I used to play Sgt. Pepper on repeat incessantly as a kid. There was a theatrical, story-telling vibe running through every track that made the music feel as much like an adventure as simply a collection of songs. I'd call it my first musical "experience", as it wasn't just enjoyable melodies and lyrics that I found in other music I knew at the time (Queen, Robbie Williams, Ian Dury, The Who).
I wasn't old enough to appreciate what the specific drug/dark references were in the lyrics or the sound of the album, but I was turned on to the idea of music affecting mood and creating a jovial or unsettling ambience. I don't think any other album I ever listened to had the same effect on me. The Beatles' voices were so confident, youthful and melodious that I would almost call it hypnotising. 'Within You Without You' is probably the most powerful example of a worldly-wise, psychedelic art-form invading the mind of someone who had so little experience of the world, art and politics.
The album's artwork was enough to fascinate me, as that colour and character saturated image looked to invite you in to an impossible, ambiguously frightening world where you could meet all the strange characters from the songs and maybe become a Beatle yourself.
I hadn't thought about it for a long time, but I was practically obsessed with that album. I wouldn't even place it in my top 10 these days, but all of the mystery, untapped potential and unfinished stories got me hooked on the medium, and it's safe to say it made me want to spend the rest of my life collecting music.
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'Well, I'm a common working man,
With a half of bitter, bread and jam,
And if it pleases me, I'll put one on ya man,
When the copper fades away!' - Jethro Tull
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