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Baker's Dozen

Winners' Music: Daniel Patrick Quinn's Favourite Albums
Luke Turner , May 21st, 2015 09:11

Island-dwelling outsider musician and One More Grain brain Daniel Patrick Quinn tells us about his 13 favourite albums from Suede to Fela Kuti, Nico to Robert Wyatt and Gamelan to ELO, plus the sound of a snipe drumming, and wonders whether he'd have sexual feelings for Jeff Lynne were he a woman.

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David Bowie – Low
The first ambient piece of music that I heard was Eno's remix of Suede's 'Introducing The Band'. I remember listening to all 16 minutes of it wondering when it would start. It never did. Then I understood I had to listen in a different way. I could also have chosen Heroes, which reminds me of driving through Milton Keynes on a frosty morning, but the second half of Low has such depth and detail I could happily have it on repeat for a few months.

Pieces like 'Art Decade' sounded to me like they came from ancient Rome. There was a real complexity to it, far beyond the bland axis of mere human happiness or sadness. The images that this album must have conjured in people's minds are collectively an enormous series of great artworks in themselves. They should have exhibitions of the stuff.