STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

"Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever" is a single release by British pop/rock act The Beatles. The single was released through Parlophone Records (EMI) in February 1967. It´s a double A-side single release where the John Lennon penned S"trawberry Fields Forever" was paired with Paul McCartney`s "Penny Lane". While it is widely considered a classic pop/rock single from the 60s it was actually the first Beatles single not to reach number #1 in the UK charts since "Love Me Do (1962)". The technicality that the single had two A-sides meant that the BBC counted the single as two seperate singles and because of that Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me", which sold only half as many copies as the "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever" single, went number #1 and kept The Beatles on number #2. The single went number #1 in the US charts though.

When you wasn´t there it´s easy to forget how important singles were in the 60s, and how much time and effort were put into creating a single release like "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever". The experimental and psychadelic tinged "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the beautiful and melodic "Penny Lane" weren´t just leftover tracks from an album session, or a hit album song with a leftover B-side track (although "Strawberry Fields Forever" was written during the sessions for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)"). Both tracks could easily have been included on one of the band´s albums, but they were specifically chosen to appear together on this single release.

The two very different sounding tracks, which tell the intriguing story of late 60s Beatles (from experimental psychadelic rock act to softer melodic yet still adventurous pop/rock), compliment each other extremely well. Both track were later released on the US/Canada album version of the "Magical Mystery Tour (1967)" but until then they were exclusively available on this single. Bearing that in mind this is an essential release by The Beatles and one of their most memorable and accomplished releases. A 5 star (100%) rating is well deserved.