Page created 11 May 2002 by baggins
URL: www.sushi.com.net.org.edu.il.us
Hmmmm, so, here's this situation:
You are stuck on a desert island. You have food and stuff (like on Gilligan's Island) to live, and luckily for you, a 12 disc CD player that you loaded up with your 12 to- die-for CD's. Even cooler still, it is solar powered. unfortunately, you have no means to get off the island. But, hey, you've got your CD's. Which ones are in your Player and why? (Pedro - no fair saying you'd have your mp3 player or minidisc player or anything else. strictly 12 albums here)
well, if i had to leave right this minute, and could only choose from what i actually have here now (which is to distort the criteria significantly), i might be tempted to take:finley quaye - mavarick a strike (gots to have that reggae - i think if i took a marley disc i'd spend all my time being frusterated at all the songs that weren't on it)
beastie boys - paul's boutique (which i don't have memorized yet and shame on me for it)
the mountain goats - zopilote machine (again, i should really avoid tmg lest i be unable to enjoy this small sliver of their copious and almost-always-stellar output on account of how much of it i'd have to leave behind)
spacemen 3 - taking drugs to make music to take drugs to (chateauneuf-de-pape to spiritualized's sparkling grape juice)
babe the blue ox - live (an ep, so not a real wise choice in terms of volume, but they were a pale shadow of themselves in the studio, and i'd miss 'em terribly, so what can you do?)
low - the curtain hits the cast (i heard once that they were mormons - can anyone confirm?)
trip shakespeare - lulu (listening to semisonic's mediocrety reminds me what a tragedy trip's breakup was - also it's a shame applehead man isn't on this disc)
chris(t) whitley - dirt floor (better than everything)
boredoms - vision creation new sun (what happens when a japanese noise-rock outfit learns how to play their instruments - a box set with a live disc, so counts as two)
novos baianos - acabou chorare (a little 60s brasilian folk/prog rock fo yo ass)
rebirth brass band - main event: live at the glass house (ain't nothin' but a stinky sweaty n'awlins dance party, y'all!)
remy ongala - sema (i have no idea what he's singing about as i don't speak his language, nor french, but sometimes it just doesn't matter. this is the good kind of what is called "afro pop" - gives me the happy feet, which is a strange and disturbing thing to see, white as i am)
red devils - king king (croch-grabbingly good balls-out barroom blues for breaking bottles over your head - or coconuts, providing it's a tropical island)
cornelius - fantasma (a little japanese concept album of samples and punk and cheese and psycheledia that somehow works [for me] - get to take a trip without going anywhere)
so, that's fifteen i see - never could count so good. but now that i've got them all down i find it impossible to part with a single one. not really impossible, just rhetorically so. if someone was holding a knife to my testicles i might lie to myself and say i could live without mavarick a strike, btbo's live ep, and fantasma, but i'd be kidding myself. and of course if i made this list tommorow, it'd be completely different.
Wow. Only 12 albums? The thing is, they would CHANGE from time to time... ah well. In no particular order...1. Jeff Buckley - Grace. This has some of the most spiritual, to me, music. You know, how music isn't RELIGIOUS but you feel like you've had a religious moment when certain chords creep up and down your spine, settling in your toes. I love "Lilac Wine", for example... ahhh.
2. The Beatles - Abbey Road. If I HAD to choose one Beatles album I think this would be it, though the white album would come close but it would take two slots and I can't waste them willy nilly here.
3. Son Volt - Trace. This music is great for listening to on the open road. I would be able to imagine myself driving up Hwy 61 from Winona to Minneapolis, and the mental escape would be worth it.
4. Depeche Mode - Violator. Because you're only 14 once.
5 & 6. Red House Painters - Retrospective. It's a two disc set... but I'd bring both discs. I think that, being alone on an island, this would be really helpful music to have when I wanted to just wallow in my lonliness.
7. Radiohead - Kid A. Music that just tastes good. It would have to come with, variety don't you know.
8. U2 - The Joshua Tree. I've always loved U2. Hmm... I'm beginning to realize I wouldn't get a ton of variety in mood here...
9. Nick Drake - Way to Blue. It's a good Nick Drake compilation, and who would be without Nick Drake?
10. Morphine - Yes. Ahh yes. Ain't nothing quite as sexy as "Whisper" or quite as lovelorn as "Gone for Good."
11. Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies - Are a Drag. You know, there's just something about a punk cover of "Summertime" that makes me giggle.
12. Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes. Tossed in with the above, it would make for good variety. With a longest song of just over 2 minutes, it never seems to drag.So that'd be about it, at least for today. That wasn't easy.
I'm almost inclined to pick albums I hate. That way, if I ever get off the island, I'll still be able to stand the ones I like.
I'm about 95% percent positive that the two main people in low (husband and wife, right?) are mormons. Shredzilla, can you verify?
i was talking to ake tonight and he had a great idea, can i have cd with my friends and loved ones voices on them?
leave it to ake to suck the artifically-flavored fun out of a fizzy sip of soda like this, god love him.
i guess the question would be, 'do you have that cd now?' obviously the exercise is not limited to ONLY the CD's you currently own. there are plenty of albums i love that i don't own (or have lost). but, they have already been made. the CD you speak of has not (as far as i know). obviously there are going to be fun little 'loopholes' like this. they are fun (and a good part of the reason to think about these things in the first place), but i don't think that using that for an answer really sticks with the spirit of the 'poll'. i don't mean to be fascist about it, i can't MAKE you NOT pick the CD with our voices on it. but in my opinion it is not a fair answer unless the CD exists. (that doesn't mean you can't MAKE this album, however...) but it is a good idea.
obviously i haven't made my list yet, so i can't bug the rest of you people to post yours.
one thing i think is cool about music is that it is so vast and diverse a universe that i haven't heard/heard of a good 50%-75% of the albums/bands you guys have on your lists. which means i can't even argue or really disagree with you on them. pretty cool, i think. some good choices so far.
someone get that boy on here. his mind is beautiful, and would make a great addition to this site.
I've come back to this one several times and I still can't make a decent list. So here's a partial list with some ideas:
That's so draining and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface even though I already hit a dozen. It's so hard to pick and choose albums that I would want forever because I know that the music I am listening to today is not the music I'll be listening to next week. Plus there are just so many new albums I want, a few of which ryan has and must bring to me when he visits next. That would be an easier list to make -- Albums I Want. I can guarantee it's longer than 12.
- Kind of Blue, Miles Davis -- If you told me I could only bring one album, this might be the one.
- 9th Symphony, Beethoven -- This is noe that I don't listen to all that often, but is one that would be hard to part with.
- 6 and 12 String Guitar, Leo Kottke -- Classic Leo, if a little short. Maybe one of his anthologies would be better, but I just like this one too much.
- Outdebox, Soulhat -- I would either bring this or one of the live tapes from circa 1991 when Soulhat still had the rock'n'roll funk that made them a great band.
- Two From the Vault, Grateful Dead -- I started out trying to pick a single show, but since my tapes are all boxed up and I only have a few shows on CD, I opted to go with my favorite live release. I'm sure there are better one's, but I'm too poor to buy lot's of Dick's Picks, but I think Two from the Vault is a classic late sixties show and the Lovelight and the Darkstar are both great. Plus, you get Pigpen.
- Temple of the Dog, Temple of the Dog -- This is such a great album. Timeless rock and roll from an amazing set of musicians.
- 12-01-01 Disc 2, Medeski, Martin & Wood -- This is actually the only MM&W show I have on CD, but it exudes funk.
- Rain Dogs, Tom Waits -- I have a bunch of other Waits albums (and now there are two more new ones!), but I always seem to gravitate toward this one.
- Hot Rats, Frank Zappa -- I figured I need to have some Zappa, and this was the first one that popped into my head, so there you go.
- Quadrant, Ray Brown, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, and Mickey Roker -- Four amazing musicians make some sweet jazz. The lack of a piano let's the three instrumentalists really strut their stuff.
- Mezzanine, Massive Attack -- I couldn't decide between this and Squarepusher's Feed me Weird Things but Mezzanine wins out because I think it would be more listenable after a long time. Plus you can speed the whole thing up and have a new and different album as we found out on the way to Canada.
- Remain in Light, Talking Heads -- Touch choice between this and Fear of Music but I think Crosseyed and Painless pushes it over the top.
seriously, even though you can't get aa definitive list, it is still a good thing to think about, and your effort was more valiant than any stupid dragon-slaying knight. i posted the dang entree, and i still can't come up with a list. maybe we should amend it to like 30 cd's?
My list is here so lukas' list looks very good. I would consider Miles Davis (and Coltrane's My Favorite Things) and maybe Talking Heads to be serious contenders for my list as well. It has been interesting to see how my tastes have changed over the years.
I've said the same thing about Kind of Blue. My dad said if he had to send one album to space aliens to teach them about jazz/blues, that's the one he'd send.
Only twelve? I need a 1200 disc changer. . .well, here's what I would grab if I left today:
Frank Zappa - "Joe's Garage"
Why *does* it hurt when I pee?
Naked City - "Torture Garden"
Latter-day Coltrane meets G.G. Allin. Pure beauty.
Melvins - "Lysol"
It just rocks.
Nurse With Wound - "An Awkward Pause"
This too.
Legendary Pink Dots - "Asylum"
Closest you can get to the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd sound without Syd. . .OR Floyd!
Captain Beefheart - "Trout Mask Replica"
I'll just say what every critic who has ever reviewed this album says: "somewhere beyond a mix between free jazz and Delta blues", which doesn't really begin to describe the marvel at all.
Pink Floyd - "Atom Heart Mother"
Title track is twenty- three minutes of blisssss, and the ambient pieces on side two are great too.
godspeed you black emperor! - "lift yr skinny fists like antennas to heaven!"
All of their albums are fantastic, and this is the fantasticist.
Boards of Canada - "Music Has the Right to Children"
Canada has trees.
Miles Davis - "Bitches' Brew"
I'm running out of one-line tag phrases.
Tom Waits - "Rain Dogs"
Growl.
Wire - "Pink Flag"
They call it "art-punk". I like it!
I just realised some of these are double-discs. Oh well.
Yes. Oh yes.
That's an interesting choice. I have a bootleg where they perform that album with a choir and orchestra. At least I think there was an orchestra. I know there was a choir. Anyway, I don't think too many rock bands were doing that sort of thing back in 1972.