The excellent Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, despite being shunted to the weekend breakfast slots on BBC 6 Music, still host the best show on the radio. You may call this my opinion. I call it a fact! (Wink emoji, please.) Anyway, whilst they have brought most of the best bits of their weekday shows to their new time slot, they have also introduced some new ones, like My First, My Last, My Everything.
My First, My Last, My Everything is where a guest – today it’s Nish Kumar – tells us the first record he ever bought, the last great record he bought and the record that means everything to him. My lack of fame means that I am unlikely to be asked to appear in this section of the show so instead I am doing my own DIY version. As Noddy Holder used to say, ‘So here it is’.
My First The first record I remember my mother buying for me is Not Fade Away by the Rolling Stones. The song has not gone on to be one of my favourite Stones songs, never mind one of my favourite songs ever. The first song I ever bought myself, with my own (pocket) money was Ride A White Swan by T Rex. 2:15 minutes and seconds of musical heaven, the song changed my musical tastes forever and opened my eyes to the joys of new music. As with everything T Rex, Marc Bolan’s lyrics were nonsensical but it didn’t matter. It was all about the music, especially Bolan’s distinctive guitar sound.
My Last The last great record I bought was Time by Louis Cole on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label. It’s hard funk and gorgeous tunes and guest spots from the magnificent Thundercat and Brad Mehldau. Thundercat appears on the joyous Tunnels in the Air, which was one of the best songs of 2018. However, my true love on this record is the final song Night, described by the website Pitchfork as a “mortality-obsessed song in which he imagines remembering, in his last moments alive, a nighttime drive with his lover.” It’s my funeral song.
My Everything My everything is Aja by Steely Dan. Released in 1977, Aja is the Dan’s sixth album and sees them at their creative peak. Seven great tunes, all killer, no filler, and the band, essentially just Donald Fagen and Walter Becker by this point, is augmented by arguably the greatest collection of session musicians and singers ever assembled for any album ever. I deeply love Aja. No album has ever come close in my very humble opinion. My everything in terms of actual songs, and my other funeral song, is Since I Left You by the Avalanches. It’s essentially a work of genius, featuring God knows how many samples, all stitched together to make music that simply washes all over you. They say nothing is truly perfect, but this is.
