9. Various Artists20 Reggae Classics

So this one starts with ‘Red Red Wine’, then you get ‘Sweet Sensation’, ‘Love Of The Common People’, ‘Johnny Too Bad’, ‘Pressure Drop’… Now I chose this one because I love the early ska music, more than, say, dub or the more regular reggae. It became a constant companion to me when I was promoting the Infected film and I was travelling across America, city to city, often by myself. It was a strange time, because it was quite a big success, but it was also quite a lonely time.

You’re staying in hotel suites and getting on planes, and for some reason, I had a cassette copy of this album. This was the only thing I was listening to continually. I’d sit back in my plane seat, get a vodka and tonic, take off, and I’d find it comforting for some reason. I absolutely loved this album. I mean, a song like ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, it’s such a beautiful, emotional song. It’s the emotion and the playfulness and the rhythms and the performances. Everything about it, every song that would come on virtually, I would find time for. It just was an important album in a significant period of my life. And this is all I wanted to listen to, this was ground control for me, really bringing me back down to earth and consoling me when I was feeling a bit lonely and confused.