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Baker's Dozen

Beautiful & Sad: Ben Watt's Favourite Albums
Jude Rogers , January 29th, 2020 09:48

As he releases a new solo record, Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl guides Jude Rogers through his Baker's Dozen, from Frank Ocean to Paul Simon and Bobby Womack to why male music critics were afraid of Joni Mitchell

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Paul Simon – Still Crazy After All These Years
This is such a great record, and it's so overlooked. It's sneered on, too. It's got some really great jazz musicians on it, doing such brilliant, subtle performances. And the lyrics are fantastic. Listen to 'I'd Do It For Your Love': "The sting of reason/The splash of tears/The Northern and the Southern Hemispheres/Love emerges and it disappears." How great is that? 

This record was played a lot when I was growing up, so it's one of those records I've taken with me. I also love the story of what Paul Simon said when it won the Grammy for Best Album: "I'd just like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing anything this year."