linguistic:paraphrasing, stylistic:style_transfer, structural:expansion, stylistic:tone
Radio previews and launch party

The album was previewed on the pirate radio station Radio London on 12 May and officially on the BBC Light Programme 's show Where It's At, by Kenny Everett, on 20 May. Everett played the entire album apart from "A Day in the Life". The day before Everett's broadcast, Epstein hosted a launch party for music journalists and disc jockeys at his house in Belgravia in central London. The event was a new initiative in pop promotion and furthered the significance of the album's release. Melody Maker ' s reporter described it as the first "listen-in" and typical of the Beatles' penchant for innovation.

The party marked the band's first group interaction with the press in close to a year. Norrie Drummond of the NME wrote that they had been "virtually incommunicado" over that time, leading a national newspaper to complain that the band were "contemplative, secretive and exclusive". Some of the journalists present were shocked by the Beatles' appearance, particularly that of Lennon and Harrison, as the band members' bohemian attire contrasted sharply with their former image. Music journalist Ray Coleman recalled that Lennon looked "haggard, old, ill" and clearly under the influence of drugs. Biographer Howard Sounes likens the Beatles' presence to a gathering of the British royal family and highlights a photo from the event that shows Lennon shaking McCartney's hand "in an exaggeratedly congratulatory way, throwing his head back in sarcastic laughter".

On 26 May, Sgt. Pepper was given a rush-release in the UK, ahead of the scheduled date of 1 June. The band's eighth LP, it was the first Beatles album where the track listings were exactly the same for the UK and US versions. The US release took place on 2 June. Capitol Records ' advertising for the album emphasised that the Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's band were one and the same.