I have a pretty eclectic taste in music and the list of songs that have influenced my song-writing over the years is substantial: from Tricky to Aimee Mann, and Gavin Bryars to Sam Cooke.  I have already produced a number of albums that jump from genre to genre, from orchestral avant garde to spoken word jazz to folk to drum and bass to West Coast laid back folk rock (in fact my song ‘Harry, Liz & Me’ was once described as: “This West Coast concoction ripples with piano, 12-string and tales of lost potential. The vocal bristles with all the best bits of Bob Seger or Don Henley, while the elegantly sun-soaked vibe, pulls you deeper into the shimmering ocean.")   As such, if asked to name just five songs that inspired me, it would be an almost impossible task.
However, if asked to list five songs that informed my writing and ideas for production on this project for Rockets In the Trees, I would include the following.

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‘Broken Arrow’ – Buffalo Springfield
This is not just a great melodic song, it has time signature changes and wholly unsettling mid-song breaks, with sound effects and instrumental pieces unconnected to the main direction of the song (possibly inspired by Sgt Pepper released a few months before this was recorded).  It is a song without a chorus, relying on the beautiful melody hooks instead.  The lyrics contain powerful imagery that is not easily explained but memorable, so even if you don’t understand what is going on, the scenes set in the song remain with you.  The jarring effect of the breaks between verses is almost more daring than what The Beatles had produced, but it is the melody that holds the listener throughout, and Young seems almost trying to unsettle the audience, breaking the song up as he does.  But what this does is make you return to it again and again because it is so fascinating.

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‘Kitty’s Back’ – Bruce Springsteen
From Bruce’s debut album, this song again has different tempos and time signatures; it is a rollercoaster of a song and always leaves you guessing what is coming up next.

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‘Living It Up’ – Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie’s debut album and follow up ‘Pirates’, where this song is taken, contain beautifully written and produced songs.  There is no traditional format to the songs’ structures and the lyrics on this track are so colourful, you can picture the crazy characters vividly.

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‘Indian’ – Eg & Alice
A thoroughly English song about racism, in which the person in the song, who is outcast, is very polite about the whole thing.  It is such an understated song with production to match.  Eg White’s beautiful arrangement and Alice Temple’s sublime vocal, is as near to pop perfection as you can get… without actually being pop.  The spectacular album ‘24 Years of Hunger’ failed to sell at all, but remains a masterpiece nonetheless.

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‘When I'm Thinking About You’ – The Sundays
Another thoroughly English song, this time about love, from the band’s final album.  A simple production with just guitars and softly recorded band, with a piano solo, which has a very minimal approach, just repeating unhurried patterns of 5 notes.  So much space is left in the arrangement for Harriett’s beautiful voice.