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List Price: $28.99 | | Publisher: Cambridge University Press
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Editorial Review:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) represents the highpoint of the recording career of the Beatles. This is a detailed study of this album, and it demonstrates how serious discussion of popular music can be undertaken without failing either the approach or the music. Dr. Moore considers each song individually, tying his analysis to the recorded performance on disk, rather than the printed music. He focuses on the musical quality of the songs and the interpretations offered by a range of commentators. He also describes the context in which the album was written--both within the career of the group itself and within the development of popular music globally, both before and since.
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Reviews:
A CROCK 
2008-01-02 - Who is this guy who thinks he knows what they were writing about. I bought this based on other reviews and know a lot about the Beatles. I was disappointed by yet another genius that knows it all.
CLASSIC BEATLES 
2005-11-21 - If a series of books concerned with serious music embraces the Beatles its the final word.
Yet its not that surprising when you realise the Beatles were being discussed by classical music critics as far back as 1963.
A couple of years later we began to find things like The Baroque Beatles and it went on through the years to the interpretations by different Symphony Orchestras.
Today Paul McCartney is,himself,in the classical catalogues courtesy of things like Liverpool Oratorio and Standing Stone
In the early 60s classical and pop were a great divide and the Beatles were to narrow it immensley when their music was picked up by orchestras.
Sgt Pepper is their most famous album and has been treated many times to symphonic interpretations.
Its now gone full circle as the Beatles are a musical genre
Good, if a little too technical. 
1998-12-01 - At the heart of the matter is the question: Is Sgt Pepper a piece of modern classic music? If one were to look at the other books in the Cambridge Music Handbook series (they're all on works of classical composers, [and here I do not refer to the "Classical" period, but to the generic category of classical]), the question seems already answered, and all that remains is to see just how Mr. Moore will prove this. This he does achieve, albeit through much technical information (both musical and socio-cultural), rather than through truly moving and eloquent persusasion. Moore's analysis of each song's music is fascinating (how the Beatles aurally represent concepts) and his thematic analysis is equally good, even if you don't always agree with him (I mean, is "Within You, Without You" really the pivotal song of the album?) But that aside, his commentary on "A Day in the Life" is excellent. Here even the distanced scholar is moved, he writes (paraphrase here) "...the final chords [of the Sgt Pepper reprise] have not yet died away when the strumming of a lone acoustic guitar begin and the innocent listener is lead into one of the most harrowing songs ever written...". All in all, a good effort and worth the reading of every Beatles fan, student of music or pop culture.
