This was the time when I was discovering drugs, and to me, this is a very druggy record – not that it was Stevie’s intention, but that’s just where it landed in my life. I’m lucky enough to have gotten past that – so many people that I know didn’t – but it’s certainly something that I and a lot of people went through in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. That’s what this album feels like to me.

I picked this album because it was the first one that made me say, ‘Oh, yeah, girls can be kind of cool when they sing.’ [Laughs] As a boy, I would hear The Supremes on the radio, but there weren’t really other girls who I would listen to. So this one made me think, ‘Wow, she’s really good.’ And she was just so sexy and complicated.

“It was crazy, it was fresh – sonically, it was so advanced – but it was also very accessible, even for a kid. It was just wonderful.”

This is an important record to me – and I love all of James’ work; I’ve been a huge fan for so many years – because when I first met my wife, when I was courting her – now, that’s a funny word [laughs] – one of the first things we connected on was James Taylor, particularly his early work.

“There was a bit of a safety thing to The Beatles. Their songs were upbeat, and there was a sense of humor to them; the music could be cool, edgy, sad and melodically challenging, but there was always something positive about it.“And here comes Beggar’s Banquet, and it was so much darker, edgier, angrier. For the first time, I think I got the idea of what sexually charged rock ‘n’ roll was all about. That’s pretty powerful stuff, when you’re suddenly feeling all of these new things. It kind of makes you go, ‘Whoa!’”