VEGETABLES a book playlist

The extremely lovely Cerys Matthews asked me to choose some music that relates to my new book VEGETABLES for when I appeared on her 6music show today. We chatted for a while about the book but mostly caused a kerfuffle by admitting a mutual disappointment in most pizza.

If you fancy a listen, click below - we start talking 1 hour 15 minutes in - though the whole show is such a joy as ever, and Cerys played 6 tracks from the playlist below.

And thank you to those of you from this marvellous place (Orla from Sheffield! and others) who messaged Cerys during the show - it really added so much.

A book takes a long time to write, photograph and edit, and music is present almost throughout for me. Every one of my books has its own soundtrack, and I wanted to share the one for VEGETABLES with you.

For much of the writing time, I’m not looking for the pleasures of Gang of Four’s first few albums or Queens of the Stone Age’s most recent, so it’s not the noisiest playlist, but I hope you like it nevertheless.

And I keep adding to it as I remember something that played its part in either my thinking or just being the soundtrack to the creation of the book.

The Beach Boys - Vegetables

I played this a lot for obvious reasons.

I went to see Brian Wilson 20 odd years ago and even so long after the heyday of his creative genius it felt like I was in the company of someone from another universe.

Depending on your disposition, you will be fascinated/bored silly to know that the munching sounds are Paul McCartney, invited to the studio to hang out for the day, eating celery.

RECIPE RELATED MUSIC

Homity pie

Even in the small town south west England of the mid 1980s, the occasional health food shop and whole food cafe could be found, an island of nutrition in a sea of Spacedust and limeade. Their menus invariably featured at least one thing from the genuinely game-changing Cranks Cookbook. Very often that was homity pie, a deliciously carb-heavy coming together of potatoes, cream, cheese and pastry.

It came at a time of sleeping on friends floors, of finding new music to my post-punk norm - the combination of food and music felt like a new world was opening.

Tom Waits - Shore Leave

Prince - Starfish and Coffee

The Blue Nile - Tinseltown in the Rain

Those first three tracks remind me of the time I discovered homity pie thanks to my hometown’s health food shops, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I got into actually cooking it (or indeed cooking anything), around the time I spent many nights on my friend Nick’s floor, being introduced to the likes of Al Green and Bobby Womak while I unsuccessfully tried to convince him of the magnificence of The Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues album.

The Waterboys - When Ye Go Away

Vignorola

I make it at this time of year only, in the window of when spring becomes summer, when the end of the asparagus overlaps with the start of the globe artichokes, broad beans and peas, in the space between the anniversary of my feather’s death and his birth and one way or another he is often present when I do. I wrote about it here.

Chuck Berry - Nadine

Melanzane al cioccolato

Fried aubergine slices dredged in spiced sugar, with whisk of creme fraiche, mascarpone and lemon zest, a drizzle of tahini, chocolate sauce and pine nuts.

There is an imaginary me who drives the windy roads of the Amalfi coast in a Lancia Fulvia, visiting numerous lovers each enchanted by my interpretation of this Italian classic. The unimaginary me drives the windy roads of East Devon dad-taxiing my teenage daughter and being told that ‘it’s really not bad, and you know how much I hate aubergines’. Take your affirmations wherever they come.

One day I shall be invited to a wedding party such as Connie’s in The Godfather, where I shall dance merrily to music I have no idea how to dance to while covering myself in spaghetti sauce.

Nino Rota, Carlo Savina - Connie’s Wedding

WRITING RELATED

When I’m writing I play mostly instrumentals as I’m so easily distracted by words, and build up a playlist of them that grows as the book develops. A few that I played often, below

Bill Evans - Peace Piece

Floating Points/Pharaoh Sanders - Movement 1

Four Tet - Parallel 2

When the words won’t come

To write well you have to read well and that includes listening to great songwriters. Any of these gets me back to where I need to be

Ivor Cutler - Life In a Scottish Sitting Room 2 Episode 11 

Joni - Coyote

Lisa O’Neill - Old Note

Puts me in a place/time of the year

You often end up doing edits and tweaks about a different time of year to the one you are in - and I always listen to something that transports me right to where I need to be, such as…

Stephen Stills - Johnny’s Garden 

Rickie Lee Jones - Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most ]

Pentangle - Springtime Promises

Gian Piero Reverberi - The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Gil Scott Heron - I Think I’ll Call It Morning

Nick Drake - One of These Things

Photoshoots

I like to have the editor, designer, and the shoot chef present on at least one photoshoot to bring their personality to it (I like everyone being involved) but also so that they are very close to the actual food and every part of the book even if it’s not their own corner.  We have two playlists we turn to - most definitely influenced by what they like too - one where we want everything nice and easy and calm, and the other when we need a lift. Including…

Mark Hollis - Colour of Spring 

Bonnie Raitt - Thank You

Aretha - Wholly Holy (live)

Donny Hathaway - Jealous Guy (live)

Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate - Queen Bee

Tim Buckley - Sweet Surrender

Nuyorican Soul - It’s Alright 

Joe Cocker - Feelin’ Alright

Kate Bush - Cloudbusting

and the rest.

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If you’d like to preorder my new book you can do so from here, which should work for you wherever in the world it is published

or from my website click here if you are in the UK

More soon,

Mark