Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

2. Simon & GarfunkelBridge Over Troubled Water

This album I actually grew up with. This album has so much musicality for me that it made me want to write music. This one in particular made me want to write songs. Originally I was all about instrumental music. All that nonsense changed with this because of the great songwriting; you know, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash.

I think that Simon & Garfunkel accomplished something that has high quality and this is so sincere that it literally has no screen of production; there is nothing between you and what they did because it’s just so intimate. And adding the Latin American element, which was so pioneering back then, with ‘El Condor Pasa (If I Could)’ just killed me back then. I’ve never fallen out of love with true Ecuadorian sounds and I’m a huge collector of that and lots of people can’t take that kind of thing. A lot of people are pre-conditioned to turn the other way when they hear Latin American music but that, for me, never dies. And that, in this album, does it all for me.

And later on I found myself always going back to this album. It’s got something that just works.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Gareth Jones, Bad Religion, Jenny Hval, Belle and Sebastian, Billy Bragg
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