Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

12. The Moody Blues‘Nights In White Satin’ / ‘Cities’

I was so mad on The Moody Blues. I still am. I had all their records, but that first one with the London Festival Orchestra, Days Of Future Passed, that was it. It merged everything into this beautiful thing. ‘Nights In White Satin’ has a great intro, a great outro, a great melody, it’s experimental, it’s got the orchestra, there are so many strands to it. And of course I was in love with Justin Hayward – I didn’t know any better then – who’s basically just Simon Fisher Turner. Then ‘Cities’, the B-side, I loved that equally. B-sides were very important to me, I often preferred them. That’s when the artist is able to put something on there that they really want, the experiments.

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