Sure, it’s old and it’s sort of lame, but the idea of compiling your “Desert Island Discs” really makes you think about how you feel about music. This is particularly difficult for music freaks, the kind of people who cherish items as extravagant as the Complete Hank Williams Recordings box set. Still though, it’s an interesting exercise, so I asked the Glorious Noise posse to come up with their Desert Island Discs. Click here to see what kind of hut-buddies we’d be.
And if you want to show us your own list of Desert Island Discs, we created a new topic on the Board. Interact!
I asked the Glorious Noise crew for their Desert Island Discs. I know this is an old concept, but I think it says a lot more about a music writer’s perspective than just about anything else. Or maybe not. But I think it’s interesting.
Jake
Jeff
in no particular order
The Who – Who’s Next
Elvis – The Memphis Album
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Funkadelic – Funkadelic
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
Neil Young – Rust Never Sleeps
Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St.
Gram Parsons – Return of the Grievous Angel
Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
The Leppotone Sampler
CSNY – Deja Vu
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
And as a footnote, I think it’s cheating to list greatest hits albums. Come to think of it now, this is really asking a lot of a bunch of guys who can’t pare their record collections down to under 1,000. I mean, can we at least get a classic rock radio station on the island? Then I could reduce my list to about five albums. And you didn’t mention if there is weed on this island either.
Jake
in the order that I thought of them…
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Wilco – Being There
Neil Young – Decade
Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
Weezer – Pinkerton
Del tha Funkee Homosapien – I Wish My Brother George Was Here
Ice Cube – Death Certificate
Tom Waits – Small Change
Beatles – White Album
Pixies – Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground
You can tell I am a greedy, cheap bastard because most of my selections are double albums. It’s the same reason I always play "Freebird" (9:06) and CCR’s "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (11:04) on jukeboxes: value for the money.
Gary
Well, 10 is tough, but it is a good limit. So. . .
- Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – The Ultimate Collection (you’ve got to start somewhere)
- Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity – Streetnoise (Jools is one of the world’s most underlistened vocalists; probably got her greatest run with the theme to Absolutely Fabulous)
- Ricki Lee Jones – The Magazine (after listening to this countless times, heard her doing it live in Ann Arbor and found it to be even more spine-tingling)
- Jack Bruce – Songs for a Tailor (if there was any question that this man is one of the most versatile musicians of my generation, then this, his first solo album, puts it to rest)
- Jack Bruce – Cities of the Heart (a bit of a cheat- this is a live double-disc that was created to mark his 50th birthday; contains much of his astounding solo career and even has Ginger Baker [who was considered to be God before that tag was given to Clapton] on the skins, and if there is any drummer who is equal to Keith Moon. . .)
- The Who – Quadrophenia (my #1 album of all time)
- Elvis Costello – Girls Girls Girls (another cheat- a chock-a-block collection of Attractions and other delights)
- The Kinks – To the Bone (so far as I am concerned, Ray Davies is the Noel Coward of the late 20th century but has not been acknowledged as such, and brother Dave’s guitar chops are something I’m sure many are afraid to aspire to)
- Scritti Politti – Provision (any band that uses Marcel Duchamp references and exhibits a writerly deconstructionist awareness is a band for me)
- Boz Scaggs – My Time (another cheat- Boz from ’69 to ’97. When the books are written about the essential American musicians, Boz should figure large. . .but probably won’t)
Jordan
NOT in any particular order
White Album – Beatles
Doolittle – Pixies
Abbey Road – Beatles
Rain Dogs – Tom Waits
The Mollusk – Ween
OK Computer – Radiohead
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – Pavement
Blonde on Blonde – Dylan
Pinkerton – Weezer
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
Johnny
I’ve always considered ‘Desert Island Disc’ lists to be the ballast that washes up on the shores of Sunday evening classic rock radio. The kind of thing that Red Beard would carp about while interviewing Jeff Lynne on ‘In The Studio.’ I know that Jake realizes this; nevertheless, I felt I had to preface. That said, here’s mine…
(In no particular order, as order would not exist on an island consisting of me and Wilson…)
Minor Threat, Minor Threat (Dischord)
The musical equivalent of your favorite black T shirt. But, by now, it’s probably a little gray, and featuring a fray around the collar.
Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (Columbia)
"Well I can remember us drivin’ in your Daddy’s car, your body tan and wet, down at the resevoir…"
Sonic Youth, Sister (Blast First) & Daydream Nation (Enigma)
Pretentious? Maybe. Like nothing I’d ever heard before? Definitely.
The Who, Live at Leeds (MCA)
Rumbling, bumbling, and stumbling: an all-time live classic.
Guns n’ Roses, Appetite For Destruction (Geffen)
Recently, I figured out that what makes this album great is the undercurrent of sex. Don’t ask me why it took me so long to deduce that. I’m on a goddamn desert island, remember? Jeez.
The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed (ABKCO)
We all need someone we can lean on. But a palm tree’ll do.
Fugazi, Repeater (Dischord)
Ian Mackaye makes the list twice (I’m sure he cares). Noise terrorism at its Capitalism-hating best.
Uncle Tupelo, No Depression (Rockville)
A drinkin’ album. Hope salt water tastes like Pabst.
Oasis, Definitely Maybe (Creation)
A fightin’ album. I’ll name my fist Noel and my face Liam.
Harry Smith (editor), Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways)
Drinkin’, fightin’, screwin’, singin’, hollerin’…and love.
Phil
If it happened TODAY:
Smiths-Queen is Dead
Ice Cube-America’s Most wanted
Stephen Malkmus-Stephen Malkmus
John Lennon-Plastic Ono Band
Paul McCartney-Ram
George Harrison-All things must pass
(NO RINGO)
Gram Parsons-GP
Stones-Sticky Fingers
Neil Young-On the Beach
Wilco-Being There
Beastie Boys-Check Yer Head
Steve Earle-Transcendental Blues
CSNY-De Ja Vu
This list is not very imaginative, but it’s what I’d
like to hear today.
Pat
Hopefully I’m not the last one to leave you hanging on this, after all, I am employed at a job where I can spend an entire afternoon thinking about Desert Island Discs, so here it goes…
Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Volume 1 Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Volume 2
They’ve gotten me out of a jam before when I’ve been deserted, so I see no reason why they couldn’t help me out again. I’d include Volume 3, but only if there’s no hope of rescue — that’s where Blind Willy McTell would come in handy
Sinatras: Action Party/Shelia’s Glowing
The best band in America never fails to get me charged up and ready to rumble.
Jonathan Richman: Jonathan goes Country
You’ve got to have something to listen to while trying to build a telephone out of coconuts.
The Sleestacks: The Pirate Show and 45 Other Minutes
This one is for when you’ve given up on building the coconut telephone but have figured out how to ferment grog. And it has a nautical theme.
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream and Other Delights
I don’t really like Herb Alpert or whipped cream, but I do like the cover to this album, and I figure a guy gets lonesome on a desert island…
Parliament : Funkentelechy Vs. Placebo Syndrome
I like to dance. Also, a flashlight can come in handy trying to signal passing planes and ships.
Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me
I like the idea of listening to a bunch of songs about travel when you’re hopelessly stranded with nothing but a hand cranked victrola and a couple of rocks to bang together.
Johnny Ace: I’m Crazy Baby
Speaking of victrolas, I’ve actually got one, and I’ve got this record on 78. It’s dirty, fragile, and sounds terrible, but there’s something about the way it sounds when you turn the crank … Johnny Ace was the pre-rock star who killed himself playing russian roulette on the eve of his big break.
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Hey, we want to know what albums you would take on a deserted island if you knew you going to be stranded there indefinitely. Go to the Glorious Noise Bulletin Board and let us know!