“Excellent songs”: Kate Bush once named her favourite Beatles album
Picking out your favourite Beatles album can seem like an impossible task. From the early Merseybeat stylings of With The Beatles to the experimentation of Revolver to the iconic Abbey Road, their catalogue is overspilling with all-time greats. The quest to pick out the best of the best is a conversation that has been endlessly revisited by music critics and Fab Four fans alike, with even art-pop singer Kate Bush weighing in with her opinion.
Bush has penned her fair share of all-time greats. Between the pulsing synths of ‘Running Up That Hill’ and her soaring vocals on ‘Wuthering Heights’, she secured her place as one of the most important artists in British pop. Hounds of Love remains one of the most gorgeous albums to grace the genre, finding its own place amongst the best records in music history.
As a certified hit-maker and art rock icon in her own right, Bush seems more than qualified to select The Beatles’ best work. Perhaps expectedly, she leans in favour of one of the band’s more artsy, conceptual offerings. While picking out her favourite albums of all time in 1980, Bush included one Beatles record on the list: 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Shaking off the weight of The Beatles name to become the Sgt. Pepper band, Paul McCartney led his bandmates into new realms of experimentation and instrumentation on their eighth full-length offering. The result was a record that seamlessly encapsulated the culture of the time, defined by psychedelia and strawberry fields.
Sgt. Pepper’s may have been a complete concept album, but, like most Beatles offerings, it also spawned some all-time great standout tracks. From the chugging, childlike, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ to the psychedelic staple ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, several songs would go on to become some of The Beatles’ most well-loved. Each and every piece on the album flows perfectly but also stands up alone.
With distinctive artwork and a core concept, the album has become one of The Beatles’ most recognisable efforts. It has been continually referenced throughout pop culture since its release, from countless covers to a parody of the artwork in The Simpsons.
A venture into the art rock realm and into the world of concept albums, it’s no surprise that Bush considered Sgt. Pepper’s to be an “album of excellent songs”. Her own artistry sits within the same realm, favouring the more experimental and ethereal side of rock music. She has also ventured into the world of concept albums, devoting the second half of Hounds of Love to the story of a shipwrecked woman.
The theatricality and all-encompassing artistry of the album make it a fine choice for Bush’s favourite Beatles album. But the ‘Wuthering Heights’ singer isn’t the only one who believes Sgt. Pepper’s to be The Beatles’ best work. In fact, even the driving force behind the record, Paul McCartney himself, once named the 1967 record as his favourite.
Though the 1967 release may be up against some hefty competition considering the rest of the Beatles’ catalogue – from the iconic White Album to Rubber Soul – it makes sense that Sgt. Pepper’s was the album that endeared itself most to Bush.
