A collection of writers on their most cherished albums reveals who rates David Bowie higher than Leo Tolstoy and who fell in love with Joni Mitchell on a
golf course
The public airing of musical tastes doesn’t always bring out the best in human nature. The scope for being snobbish, competitive, judgmental, braggish (humble or otherwise) and a long list of other petty vices is hard to overestimate. Which is partly why politicians, for example, fret so much about calibrating their Desert Island Discs selections. And also why the exercise is often such fun.
The ground rules set by Tom Gatti in this anthology of 50 writers on 49 albums (Ali Smith, slightly thrillingly, declined to stick to the rules), asks the writers not for a best album, but for a “cherished” one that is, or was, important to them. As Ian Rankin, adapting Jean Brodie, explains in relation to his love for John Martyn’s Solid Air: “Give me an album at a certain age and it is mine for life.”