Burn It!
Ten tracks that rock the world of The Charlatans' main man Tim Burgess.
1. JAMES BROWN: Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto
"This is beautiful. No?one does this sort of thing any more. It's just saying, 'Fuck it, I'm as cool as a kingpin and I can do what the hell I want. And if you're gonna judge me for being happy at Christmas then you've got problems.' Soul music and Christmas. They're two of my most favourite things in the world!"
2. GRAM PARSONS: Brass Buttons
"A beautiful, beautiful man. And 'Brass Buttons' is one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard in my life, really. The partnership of him and Emmylou Harris is heartbreaking and joyous at the same time. The best time to hear it is when you've got a bottle of Jack Daniel's in your hand."
3. JUNIOR PARKER: Way Back Home
"This is a track from an album called 'You Don't Have To Be Black To Love The Blues'. I was introduced to this by Martin Kelly from Heavenly. We used to be DJ partners opening up at clubs for Tom and Ed from The Chemical Brothers. We couldn't mix electronic music together, we were just 'crrrssshh ' (mimes needle scraping on turntable) and just hoping for the best. This was our intro record and it was great because no?one else had a copy."
4. PRINCE: 1999
"Just the way he looks. I've just got round to realising how sexy he must have thought he was. It's outrageous. I think all his stuff is so drivin' you can imagine him in all these filthy positions (laughs). We've got a poster of him up in the studio for inspiration. I hear Prince and Rick James on the radio all the time in America and it's really got me into it, that whole idea of hot, funky party music."
5. SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Stand
"The whole band loves Sly Stone to death, but this is Mark's, favourite track. I think it's the guitar break that does it. For me there hasn't been a better American musician since Sly. It was all in the grooves, but you never felt he was just showing off. But he was flash as fuck with it, which helps."
6. THE DEFONICS: Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)
"The sound of sexy soul. I first heard them on the soundtrack of Jackie Brown. I was trying to get some of that smoothness into the recording of 'Wonderland'. The Delfonics, Teddy Pendergrass, Curtis Mayfield. And of course, the camp Stones era! Which brings us to..."
7. THE ROLLING STONES: Emotional Rescue
"This is fucking mindblowing. I was discussing this with a friend of mine and he was saying, 'Everyone talks about 'Let It Bleed', 'Beggars Banquet' and 'Exile On Main Street', but what about 'Emotional Rescue' and 'Undercover Of The Night'?' I can see his point. Those, in their own way, were just as important. Anyway, Mick was wearing yellow leggings at this point, and it doesn't even matter! In fact, I think it makes it better!"
8. THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH: Ball Of Truth
"Tom and Ed Chemical turned me on to it, and when I played it to the rest of the band they were blown away. Martin wanted to cover it maybe one day we will. It's just a mental record."
9. DR JOHN: Babylon
"This track is incredible. It was Terry Bickers, out of Levitation (and The House Of Love), who first turned us on to him. We were listening to the 'Babylon' album when we were recording 'Tellin' Stories' and it reminded us of why we got into it in the first place. Heavy voodoo!"
10. WINGS: Jet
"Oh shit, we've got to have Wings on it. I had a big animosity phase towards Wings when I was young, but I heard it again when we were recording 'Wonderland'. It's the bass, unbelievable. It inspired the production of 'Love Is The Key'. It just sounds really nasty."