"This was my grandfather’s first cinematic gift to me. He was a filmmaker who made commercials in Italy in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, and he loved Visconti, who was always his favorite. So he would make me watch films regularly, and this was one of the few that could have felt like homework but didn’t. I love where the film comes from, in terms of the evolution of Visconti’s career. I like that he started off making this pretty dogmatic neorealism and then went on to make this operatic film. The difference between the two approaches is a really beautiful manifestation of his ability to grow as an artist and also to just do multiple things. His cinematic language changed based on the people who populated his frames, and this movie feels grand because it’s got cinema royalty in it, like Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale. The frame feels like it’s the right size and scope and weight for people of that stature."

"I remember first listening to this during the OK Computer tour, too, with Colin [Greenwood]. The only thing I'd really known by him before – Bill, I mean, not Colin,– was 'Lovely Day'. When I'd got into him, he'd retired from the music industry, but years later, a documentary, Still Bill, came out about why he'd done that, and I'd really encourage any fan of his to get hold of it. He's just this lovely family man, doing joinery, talking about how he doesn't want to make music for the sake of it in this really lovely, gentle way. 

There's a wisdom in his personality, too, a wisdom really comes out in his singing voice, and his music. He doesn't come across as an artist driven by the need to express himself creatively either, which is interesting. He comes across as a human being, a husband and a father before he's a musician. He talks about why that's important, and that really resonated with that way of thinking.
"

"As much as it seems like it's a go-to song if you're into someone and you want to show your affection, “Sign Your Name” is actually from my mum. She's a huge fan of Terence Trent D'Arby, to the point of sending him fan letters and stuff when he first started out. “I grew up listening to the first album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, and he was the first artist I saw play live, at the Guildhall in Southampton. I was at the front and I was like ‘Who is this guy? He's got this Marvin Gaye vibe, but there's Prince there, and Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder in the vocal.’ “This was his big hit. Lyrically it said so much, it was a very poetic and eloquent way of saying ‘Let's cherish this love I have for you.’ It was a really nice way of approaching it, and it was a good way to learn how to write my own songs."

"Looking at my choices earlier, I was thinking, why haven't you got anything more recent, old man? I've really loved Little Simz' Grey Area recently, but I haven't lived with it quite long enough. This I have. 

Michael's a fantastic artist. I loved his last album, Love and Hate, but then this came along. It's absolute soul music, deep and powerful, one of those records that instantly gives you the strong feeling that it'll stay with you for the rest of your life. It's got such a great first track, 'You Ain't The Problem', but by the time you're at track 4, 'Piano Joint', you're just in another world. When I listen to a song, I want to be taken on a journey, and this takes you really deep. The whole thing. My only gripe's that I'd rather it on two sides of vinyl rather than four. Basically, I'm a lazy old man. But it's very minor, don't worry!
"

"Argh, I'm changing my mind now. Do I pick Scott 3 or Scott 4? Err…oh God, this is hard. Sorry. OK, I'll go for 3, purely because my wife and I were listening to it in the kitchen yesterday. Scott 4's my most-played album on all of my devices at home – it's literally been played three times more than any other record. But Scott 3…there's something especially moving about it right now. The end of 'Sons Of', that final moment. We both in tears at the end of it last night. Blubbing like idiots while making supper.

Among Radiohead, Scott Walker's definitely our unifying artist. First of all, it's his voice: it's just undeniable in its power. Then there's the Wally Stott arrangements, all this extraordinary instrumentation. To think that he was doing jingles and TV adverts at the same time. There's such craft in his albums, and such constant inspiration."

"I remember my sister bringing The Slim Shady LP home from school and I’d never heard anything like it. The lyrics were so fucking cool, he was so weird and dark and it was so different. He just tells these fucking creative stories and I think that’s what really appeals to me, I’m such a storyteller with my songs. “I love him as an artist because he represented the struggle of being a fucking teenager, being misunderstood and being like ‘Fuck you, fuck everyone.’ There’s so much aggression in it and I felt that in my hormones as a teenager. He gave a voice to all the ways that you’re misunderstood and the hardship of being a fucking adolescent. There’s anger and there’s ‘I’m an outsider’ and ‘fuck everyone.’ “It’s weird because even though there’s so much aggression in there, there’s also the humour and the sarcasm. He said things that no one else was saying and he created characters and stories and I liked that."