Julian Lennon’s Favorite Album Isn’t a Beatles or John Lennon Record
Julian Lennon shares many traits with his dad, John Lennon. For one, he looks strikingly similar to his father. While his half brother, Sean Ono Lennon, admits he lives off The Beatles’ money his dad earned, Julian has also enjoyed a fruitful music career of his own, partly out of necessity. He missed out on millions of dollars when he was cut out of his dad’s will. Though he showed respect for his father’s music, Lennon revealed his favorite album isn’t a Beatles record or solo John album.
Julian Lennon’s favorite album is an English electronica record, not a Beatles or John Lennon release
Lennon showed plenty of love for his dad and The Beatles when talking to Goldmine Magazine about his favorite albums. He said John’s Walls and Bridges album from 1974 was a highlight. Lennon had the chance to spend more time than usual with his father while making the record, and he played (rudimentary) drums on the album-closing song “Ya-Ya.”
The Beatles’ classic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band received a shout-out, too. John took inspiration from Julian’s drawing and wrote one of the album’s standout songs, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”
He called Sgt. Pepper a faultless record, but Julian’s favorite album wasn’t that or his dad’s solo work. Instead, the son said Zero 7’s Simple Things was his go-to record.
“[Their] others are great, they’ve got great songs on them, but as a whole, to play it from start to finish, it’s one of my real go-to albums. If I literally had one album left in the world to listen to, it would likely be this album, believe it or not. I think you need to hear it to understand what it’s about, but it’s groove oriented, it’s melody oriented.”
Julian Lennon describes his favorite album
The 2001 record was the work of professional studio whizzes Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. Its nuanced jazzy electronica with folk tinges clearly made a mark on Julian Lennon. He praised Simple Things more than the works of The Beatles, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, and David Bowie. There’s no higher ground an album can reach than being the one record someone would choose to listen to for the rest of their lives.
The people behind Lennon’s top record had their hands on other masterpieces
The name Zero 7 might not register with many music fans, but what about Radiohead? New Order? Pet Shop Boys? Robert Plant? Those are just some artists Binns and Hardaker worked with in their careers before and after Zero 7.
Binns lent his programming and sampling skills to Radiohead’s groundbreaking OK Computer and Kid A records before his Zero 7 days. He also racked up credits working with artists such as Plant, Scott Walker, Sia, and English pastoral psych band Bark Psychosis, per AllMusic.
Hardaker worked with Binns on OK Computer, which came years after he helped engineer New Order and Pet Shop Boys records, per his AllMusic page.
Their music flew under the radar in North America, but Zero 7 received massive praise as their debut record Simple Things is Julian Lennon’s favorite album by a wide margin.
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