1. Early years: Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
“This record seemed to hold everything I didn’t yet have the words for. I learned how to work the hi-fi, studied it and took it to bed with me until it wore out and cracked.”
“A sexy, powerful, ridiculous, hilarious and sublime Joy! An antidote to the idiot rigours, alienation and weird cruelties of school- an ally who would surely understand.”
“Lou Reed and David Bowie, a match made in heaven. It was touching and tough and flawed, frail and generous, simply cut but beautifully fashioned. I picked up the guitar and sang along. It gave me license to write songs that only sounded like me. A favorite record forever.”
4. Hello New York: Brian Eno – Another Green World
“These songs went to the heart of me, undid me, sent me dreaming. Woke some deep longing for twilight in a surreal landscape- some un-namable place. Solitary, cold, a bit frightening, waiting…”
5. Out, into the world: Cesaria Evora – Miss Perfumado
“So much beauty and mystery and power… Without understanding a word. There are not enough years in a life to hear it all. Made me start traveling for the sheer love of human beauty; other culture, food, ways of being, songs. And all that weird stuff we hold in common.”
There was a long period of time when nearly every new release seemed earth shatteringly important and required repeat listening, over weeks/months, to crack the code, hear the clues. Even now I hear a song a week that shakes my sense of order and makes me want to start all over. It’s glorious and somewhat exhausting…