The thing with The Beatles is that their music has become so legendary that all their songs have taken on the same sort of power that nursery rhymes have. Everybody knows the words for 'Polly Put The Kettle On', and everyone knows the words for "Yellow Submarine". It reaches a point where you can hardly see them as songs anymore, because they have been in the national consciousness for so long. For my part, The Beatles were on pretty constantly at home while I grew up, with the occasional burst of Motown, Bruce Springsteen, or Creedance Clearwater Revival to mix things up a little (dad has more control over what goes on the stereo than ma does). With the songs in my head from a very early age, albeit from the red and blue albums, I had a great understanding of their songs, but not their albums. I didn't hear Sgt Pepper properly until about three years ago. Revolver and Rubber Soul came to my attention last year, and I have yet to listen to Abbey Road, The White Album, or any of the early stuff. It's a jumble, essentially, is what I'm saying here. I know the songs, but not the context.

George never gets criticised heavily enough for his rubbish, rubbish music. He's responsible in later years for the one dump track on Sgt Pepper, but here he introduced us to the mysticism that took over his work with sitars, tablas, and other trippy, instruments of eastern origin, which on tracks like 'Love Me To' are astonishing in their dullness. He has a voice which is behind the main two singers, Lennon and McCartney, but that's no excuse for giving three dull, plodding tracks in succession, as he does here. There is little to distinguish his work from the rest of the songs - even the childishness of Ringo's output at least adds to the warm feel of the album, but Harrison's effort offers little reward for listeners. He sings flat on the songs he is given, which is disappointing because he can sing well when he needs to. So those three songs he has, which include 'Taxman', are only really saved by the influence of the other band members. In particular, a few of the stronger one-liners on 'Taxman' came from John, while Paul puts in a great guitar riff to bolster up the sagging vocals.

Lennon never helped with these matters, because his songs have always been so distanced. McCartney is the man who puts the most into the record, with Lennon's tracks being a selection of drug songs or songs about how tiresome the whole music business was getting. Lennon was happy to sit around and spend ages working on stuff, it feels, whereas McCartney tirelessly knocks out one song after another. Having said that, Lennon has always seemed to be a better writer when he had something annoying him, and when he expressly writes songs like 'I'm Only Sleeping' in order to tell Paul off for hurrying him, he manages to sum up the entire feel of the album in just over three minutes. The laid-back style of twanging guitars which feel isolated from everything else has always worked in favour of the band, and although sometimes it grows a little wearying, like on 'Doctor Robert' or 'She Said She Said', you can see the musical tone the band are aiming for, and it's pleasant enough.