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Desert Island Albums?
There is of course the excellent British radio show "Desert Island Discs", but choices are limited to songs or single pieces of music, which I find too limiting, not to mention impossible to choose.
I prefer the concept of 'Desert Island Albums', which could include sets which used to be 2 or 3 LPs, like Blonde on Blonde, but not box sets such as the complete Beethoven Symphonies. And I could only have one selection per artist or composer.
With these constraints in mind, I would choose:
- Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix Experience
- Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
- Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
- Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Arthur Grumiaux or Julia Fischer)
- The Concert for George (Harrison)
- The Beatles (aka White Album)
- The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd
- Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield
- Rock of Ages The Band (or maybe the 1971 Albert Hall concert, just released)
- Goon Show Classics: Tales of Montmartre/Ill Met By Moonlight/Tales of Mens Shirts/The Whistling Spy Enigma (or really, any four would do, there are over 30 double CD sets)
Predictable for someone my age, but this would give me enough variety and quality of material to work out how to get off the island.
I would also give myself five 'honourable mentions' :
The Isle of View, Pretenders
The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East
Bryan Ferry Live in Lyons
Sarah McLachlan Closer
Kate Bush Hounds of Love
Your ideas/comments welcome!
Geoff
Comments
I could be happy with the Jayhawks and Queen discographies. Very happy.
Top 10 that I never get tired of -
Live recordings
7 Worlds Collide (Neil Finn & Friends) - Live at the St. James
Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
Studio -
REM - Document
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Guster - Keep it Together
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Toad The Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Ray Charles - Genius Loves Company
Minnesota Orchestra - Showcase
Honorable mentions, if I could grab 4 more -
Rodney Crowell - Life is Messy
The Smithereens - 11
The Tragically Hip - World Container
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On
Waiting for Columbus is indeed excellent, but I haven't heard the other two, will check them out. I guess the idea behind this is to discover some great stuff which I haven't heard!
Haven't heard much Jayhawks, but what I have, I like.
Geoff
I like these kind of threads too. There are a few on your list I've never heard, so I'll be checking them out in the next few nights.
Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
Eric Clapton - Live at Royal Albert Hall
Tom Petty - Live Anthology
Crossroads - Any of them
Bruce Springsteen - Live 75'-85'
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks Live
SRV - Live Alive
Standing in the Shadows of Motown - sound track
I know I violated the rules, but I figure if I am given a choice prior to being stranded on a desert island I might as well negotiate terms.
While I commend the excellent choices listed so far, I'd opt for several extensive "box sets" so I could DIY a raft to get back to some electricity. YMMV.
If obligated to choose ten albums from different artists, I would maybe (today, right now - it may be different after lunch) go with (alternatives in parentheses):
Oh so many more to choose from.
Note: Obviously I am somewhat more mainstream oriented, but I am not opposed to classical music or classic rock or any genre not represented here or more obscure stuff (but I do possess several hundred albums from obscure bands - I just find many of them to lack the polish I enjoy to listen on repeat forever until I die alone of thirst or starvation on a desert island - do we get a generator and the electronics/speakers of our choice?).
Good times, great thread.
Haven't given this much thought!
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Damn the Torpedoes
Prince: Musicology
Steely Dan: Two Against Nature
Clash: London Calling
Bootsy Collins: Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!
Funkadelic: Mothership Connection
Santana: Supernatural
Mozart Requiem: Hogwood
Miles Davis: Live-Evil
Trio II: Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt, Emmy Lou Harris
MC Yogi: Elephant Power
Jai Uttal: Dial M for Mantra
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Inner Mounting Flame
Damn the Torpedoes always takes me right back to my freshman college dorm room even tough it was released two years prior.
Tom states on Sound City that Refugee was played over 100x before getting it right all the way through.
InDIYana Event Website
Great picks so far, I'll try this: There may be a few repeats!
That'll do for a while...
I could make another list just for Classical music!
I could also do lists just for jazz and classical music but that would change the rule from 10 to 30 albums...
Perhaps only CDs should be allowed, as they could be used to signal a passing ship to let you escape?
For those who haven't heard of it, The Goon Show was a 1950s/early 60s British radio comedy show with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. Brilliant stuff, although some of the material would not be allowed by the thought police these days.
"My girlfriend doesn't love me any longer"; retort: "If you were longer, she'd love you more"; "I'm a poor, old painter" - "So I see by your poor, old paintings".
You would need something to cheer you up while awaiting rescue!
Thank you for all your ideas, I can see a few evenings' listening is called for.
Geoff
Here are mine, I've cheated and included compilations:
Honourable mentions:
Gorecki Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Dawn Upshaw)
Verdi La Traviata (Anna Moffo)
Brahms Violin Concerto (Anne-Sophie Mutter and Kurt Masur)
Bach : Goldberg Variations for Violin and Piano (Zoe Black and Joe Chindamo)*
Ravel Piano Concerto in G (Yuja Wang)
*This one's a bit odd, but I really like the fresh take on this work. If I got sick of it I'd swap it for Glenn Gould's second version.
Geoff
The rules seem kind of unclear, as to hard limits, so I'll pick 10 (some multi-disc).
Geoff