From cult classics to forgotten gems, artists pick the one album they consider essential listening
Ellie Rowsell Wolf Alice on...
2 Jacques Dutronc Jacques Dutronc 46
“This album is what cool sounds like. If I need a pick-me-up, I put this on. It’s intelligent while staying fun and very sexy. One day I will learn French as I feel I can’t truly appreciate his work not knowing what these songs actually mean. I’m a self-conscious dancer but this makes me forget that I have two left feet. The world needs more Jacques Dutroncs.”
Mario Cuomo The Orwells on...
Pete Doherty The Libertines on...
1 Love Four Sail “Everyone always forgets about this album because it’s so difcult to fnd. Or at least it was, before the internet came along. But when your life is ’60s garage music, even for fve minutes, it’s impossible to not fall for Love. I remember I used to get called a plastic mod on the nightbus home because I looked like [’70s Arsenal legend] Charlie George, but you’ve got to stand up for yourself, and sometimes the only way to do that is to let the soul and swagger and passion of something – and for me it was ‘Four Sail’ – reappear and eke out of you. It’s a beautiful, majestic
Elektra, 1969
record. Arthur Lee as a singer had quite a gentle, almost twee voice sometimes, but it was unashamed. And when he said, ‘Everything is gonna be alright’, fuck it, you actually believed him, in this dark and cynical world. That look and that attitude… he’s actually saying, ‘Hey man, you gotta love each other.’ I’m always banging on about ‘Your Friend And Mine – Neil’s Song’ from it, but there’s actually another tune, ‘Dream’, that goes (sings), ‘I just got up from a dream/ I dreamed that I was running…’ which is really good. ‘Always See Your Face’, ‘I’m With You’, ‘August’, ‘Robert Montgomery’, ‘Singing Cowboy’ are all on it too… Fuck, the whole thing is unbelievable!” Ne w M u sical e xpres s | 17 M ay 2 0 14
3 Kendrick Lamar Section.80 Top Dawg Entertainment, 2011
“He’s the saviour of modern rap music, and this is why. His first, ‘Overly Dedicated’, is good, but ‘Section.80’ steals it. It’s just good to see someone so talented with such good songs can finally get to the masses. He really deserves it; he came from a shithole and overcame so much to make this record. When someone does that it makes it more interesting. I absolutely love this record.”
INTERVIEWS: MATT WILKINSON, KEVIN EG PERRY, BARRY NICOLSON, CIAN TRAYNOR, LEONIE COOPER, ANDY WELCH, AL HORNER, LUCY JONES, SOPHIE COLETTA, RHIAN DALY PHOTO: STEVE COOK
Disques Vogue, 1968