1967-1970

I bought this treasure off the shelf in 1973 on vinyl and it was played often, introducing me at a young age to some of the indelible classics that epitomise the Beatles. It was on this album I was able to enjoy all time classics for the first time such as Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and A Day In The Life. I was stunned at how brilliant these songs were. I did not buy the legendary Sgt Pepper album but this was a nice intro to the proggier Beatles era. I Am The Walrus, Hello, Goodbye, Magical Mystery Tour, Lady Madonna, While My Guitar Gently Weeps are hard to argue with.

There are some songs I would prefer not to return to such as Oh Bloody Oh Bloodah, Don't Let Me D - r - own, and Old Brown Pooh, but it is great that the Abbey Road album is well presented with Here Comes The Sun, Come Together, and Something. Across The Universe is an excellent song that captured my young imagination and what a way to end it with the quintessential The Long And Winding Road.

So for me this is an indispensable album introducing the best Beatles songs of the time, and as a fan of Wings I was drawn to this album, though I did not own many Beatles albums in those days. This compilation managed to fill in the gaps for many newcomers to the group. I give it 4 stars for the excellent material contained therein.