MOJO's All Back To My Place Questionnaire (1999)

What music are you currently grooving to?

Brandy's album Never Say Never, because it's bloody great. As a rule, with any CD by anybody there'll be a couple of stand out things, if I'm lucky. I like most of this album, although a couple of songs are a bit overblown. God Only Knows by The Beach Boys hasn't been off my turntable, I don't know why.

Grooving to Brandy's Never Say Never and The Beach Boys' God Only Knows

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

Nat King Cole The Very Thought Of You. Apart from the excellence of the recording, the arrangement, the performance and the material, it hasn't aged. I probably grew up listening to it. I don't know the date of it, the '50's I think. Sometimes you get a song in your head and think, "Oh wow", and you haven't listened to it in years, then you listen to it and think "oh dear, why on earth did I listen to that? "The alternative, "Wow that still sounds really amazing", is how I feel about this album.

What was the first record you ever bought and where did you buy it?

Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads. I bought it on import from a record store in Yorkshire. The first single I bought was Eight Miles High.

All-time favourite album (left) and first record ever bought (right)

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?

João Gilberto. His voice and guitar share complete resonance both with the words, the tone, the rhythm, and the sophistication of the music. I took my parents to see him in Rome for their 50th anniversary.

What do you sing in the shower?

Indian love songs and God Only Knows. I can sing Urdu phonetically. It's some of the most romantic singing I know. I get it translated because I had a lot of elements stuck in my head and I wanted to know what they were. My favourite singers are Darween Sultana and Dil Shad Khan.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

Usually the latest thing I have bought. I get something and wear it out, then out it on a compilation tape and at the end of the year make a compilation tape from the compilation tape and send them to people for Christmas presents.

And your Sunday Morning Record?

Francis Bebey. I can't remember the title of the album but it's North African jazz. Very melodic; good while you are cooking pasta and drinking Bloody Mary to recover from Saturday night.

João Gilberto (left) and Francis Bebey (right)

(MOJO - May 1999)