Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

2. The Beatles1962-1966

It’s a bit Alan Partridge isn’t it? These were the first records my older brother brought home and that was amazing for me because I’d never heard anything like that. It would have been 1976 I think. I didn’t really know anything about The Beatles, other than what was on the sleeves of those albums and I remember there was a photograph of them when they were young and a photograph of them when they were old, looking down the EMI offices is it? I think I was about five or six at that time and I just got obsessed by these photos and looking at them when they were young and old and trying to compare them, while listening to the albums. I really remember being interested in ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘A Day In The Life’, as well as the poppy stuff. ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You’. I think that has the triplets at the end. I kept listening to those drums, the rhythm, wondering how you could get something so funky. I hadn’t really heard any black music then. I was obsessed with that. The orchestral bit at the end of ‘A Day In The Life’ was very frightening. I wore those records out when my brother was out at school and whatever. Yeah, and I obviously still love The Beatles.

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