Desert Island Discs

[Blackbeard]

When I was a kid the local New York FM rock station 102.7 WNEW would have listeners call in and name their favorite albums they would take with them if they were stranded on an island, I'm assuming you would have a portable cd player and endless supply of batteries, but they glossed over the logistics. So if you could only have 10 albums to listen to for the rest of your time while talking to Wilson what would they be?

I'm going with different artists for the variety, feel free to list as many from whatever artist(s) u like

1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon. My all time favorite album, perfect songs, instruments, vocals, backing vocals
2. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland. Easy pick for me, out of his 3 studio albums this is 2 discs, lots of posthumous cd's &  endless live shows available.
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road. Only bogged down by a Ringo on vocals track(not a fan of Ringos singing  )
4. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction. To me one of the best hard rock albums ever.
5. Derek & The Dominoes - Layla. listened to this so many times, just an awesome band with Eric Clapton and Duane Allman
6. Led Zeppelin 4 - This is my toughest choice, I'm a huge Zep fan and could easily replace it with 1-3 or physical graffiti
7. The Rolling Stones- Sticky Fingers. Again an impossible choice, they have so many good records, Exile on main st a close second
8. Bob Marley - Burnin, awesome, also hard to choose, great songwriter, vocalist, guitar....the reggae god.
9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid. I'm getting deja vu, so many awesome sabbath albums, but this one is perfect
10. The Who - Who's Next. Speaks for itself.

That was tough I left out so many albums I played over and over  from bands like The band, Little Feat, Traffic, Dylan, Allman Bros...I could go on but 10 is 10

[Lynn LeFey]

Wow. Tough.

1: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (I agree, super awesome)
2: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle
3: Adele, 21
4: Hamilton Cast Recording
5: Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood
6: Disturbed, Indestructible
7: Within Temptation, The Silent Force
8: Led Zeppelin. Mothership (why choose? )
9: Grateful Dead, American Beauty

Chronicle and Mothership might be a bit of 'cheats' but they're albums, and I actually own them.

It was a hard choice between Metallica, Master of Puppets and Disturbed, Indestructible, but I ultimately went with the latter.

I love... LOVE listening to Dark Side of the Moon during lightning storms for some reason. Like the lightning is the lightshow to go with the music. CCR Cronicle is the only album I can put on repeat indefinitely. Adele 21 might be one of the most beautiful albums ever. Hamilton Cast Recording is amazing, and as many words as a novella. The Jethro Tull album is sort of representative. I could have picked Thick as a Brick, or Aqualung or Broadsword and the Beast, but I think Songs from the Wood probably has the most songs on it I like. Silent Force by Within Temptation is the best album overall I've ever encountered in my life, meaning the most good songs together on one Album. American Beauty by the Dead is like Songs from the Wood. It could have been one of a number of others like Working Man's Dead, or Aoxomoxoa, or Terrapin Station.

Gustov Holst, The Planets and Pearl Jam, Ten both got edged out, but deserve honorable mentions.

I reserve to change my mind without warning on this list.

[Blackbeard]

great list Lynn, I will check out within temptation, are they rock band? also love CCR(saw Fogerty a few years ago at Beacon theater in NYC) and American Beauty. FOr many years I would put Dark side on when going to sleep, never had a night mare now I don't sleep much and need total silence. wish you were here my second fav.

[Lynn LeFey]

Probably my second favorite Pink Floyd is momentary Lapse of Reason, but that's because it came out when i was in High School, and I saw them twice on that tour... Gilmore's guitars blow my mind live.

Anyway, Within Temptation is classified as 'Symphonic Metal', sometimes Goth or Folk Metal. High, almost operatic female lead vocals, frequently with 'belt', which I love. One of the tracks from the album I listed...

[Blackbeard]

Hey guys, there's no wrong answers, my list isnt even my top favorite albums, its just basically what I thought I had listened to the most and would be a good companion on my island. musical tastes are highly subjective...nobody should ever criticize or put down a persons musical likes. I wanted to start this thread so I could get new ideas of stuff to listen to, but its like a ghost town, so would like to see a some more lists 

[G-Dizzle]

1. Dwight yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, etc etc..
2. Don Williams: the definitive collection
3. Carl Smith: the essential carl smith
4. Frank Sinatra: sinatra: best of the best
5. Johnny Cash: at san quentin
6. Dolly Parton: for God and country
7. Johnny Paycheck: 16 biggest hits
8. Buck Owens: dust on mothers Bible
9. Buck Owens: country legend
10. Gaither Vocal Band and Ernie Haase and signature sound: Together

[Lynn LeFey]

gdoolittle, I'm guessing you're a couple decades older than me. The stuff you listed is a lot of the stuff my parents (and aunts and uncles and such) listened to.

I like Johnny Cash (particularly like 'I Walk the Line' and '(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley' from the 'At San Quentin' album).

I like Dolly Parton, although I didn't know the album you listed. Now I need to check it out.

[Gerhard Gerber]

I would have a smurf of a time choosing only one Jethro Tull album.....

1. Jethro Tull Rock Island
2 Jethro Tull Songs from the Woods
3. Some Tchaikovsky
4 Lord Huron (firm new favourite thanks to this place)
5. Metalica......my own Best Of would do 
6. Probably Eric Clapton Unplugged
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Something by Arno Carstens of earlier Springbok Nude Girls most likely.
9. Some early Enya or Sarah McLachlan
10. Probably another Jethro Tull 

[caninesapien]

Great thread! Top choices too 

Mine (in no order):

Jimi Hendrix/Band of Gypsys - Band of Gypsys
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Pink Floyd - Animals
Led Zeppelin - III
Sleater-Kinney - One Beat
Motorhead - Overkill (or Ace of Spades... or No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith... or......)
Harvey Milk - Special Wishes
Beth Orton - Central Reservation
Charles Mingus - Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol II

Band of Gypsys has been my favourite album since I first heard it as a teenager. For a live album, it's so incredibly layered and even to this day I hear new things when I put the record on.

Black Sabbath - hard choice but Sabotage seems to always trump everything else. IMO the first eight Sabs albums are equally great (apart from maybe Technical Ecstasy), but Sabotage has my favourite Sabs song on it, so it wins!

Ditto Pink Floyd and Zeppelin and Motorhead. I love each of the albums in their own way, but Animals is the strongest one for me, and Led Zeppelin III has a great mix of everything without being overplayed. Motorhead is a tough choice so I'll pick Overkill;

Sleater-Kinney are my current favourite rock band. One Beat is an outstanding album. Harvey Milk is a 1990s experimental rock band from Georgia, and Special Wishes is my favourite. Beth Orton's album Central Reservation was a really important album for me when I was younger, so it's a mainstay in my top ten lists!

The Mingus album is one of the best and most exciting albums I've ever heard. Incredibly layered and with a huge depth, never get tired of listening.

The ambient Aphex Twin albums are great, and Vol II has a huge tracklist that I love. Just edges out any Brian Eno!

[ducttapetech]

I wouldn't know where to start.
I would definitely have to have some Mozart, J.S. Bach and Wagner. Some metal like Nightwish.
Hmmm.....gonna have to thinks about this one.

[magentus]

Currently:

Tool - Lateralus - Hard to pick just one from this amazing band, but they only have a handful to choose from. On a different planet from the rest of us.
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell. First Sabs I heard and Ronnie is Dr Frankenstein on this one - reinvigorating the band into a different beast.
Black Sabbath - Masters of Reality - Again, difficult to pick only one Ozzy album, but the riff to 'Into the Void' is the sound of the Big Bang.
AC/DC - Powerage - Brilliant, often overlooked, but each track is perfect.
James - Pleased to Meet You - Can't say why, but this album is beautiful and reaches deep.
Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes - What can't this band do? Black Metal, Prog, Folk, Jazz - they blister live.
Cardigans - Long Gone Before Midnight - The Scandinavians have got some world class bands, the Carigans are just one of them - This is an album to listen to between dusk and dawn on 'one of those nights'.
Myrkur - M - Scandi again. This is my current 'go to' album. Fan effing tastic and other worldly.
Mastodon - Crack the Skye - Love this band so much. Deep, complex, fun, and most of all MIGHTY!
Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia. Brilliant chill out album - First three songs are sublime

[G-Dizzle]

gdoolittle, I'm guessing you're a couple decades older than me. The stuff you listed is a lot of the stuff my parents (and aunts and uncles and such) listened to.

I like Johnny Cash (particularly like 'I Walk the Line' and '(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley' from the 'At San Quentin' album).

I like Dolly Parton, although I didn't know the album you listed. Now I need to check it out.

I am actually 21 years old. I just like older music, I really don’t like a ton of new songs. The newer music I do like i would not choose over the older music to take to a desert island.

I used to work with my grandpa on mobile home tires and axles when he was alive. He taught me a lot of my values and thats where I developed my taste in music. I got made fun of for it a lot but i don’t care. It helps me remember the times i had with him too. He passed away on christmas day

[Etherealicer]

I love many individual songs, rarely a whole album. So, I'm only going to pick one:

AIR - The virgin suicide
Listening to that with headphones, is like a brain massage with electric wire.

Individual songs:
U96 (Mellow-D remix) - "Das Boot" (that is my "walk in the rain" jam)
Vitalic - Poison Lips
Rob D - Furious Angel
Alphaville - Forever young
Theme song from the movie Wild Things
Art of Noise - A time for fear
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
U2 - Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me, Kill me
Starship Troopers Soundtrack - Klendathu Drop

[ducttapetech]

I love many individual songs, rarely a whole album. So, I'm only going to pick only one:

Same here.

[caninesapien]

AIR - The virgin suicide
Listening to that with headphones, is like a brain massage with electric wire.

Not heard that album in a while! might give it a spin tonight.

[Etherealicer]

I love many individual songs, rarely a whole album. So, I'm only going to pick one:

Same here.

So, where is yours?

[Etherealicer]

AIR - The virgin suicide
Listening to that with headphones, is like a brain massage with electric wire.

Not heard that album in a while! might give it a spin tonight.

[ducttapetech]

I love many individual songs, rarely a whole album. So, I'm only going to pick one:

Same here.

So, where is yours?

Still thinking about it.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I honestly don't recall specific albums like I used to, so I would probably take either live albums or greatest hits albums like Iron Maiden's Live After Death or The Who's Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.  I know those are cheating though...

The Eric Clapton/ BB King album Riding with the King would probably be in there though:



So would the Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack.

Def

[Lynn LeFey]

I dunno. I think 'greatest hits' compilations are fair game. I own quite a few of them. CCR, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Steve Miller, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, Probably others that aren't springing to mind.

I personally think if i BOUGHT it as a single album, it counts. And I bought all those as single albums.

Also, I kind of feel with the albums listed so far, we may manage to get some folks interested in Jethro Tull, which, you know... win.

[caninesapien]

I think compilation albums are fair game, but generally my favourite albums are products of a band who used the album to present what they were absorbing, being inspired by and producing at the time of recording and release. Even though there are many similarities in the style, tone and quality of, say, the first four Led Zeppelin albums, I think another aspect of the enjoyment of the album is to consider its genesis - I love LZ III because it really reflects the type of mood the band were in at the time.

[Blackbeard]

my brothers list, in no particular order:

Rush - Moving Pictures
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
The Band - The Band
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
The Who - Who's Next
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Genrsis - A Trick Of The Tail
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Traffic - John Barleycorn

[kirk13]

 🤔

In no particular order....

Queen - Night at the opera
Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon
CCR - Cosmos factory
Marty Robbins - Gunfighter ballads
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Boston - Boston
Jethro Tull - Stormwatch
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jane
Show of hands - ignorance,arrogance and greed
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising sand

If you add hits compalations then you'd have Tom Petty;Status Quo;Led Zep;Black Sabbath;Don Williams and many,many more!

[magentus]

🤔

In no particular order....

Queen - Night at the opera
Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon
CCR - Cosmos factory
Marty Robbins - Gunfighter ballads
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Boston - Boston
Jethro Tull - Stormwatch
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jane
Show of hands - ignorance,arrogance and greed
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising sand

If you add hits compalations then you'd have Tom Petty;Status Quo;Led Zep;Black Sabbath;Don Williams and many,many more!

Number 11 on my list 

[caninesapien]

Anyone interested in rating Pink Floyd/Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath etc etc albums from best to worst? No? Just me?

[Lynn LeFey]

My rating on Pink Floyd.

The Endless River – Can't rate it. Haven't heard it. See 'Division Bell' for why.

Now, MY rating from best to worst.

Dark Side of the Moon – The very pinnacle of their craft here. The Abby Road 'Wall of Sound' perfection of technical craft is an eargasm.

Wish You Were Here – a great followup to Dark Side, fantastic, just not the best.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason – With the removal of Waters, Pink Floyd became a great artistic expression, with a few very good deep tracks ('On the Turning Away' and 'Dogs of War') without the burden of Waters' increased morose bitch-fest. (See 'The Final Cut' for more details)

The Wall – this is sort of the world's greatest ode to depression, and while it plummets one into complete despair, it does so masterfully. The greatest thing as an angsty teen. Somewhat tiresome as an adult that has to DEAL with hard reality. Still, some absolutely artistry in the telling.

Animals – Great in places. Sheep learning Karate. But wandering into political/whiny/pretentious.

Meddle – This is where I start LOVING Pink Floyd. It has pulled away from the cacophanous meandering of pure psychedelic, into... mmm... how to put it? Great tunes to get high to?

The Division Bell – While there's nothing technically wrong with the album, it just didn't grab me. Maybe too much like a repeat of Momentary Lapse, maybe I was just 'over' Pink Floyd when it came out. Dunno.

The Final Cut – Ok, I accepted a double album of Waters smurfing whining about how crappy his life was.  Despite being technically good, Roger... dude... GET OVER YOURSELF! Still had some good, and memorable tracks. 'The Final Cut' track is powerful, but sounds 100% like a track that missed inclusion in The Wall.

Ummagumma – starting to get to a point where I like most of their tracks.

Obscured by Clouds – I Ought to like it more, I think, but never feel like listening to it, honestly.

Atom Heart Mother – surprisingly, while newer than Ummagumma, I like it less, which is generally against the trend.

More – I very much like 'The Nile Song', and 'Cymbaline'. Here, we also see the less... uhhh... 'terrible' aspects mellowed by the removal of Syd Barret. Sorry, that's how I feel.

A Saucerful of Secrets – I like 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun', not much else.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn – pretty much nothing about it that I like, sorry.



I first heard Pink Floyd at a friend's house when i was in the 6th grade. At the same time, I was introduced to Grateful Dead and the Beatles White Album. Yeah, all in one day! That was Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. Over then next couple years, I heard their entire discography, and saw the movie of 'The Wall', my friend had even mixed a version of The Wall that included the track that is in the movie, 'When the Tigers Break Free' not on the album, the extended version of Empty Spaces ('What Shall We Do Now'). So, for a band with a fairly extensive discography, it's maybe telling how much i like them considering how much of their work I've heard. No, I didn't dig deep into obscure tracks and such, but still.

I am apparently NOT a fan of early psychedelia. It, like fusion Jazz, just sounds like pretentious dogsmurf to me. There's a quote from Groucho Marks, while Chiko is playing some jazz piece on a piano, he leans over and says something like 'If you get anywhere near a song, go ahead and play it.' That's kind of how I feel about early Psychedelia. My friends would lose their mind when playing 'Rockband' on how weird the music was for the Grateful Dead's 'Chinacat Sunflower' and that is TAME by comparison.

I graduated high school 1989. Momentary lapse of Reason came out in 1987, and I got to see the show live twice. Both times, I was stone sober and both times were, I swear, as close to a religious experience one can have without the involvement of mushrooms.

It may be that due to this, Momentary Lapse sits higher on my list than for many others. Maybe not. I seem to recall my quote for my senior yearbook photo was "Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies. Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I." See t he 'Angsty Teen' comment above.

[caninesapien]

Awesome Lynn! Great list and write up! Looks like we might differ completely on some of the albums but great to see what ticks others' boxes when listening to such a fantastic band.

Mine (and like you I haven't listened to The Endless River, so can't comment)

Top Tier:
Animals - This is Gilmour at his best, imo. The guitar work is astounding. For me, this is a flawless album and I think it's the pinnacle of the Waters/Gilmour writing/recording partnership.
The Wall - Incredible album, so layered and so deep. I actually really love Waters' vocals on this one. Seem to find something new every time I hear it.
Wish You Were Here - Just edges into third place purely for Shine On... another hugely layered album, and has one of my favourite all-time PF moments: the synth swell at the end of Welcome to the Machine.
The Final Cut - controversial choice! I find the musicianship on this to be impeccable, despite Waters' tantrums. I think it's a really powerful record. One of my fave PF songs on here - The Gunner's Dream
Dark Side of the Moon - obviously a classic and another amazing record but comes in behind the others just because of over-exposure. There's no denying how awesome this album is, but I find more to enjoy in some of the other albums mentioned above.
Meddle - Not my favourite album but One of These Days and Echoes are phenomenal. Echoes is such a great song, but it just lacks (for me) that cynicism of later albums.

Second Tier
Obscured by Clouds - A really nice, experimental, not-too-serious album. Has some beautiful moments.
Saucerful of Secrets - A strange midpoint between debut and later ramblings! I love Set The Controls...
The Division Bell - To me, it just feels like Diet Pink Floyd without Waters. Some nice arrangements and a great closing track

Bottom Tier
Piper at the Gates of Dawn - an interesting artifact, I think, but not an album I ever really listen to. More a historical document than a great record.
Ummagumma / Atom Heart Mother - nothing to write home about. Decent enough in places but I couldn't hum you a tune from these albums off the top of my head.
More - Same re: The Nile Song and Cymbaline, but otherwise pretty unremarkable.
Momentary Lapse of Reason - Just cannot enjoy this album. To me it sounds as if Gilmour phoned it in and despite a few attempts, I just can't enjoy any of the songs.

Unfortunately I have never been able to see PF live, in any incarnation, but I did chat with David Gilmour a couple of years ago about his new album and got to shake his hand! (maybe I'll try to play that Comfortably Numb solo again...).


(Admins - hope this is ok here!)

[Blackbeard]

Zep 4
Physical grafiti
Zep 2
Zep 1
Houses of the holy
Zep 3
Prescene
In through the out door

[Blackbeard]

bump, more lists please 

[ThundahBeagle]

-Boston - Boston (I'm from Boston, and every song on this album rocks)
-Pink Floyd- dark side of the moon.lightning storms, wizard of oz, reclined, what have you.
-Vivaldi - four seasons (every other track...the brooding or dramatic ones, not the light and fluffy ones)
-JS Bach - guitar such as lute suite
-Eagles-greatest hits. They started light country and ended rock. Good stuff.
-B.B. King - any album I can grab
-Linda Ronstadt - some great vocals she had. Shame about her Parkinson's.
-Stevie Ray Vaughn - again, any album at all
-Waylon Jennings/ Willie Nelson - specifically "Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys", but any, especially if Johnny cash is also in the mix. These guys plus Marty Robbins and the likes of Kenny Rogers really were the last real country sound before it turned to $h!++y "rock" in the very early 90's
-Chet Atkins/ Mark Knopfler duets on guitar album though the name escapes me.
-Scorpions - greatest hits because I gotta get a little bit of what's on each good album.

Is that 11? Ok. It's one louder, isn't it? These go to ELEVEN!