Kevin Bronson on June 2nd, 2017

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Among the many tributes to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on the landmark album’s 50th anniversary, few we’ve heard approach the pure whimsy of the original as the free EP released today by Joel Jerome. Jerome, the mastermind of local psych-pop outfit Dios, chief of Psychedelic Thriftstore Recordings and the producer/scene guru known to friends as Papa Joel, kneaded/tweaked/goosed seven of the originals for “Sgt Papa’s Lonely <3's Club Band," playing almost everything himself except for contributions from Gabriel Pacheco (The Creation Factory) and Luke Paquin (Tashaki Miyaki). He alters a title here, a lyric there and chords everywhere, all with playful reverence. (Jerome had more of "Sgt. Pepper's" partially recorded but apparently the tracks weren't done in time for the anniversary.) In an interview with LA Weekly, Jerome, born Joel Morales, credited his exposure to the Beatles’ anthologies in the mid-1990s for his ongoing fascination with the Fab Four. “It was like going to Music University, Beatles College,” he said. So here’s Papa Joel, earning high marks.

Download the EP for free via Bandcamp.

||| Stream: “Sgt Papa’s Lonely <3's Club Band"