SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

Was this the first prog album? I would say no. But it was the album that opened the eyes of a huge number of other musicians as to what could be done with rock music. It's important just for that aspect.

A friend of mine once said that the Beatles whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. That theory is no better shown than on this album. Lennon and McCartney's songwriting is suberb from start to finish, both musically and lyrically. And George Martin's innovative (for the time) production took the album to the heights it deserved.

There's no need to go too in depth of every song on the album, as, unless your head has been in the sand for your entire life, you've heard them all before. But I particularly like the way they used the lyrics on this album. No more simplistic "She loves you yeah yeah yeah" or "I want to hold your hand", but using the backup vocals in a bouncy, happy tune like "Getting Better" to note that "It can't get much worse", or in "She's leaving home", the line "She's leaving home after living alone for so many years". Very nice.