Desert Island Albums

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GeoffMillar

GeoffMillar

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Joined 2016
#1
There is the excellent British radio show "Desert Island Discs", but its choices are limited to ten songs or 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 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') or Revolver
  • Closer, Sarah McLachlan
  • The Art of Renee Fleming
  • 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, plus some humour if I couldn't. I could easily make this list 20 items long but that would be cheating.

Other lists please

Geoff
 
#2
  • Listen Now!, Manzanera+801
  • Led Zep III
  • New England, Wishbone Ash
  • Now And Zen, Robert Plant
  • Derelicts, Carbon Based Lifeforms
  • Fairchildren, OTT
  • Are You Shpongled, Shpongle
  • The Last Days Of Gravity, Skylon
  • Job; A Masque For Dancing, Vaughn-Williams; Boult (must be the Boult version)
  • I'm Alive, Jackson Browne
Though, honestly it could have been 20 or 30. If they all washed away but one? Probably "I'm Alive" it did a lot to help me through some difficult times...
 
#6
Frank Zappa, The Grand Wazoo. Kept me sane during a summer in the NWT.

The_Grand_Wazoo.jpg


dave
 
#8
Davor D said:
Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush
Click to expand...
Agreed, that's a great album from a unique artist; it was in my first go at the list but I put Sarah McLachlan because of the sheer quality of her voice.

The second side of 'Hounds' is quite eerie and has spectacular production. All Kate's albums are well worth having; all different in sound and feel, some - such as 50 Words for Snow - take a while to grown on you.

There used to be quite a selection of her early demos floating around YouTube, most of which would have found a place on anyone else's records, also a bootleg live album from 1979 with excellent sound and a great band.

Truly an amazing artist

Geoff
 
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#10
I honestly can't think of an episode of "Desert Island Discs " that I haven't enjoyed.

Of course, the selection process matters. One can hardly imagine what the program would be like with "Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, Mao Tse Tung" or similar reprobates choosing the Music.

I suppose Adolph would serve up "Wagner". Which disserves Wagner IMO. A Good Musician IMO. I always enjoy "Lohengrin" and "The Ride of the Valkyries".

Anywhoo, here Jens Stoltenberg doing his best for the UN. I sympathise with his predicament.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bylnny

Can't argue much with his choice:

DISC ONE: Lift Me by Madrugada and Ane Brun
DISC TWO: No Harm by Smerz
DISC THREE: So Long, Marianne by Leonard Cohen
DISC FOUR: Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen
DISC FIVE: Make You Feel My Love by Ane Brun
DISC SIX: Til Ungdommen by Ingebjørg Bratlan
DISC SEVEN: Free Nelson Mandela by The Special A.K.A.
DISC EIGHT: From Up Here by Ingrid Olava

BOOK CHOICE: A statistics textbook.
LUXURY ITEM: A pair of skis
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Til Ungdommen by Ingebjørg Bratland

TBH, the Statistical Textbook lost me. Seems like dull reading. And no idea what Ingebjørg Bratland is about.
 
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#11
Sandy...Grease soundtrack

Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes

Sandman..America

Sandi Shore I'll know better next time

Strangers on the shore Acker Bilk

Raising Sand. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Jimi Hendrix Castle Made of Sand

Belinda Carlisle Circle in the Sand

Bob Dylan Every Grain of Sand

Steve Hackett Hammer in the Sand

Dan Fogelberg The Sand And The Foam
 
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#12
Value, I like the logic for the selections!

Could also do numbers which are based on fish and fruit:

Fish on the Sand George Harrison
It Ain't Necessarily So from Porgy and Bess (about a whale, although that's not a fish)

um, what else?

Geoff
 
#15
My first would have to be Paper Boats by the Blue Mosquitoes.
From Tasmania, Australia. They played in a pub in Leeds, England several years ago and I bought the disc.
It has become my most played disc and is my Sunday morning staple.
After that my selections would keep changing. Certainly Janis Joplin would feature, probably I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! for the Kozmic Blues track.
 
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