Art of Time Ensemble to perform Beatles' entire 'Sgt. Pepper's' album

After the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, they were freed creatively to make music they didn't have to worry about reproducing onstage. The result? The band's highly anticipated eighth studio album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

The album, released in June 1967, fairly burst with a variety of arrangements, sound effects and dress-up. The sheer ambition of the work may have sparked not only the era of album rock, but also that of progressive rock. But, by design, the Beatles never performed it live.

Now, however, you can hear the entire album in concert, performed by the Art of Time Ensemble, which features Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies and Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, among other musicians. The classical/pop ensemble from Toronto has embarked on its Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Tour.

There are some new arrangements and embellishments, but ensemble founder and artistic director Andrew Burashko says he "insisted that all the vocal melodies and harmonies be true to the original."

Here are some numbers about the classic album, which, like the fabled cellophane flowers of yellow and green, tend to "grow so incredibly high":

5: Length, in months, it took to record "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - November 1966 to April 1967.

2: Early tracks completed for the album that were instead released early as two sides of a single - "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

20: Years ago that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, according to the title song.

64: The age at which the protagonist of one song wonders whether he'll be needed or fed.

1: Beatles involved in the track "Within You Without You." George Harrison sang and played sitar and tambura, accompanied by four Indian musicians.

4,000: Potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire, according to "A Day in the Life." The figure was lifted from an item in the Daily Mail.

40: Orchestra members playing the final crescendo at the end of "A Day in the Life." Quadrupling the tracks gave it the sound of 160.

42: Length in seconds of the piano-chord fade-out at the end of "A Day in the Life."

15: Tone in kilohertz added to end of "A Day in the Life," a level so high it could be heard only by dogs.

61: Identifiable personalities depicted on the "Sgt. Pepper's" album cover, including Karl Marx, Stan Laurel, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan and Lewis Carroll.

5: People suggested for inclusion on the cover but ultimately excluded: Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Adolf Hitler and actors Leo Gorcey and Timothy Carey.

3: Days after the album's release that the Jimi Hendrix Experience opened a London show with the title track.

15: Weeks the album stayed at No. 1 in the United States.

1: Rank among Beatles albums in sales.

4: Grammys the album won in 1968, including album of the year, the first rock album to do so.

2003: Year that "Sgt. Pepper's" was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

12: Musicians in the touring Art of Time Ensemble: a rock quartet (Steven Page, Glen Phillips, Andy Maize and Craig Northey), six strings and two horns.

1: The age of Art of Time Ensemble's Andrew Burashko when "Sgt. Pepper's" was released.