US album release: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The day after it was released in the United Kingdom, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely HEarts Club Band was issued in the United States of America.
Sgt Pepper was issued as Capitol MAS 6253 (mono) and SMAS 2653 (stereo). It topped the Billboard chart for 15 weeks, and in 1968 won four Grammy Awards: Album of the Year; Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts; Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical; Contemporary Album. It was nominated for a further three: Group Vocal Performance; Contemporary Vocal Group; Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists (for A Day In The Life).
Sgt Pepper was the first Beatles album to be released with identical track listings in both the UK and USA, as stipulated by the group. As it was arguably their first long-player to be a conceptual whole rather than a straightforward collection of songs, it was important to them that Capitol issued it in the form envisaged by the creators.
US copies of Sgt Pepper, however, didn't include the high-pitched run-out whistle following A Day In The Life, nor the gibberish in the side two runout groove.
