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Baker's Dozen

A Tower Of Songs: Sylvie Simmons' Favourite Music
Manu Ekanayake , August 13th, 2020 09:48

Like a gamekeeper turned poacher, rock journalist Sylvie Simmons has a new album of her own music out. Here she guides Manu Ekanayake through 13 lifelong inspirations, from Leonard Cohen to Johnny Cash, Miles Davis and Black Sabbath

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The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Oh, the Beach Boys. That was the first concert I went to on my own, without having a parent or anything with me. The first thing I saw was Beach Boys. And I think that was at the Finsbury Park Astoria or it might have changed its name to The Rainbow, I don't remember, but it was it was magical, because of their melancholy within a hacky band. When I was a kid and bought singles, I used to turn them over to the B-side which invariably had a sad song and I would play that on my guitar. I was drawn to the melancholy and the melancholy Beach Boys songs are mind-blowingly good. Brian Wilson isn't just fun, fun, fun and surf safari. It really is a beautiful, beautiful record and I still put it in my top five albums of all time.