Let the music play

THE DINNER PARTY

We know, we know. The history of mood-setting dinner-party tunes — Morcheeba, nu-jazz, Vivaldi — is riven with bad musical cliché. Facts must be faced, however. Your friends are minutes away, the roast potatoes are nowhere near done, and you’re still in your pyjamas. What are you going to put on?

Jade Jagger "If someone plays the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang, they get maximum respect from me."

Mourad Mazouz, owner of Momo and Sketch "An album from 1993 on the Network label, called Desert Blues. Music for dinners should never be tiring and should never annoy you."

David Piper, master of ceremonies, The Modern Times Club "I Lucifer by the Real Tuesday Weld. It’s louche, smooth, deep, funny, intelligent and romantically melancholic; perfect to be drunk to with close friends."

What the others said Amadou & Mariam’s Dimanche à Bamako ("Anyone open-minded enough to discover this mesmerising music from Mali gains my respect"); Blockhead’s Music by Cavelight ("Perfect for whenever I want something to follow DJ Shadow, because it’s nearly in the same league"); PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea ("Because it’s interesting enough to spark a conversation"); soundtrack to the film Broken Flowers ("Ethiopian jazz mixed with New York sounds; beautiful"); Maria Callas sings Puccini’s Madame Butterfly ("Softly"); Emmylou Harris’s Pieces of the Sky ("If anyone can touch the hand of God, it’s Emmylou"); Jack Johnson’s Sitting, Wishing, Waiting; Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out; Jill Scott’s Who is Jill Scott?.

ON THE MOVE

You’re sitting in departures at Terminal 3, waiting for the seven-hour schlep to New York. You’re in the Volvo with friends, heading for Wales. You’re out with the dog taking in some sea air. Music for travelling inspires a particular kind of contemplation.

Sebastian Tellier, DJ "Discovery by Daft Punk, driving through Paris at night, wearing my favourite sunglasses."

Olly Parker, Rough Trade Records "Sing and Chant for Amma by J and Friends. I listen to it on the Tube: it puts a smile on my face."

Jo Whiley, Radio 1 DJ "Panic! at the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and At War with the Mystics by the Flaming Lips (out April 4). Listened to on trains, planes and automobiles — where I spend my life."

What the others said Come On Feel the Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens ("With headphones, on transport"); Best of Simon & Garfunkel ("On the road, singing your heart out"); Kate Bush’s Aerial ("In the car, loud, windows up, so I can absorb all her organic womanly brilliance"); Mahler’s Fifth ("For moments of melancholic reflection"); The Stone Roses by the Stone Roses ("Whenever I feel the need for unadulterated nostalgic happiness"); Damon Albarn’s Mali Music ("Perfect for walking"); Picaresque by the Decemberists ("For when I’m walking my dog, Banjo, along the beaches of Brighton"); Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Is there a better road-trip album?"); Joni Mitchell’s Miles of Aisles.

GETTING NAKED

Okay, so there’s music you have sex to and there’s music you make love to. Be in no doubt, though, of what the tunes you choose say about your sexual style. At one extreme: candles, music, sheets. At the other, a five-minute knee-trembler on the Aga in someone else’s kitchen. Whatever your flavour, nothing beats a sexy song to, ahem, lift you to a higher ground.

Mylo, DJ/musician "Serge Gainsbourg’s L’Histoire de Melody Nelson. The demented Franco-perv’s first concept album, it tells the story of the eponymous Melody, who is posh and English and young. Serge, true to form, seduces her, then she dies in a plane crash. The end. It’s kind of melancholic lounge-rock, and it’s 25 minutes long — more time than I ever need. Ha ha!"

Lauren Laverne, Xfm DJ "How about a bit of Céline Dion this Valentine’s day? Born to Be With You? Hell, yeah!"

Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol "The theme from Jaws."

What the others said Peaches’ The Teaches of Peaches ("In the background, not too loud. It makes you feel like a hard, dirty-ass bitch who probably ought not to be let out"); Marvin Gaye’s I Want You ("75 minutes of music based around those three words. Trust me, it works"); Al Green’s Belle Album ("Those bass lines: if every man studied them, they’d improve their sexual technique tenfold"); Donna Summer’s Love to Love You Baby album ("It’s the one where she supposedly had six orgasms"); the Eagles’ Hotel California ("Music that doesn’t mess up your rhythm"); Greatest Hits of 1988 ("I was young then, the music was better, and Doncaster was the capital of the world"); the soundtrack to Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her; Air’s soundtrack for The Virgin Suicides.

GETTING HIGH

Half-past midnight and the party’s a few hours old. Everyone’s having a good time. All of a sudden, there is a barely perceptible change: critical party mass. The mood takes a swerve in a new direction: skirts are hitched, glasses downed, inhibitions shed. They’re dancing on the tables.

Erick Morillo, DJ "Dr Dre’s 2001. Five years on, this album has lost none of its power. Hip-hop rules the airwaves, if not the world. And records like this are the reason why."

Norman Jay, DJ "I don’t drink or do drugs, but if I did, it would be to acid-house classics from 1988."

Richard Gray, head of press, Harvey Nichols "Something by Baby Ford. All those undulating synthesizer sounds make me want to take copious amounts of acid. Not that I ever have. I don’t even touch sweeteners."

What the others said Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Wave ("A seminal bossa nova album"); Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale ("Covers all ground"); Shpongle’s Are You Shpongled? ("Monstrous psychedelic techno for when you’re really flying"); A Proper Introduction to Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs: The Mercury Years ("Duelling banjos: yee-haw!"); Diplo’s Favela Strikes Back ("Mad dance music, inspired by Brazilian favelas but mixed up with the Smiths and Madonna"); the Best of Dolly Parton; Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs; the White Stripes’ Elephant.

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ALL BACK TO MINE

It’s been a really, really long night. Bones are aching like nobody can remember when, and the hangover’s kicking in. At this point, it’s down to the most basic of survival needs: lapsang souchong, cashmere Brora jumpers and nice tunes to usher you painlessly towards your bed.

Mylo "It introduced a really rubbish concept into our language, but the KLF’s Chill Out album, from 1990, is brilliant. It’s very slow and ambient, with some beautiful pedal-steel guitar on it."

Pearl Lowe, singer "Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions. Their music is beautiful, calming, always relevant, and something I’m never bored of."

Heston Blumenthal Claude Challe’s greatest hits. These contemporary music trendies often don’t deliver. But Challe is brilliant, putting a smile on your face and a jig in the least keen rhythm junkie."

What the others said Nightmares on Wax’s Smokers Delight ("Darren Emerson always used to play this album. The strings and beats work every time"); Billie Holiday, Billy Remembers Billie ("Alone in the early hours, smoking a cigarette"); Ulrich Schnauss, Far Away Trains Passing By ("Wistful and soothing, like 21st-century Bach"); the Beatles’ Revolver (" Like finding a box of childhood toys in the attic and feeling blanketed in safety"); the Happening’s As Deep as We Can Go Without Drowning ("Just as it says on the tin"); Johnny Cash’s Sun recordings; DJ Shadow’s The Private Press; Lee Scratch Perry and Mad Professor’s Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub; Sigur Ros’s Agaetis Byrjun; The Muppets’ Muppet Beach Party.

HOLIDAYS

So there you are, swinging in your hammock, and if the coconut bar down the beach plays Bob Marley’s Legend one more time, you’ll ... you’ll ... well, you’ll give them something else to play. Or you’re sitting on a bus traversing a Mexican mountain range, or digging your toes into hot Brazilian sand, or playing in the pool. Lucky, lucky you.

Arthur Baker, DJ and music producer "On a sailing holiday with Barney from New Order and Alex from Blur, Chicane was epic background music as we skipped along the waves."

Roland Mouret "Rufus Wainwright’s Want Two. I listen to it in my flip-flops and shorts, eating breakfast outside. It brings back memories."

Eddy Temple-Morris, Xfm DJ "Tom Vek, We Have Sound. I listen to it with my beautiful girlfriend in the tropics."

What the others said Lindstrom’s There’s a Drink in My Bedroom and I Need a Hot Lady ("Norwegian space disco that takes you to another planet"); Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother ("On holiday in deepest Wales while playing bridge, very stoned"); International Pony’s Leaving Home ( "Our song of the summer in 2003. We played it every day for three weeks. My kids ask me to play it every time they get in the car"); Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, In the Heart of the Moon ("Hanging in a hammock on holiday"); Prefab Sprout’s Swoon ("Pure summer"); Brazilian Girls by Brazilian Girls ("In the morning, when it’s hot outside"); New Boots and Panties!! by Ian Dury ( "Good for that Italian villa moment, when you’ve been hanging around posh people for too long"); Jazzflora: Skandinavian Aspects of Jazz ("It’s a lilo-in-the-pool thing").

AT THE GYM

You’ve got the treadmill on incline, your Stella McCartney Adidas shorts are making your legs look hot, but ohmigod, your lungs are giving out. Then your shuffle clicks on — and that’s it, you’re off. Yes, yes, yes — you can do it!

Matt Roberts, personal trainer "Fools Gold by the Stone Roses — fantastic drumming. Most importantly, it’s more than nine minutes long, so it keeps you going that little bit longer."

Jonathan Downey, club entrepreneur "Serge Santiago, Atto D’Amore. Get this track on your MP3 player and ski with it — I promise it’ll blow your mind. If you’re not near a mountain, a treadmill it is."

Tom Vek, music producer "With a Cape and a Cane, by Joggers (for obvious reasons). This has soundtracked all my recent trips to the States, and I reckon it would get you through a gym session."

What the others said Chemical Brothers, Push the Button ("For that last frenzied push to the finish line"); Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp ("A euphoric boost to your round-the-park plodding"); Gorillaz Dare DFA mix ("Get-up-and-go clubtastic remix"); LCD Soundsystem’s Trials ("For when you want to give up"); Michael Jackson’s Can You Feel It ("Jane Fonda was so right"); Kasabian; Gogol Bordello ("Gypsy punk with a two-step ska beat, for moderate training"); any embarrassing trance and progressive house that may mysteriously be in your collection.

ON MY OWN

It’s that little private moment when it’s just you and your singing voice, and the music police are nowhere to be seen.

Jade Jagger "Arctic Monkeys, on the school run."

Maggot, Goldie Lookin’ Chain "A Night at the Opera: perfect for cleaning the bathroom."

Olly Parker "The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy, for when I get home from work and want to let off some steam."

What the others said Mariah Carey’s Greatest Hits ("For singing along to in the bathroom. God, I’m good"); Justin Timberlake’s Justified ("Unadulterated cheese: ideal for the bedroom, alone, with the door closed"); Joy Division’s Substance ("In the bath, with headphones"); Lionel Richie’s Angel ("Don’t tell anyone"); Pet Shop Boys, Discography ("It makes me feel thin when I’m getting ready for work"); Smetana’s Ma Vlast ("A bit of rousing classical while doing a stroganoff"); MIA’s Arular ("When I’ve got to do my tax returns"); Vinicius de Moraes ("The man who invented bossa nova. Good for getting a shine out of the taps"); Tuung’s This Is Tuung ("Goes down well with a nice cup of tea").

THE ONE THAT CAN’T FAIL

Everyone’s got an album that does it for them every time. It’s entirely personal and never needs to be explained. It just works.

Jon Wilde, journalist "Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. I listen to it whenever I feel the need to be connected to the world. I have probably heard it more than 10,000 times, and know every note by heart. It is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of civilisation. No contest."

Miquita Oliver, television presenter "Massive Attack’s Blue Lines. A cliché, perhaps, but with reason. An album that has cropped up at all the most poignant times in my life."

Daisy de Villeneuve, artist Talking Heads’ 77 always brightens my spirits. Psycho Killer is genius.

What the others said Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall ("Reminds me of glorious mornings. Every song sizzles with energy, and the music is timeless"); U2’s Boy ("About 20 years ahead of its time"); the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds; A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders ("Best hip-hop band ever"); anything by the late, great Warren Zevon ("Like a cross between the Eagles and Charles Bukowski"); Young Disciples’ Road to Freedom; Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks; David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs; Kruder & Dorfmeister, The K&D Sessions.

NEED TO KNOW

Places to go to find the mad, the bad and the different; the sites that prove a treasure trove for the music you love.

www.dolphindiscs.com ("Great online music source"); www.tinymixtapes. com ("Top ideas for iPod playlists"); www.juno.co.uk ("Allows you to play songs before you buy"); Pop!Justice ("Not very secret, but jolly good source of funnies and info"); Loose Music ("A record label that does great alt-country, and puts on honky-tonks and gigs all the time); www.musicmatch.com ("Superturbo download service"); www.halfinchrecordings.com ("Source of brilliant mashed-up bootleg tracks"); White Heat at Madame Jojo’s, in London ("Points you in the direction of decent bands, and turning up at the door of the club can reward you with a free CD"); www.music-map.com ("A very cool site, put together by someone I suspect is deeply uncool, in the nicest possible way"); www.tunetribe.com ("The only place to download for people in the know; an online treasure chest for music-lovers").