FIRST OFF . . .

The timing would have been superb--this being the 20th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper and friends--but apparently the storm of rumors that surfaced in London last week concerning a working reunion of the three remaining Beatles was so much wishful thinking. A spokeswoman for Paul McCartney said Saturday that the singer/bassist “was never at the (George) Harrison recording sessions” last week and that an on-stage reunion of McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr “is quite impossible.” Added Denis O’Brien, Harrison’s partner at Handmade Films: “There is no reunion of the (surviving) Beatles on George’s album,” although he said Starr was playing on several of the solo LP’s tracks. O’Brien made no comment about the onstage reunion, which was thought to be in the works for the Prince’s Trust Concert, scheduled for Friday at London’s Wembley Stadium.