It was 50 years ago today that Sergeant Pepper arrived in the USA

THE iconic psychedelic Beatles Album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in the UK on May 26 and the US on June 2 1967.

Produced at Abbey Road Studios at the same time as the Pink Floyd were recording Piper at the Gates of Dawn and the Pretty Things SF Sorrow, this has to be one of the most popular and influential rock albums of all time.

It is reported that members of the band where taking drugs which was quite in keeping with the psychedelic concept of 1967 and the single Strawberry Fields Forever recorded in the same session and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds are both supposed to reflect John Lennon’s interest in the drug LSD.

Produced by George Martin and engineered by a very young Geoff Emerick the whole sound was different, particularly as the band imported 40 classical musicians but had not prepared any musical notations for them.

The album which includes numbers written by all four Beatles and tells the story of a performance by the imaginary Edwardian Brass Band created in the mind of Paul McCartney went on to sell more than 30 million copies with more sales expected in this anniversary year.