If you had to go off on a desert island for the rest of your life and you could only take 5 albums, what would they be?

Rules: No 'Best of' albums - that's too easy! No live albums, because they're usually like 'best of' albums. Double albums are O.K., as long as it was a standard studio release. Any genre is fair game, too.

This is a fun excercise, and I found it to be more difficult than I first thought. As a matter of fact, I'm still not done! The key is to imagine what you would want to listen to over and over, forever. Try not to get caught up in determining the 'most important albums of all time' like my father-in-law did. His first impulse was Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan. My response was: "Now, I know you're a big Dylan fan, and I acknowledge what he's meant to modern music, but would you REALLY want to listen to him sing over and over, forever?" His reply: "Good point." The trick is to find albums that are very strong, first note to last. The problem with many albums, even by music legends, is that the great songs are interspersed with relative dogs.

Please remember, too, that this is not a competition to see who's more esoteric. It's just for fun. Look into your heart.

My five, so far (in no particular order):

1. Yes - Close To The Edge
2. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
3. Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
4. King Crimson - Discipline
5. (TBD)

Good luck!
mud

I made this a few years ago. It probably still stands.

Roxy Music – Avalon
Todd Rundgren – Something/Anything?
Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver
G.F. Handel – Messiah
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
The Crusaders – Southern Comfort
Brian Eno – Ambient series
Earth, Wind & Fire – Greatest Hits
Modern Jazz Quartet – MJQ40
Vivaldi – Four Seasons
Chris Squire – Fish Out of Water

Hi Dan!

Excellent bunch! Of course, I did say only five, and you snuck a Best-of in there (sorry to be a ball-buster). That makes it a bit tougher.

Anyone else? (Y'all must still be thinking.)

mud

Ah, didn't see the 5 - sorry. DID's usually are listed in 10. And I snuck 11 in there. : )

Um....5.....

Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver
G.F. Handel – Messiah
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Earth, Wind & Fire – Greatest Hits
Chris Squire – Fish Out of Water

quote:

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Originally posted by Dot:
Ah, didn't see the 5 - sorry. DID's usually are listed in 10. And I snuck 11 in there. : )

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Maybe I should expand it to 10, 'cause I've been wracking my brain trying to whittle down 6 or so to fill my final slot ....

mud

1. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
2. The Beatles - Revolver
3. Jeff Buckley - Grace
4. Beck - Sea Change
5. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

---Actually it wouldn't matter... because I would slit my wrist with a butter knife long before being stranded with only 5 albums.

I think I could get by with 10-15... but 5... No way!

-Dusty

quote:

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Originally posted by dusty:
... I would slit my wrist with a butter knife long before being stranded with only 5 albums.

I think I could get by with 10-15... but 5... No way!

-Dusty

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Hi Dusty!

You're right. That's it.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE! 10 Albums it is!!!

Back to the drawing board ...

mud

The "no best of" rule kinda eliminates anything that came out before LPs (Robert Johnson didn't ever have a "standard studio release"), but I'll play. I'm a list dork.

1. Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong
2. Van Morrison - Hymns To The Silence
3. Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
4. Gillian Welch - Hell Among The Yearlings
5. Los Lobos - Kiko

Too... hard.... can't stop at just five... must... add... more...

Chris

Well thats a good question.....

Beatles - Revolver
Pierre BenSusan - Spices
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Spyro Gyra - Morning Dance
Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief

It was hard not using compilations or live albums, since most of my favorites are one or the other. Keeping it to 5 is tough too. Here goes:
The Beatles Revolver (yeah, I know I'm the 3rd one, but I'm not leaving that one off.)
Bob Marley-Rastaman Vibration
Strength in Numbers- The Telluride Sessions
Cafe Tacuba-Cuatro Caminos
Pixies-Surfer Rosa or Frank Black-Teenager of the year(tie)

Well, this one's a dinosaur ... I was talking about this idea with a buddy the other day, and recalled that I had never finished my list. We've also got a bunch of newer folks around who may not have had a chance to weigh in, so here goes:

1. Yes - Close To The Edge
2. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
3. Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
4. King Crimson - Discipline
5. Brad Pailsley - Who Needs Pictures

Again, my 5 are in no particular order ... y'know, now that I look at this whole thing again, I guess the iPod has rendered this discussion kinda pointless. Oh, well.

mud

Funny to see what my picks were 4 years ago. I was really into the Cafe Tacuba disc at the time, but 4 years later, I don't think it'd make my list. Revolver would stay, though. Presently, I think it would look like this:

Revolver
Ween - Live in Chicago
The Pixies - Live In The Netherlands
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Royal Fingerbowl - Happy Birthday Sabo

I got to agree that five is just too few, though. If I had another five, they'd be:

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon or Animals (hard to pick just one)
Camper Van Beethoven - Silver Anniversary Live
Bob Marley - Rastaman Vibration
The Clash - Amsterdam '82
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies

Even with ten, there's so much stuff left out. I think I'd have to have my mp3 player.

In keeping with coplinger's point:

01. David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust
02. Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime
03. Beatles: A Hard Day's Night
04. Radiohead: The Bends
05. Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced?

06. Beatles: Rubber Soul
07. King Crimson: Three of a Perfect Pair
08. Led Zeppelin: II
09. Yes: Relayer
10. King Crimson: Discipline

What happened to Madguitrst#1??

I especially miss the avatar

Albums? I'd take Miss November.

A good bit of the music I listen to was not recorded with the concept of an album in mind, but five artists I would have to have represented:

Jimmy Martin
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
Don Reno and Red Smiley
Hank Williams
Bill Monroe

To make it ten, and to branch out a little:

Ry Cooder: Paradise and Lunch
Traveling Wilburies
David Lindley: El Rayo-X
Paul Simon: Graceland
Once More with the Osborne Brothers

Just wondering how you came up with 5 as a number?

1) Tales from the Acoustic Planet Vol 2, the Bluegrass Sessions - Earl Scruggs, Vassar Clements, John Hartford, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Mark Schatz, Stuart Duncan, Bella Fleck

2) Pat Martino- Foot Prints
3) Beatles- Please Please Me
4) Johnny Winter-1969
5) Chopin: Piano Concerto No 1 & 2

Hmm...

1) Beatles - Revolver
2) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
3) CCR - Cosmos Factory
4) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
5) Dave Brubeck - Take 5

The optionals if mean old Mud will let me take 'em

1) AC/DC - TNT
2) REM - Life's Rich Pageant
3) Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
4) Violent Femmes - Self Titled
5) Probably Wilco or Whiskeytown, some sort of Alt Country kinda thing.

Crap, I just noticed the 'no live albums' rule. That cuts out half of mine (plus makes my 2004 picks make more sense).

What kind of rule is that anyways, I've always been a sucker for a good live album.

So I guess to follow the rules:
Revolver
Animals
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Royal Fingerbowl - Happy Bday Sabo
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings & Food

quote:

Originally posted by 2db:
Just wondering how you came up with 5 as a number?

Completely arbitrary, just wanted to make it harder.

quote:

Crap, I just noticed the 'no live albums' rule. That cuts out half of mine (plus makes my 2004 picks make more sense).

What kind of rule is that anyways, I've always been a sucker for a good live album.

I like live albums, too, but for the context of this thread I was looking only at studio releases, as live albums generally work out to be greatest hits collections (not always, but frequently).

Again, just tryin to be a PITA.

mud

Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds"

Jimi Hendrix - "Axis:Bold As Love" (it was close with "Electric Ladyland")

Johnny Winter - "Johnny Winter And"

Chicago Transit Authority-the first album (I've recently "rediscovered" this stuff and it's waaaaay better than I even thought it was!)

Earth, Wind & Fire - "That's The Way Of The World"

(honorable mention: Jeff Beck - "Blow By Blow", Gary Moore - "Still Got The Blues", Bonnie Raitt - "Nick Of Time" or "Luck of the Draw", The Modern Jazz Quartet - "Third Stream Music" or their collaboration with Laurindo Almeida, Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66.

-john