Desert Island Al***s '05...

Posted by: bhazen on 22 August 2005

...Yes, it's time to play the game again!

If you were to be exiled to some rock where you'd be cut off from all new music, and your captors only allowed you room for 10 albums in your rucksack, what would you take? (I know, cruel captors...)

Here's mine, if push comes to shove...

1, the Beatles; it's impossible for me to pick any album by them, so this packed with hits compilation will have to suffice.

Elements, Jade Warrior; simultaneously beautiful, meditative and dangerous, like a good samurai movie. This may be cheating: the slim jewel-case contains all four of their (relatively brief) albums from the Island Records era.

Retrospective, the Animals; the toughest of the early British Invasion R'n'B groups. Also, from my hometown's namesake city, in Geordie-land. What does Geordie mean, by the way?

Days of Future Passed, the Moody Blues; when stripped of the Mantovani interludes, a brilliant psychedelic pop album. All hail the mighty Mellotron!

India's Master Musician, Ravi Shankar; like a lot of weekend hippies from the 60's, this is my other way of enjoying Indian culture.

Grand Hotel, Procol Harum; a sophisticated album with memorable melodies, powerful playing and an emotional, world-weary ambiance.

Singles Collection* The London Years, the Rolling Stones; you could substitute disc 1 of Forty Licks for this, but then you'd be losing tracks like "Play With Fire"...

From The Orignal Master Tapes, Buddy Holly; early re-mastering of the Bard of Lubbock's hits, still essential.

Apple Venus Volume I & II, XTC; another cheat (I'm sticking them both in a slim jewel-case). Stunning, emotional, brilliant.

The Ultimate Collection, the Kinks; arguably the only other 60's band whose singles rival the Beatles' in quality.

There it is, honeys; my heart on my sleeve, deca-disc stylee. Let's see yours!
Posted on: 05 September 2005 by bhazen
quote:
Originally posted by Milan:
Del Amitri Change Everything


Alright! The Dels! I wish they would make a comeback...I hate it when, lacking trendiness, great artists get ignored by Joe & Jane Public (and then laid off by the record co.). 90's-era groups I really miss include XTC and Crowded House as well (although I suppose the Finn Bros. are really Woodface-era C.H.).
Posted on: 07 September 2005 by John M
quote:
Originally posted by ClaudeP:
quote:
Originally posted by John M:

Olivia Newton-John - Totally Hot


Huh?

I am a die-hard ONJ fan, but "Totally Hot" would probably figure dead last on any of my lists...

Have you ever heard "Don't Stop Believin'"?


Claude

My point exactly but I guess my sarcasm was lost somewhere in the original post. Just having a bit of fun.

John
Posted on: 08 September 2005 by DIL
First time I've seen Gordon Giltrap mentioned on the forum

quote:

BigH47...
2112 - Rush
DSOTM - Pink Floyd
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Fragile - Yes
Wes Bound - Lee Ritenour
Minstrel in the Gallery - Jethro Tull
Amazing Things - Runrig
Brain Salad Surgery - ELP
Straight Shooter - Bad Co
Fear of the Dark - Gordon Giltrap


or even Moving Hearts.

quote:
Sloop John B...
Bob Dylan - Blood on the tracks
Beatles - White album
Moving Heats -Moving Hearts
Frank Black Teenager of the year
Rory Gallagher - Live in Europe
Thin Lizzy - Fighting
U2 Achtung Baby
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Various - Dave Godins Deep soul treasures vol 1
Portishead - Dummy


Good stuff.

/dl
Posted on: 24 October 2005 by bhazen
My current list (I love this game):

Aftermath, the Rolling Stones
Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
PTOOFF!, the Deviants
Boy from Tupelo, Elvis Presley
USA, King Crimson
Working Class Hero: The Essential Lennon, John Lennon
Moby Grape, Moby Grape
You Had It Coming, Jeff Beck
Sun Ship, John Coltrane
Parachute, the Pretty Things

I've been reading Give the Anarchist a Cigarette by Mick Farren; a subtle influence perhaps?
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by greeny
Not too much that we haven't seen above but:

Nick Drake - Fruit Tree (cheat)
Beatles - Abbey Road
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Pink Floyd - Pulse (not as good as DSOTM or WYWH or The Wall, BUT contains the whole of DSOTM + Shine on you crazy Diamond and Comfortable Numb)

Love - Forever Changes
Rush - A farewell to Kings
Queen - A Day at the Races
Portishead - Dummy
Yes - The Yes Album
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by Fisbey
OK

Magazine - Secondhand daylight
Tanita Tikaram - Ancient Heart
Van Halen - Van Halen
Beethovens 6th Symphony
Mary Black - The Holy Ground
Van Morrison - Days like this
Keane - First Album whatever it's called!
Manic street preachers - this is my truth
Yes - The yes album
Maroon 5 - Songs about Jane
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by Diode100
quote:
Originally posted by bhazen:
I've been reading Give the Anarchist a Cigarette by Mick Farren; a subtle influence perhaps?



Excellent book by an excellent writer, thoroughly recommended; but as for his musical efforts, oh dear me.


I think it would be a mistake taking your ten favourite albums to your desert island, because experience shows that with constant repeation you would very quickly come to hate the sound of them all. I’ve always been of the view that if you hear a piece of music and you don’t like it, all it means is that you haven’t heard it under the right circumstances, and a desert island may well be a good place to put this theory to the test.

My choice then would be the complete works of Mr Farren’s band, The Deviants, not sure how many discs that would be, but if there was any surplus slots these could be topped up by a random selection from the Woolworth’s own brand Hits compilations of the seventies. That should sort the musically challenged from the boys.
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by Guido Fawkes
Diode100

I only know of "Partial Recall" and "On Your Knees, Earthlings!!!" - so that would leave you eight from Woolworths - hope the track Rescue Me is in there.

Rotf
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by Diode100
quote:
Originally posted by ROTF:
Diode100

I only know of "Partial Recall" and "On Your Knees, Earthlings!!!" - so that would leave you eight from Woolworths - hope the track Rescue Me is in there.

Rotf


No, no, no, you don't get off that lightly, I'm afraid. I quote from the official discography:-

Ptoof
Disposable
Deviants #3
Mona
Play with fire
Screwed up
Vampires stole my lunch money
Human Garbage
Who Shot you Dutch ?
Partial Recall
Fragments of broken Probes
Death tongue
Gringo Madness
The Death Ray Tapes
Eating Jello with a heated fork
The Deviants have left the planet
Barbarian Princes - Live in Japan
This CD is condemned

There we are, more than enough for a couple of desert island stints. If there had been less than 10, I was going to propose Pete Brown's Battered Orniments as an alternative.

I can't recommend the book enough, it's a very lucid account of sixties London with none of the usual self hyping.
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by Larry
Hey, Nick from Suffolk,
I'm surprised @ how many of your choices mirror mine but......
I would advise you to cast your net further and lighten up, there is some great uplifting stuff out there as well,
Take care
W.G.
Posted on: 25 October 2005 by bhazen
quote:
Originally posted by Diode100:
I can't recommend the book enough, it's a very lucid account of sixties London with none of the usual self hyping.


Welll... there's a little bit of self-justification, but given his central position in the nascent "underground", it's probably alright. He takes issue late in the book with a couple of other recent memoirs of the era, but who's to say who's right in these circumstances? The mid-60's to the mid-70's was a murky time, particularly if you ingested the sacraments. The book is the probably the first "first-person" memoir of the period I've read that gives a sense of scale and context to the Psychedelic era. He can write; compare it to Eric Burdon's book, which is tres scattered.
Posted on: 29 October 2005 by Tim Jones
Wire - 154
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Live in Paris
Bach - Cello Suites
Shostakovich - complete string quartets
Captain Beefheart - Clear Spot
The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour...or maybe the box set Peel sessions.
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (nice one seagull)
The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime

tim j
Posted on: 30 October 2005 by bhazen
My current list (I love this game):

Abbey Road, the Beatles
The Best Of, Procol Harum
Apple Venus Vol. II, the XTC
The Very Best Of, Badfinger
USA, King Crimson
Working Class Hero: The Essential Lennon, John Lennon
Floating World, Jade Warrior
Singles Collection* The London Years, the Rolling Stones
Offramp, Pat Metheny Group
Cross Talk, the Pretty Things
Posted on: 31 October 2005 by Richard P
(Almost) off the top of my head:

Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
The Doors - Strange Days
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
Kraftwerk - Minimum/Maximum
Ramones - It's Alive
REM - Document
Santana - Abraxas
Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous
Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (CD with extra tracks)
XTC - Drums And Wires

Rich
Posted on: 03 November 2005 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
Originally posted by bhazen:
My current list (I love this game):

The Very Best Of, Badfinger


Interesting and excellent choice - what an underrated band Bandfinger were and very tragic what happened to Peter Ham
Posted on: 05 November 2005 by bhazen
quote:
Originally posted by ROTF:
Interesting and excellent choice - what an underrated band Bandfinger were and very tragic what happened to Peter Ham


Tom Evans also hung himself a few years later; what a terrible price to pay for their deserved shot at pop immortality.

Badfinger and ELO got me through the Beatles-less 70's.