"It's the first record produced by Stevie Wonder, and one where he plays everything himself. The contract he signed with Motown meant that he would be in complete control. There may be other albums by him where he's more consistent. Or maybe they're more classic. But it's the approach to that record, and the sound that I love. 'Love Having You Around' is one of my favourite Stevie Wonder songs. The whole record has this funkiness to it, and his drumming is unlike any other drummer I've heard. He speeds up and slows down on the track. On 'Love Having You… he's just really grooving, because he's playing music with himself. It's not done to a click track. That kind of movement and the grooves are the things I like most in the music - that's something I think about a lot when making music as well, I'm always trying to get away from using a click track. It can be much more exciting to have things constantly speeding up and slowing down. There's just something about people doing records on their own that I really like. I remember when I heard this for the first time, and it was so distorted, and maybe there was a vocoder being used. The first time I put it in, I was thinking that maybe they'd put the wrong CD in the box - maybe a Jeff Beck one, something more bluesy! I really liked that in itself. Stevie's experimenting! There's a real playfulness about this, that I try to have in the music-making that I do! It's having the confidence to play around and being aware that you might stumble on to something."

"I picked this album up shortly after it came out, and at the time I was in a teenage band, who were awful, and I wanted to scream and I wanted to sing but I didn't know how to do both, and I heard this record and I just kinda gave up on the idea. I remember thinking 'Brody Dalle's doing this better than I ever will, and it's a girl,' and immediately I just loved everything about it. When you're a young teenage boy in the suburbs at some point you've got to get by on testosterone alone just to survive in that field of football games you don't want to play in. I just loved Brody fiercely, unapologetically being herself, and it just sounded like a glass of fucking acid in your face. I really like every record they've made, but Coral Fang specifically is as close to acid in the face as music gets. Every now and then you'll get a band that works purely on chemistry, and then sometimes there's a person in the band that's just magnetic, and for whatever reason you just can't get away from them. I think it's got a lot to do with that open sense of self and the confidence that comes from knowing who you are as an artist. It doesn't really matter if you've got no idea who you are as a person – I've just become a dad and that's turned everything I thought I knew about myself on my head – and she's definitely a role model in that respect, in regards to just unashamedly being herself. She sings and there's a sound, it's like an extra instrument. It's rare you can have someone who can put so much style into every word."

"I've known Kloot for years, I've known them before they had a name, I did their original demos, and I've known who John [Bramwell, I Am Kloot singer and guitarist] was for many years, longer than we've been pals. He is one of our best songwriters, and Peter [Jobson] from the band is my best friend. Well this has all come to pass through me loving their music and making Sky At Night with them and Craig [Potter, Elbow bandmate] at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, which we don't own, we've been there a long time. We just rent space there and every album is a kick-start these days, every album is a reboot for a band, because of what the industry is. So if you don't go in with absolute enthusiasm and confidence, there is no point in going in. And for the band to be as long in the tooth as Elbow is – not quite as long in the tooth, actually – but to be around as long as we have, going with the level of enthusiasm you have to have, and knowing The Sky At Night is that [good] – that's all you need to know, it's one of the most beautiful, optimistic things. So I chose the album, not because I'm proudly associated with, although I am very, very proud of my string arrangements on that record. It's John's songwriting, and I want more people to hear it. It should have won the Mercury Prize. When they put the floor down in the studios, in the big room, I put a copy of every album that had been made there to date underneath the floorboards, knowing they won't come up for 100 years, with a note saying, ""All these records were made in this space"", for somebody to find one day."

"I always wanted to be a songwriter and not a producer. Even though I ended up producing a fair few bands over the years, it wasn’t something I ever particularly wanted to do. With Echo & The Bunnymen, they were such a special band because of the chemistry and I always wanted to be in a band like that. The Beatles were like that, as were The Beach Boys and The Kinks. I felt like that was never going to happen for me, I never thought I’d meet someone who would be a singer, and I never wanted to be a singer. When Ian Curtis sadly died and New Order were going to carry on, I remember hearing “Temptation” for the first time and thinking ‘Bernard can’t sing at all but it’s great, it doesn’t matter that he can’t sing’. I’d have these ideas in my head and I’ve always felt with music that if you’ve got a good idea but you don’t do it very well, then it’s still a good idea. If you don’t have a good idea, no matter how well you do it, it will never be a good idea. That sounds obvious, but it’s always been my mantra for everything I’ve done. I loved everything about that track, the backing vocals, the singing and it made me feel like I could maybe do that, that I could be not very good at singing as well. I was already doing music at the time, but it gave me the confidence to sing on my tunes and give up on finding a singer. “Temptation” inspired me to get behind the mic myself, and if you have a good idea, then something will come of it."