MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

It certainly was for me. I know the reality is much more complex than this, but to my young mind this album - and not Sergeant Pepper's - was the watershed. before this, rock & roll. After this, rock.

I'm too young to remember the sixties with certainty (though I'm not sure even adults remember the '60s all that well). But I do remember the change these songs brought to the (one and only) radio station in my home town playing contemporary music. Sophistication. Humour. Meaning. And, underlining it all, complex musical themes tightly bound into eleven powerful packages.

More than any other BEATLES album, this package has it all. I kow it's not always considered part of the official BEATLES canon, but what a package! This magical tour takes us through the heartland of the late sixties landscape, showing us the foibles and courage of our fellow human beings. And it sets the template for the music of the seventies to follow.

The songs themselves? You all know them. From the introductory invitation to the epilogue begging us to remember love (Lennon's broad definition of it, at least), these songs dominated 1967. And that's part of the problem: familiarity breeds contempt. The BEATLES are by no means my favourite band, and they were guilty of sloppy music and poor compositions, but not on this record. I'll finish with the sycophantic praise now, if you promise to have a fresh listen to these tunes.

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