I have been on a Beatles kick recently. Hey...stop laughing. I'm not always on a Beatles kick, just usually. To declare that I'm on a Beatles kick is a bit like Bill Gates saying that he's on a money kick. It's just something that he is, and I am. He's insanely rich, I'm insanely into the Beatles.

No matter how much music I have and listen to, I always come back to the Beatles. Is it strange that someone likes a band as much as I like the Beatles?

There are different types of Beatles kicks though. The most common is when I want to just hear different eras of their music. There are some times when I want to hear old school Beatles when they were all mop-topped and suited up and there are other times when I want to hear 'Let It Be' era Beatles when they were all cranky with each other.

There is the other type of kick where you really buy into one bandmate over another. Where you'll really dig a Paul song or a George song.

There is another kick where you want to watch their movies or something else like that.

The kick I'm on right now is that I have been listening to 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' a lot. It's funny, sometimes I think that one album they made is greater than their other albums. And sometimes, I'll think that another album is greater than their other albums. No matter which album reigns at the top of my list, I don't think that the Beatles ever put out a better produced album than 'Sgt. Pepper's.' Next time you have that disc in your c.d. player, just sit there and listen to all of the background instrumentations and all of the background vocals. Every single sound just fits. Nothing seems out of place.

And of course, 'Sgt. Peppers' has the ultimate Beatles song, "A Day in the Life." That song is so well written and orchestrated, that I can't think of another song that matches it's musicality over an entire song.

The title track and opening number has to be one of the greatest self-exclamation songs that's ever been written. I read that people thought that the Beatles were all washed up while they were producing 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' To come out with what they came out must have blown people's minds. It must have been really cool to have been alive in that era and to have been surprised by such a fantastic album.

I think that 'Sgt. Pepper's' as an album also brought the Beatles into their most "Beatles-esque." While always being an image of mop-topped singing people, the 'Sgt. Pepper's' era Beatles was a finely crafted image. The 'Pepper' and 'Magical Mystery Tour' era Beatles ceased being a touring band that people could see in person and/or on television, and became a band that existed more in people's imaginations created by perfectly crafted songs.