Playlist Notes

Stephen Lipson:

Stephen Lipson is an illustrious English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist, and songwriter. This playlist showcases a wonderful selection of some of his favourite songs.

Notes on the playlist:

Won’t Get Fooled Again - The Who. My favourite ever band. They had everything, excitement, major energy and totally compatible musicianship.

The Last Ride - Todd Rundgren. The man has never played a bad chord sequence. For me he has perfect musical taste. What appeals to him appeals to me.

Superwoman - Stevie Wonder. It seemed as if he had turned into another person when he recorded Music of my Mind, such an appropriate title. Also for me the greatest ever guitar solo (Buzz Feiten)

Hey Grandma - Moby Grape. Very evocative of part of my childhood.

Nature’s Way - Spirit. I loved this band and was for some reason fascinated by the fact that the drummer was the Randy California’s step father. I couldn’t imagine my dad playing in a band with me.

The Last Ship - Sting. Hard to pick a Sting song. The man is on another level. I picked this song as it shows his immense versatility.

Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone. This felt like taking drugs.

Cousin Dupree - Steely Dan. Pretty much perfect records.

China Grove - The Doobie Brothers. Great record. Such an enticing sound.

What a Fool Believes - Doobie Brothers. The singer and the song……

Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John. From his best album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Elton at his peak.

My Friend The Sun - Family. Beautiful song. I saw them at the Marquee many times.

It’s Getting Better - The Beatles. Obviously.

All The Way - Frank Sinatra. So evocative

Final Form - Everything Everything. What an amazing band.

It’s Too Late - Carol King. From Tapestry. Songs that have transcended time.

Black Cherry. Goldfrapp. Why isn’t Alison Goldfrapp huge?

Nothing Rhymed - Gilbert O Sullivan. Considered a novelty act but was brilliant.

Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson. This record should be on every music course syllabus.

Happy - Pharrell Williams. What is says on the tin.

Away Down the River - Alison Krauss. Alison and her band Union Station are as close to perfection as it’s possible to be.

Cure - Moonchild. These guys are amazing. What an atmosphere.

Feel Flows - The Beach Boys. Surf’s Up and Holland are seminal albums.

Where Were You - Jeff Beck. The greatest guitarist ever.

Beginnings - Chicago Transit Authority. What an incredible band.

God Bless - Nik Kershaw. So so underrated. He is amazing.

Happy Now - Amy Studt. I made this record and always thought she was brilliant.

Yours is no Disgrace - Yes. Amazing band. And brilliant live back in the day.

Destiny - Zero 7. I listened to their album Simple Thins about a million times. Timeless.

I Know What I Like - Genesis. I loved them with and without Peter Gabriel

I’m the Slime - Frank Zappa. He was hard going at times but worth the investment.

Get It Right Next Time - Gerry Rafferty. A voice like silk. Slave to the Rhythm - Grace Jones. I should write a book about this.

Simplesmente - Beber Gilberto. How nice to think of living life that sounded like this.

Stayin’ Alive - The Bee Gees. They actually made this record. What an experience that must have been.

Viva La Vida - Coldplay. Unfashionable to like them but I LOVE them.

Long Time Gone - Crosby Stills and Nash. An incredible album.

Life On Mars? - David Bowie. Some artist…….

Livin’ Thing - ELO. Loved ELO, or at any rate the singles.

Free Man in Paris - Joni Mitchell. A pretty perfect lyricist and musician.

I Can’t Hold Out - Eric Clapton. 461 Ocean Boulevard, one of the high points in an incredible career.

Everyone’s a Winner - Hot Chocolate. People at the top of their game.

Runaway - Janet Jackson. Producers at the top of their game.

Light Me Up - Ingrid Michaelson. Amazing artist.

Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66. Timeless.

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper. Great record.

This Is How It Goes - Aimee Mann. She’s so good.

Suicide Alley - Shawn Colvin. An amazing artist.

 

 

Sean Payne:

Sean is the drummer for The Zutons and for supergroup The Jaded Hearts Club Band (Matt Bellamy - Muse, Graham Coxon - Blur, Miles Kane, Nic Cester - Jet). This is his awesome selection of tunes to help soundtrack your day. 

Biological Speculation - Funkadelic this is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. It’s not the typical sound I think of when I think of Funkadelic or Parliament. There is a terrible amount of tape hiss which makes it an odd choice for this playlist but the lyric is great and the warmth of the vocals is truly special. And we certainly don’t know what we’re vibratin’ about. 

Travelin‘ Light- JJ Cale I haven’t been into JJ Cale for long, I bought a couple of his records on vinyl years ago whilst on tour because they had cool covers and were in the dollar section but didn’t give them much of a chance. Dave our singer was playing this late one night after a club and it just got me. He’s a true original with his own sound which is understated but has a seriously heavy groove. 

Glowin’ - Dr John This is a bit of a buried gem in his catalogue from a bit of an overlooked album (Babylon) I love overlooked it anyway,Gris Gris was always top of the list. I love the flow of this tune and how it kind of awkwardly comes in then almost floats away.

Medicated Goo - Traffic. I love the sound of this record especially the drums. I’m pretty sure this is why the Stones got Jimmy Miller in to produce them? I think Paul Weller might have based a portion of his career on this one ha! (love you Paul:))

Howie Payne - Into Daylight. Yes this is my brother and his latest record. Probably my biggest influence to get me started in music. He was mostly playing his acoustic for the past few years which he’s great at but I just missed him playing the electric guitar which he is back doing on this track. 

Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (naive melody) Dead obvious this one but I’m sticking with it as one of my favorite tunes. It’s probably a lot of people fave tune for a reason. It makes you feel something in a certain way that is kind of indescribable which is kind of what the song is about in a way? Kind of maybe

John Lennon - One Day At A Time. I could pick a different John Lennon song everyday and it would be my favorite at that time. This was today’s. Such a lovely song

D’Angelo - Really Love I was obsessed with this album for about a ear and played it everyday. There was something about it that just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I found out later that it was all recorded to tape with minimal use of computers and no stock samples so I think this must have something to do with it. I think this album set the tone for quite a few artists who brought out albums heavily influenced by it shortly after.

Roberta Flack - Feel like makin’ love. I just can’t stop listening to this song lately. So smooth but still has a fat groove underneath. It just flows on by.

Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday people. Just one of my top tunes in the world ever!  Are there any other massive hits like this where the bass player plays one note for the whole song? 

Radiohead - Myxamatosis This was never a track I was particularly taken with until I seen them do it live in Santa Barbara bowl a couple of years ago. It jumped out at me and sounded like a different song. I went back and love the album version now too but it never compete with that first time seeing it live. I’ve also wrote a whole new set of lyrics for it by accident thinking I knew what he was singing haha!

Lee Dorsey - Sneakin Sally Through The Alley. What a beat! Grabbed me straight away this one. The meters backing with Allen Tousaint producing, why not?! Great album 

The Coasters - Poison Ivy. Any coasters tune will do but this was the one in my head today. Any best of of the early original recordings will do