Don Letts names his 10 favourite albums of all time
When it comes to an utter musical icon with a working knowledge of just about every genre out there, look no further than Don Letts. Letts was raised on psychedelia in his early years before discovering reggae in his teenagerhood. However, it was in the realm of punk that Letts stormed his way into the public consciousness, becoming the chief filmmaker for The Clash.
Given Letts’ broad musical taste, he is well-positioned to inform us of the must-listen-to albums of the last 50 years. Fortunately, last year he named his favourite albums of all time, saying in the process: “Like I tell people, it’s about taste. Lucky I got some,” adding of the necessity of sharing music with one another, “It is more important than ever. Because, god, there’s a lot of shit out there!”
Naturally, with Letts’ history of working with The Clash, he selected their iconic London Calling album. “It’s obviously seminal,” he said. “They call it a punk record, but really it redefined what punk could be. Everyone had started off with the fast and furious guitar thing, and that was a way of ringing out the old and ringing in the new, but some people stuck with that.”
However, The Clash brought a nuanced feel to punk that helped to define the future of the genre. Of their third studio album, Letts added: “London Calling was bringing in all these different influences from around the world, from reggae to a bit of R&B. There’s rock on there. There’s a jazz influence. I did three videos for the album, so yeah, it changed my life in that way because it established me as a director proper.”
Elsewhere, going back a decade, Letts noted that the first album he ever bought was Marvin Gaye’s masterful What’s Going On. “I was 15 years old,” Letts remembered. “It is a godly piece of work. It was a unified concept album; all the songs segued into each other, and they were dealing with real shit. It was social commentary. You put the record on now, and all the things that he is talking about are just as relevant now, if not more relevant.”
Ironically, given the fact that he is describing his favourite albums, Letts claims that he actually “fucking hates” talking about music. But in the same breath, he praises The Beach Boys’ 1969 album Pet Sounds: “You’d have to be dead for this not to strike you on some level because it is one of these albums that’s built up of these exquisite layers, harmonies and sound effects, and weird instrumentation. There are emotional songs [and] love songs. All I can say is that, when putting this record on, if music is your thing, I don’t think you’ll be able to take it off.”
While Letts was primarily known for his work with the Clash, he also pays his respect to the band he believes kicked off the whole UK punk scene, the Sex Pistols, and their only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks. “The Sex Pistols were really a cultural ground zero with that record, man,” Letts said. “The Clash almost wouldn’t have existed without the Sex Pistols. It is a tremendously powerful record. It was a rallying cry. It was a call to arms. And also that punk rock thing, I’ve got to give it props.”
Check out the full list of Don Letts’ favourite albums below.
Don Letts’ favourite albums:
- Trojan Records – Tighten Up Vol. 2 (1969)
- The Clash – London Calling (1980)
- Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On (1971)
- The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (1966)
- The Wailers – Catch a Fire (1973)
- Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
- De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
- The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
- Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
- Prince – Sign O’ The Times (1987)
