ALL BACK TO MY PLACE RADIO’S PROFESSOR OF POP
IN WHICH THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING...
Dave Hill
SLADE’S ONCE AND FUTURE SUPERYOB. What music are you currently grooving to? Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie’s album – a really great record. I told [Slade drummer] Don Powell, if they had Stevie Nicks on it it’d be a Fleetwood Mac LP! But ‘grooving to’ can be an awful lot of subjects for me, because of my vast tastes… maybe I’ll listen to Radio 2 or 6Music, maybe La Grange by ZZ Top, and I’m a big fan of Glenn Miller and big bands.
What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? The Beatles’ 1 album – all the Number 1s! Uplifting, brilliant music. And if it not a greatest hits, Rubber Soul.
What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by The Platters, from Woolworths. I fell in love with a girl, I was only 10. I’d play it thinking about going to her house and asking her for a date.
Which musician other than yourself have you ever wanted to be? It must be nice to be George Harrison or Hank Marvin, but at the end of the day, being me was the best option.
What do you sing in the shower? Crying In The Rain by The Everly Brothers, as the girl above wouldn’t go out with me because I had big ears! They called me ‘FA Cup’…
What is your favourite Saturday night record? The Drifters’ Saturday Night At The Movies. It reminds me of going to the cinema and watching Doris Day. I’m usually working though, I could be anywhere – I mean, we’re absolutely huge in Russia – and after, I’ll go straight to bed because I’m one of those that doesn’t drink.
And your Sunday morning record? The Shadows’ Greatest Hits. They were a huge influence on my playing. Or you could put Steve Wright on and listen to Sunday Love Songs. Or sometimes I’ll listen to Slade things, to remind myself what I played. Everything’s memories isn’t it? Dave Hill’s memoir So Here It Is is published by Unbound (£20)
Paul Gambaccini
What music are you currently grooving to? As we look back, my favourite rock track of the year is Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man. My favourite country star is Kane Brown, and my favourite R&B artist of the year is Khalid. And Beethoven and Motown, The Beatles and the Stones.
What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? Revolver. It’s a miracle, the ultimate example of how a group can respect each other’s strengths while still working in unity. Tomorrow Never Knows, it was as if The Beatles said, “And coming next year, psychedelia.”
What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
The first one I made my parents buy was West Side Story by Ferrante & Teicher. But the first record I bought was Jimmy Smith’s Bashin’, for the six-minute version of Walk On The Wild Side, in 1962. It was from the Factory Store in Norwalk, Connecticut. My mother drove me there.
Which musician have you ever wanted to be? I haven’t, but if I did, it would Ray Charles.
What do you sing in the shower? I don’t, but if I did, the first few seconds of The Temptations’ All I Need is the ultimate ‘up’ phrase of music.
What is your favourite Saturday night record? Since 1975 I’ve had radio shows, so Saturdays I’ll have dinner with a friend. I never listen to music while I eat. Music is too important to be a background activity.
And your Sunday morning record? Johnny Cash, Sunday Morning Coming Down. He really conveys that feeling of a Sunday morning after you’ve done too much of Saturday night. See Paul’s An Evening With The Great Gambo – The Professor Of Pop at UK theatres from April 6.