For the Beatles, 1967 marks a signal crossroads that would both transform the groups career and place them on a trajectory towards their eventual disbandment. It was a year in which they exploded prevailing rock music demographics through the global onslaught and international success ofSgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Bandbeginning in June 1967. Yet it was also a period that saw them in a precarious state of flux throughout the summer and fall months, as the band attempted to recapture their artistic direction in the wake ofSgt. Pepper and the untimely death of manager Brian Epstein.

The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper, and the Summer of Lovedraws readers into that pivotal year in the life of the band. For the Fab Four, 1967 would see the band members part ways with psychedelia and theavant-gardethrough the trials and tribulations of theMagical Mystery Tour, a project that resulted in a series of classic recordings, while at the same time revealing the bandmates aesthetic vulnerabilities and failings as would-be filmmakers andauteurs.

Kenneth Womack is professor of English and dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University.

Kathryn B. Coxisdoctoral candidate in historical musicology at the University of Michigan.

Introduction: It Was 50 Years Ago Today! - Kenneth Womack

I. A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed for All
Sgt. Pepperwith a Little Outsider HelpTaught the Band to Play - Jerry ZoltenTurning Us On: Artifice as Authenticity inSgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - Mark OsteenThe Sitar, Eastern Music and Philosophy, and the Beatles Progress Towards Rishikesh - Kathryn B. CoxThe Act Youve Known for All These Years: Discord and Harmony in the Third Space - Jacqueline Edmondson
II. The Summer of Love (and Commerce)
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in the Global Village - Kit OTooleGolden Blunders: The Fall of the Beatles Apple and Its Unlikely Seed - Joe RapollaThe Wretched Life of a Lonely Heart: Sgt. Peppers Girls, Fandom, the Wilson Sisters, and Chrissie Hynde - Katie Kapurch You Say You Want a Revolution: The Beatles and the Political Culture of the 1960s - Kenneth L. Campbell
III. The Magical/Tragical History Tour
Dying To Take You Away: The Beatles as Cinematic Auteurs - Robert RodriguezThe End of Fantasy: The Beatles,Magical Mystery Tour, and the Counterculture - Michael FrontaniMagical Mystery Tour: From EP to LP to CD - Bruce Spizer