The erstwhile Sex Pistols bassist and Rich Kids frontman is currently on tour in support of his solo record, Good To Go. He shares 10 of his favourite albums with Dave Steinfeld…
Faces – A Nod Is As Good As A Wink… To A Blind Horse
“It’s got Stay With Me on it and it opens with Miss Judy’s Farm, which is one of the best rock/soul workouts ever. The Faces seemed like they had a laugh about everything. There’s so much style and soul in their playing.”
Can – Soon Over Babaluma
“A totally different vibe…the atmospherics, the playing, the groove. Jaki Liebezeit on the drums, Holger Czukay on bass. Also, one of the best shows I ever saw was at Hammersmith Palais Dancehall in 1974. Can playing live, just jamming for two hours. Fantastic.”
John Lennon – John Lennon/ Plastic Ono Band
“The first one. It’s just so stark, simple, soulful. A complete departure from some of the schmaltzy Beatles shite. Ringo’s playing… and Klaus Voormann is one of my favourite bass players. So there’s lots of stuff going on there.”
The Animals – Animal Tracks
“I think this was one of their best-ofs. There’s something about Eric Burdon’s voice; you know damn well if you spill his pint, he’ll knock your teeth out! It just comes across in his singing.”
Anthony Newley – Love is a Now and Then Thing
“It’s got a picture of him on the cover in a dustbin with dying flowers. Sorta schmaltzy kind of songs, but I’m a big Anthony Newley fan. I’ve got a couple of his wacky vinyl albums.”
Humble Pie – Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore
“It’s the band Steve Marriott left The Small Faces for and it’s a double live album – the best double live album. I saw them with Peter Frampton in Hyde Park. They were supporting Grand Funk Railroad and they blew Grand Funk off the stage.”
David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
“I’ve picked this not so much for the songs as for the sound. That’s what I tried to get on my last album. Bowie plays rhythm acoustic guitar on that album, and that lets the lead guitar come through.”
Various Artists – Motown Chartbusters Vol. 4
“I think it’s Volume 5, or maybe it’s Volume 4… The one with the silver cover. It’s got I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 and stuff like that.”
Mose Allison – The Word From Mose
“I think it’s just the height of beatnik cool. If you listen to a lot of his stuff, it sounds the same: two verses, solo, verse, outro. The playing’s great and the lyrics are fantastic. There’s something about the groove. If it weren’t for Mose, there would be no My Generation by The Who.”
Faces – Long Player
“Long Player was instrumental in me being a musician. Bad ‘N’ Ruin is the opening track, it’s kind of the Faces meet The Meters. Really only one chord, which isn’t very good if all you can do is play chords, you know?”