9.29°C Ady Johnson is an artist who wins people over wherever he performs. For many, their introduction to him came through FuzzFace, a band ranked among the best local acts of recent times. However, it’s as a solo artist that Ady has truly found his voice, style and identity. His debut album, Tell The Worry Dolls, is a highly rated modern classic, and his EP, Thank You for the Good Things, offers a taste of the quality we can expect from him going forward. Ady Johnson will be playing Colchester Arts Centre this Tuesday, 22nd September 2015, and tickets are on sale now.
Here are Ady Johnson’s top ten tracks of all time. Enjoy.
Young Folks – Peter, Bjorn and John
First heard at Colchester’s Twisters Bar through DJ Gilly’s decks. This song by the Swedish pop/rock trio was always a favourite on the dance floor. Its repeated use in a certain TV advert over the years may have slightly diluted its appeal, but it’s a track that will always remind me of those Twisters days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51V1VMkuyx0
Not Right – The Stooges
This track never fails to awaken something primal in me. I love the untutored abandon of Ron Asheton’s fuzzed guitar solos. Stephen Foster of BBC Radio Suffolk played this when my old band FuzzFace were being interviewed about our influences live on his show. I think he may have been a little sceptical about its appeal to Radio Suffolk listeners, but he played it nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcFG_mr4dwQ
So What – Miles Davis
The opening track from Miles Davis’ 1959 album Kind of Blue. I bought the record many years ago after reading a Jimi Hendrix biography in which the author mentioned Hendrix listening to it. I played the record while on my New York tour last year, the city where Davis recorded it, and it put the spirit of the album into context for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC8nqT6Rrk
Sunshine of Your Love – Cream
Undoubtedly one of the greatest rock riffs of all time. Cream were a big influence on the early bands I was in. I used to see the late Jack Bruce around Sudbury when I lived there, though sadly I never properly met him. I did, however, recently have the pleasure of playing with his son Malcolm, who sat in on some of my songs he’d never heard before but played as though he had. He must have inherited his father’s musical genes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt51rITH3EA
River Man – Nick Drake
I had to include a Nick Drake track. This is one of my favourites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sftEYVYEoew
Girl from the North Country – Bob Dylan
There are countless great Dylan songs, but I’ve always loved this one and its sentiment. It has definitely influenced my current songwriting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59EQAvQI2KU
Just One More Day – Otis Redding
A fantastic performance from one of my favourite soul singers. It was a toss-up between this, These Arms of Mine and (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay. I chose this track because there’s a real yearning in Otis Redding’s delivery, and I love the horn arrangements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Hjm9H2IeE
Tin Soldier – The Small Faces
Steve Marriott’s vocals soar in this classic track. I’ve had the privilege of deputising for the lead singer/guitarist of tribute band The Small Fakers on a couple of occasions. FuzzFace fans will remember it featured in many of our sets, too. Along with many of their songs, it really challenges the upper vocal range. I’ve heard no one do it better than Marriott, though – “C’mon!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7v5ZqcReLM
Nocturnal: Passacaglia – Benjamin Britten
I’d like this played at my funeral. When I was studying classical guitar in my mid-teens, my Nan used to record classical guitar music off the radio for me. I still have the tapes somewhere, with pen-circled Radio Times cuttings tucked inside the cases. Britten’s Nocturnal was one of the first pieces she recorded for me, performed by Göran Söllscher, I think. It captured my imagination then and still does now.
The Passacaglia is the eighth of nine movements based on John Dowland’s song Come, Heavy Sleep – words I quoted in my song Faithful Shadow, the final track on Tell The Worry Dolls. Each movement moves progressively closer to the Dowland melody, which concludes the final movement, like sleep, or perhaps death, finally arriving. Beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4IzcWZiVh8
You Really Got Me – The Kinks
Returning to the dancing theme, if there’s one track guaranteed to get me on the dance floor, this is it. Just over two minutes of classic 60s Brit riffage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTTsY-oz6Go
