5. The BeatlesThe Beatles

It’s an overlooked record I think. They were in the midst of breaking up. They were writing separately, and here you can really tell the differences between the Lennon–McCartney and George Harrison songs. What I find really interesting about the record is how it’s not really polished. ‘Glass Onion’ is as unique a song as I’ve ever heard, and with self-reference: ‘I told you about Strawberry Fields’, ‘the walrus was Paul’; I mean all that stuff! It refers to things the fans were talking about. It’s a spectacular album. It doesn’t connect like Abbey Road or Let It Be anywhere near as fast because the songs are all over the place. In the days when album covers and packaging meant so much, it was just a brave statement to say it doesn’t have a title and leave it white. There is no title anywhere on the record, that’s fantastic! Just the solo photos of the band inside. It’s a strange record.