This is actually one of my favourites, I grew up with them because my dad really loved them, so they are part of my childhood. It’s a masterpiece. Probably one of the most important songs to me in my forming as a record producer or anything was when I heard their version of ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’, which is like a six, seven-minute version. But when I started going back and looking at the albums, I have to pick Cloud Nine because of the lyrics on something like ‘Run Away Child, Running Wild’, and then ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, I mean side one is amazing, I don’t even know if I ever played side two, I kept listening to side one! The songs were very political, it came out in 69, and it was the beginning of Norman Whitfield going political. Later, I read an article by one of the guys in The Temptations, and he said he specifically went to Norman and told him to listen to Sly because of what he was doing. And then he created his own sort of psychedelic soul, which obviously incorporated some of Sly’s stuff, and then he had written ‘War’ for Edwin Starr, so it was great music, but also political, and it made me perk my ears up to what they were saying, and they were also incredible singers.

I did get to work with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks later, around 1985, I was in the studio with them, working on ‘Sun City’. By then I had already worked with Dylan, I had already worked with Bruce Springsteen. I had already worked with The Rolling Stones, so by that time I was sort of immune to it in a way. 

But how it happened is that Eddie Kendricks was playing on Christmas night or something at Danceteria, and for some reason I was on my own that night. I went down and heard him play a solo gig. And I went and talked to him. That’s how he ended up connecting with Hall and Oates and doing that album. But yeah, I was sort of immune to it at that point, but I was also doing a lot of cocaine.