tory Lanez at the Gervonta Davis vs Ronaldo Romero fight on Sunday (May 29th) night, despite their copyright infringement drama.

The Blast reports that the two appeared to be having a 'heartfelt conversation' despite their recent dispute.

Last year the "Like A Virgin" singer slammed the Canadian rapper for sampling her music illegally.

Robert Plant took time out on his recent Digging Deep podcast to look back on his and Jimmy Page's only full studio album apart from Led Zeppelin -- 1998's Walking Into Clarksdale. The album, which came on the heels of 1994's massively successful No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant - Unledded album and MTV special, also followed the duo touring a Zeppelin-heavy show across the globe.

After playing the Walking Into Clarksdale track, "Please Read The Letter," Robert Plant spoke frankly about what the 1998 album means in the greater scheme of things: "It was a real experiment, because are all these things part of a career? Or are they just, when you get to a certain point, you just exorcise your whims -- and that's the previous record, (No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant) Unledded. No Quarter was exactly that and it was better for it. And Walking Into Clarksdale was really an attempt to say, 'Okay, let's make a studio record now.' I can't say that it suited me that much at all. But -- for what it is; and this is not a compromise, I think it's really crucial because it allowed Jimmy Page and myself to just get rid of the mantle and the cloak of Zeppelin."

Green Day's Billie Armstrong has opened up about the emotion he felt on the band's first night of the Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer. In an interview with Kerrang!, he said, "The crowd looked like this giant flock of birds freaking out," Armstrong said of their first tour date. Coming offstage, afterwards, no-one could believe what was happening with this shared experience for all of us. And it was like that every single night. People were just grateful to be alive, to be around people again. It was awesome. We wanted to make it a special tour back in 2019, but when it ended up happening it was an unbelievable experience."

He continued, "We sound-checked the day before and I was so overwhelmed by the size of the place – it was like the first time I ever played a stadium in my life… Everyone – the crew, every single person – was completely overwhelmed because no-one knew how this was going to go down. I was freaking out. Everyone was. We didn't know what to think… the whole country had been through the f*cking wringer. And here we are starting in f*cking Texas."

The Wedding Band -- featuring Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo played on Friday night (May 27th) at Napa, California's Margrit Mondavi Theatre. Blabbermouth reported the gig, "Was part of the BottleRock Afterdark performances that are taking place in conjunction with this year's Metallica's co-headlined edition of the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival, which was held last weekend at the Napa Valley Expo in Northern California."

The band is rounded out by Mark Osegueda of Death Angel, Jon Theodore from the Mars Volta and Queens Of The Stone Age, along with Bad Wolves and God Forbid's and Doc Coyle. The two-set, 19-song show included covers of classics by Motörhead, Black Sabbath, the Ramones, the Clash, the Misfits, Black Flag, Rick Derringer -- even Robert Palmer and Kool & The Gang.

Harry Styles announced Friday (May 27th) that he is planning on donating proceeds from Love On Tour 2022 to help end gun violence.

In the wake of recent mass shootings across the US, including the events that took place in Uvalde, Texas last week, he will be donating proceeds from the tour, with Live Nation matching, equaling over $1 million to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.

The singer said in a press release, "Along with all of you, I have been absolutely devastated by the recent string of mass shootings in America, culminating at Robb Elementary School in Texas. On our North American tour, we will be partnering with Everytown who work to end gun violence, donating to support their efforts, and sharing their suggested action items."

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund is the education, research, and litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country.

Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band are officially back on the road, having kicked off their 2022 dates over two nights -- May 27th and 28th at Rama, Ontario's Casino Rama.

The latest All Starr Band lineup features such veteran All Starr's as Toto's Steve Lukather, Men At Work's Colin Hay, Edgar Winter, Paul McCartney sideman Hamish Stuart from the Average White Band -- along with percussionist Warren Ham and drummer Gregg Bissonette.

We caught up with Ringo just prior to opening night and he explained that things only seem to be getting tougher for up and coming musicians: "It's very difficult for bands to start now. Most of the venues have gone. Y'know what I mean -- the clubs. . . and it's a lot more difficult now. And also, I'm a bit disgusted with big bands who make the opening band pay to play. Where's the help? There's no help. So, they're making plenty, they could let somebody come on." (19 OC: . . . somebody come on)

• Kiss guitarists Ace Frehley, Vinnie Vincent, and Bruce Kulick all appeared together for the first time on Saturday night (May 28th) Creatures Fest in Nashville. The mini set featured bassist Shane Smith from the Kiss tribute band You Wanted The Best and included Vincent playing his signature pink Gibson Flying-V, decked out in full "Ankh Warrior" Kiss stage makeup, while standing on a reproduction of Kiss' early-'80s tank stage design.
• The musicians played along to a drum track and tackled "I Love It Loud," "War Machine" with Bruce Kulick, along with Ace Frehley joining them for the early favorites, "Deuce" and Cold Gin."
  • The night before (May 27th), original drummer Peter Criss joined Ace Frehley and his band for a pair of early favorites "Strange Ways" from 1974's Hotter Than Hell and "Hard Luck Woman" from 1979's Dynasty. (Ultimate Classic Rock)
    
    
• Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea appears in the new Disney+ Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Flea portrays the bounty hunter Vect Nakru, who has been given the task of abducting a young Princess Leia. The Chili Peppers next perform on June 4th in Seville, Spain at Estadio La Cartuja De Sevilla. (Loudwire)
  
  
• Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro revealed that he's among those suffering from the dreaded "long Covid." Earlier this month, Jane's was forced to pull out of the Welcome To Rockville festival due to Navarro, with Perry Farrell enlisting his other band, Porno For Pyros to perform instead.
  • Navarro posted on Instagram: "I'm one of the ones who came down with the 'long haul Covid'. Been sick since December and supposedly will be back to my old self in. . . nobody knows how long. If there are any of you who are still suffering long after your negative results, I'm just saying you aren't alone. The fatigue and isolation is pretty awful but try to spend your time with the ones you love and stay creative. That's how I'm trying to get through this thing. Also lots of spiritual practices, meditation and yoga have been very helpful. I'll be ok, just don't know when."
    
    
• Poison's Bret Michaels ensured fans that what they hear is what they get at the band's shows. Blabbermouth transcribed some of the frontman's chat with Boise radio station 96.9 The Eagle, in which he explained, "I warm up. I do stuff. . . Because let's be really honest -- the fans are traveling; they're coming out to see you; they want a good show. For me, I wanna put on a badass show -- I wanna sing good, I wanna sound good. And you've gotta remember. . . we don't use anything -- There's no backing tracks. We sit at soundcheck and work on those harmonies, we work on making it sound good. That's what I set out to be, a musician, so you've gotta be able to bring it."
  • Michaels went on to admit, "I'm not gonna lie to you. One stretch I was doing solo (dates) and Poison (shows), and I did 14 in a row. And that beat my voice up pretty good. But then I had to take a little medication, got through it, for the voice, and then had a day off and got it to heal. And I'm good to go." (Blabbermouth)

ED SHEERAN DROPS EXTENDED EDITION OF '=': Ed Sheeran released = ('Equals' Tour Edition) on Friday (May 27th). The extended version of his chart-topping album features nine additional tracks, four of which were previously unavailable. Joining the original 14-track album are brand new songs, "I Will Remember You" and "Welcome to the World" alongside previously unreleased fan favorites, "One Live" and "Penguins."

DEMI LOVATO TEASES 'SKIN OF MY TEETH': Demi Lovato announced on social media that their forthcoming single, "Skin of My Teeth" will drop on June 10th. A snippet of the song shared to Instagram has more of a rock vibe than her last album, which is expected following the "funeral" they held for their pop music in January.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO TEASES 'VIVA LAS VENGANCE' AND MORE: Panic! At The Disco announced Sunday (May 29th) that their next single "and so much more" will be dropping on June 1st. According to the Brendan Urie project's Instagram page, the track "Viva Las Vengance" will be released Wednesday (June 1st) at 10amET.

Journey, the Beach Boys, Extreme, the Cramps, Kiss, Talking Heads and others are all featured on the just-issued Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4. Coming on July 1st will be Season 4, Volume II, which features all of Volume I -- plus additional music from the season's closing episodes.

The new compilation features the newly created buzzworthy Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix of Journey's 1983 classic, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)."

We recently caught up with keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and he walked us through how one of his and Steve Perry's greatest team-ups -- the lead single and opening track to 1983's Frontiers album -- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" -- came into being: "We took Escape on the road and we knew we needed more teeth. We knew we needed something like 'Separate Ways,' y'know? Like, what would make our set undeniably great? And we tried to fill in what we were missing musically. I think we all sensed it. And I remember writing 'Separate Ways' with Steve (Perry) on the road. We wrote that in a hotel room -- (bassist) Ross (Valory) was going through a divorce and boom -- out comes 'Separate Ways,' and we're playin' it at the end of the Escape tour. Y'know, 'cause we needed it in the set. Now, we start fine tuning ourselves, y'know? And that's how in tune we were with our music. It was all of us, man."

The tracklisting to Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4 is:

"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" (Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix) - Journey
"California Dreamin'" - The Beach Boys
"Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
"Running Up That Hill" - Kate Bush
"You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" - Dead Or Alive
"Chica Mejicanita" - Mae Arnette
"Play With Me" - Extreme
"Detroit Rock City" - Kiss
"I Was A Teenage Werewolf" - The Cramps
"Pass The Dutchie" - Musical Youth
"Wipeout" - The Surfaris
"Object Of My Desire" - Starpoint
"Rock Me Amadeus (The Gold Mix)" - Falco
"Travelin' Man" - Ricky Nelson
"Tarzan Boy" - Baltimora
"Dream A Little Dream Of Me" - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

It was 54 years ago today (May 30th, 1968) that the Beatles began recording their 30-song self-titled double album, which is commonly known as "The White Album."

On May 30th, 1968, the "White Album's" first session was held for John Lennon's "Revolution 1," which was recorded in London at EMI's Studio Two, with the session stretching from 2:30 p.m. to 2:40 a.m. the next day. It was the group's first studio work since returning from Rishikesh, India after an extended stay to study transcendental meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 2009, a near-10-minute version of "Revolution 1" made the rounds of underground collectors -- the majority of which stems from the May 30th session.

Most of the songs from "The White Album" were written while the group was in India, including "Back In The U.S.S.R.," "Yer Blues," "I Will," "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill," "Rocky Raccoon," "I'm So Tired," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Dear Prudence," "Mother Nature's Son," and Lennon's thinly-veiled attack on the Maharishi, titled "Sexy Sadie." Other highlights on the album included "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Julia," "Helter Skelter," "Glass Onion," "Martha My Dear," "Birthday," and Ringo Starr's first composition, the country-flavored "Don't Pass Me By."

Several songs originally intended for the "White Album" turned up on later solo albums, such as "Junk" which Paul McCartney released on his 1970 solo debut McCartney, "Child Of Nature" which John Lennon rewrote as "Jealous Guy" for his 1971 album Imagine, "Not Guilty" which made its way onto George Harrison's 1979 self-titled album, and Harrison's "Circles" which finally saw release on his 1982 album Gone Troppo.

The main difference between the "White Album" sessions and all that had come before was the constant presence of John Lennon's then-new girlfriend, Yoko Ono, who was seemingly glued to Lennon's side at all times, breaking a long-standing unwritten rule that girlfriends and wives pretty much stayed away from the studio. Now, they had an outsider there all the time that was quite comfortable voicing an opinion about the music they were recording.

George Harrison's first wife Pattie Boyd says that the days of all the Beatle wives being a close-knit group pretty much ended with Yoko entering the inner circle: "John fell in love with Yoko and that was that. She was more a man's woman than a woman's woman. She would never have girlfriends, I don't think, anyway. Y'know that was fine, so I knew I'd never get close to her. She was quite friendly toward me. I mean, she and John once stayed in our house and she was just so intent on John all the time. John was her only focus, really and truly."

During The Beatles Anthology, George Harrison defended the group's decision to release a 30-song album: "But y'know, what do you do when you've got all them songs and you want to get rid of them so that you can do more songs? Y'know, there was a lot of ego in that band, and there was a lot of songs (on 'The White Album') that should have been elbowed, or maybe made into B-sides." 15

The Beatles' late-producer George Martin said that the album sounded more like the work of four solo artists rather than one unified band: "They came back from abroad. . . They'd been away for quite a while after the death of (manager) Brian Epstein. They came back and presented me with 33 songs, which they all wanted to record at once, literally. They said, 'Well, you've got another studio. George has something going in one studio, and I can go in another,' says Paul. I was running from one studio to another, doing a kind of executive role."

Martin recalled that the material seemed to not be up to their usual standards when they first presented it to him: "A lot of the recordings, they would have a basic idea, and then they would have a jam session to end it, which sometimes didn't sound too good. But this was fairly small criticism. When they did 'The White Album,' I thought we should have made a very, very good single album out of it, rather than make a double album out of it. I think it was an album that could have been a fantastically good album if it had been compressed a bit and condensed. But a lot people I know think it's the best album they made. So, it's not my view."

Paul McCartney doesn't buy into Martin's revisionist beliefs that it could have made a single album on par with Revolver and other single-disc Beatles masterpieces: "Well, y'know, you can always say that. Perhaps I'll go with -- but not definitely -- in fact I think it's a fine little album. I think the fact that it's got so much on it is one of the things that's cool about it, 'cause they're very varied stuff, y'know 'Rocky Raccoon,' 'Piggies,' 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' -- that kind of stuff. I think it's a fine album. I'm not one for that: 'Maybe it was too many of that -- what do you mean? It's great, it sold, it's the bloody Beatles' 'White Album' -- shut up!"

With tensions in the band high between the Beatles, the group's longtime engineer Geoff Emerick quit the sessions rather than face further attacks by the band. Engineer Chris Thomas stepped in and later went on to produce key albums for the Sex Pistols, the Pretenders, Pete Townshend and McCartney. Emerick was asked if he ever regretted his decision to miss out on engineering White Album and Let It Be classics such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Back In The U.S.S.R.," and later on, "Get Back" and "The Long And Winding Road": "Not at all. And thinking about it afterwards, I think it was good because it certainly jolted them. It's something that should have been done a long time ago. Looking back, I'm glad I did it. I didn't lose any respect (from them) because I went back and worked at (the Beatles' company) Apple and recorded (their album) Abbey Road."

James Taylor was one of the initial artists signed to the Beatles' Apple Records. He remembers watching the band record "The White Album" at London's Trident Studios, which unlike EMI's Abbey Road had made the upgrade to an eight track console as opposed to EMI's severely limiting four track machine: "I remember listening to the Beatles in 1968, when they were recording 'The White Album,' I was using the time they weren't using in the studio between their sessions essentially. I remember listening back to their playbacks of 'Hey Jude' or 'Revolution' or -- y'know those were intact. Those were like done. They had just moved up to eight-track, that's why they were in Trident Studios. But y'know, with four musicians, and one of them a set of drums, eight tracks is gone, that's it."

The Beatles' "White Album" was released on November 22nd, 1968 and went on to top the charts for nine non-consecutive weeks beginning on December 28th.

FAST FORWARD

November 2018 saw the Beatles back in the Top 10 with the 50th anniversary reissue of the band's "White Album." The set jumped back onto the Billboard 200 album charts hitting Number Six, with the magazine reporting "The new reissue climbs back onto the tally with 63,000 units earned -- up 1,499 percent in the week ending November 15th, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 52,000 were in traditional album sales -- up 5,596 percent."

The massive six-CD, one Blu-ray "Super Deluxe" version of the "White Album" features the album's 30 tracks newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio, joined by 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes, most of which are previously unreleased in any form.

This is the first time the "White Album" has been remixed and presented with additional demos and session recordings. The album's new edition follows 2017's universally acclaimed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "Anniversary Edition" releases.

To create the new stereo and 5.1 surround audio mixes, Martin and Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London. All the new "White Album" releases include Martin's new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original four-track and eight-track session tapes. Martin's new mix is guided by the album's original stereo mix produced by his father, the late-George Martin.

Ed Sheeran is releasing more new music today (5-27).

He made the announcement through a video on his social media. It's part of what will be a new deluxe edition of his latest album, = (Equals).

The Tour Edition of (Equals) drops today and will include 9 additional tracks. Two of them are brand new and two others are from the 2018 musical film, Yesterday.

Although he performed them on screen, "One Life" and "Penguins" were never officially released until now.

The original version of the album was released in October and became Sheeran's 4^th consecutive #1 album on the Billboard 200.

TL;DR: