Simon Wallis - Desert Island Discs | The Hepworth Wakefield

Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ was released in 1979. Such intensity was captured and delivered so directly to the listener by the brilliance of producer Martin Hannett. He used early digital music technology to capture and loop tiny fragments of the music to create a harmonic and atmospheric backdrop to the entire song. Hannett obsessed over the drum sound, believing it to be the fundamental element on which songs hinged, so much so that he would record each drum separately to eliminate bleed. Timelessly good because of the direct emotion and the pristine attention to production detail. One of Factory Records’ finest moments and the single that got me listening far more intently and widely than chart pop.

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‘Expansions’ from 1975 was Lonnie Liston Smith’s big crossover album that helped the keyboardist reach a wider audience. It is one of the all time greatest Jazz Funk albums. The title track ‘Expansions’ is one of those memorable tunes that still sounds fresh and engaging from the introductory triangle right through to the last bar. Propelled by fatback drums and Cecil McBee’s upright acoustic bass delivering a brilliant bass line hook, this is the original cosmic jazz jam, as recently re-popularised by Kamasi Washington. The lyrics are typical mid 1970s happy-clappy cliches though.

Change’s ‘Change Of Heart’ was release in 1984. The producers of this track were the architects of Janet Jackson’s influential ‘80s R&B sound: Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were the Pharrells of their day. Three decades later, their influence can still be heard from Beyonce to Anderson Paak. Pre-rave, pre-hip-hop, pre-techno – their productions were the most inventive thing played in the Brighton soul clubs I frequented at that time. They co-created the fabric of the modern R&B soundscape. An epic, brilliantly-crafted production and a powerful piece of infectious, memorable soul-pop.

For its single release in 1980, OMD re-recorded ‘Messages’ from their self-titled debut. Using a pulsing ‘repeat’ function on a Korg Micro-Preset shaped by hand twisting the octave knob, producer Mike Howlett harnessed a template of basic primary chord structures and one fingered melodies to produce a hit. As well as including Mal Holmes’ separately recorded drums for a cleaner snap, Howlett added several melodic bass guitar lines onto the coda to enhance the warm sound. I love Andy McCluskey’s voice on this track and the organ sound that gives it a glimmer of analogue soul.

In 1958 at the height of his instrumental art, Miles was searching for a way to free himself from the harmonic constraints imposed by the piano. This is the significance of the composition ‘Milestones,’ in which a simple alternation of two harmonic colours replaced the tortuous chord progressions of bop. Miles had entered the world of modal jazz. The term ‘modal jazz’ refers to improvisational music that is organised in a scalar (horizontal) way rather than in a chordal (vertical) manner. By de-emphasising the role of chords, a modal approach forces the improviser to create interest by other means: melody, rhythm, timbre, and emotion. Such an ‘ear worm’ of a track: I love the first solo by alto saxophonist Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley.

Red House Painters were based in San Francisco, & leader Mark Eitzel helped the fledgling outfit secure a deal on the seminal English record label 4AD. In equal parts dreamy, dense, dark, and, most importantly, hypnotically melodic. Most of the credit for the instrumental success goes to Kozelek, but the restraint shown by his bandmates, most notably drummer Anthony Koutsos, makes everything feel suitably intense and plaintive. Great voice and song narrative.

‘Super Rich Kids’ by Frank Ocean from 2012 uses samples from Elton John’s ‘Benny and the Jets’ and ‘Real Love’ by Mary J. Blige. Great pared-down song with a compelling and curiously depressing narrative, and a brilliant neo-soul voice.

Released in 1990 on 4AD records. Label founder Ivo Watts-Russell revealed in the 4AD biography, Facing The Other Way, that this album wasn’t just his favourite Cocteaus album but also his favourite all-time 4AD album, and “by a long shot”, calling it “the perfect record.” As ever, who on earth knows what Elizabeth Fraser is actually singing about, and in what language, but it’s a gorgeous compelling song with Robin Guthrie’s beguiling guitar textures.

I’ve always loved the lyrics to this New Order track ‘All the Way’ from 1989: ‘It takes years to find the nerve / To be apart from what you’ve done / To find the truth inside yourself / And not depend on anyone’. It’s from 1989’s brilliant album ‘Technique’. It was recorded in Ibiza during the band’s foray into acid house and ecstasy but this track has less of that dance influence although Peter Hook’s bass drives it along compellingly.

Hank Mobley ‘This I Dig of You’ (1960) from ‘Soul Station’. What Mobley brought to the tenor saxophone was his deep-bodied, melodic soul. With his singular saxophone voice, Mobley slipped from the ’50s hard bop realm into the soul jazz and post-bop sound of of the ’60s. As such, he has been heralded as one of the major forces on tenor during the period when he recorded for Blue Note records. On Soul Station, recorded at genius sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio, Mobley enlisted an all-star rhythm section comprising Art Blakey on drums (& there’s a great drum solo on this track), bassist Paul Chambers and pianist Wynton Kelly, both in Miles Davis’s classic ‘50s band. They supply the compelling swing and groove. Taken as a whole, Soul Station exemplifies, with its dance-like sensibility, the satisfying optimistic accessibility of a vital swath of jazz during the early ’60s. It never fails to cheer me up.