Aside what it would take to survive if you were stranded on a desert island, what are the ten albums you would take with you. Pretend for now that you have electricity to run your stereo system with a turntable or CD player. No Spotify or streaming allowed in this game. Only the physical medium allowed. I recently re-watched “High Fidelity” and Rob’s (John Cusack) top five lists made me think it was time for another list post. However five won’t do for this list. Ten is the number. Even picking ten albums for the desert island wasn’t easy. My list of nominees ran to almost twenty. It is interesting that the list I would have constructed while I was still in school would probably been have different from this one. It’s not just that there are albums that have been released since then that made the list. Most of the records here are still from the seventies and eighties. It’s more that over the years the records I find myself coming back to on a regular basis have changed from that earlier time. So in no particular order here are the ten albums I would take to that desert island.
“At Fillmore East”, The Allman Brothers Band. The re-issue, “The Fillmore Concerts” has more of the songs from these historic 1971 shows but the original still has its own special charm.
“Close To The Edge”, Yes. I remember where I was when I first heard this album (listening to the 8-track on headphones) and being blown away by the title track. Every time I put it on it’s like hearing it for the first time.
“Kind of Blue”, Miles Davis. Arguably the finest jazz album of all time with an all-star lineup that features John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley.
“John Barleycorn Must Die”, Traffic. Contenders included “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and the live import “On The Road” but song for song Barleycorn is Traffic’s finest moment.
“Get Your Ya Ya’s Out”, The Rolling Stones. Recorded at New York’s Madison Square Garden during the band’s 1969 tour of the U.S. this album catches the Stones at the peak of their powers. Keith Richards and Mick Taylor pound the riffs senseless while Jagger presides over it all. Close second: “Sticky Fingers”.
“Houses of the Holy”, Led Zeppelin. Most Zep aficionados go for IV or “Physical Graffiti” but this one has always been my favorite. The opening one-two punch of “The Song Remains The Same” and “The Rain Song” never gets old. Then on side two there’s the romantic nostalgia of “Dancing Days” and the grinding menace of “No Quarter”.
“Wish You Were Here”, Pink Floyd. From fallen bandmates (“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”) to the cynicism of the music business (“Have A Cigar”) to the desperation of stardom (“Wish You Were Here”) it is quintessential Floyd.
“Rust Never Sleeps”, Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It was this one or 1975’s “Zuma” but Rust gets the nod based on the strength of the songs (e.g., “Thrasher”, “Pocahontas”, “Ride My Llama” and “Powderfinger”).
“Damn The Torpedoes”, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The band’s third album and commercial breakthrough as Petty’s songwriting jumped to another level. This is just one great sounding record (credit to producer Jimmy Iovine).
“Late For The Sky”, Jackson Browne. The one and only. Side one is singer-songwriter perfection.
Honorable Mention:
“Lifes Rich Pagaent”, REM. “Reckoning” was a close second but this album really rocks and Michael Stipes’ vocals finally emerge from the mix.
“Rock of Ages”, The Band. Forget about “The Last Waltz” this is the live Band album to take with you. Bonus: the unreleased “Get Up Jake”.
“Beneath These Fireworks”, Matt Nathanson. Who? What? Stay with me on this one. One of the finest pop records of the 21st century. In a perfect world this album would have been huge. Stream and you’ll see.
“Warren Zevon”, Warren Zevon. L.A. noir and heartbreak cinematically rendered.
“musicforthemorningafter”, Pete Yorn. Hard to believe I couldn’t fit this one onto the list. What a fabulous debut album. One of the best.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Books: “Daisy Jones and The Six”, Taylor Jenkins Reid. An oral history of a fictional band (The Six) that joins up with a groupie turned songwriter (Jones) to make an album together. The Six is already a band on the rise when Daisy teams up with the band’s leader and main songwriter Billy Dunne. Band angst develops on many levels until things begin spiraling out of control. In the end all bands are just collections of combustible individual egos and sometimes it’s only a matter of time until things explode. Think Fleetwood Mac on steroids
Streaming: “Chernobyl” (HBO). 2019 five part docu-drama about the 1986 explosion and fire at this Russian nuclear plant. It is incredible how close this disaster came to being much worse. The film captures the grimness of Russia in the mid-eighties. State scientist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) is teamed with government bureaucrat Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) to investigate the accident. At first they are wary of each other but they eventually come together to unravel what really happened in the early morning of April 26, 1986.