This Is This

OK, I talk a lot about music and what I like, but I’ve never done the Desert Island Discs thing. For those that don’t know (ie those on a desert island), it’s ten records you would take if you were stranded on a remote piece of land that’s another word for island.

So now it’s time to nail my colours to the mast and pick the ten records I could most not live without. I also set the rule of not being able to use compilations, greatest hits albums and live sets which take in a bunch of material from a long span of someone’s career.

It’s going to have to be a mix, because I’m a complex and flawed individual whose hankerings have the turning circle of a guppy.

1. James Taylor - October Road.
If I couldn’t hear and love Baby Buffalo, Traveling Star or October Road, I’d probably already feel dead.

2. Aaron Copeland - Appalachian Spring
The last few notes sound like the feeling you get at the end of your good birthdays.

3. Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert
One man and his piano and that’s it. I know this record backwards and it still amazes and confounds me like a soulmate.

4. Bob Mould - Poison Years
Quiet angst in a nutshell.

5. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
I love this album because there’s so much to it, from the guitar-laden fuzz of Gratitude to the hip hop heights of Pass The Mic.

6. REM - Green
I think the irony of Stand would drive me a little crazy on the island, but I love this album. I still have no idea what Orange Crush is about.

7. Dixie Chicks - Home
Sentimentality, blazing country, bluegrass and jaw-dropping performance make this an essential album.

8. Francis Cabrel - Sarbacane
From Animale to Rosie and C’Est Ecrit, this album is incredible.

9. Julie London - Round Midnight
I love Julie London’s voice. I could listen to her read a phone book and still hang on every word.

10. Lou Reed - New York
Honest and varied. Nothing fancy and all the more special for it. Plus there is amp buzz between the songs, giving at least the very cool impression that he recorded this in one sitting.

This was very tough, so here are the also-rans:
Money Mark - Push The Button
Orbital - In Sides
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Loose Tubes - Delightful Precipice
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Jackson Brown - For Everyman
Paul Simon - Graceland
Counting Crows - Recovering the Satellites
Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose
Portishead - Dummy
The Police - Outlandos d’Amour
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Sugar - Copper Blue
and anything by:
Dewey Balfa
Charlie Parker
Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs
… for being the greatest masters of their fields.

Also on This Is This
I’ve had this idea for an opera.
Pirates of Zen Pants.
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