MY SIX BEST ALBUMS

DAVID PAICH

DAVID PAICH, 63, is a founder member and keyboardist of Toto who had hits with Africa, Hold The Line and Rosanna. A greatest hits album, 40 Trips Around The Sun, is out now and they tour the UK from April 1-9. livenation.co.uk/artist/toto-tickets

THE BEATLES: Rubber Soul (EMI)

I was 11 and played in bands at school doing Beatles and Rolling Stones songs. Some of these, such as In My Life, had instrumental sections by George Martin that were new and interesting. I was always influenced more by English groups.

SAMMY DAVIS JR: Dr Dolittle (Collectors’ Choice)

I was in London in 1967 as a young lad. The Dr Dolittle film had just come out and my father was arranging this album at Olympic Studios. It had a major influence on me: the whole London vibe first of all, but I was just starting to write songs and realised how arrangements can make songs better.

PROCOL HARUM: Procol Harum (Esoteric)

After my dad’s sessions with Sammy Davis I got to watch Procol Harum record several cuts from this.

They had two keyboard players and that stuck with me for the configuration of Toto.

I was studying classical piano and this led me to incorporate things I’d learned from Bach and Brahms. Also they wrote esoteric lyrics that got me thinking I could drift off the grid.

DELANEY & BONNIE: Accept No Substitute (Man in the Moon)

Southern rock. Leon Russell was the arranger and piano player on this and he changed my style of playing. He would play double-fisted church piano, a bit like Little Richard but with more technique and twice as fast.

ELTON JOHN: Madman Across The Water (Virgin EMI)

A life-changer. I wore it out six times. He had short hair and wore glasses like I did. And he played piano in a kind of rolling country way, with a classical orchestra. I felt like I was being driven in a direction here.

THE BEATLES: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (EMI)

My favourite album. Everybody was taken by The Beatles’ music and charm. But with Rubber Soul, Revolver and this I started taking a closer listen.

They’d done I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You but all of a sudden there were acoustic songs with little arrangements.