Desert Island Discographies

[Seb1780]

something from the 80's Sheffield bands (abc/heaven17 / human league)

 

I'd widen the scope here by starting with B.E.F - if only for the superb "Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One" before they moved on to Heaven 17 and Human League.

 

My own #1 group would be The Boomtown Rats; their eponymous first album contains one of the best single sides of vinyl I have ever heard. This was also the first album I bought for myself with the money I earned at my Saturday job (get your calculators out). Released at the height of the punk craze they were, IMO, incorrectly branded thus. Their first three albums are all good, from there on in it gets a little tedious, but at least the desert island will have the weather to whisk me back to the summer of '77

[Earthling]

I'd widen the scope here by starting with B.E.F - if only for the superb "Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One" before they moved on to Heaven 17 and Human League.

 

My own #1 group would be The Boomtown Rats; their eponymous first album contains one of the best single sides of vinyl I have ever heard. This was also the first album I bought for myself with the money I earned at my Saturday job (get your calculators out). Released at the height of the punk craze they were, IMO, incorrectly branded thus. Their first three albums are all good, from there on in it gets a little tedious, but at least the desert island will have the weather to whisk me back to the summer of '77

 

'Rat Trap'...........if Carlsberg wrote social comment lyrics etc

[LosOjos]

Artists rather than tracks...

 

Number 1: Paul Weller

Now don't get me wrong, Weller isn't my favourite artist in the world but if I were stuck on a desert island, there'd be something in his discography for whatever mood I'm in. From the mod/punk Jam era, to the pop/jazz Style Council through to his solo career which by all accounts has a bit of everything; everyone should own a copy of Wild Wood. An incredibly varied discography full of great tracks.

 

That was my 'easy' pick, now to think of someone more obscure but essential...

[LosOjos]

I've been weighing up a metal option for my second choice. Initially I thought Ozzy, but (shock! horror!) I'm not so keen on his solo stuff, then I thought Sabbath but I've always much preferred the Ozzy era Sabbath, then it hit me:

 

Number 2: Tony Iommi

Apart from being one of the best metal guitarists ever to have lived (anyone who doubts this should remember he pretty much invented the metal guitar sound so even if you don't like him, you owe him some credit if you're remotely interested in metal!), his discography gets me the whole of Black Sabbath's back catalogue, so I get all my Ozzy albums (the best Sabbath albums IMO) plus I get the Dio albums (still some great albums there), plus his great solo album Iommi featuring many of rock and metal's best front men on vocals, as well as Heaven & Hell, one of the better modern metal bands IMO.

[Andrew_C]

Paul Weller

Now don't get me wrong, Weller isn't my favourite artist in the world but if I were stuck on a desert island,

 

Yep, he'd be in there.

 

Now, can I persuade you all that PG and Genesis (I could loose the post Duke disks to make room) count as one choice? If not, then probably PG.

 

Pink Floyd

 

Fleetwood Mac

 

Eels

 

Jethro Tull

 

Led Zeppelin

 

Eric Clapton

[fiza]

some might disagree but Springsteen for me all the way.

[Seb1780]

Having started with a choice that would be hard pushed to fill a slow morning on the beach, my second choice should keep me in music for a good while:-

 

#2 - Frank Sinatra

[jinnantonnixx]

I've been weighing up a metal option for my second choice. Initially I thought Ozzy, but (shock! horror!) I'm not so keen on his solo stuff, then I thought Sabbath but I've always much preferred the Ozzy era Sabbath, then it hit me:

 

Number 2: Tony Iommi

...

 

 

The Riffmeister. When I was learning the guitar back in the '80s, I got into Sabbath as you could play most tunes with a movable fifth chord. Symptom of the Universe is a stonking opening track.

 

By chance, I (re)listened to Ozzy's 'Tribute' album with the late, great Randy Rhodes on guitar. Possibly the finest, most musical guitarist of the genre. A supreme talent. Oddly, I find Eddie Van Halen the most unmusical guitarist. Talented - no question, but his solos are more like carpentry than music.

Edited May 2, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[tmcd35]

The Riffmeister. When I was learning the guitar back in the '80s, I got into Sabbath as you could play most tunes with a movable fifth chord.

 

From what I can tell, Curt Cobain went to the same school of song writing. I like movable fifth's - I can play them

[LosOjos]

The Riffmeister. When I was learning the guitar back in the '80s, I got into Sabbath as you could play most tunes with a movable fifth chord. Symptom of the Universe is a stonking opening track.

 

The first riff I learned (not counting Smoke on the Water...) was Paranoid - still one of my favourites to this day also Iron Man, War Pigs and Black Sabbath; all tracks to make your mates think you're a guitar god with nothing more than a handful of power chords

[localzuk]

Number 3 for me - Weird Al Yankovic. Decades of excellent parodies. Some of them better than the originals by far. Plus some great long songs such as Albuquerque and Trapped in the Drive Thru.

[sonofsanta]

Led Zeppelin

 

Quoted for truth.

 

Obvious choice that I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned yet, and I'm happy to even if it's not obscure and cool: The Beatles. So much range and variety.

 

I'm also going to plump for the collected compositions of Phillip Glass, even over older classical music, because there's something in his style that tickles me just so. Metamorphosis I - V is a remarkable work to my ear, even though it's not to everyone's taste.

 

I'm up to five, then: Radiohead, White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, Beatles and Phillip Glass. Only three choices left; they must be made carefully...

[localzuk]

Metamorphosis I - V is a remarkable work to my ear, even though it's not to everyone's taste.

 

Absolutely. One of my favourite albums. Don't think I'd choose him as an artist to take though.

[foofighterjim]

Dream Theatre, if you going on album back catalogues. Take the album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, two disc epic. The 2nd disc is one 42 minute monster! Plus Train of Thought will go down as the album all other Metal bands wish they could make.

[pcstru]

Van Morrison. I think I'd get a lot of bonus collaborations as well as Them and The Chieftains, but he would be a strong contender just for "Hard Nose the Highway". It also covers a bit of blues and Jazz and I need some of that from time to time.

[tmcd35]

definately need queen in there as well

 

Number 3

 

I've always prefered 80's Queen to 70's Queen. Don't know why, but I prefer bands to spend some proper time in a studio with a proper producer instead of recording to a scratchy 8-track in somebodys basement and calling it "raw". Maybe I listened to too much radio as a kid?

 

Being a Highlander fan (see sig, yes that's where it comes from) "A Kind of Magic" is an essential album in any collection and, despite the difficult circumstances it was recorded under, "Innuendo" contains alot of the bands finest output - period.

 

Sure you've got Freddy's solo career for filler, and Brian did that song for a Ford car ad, but it's Roger Taylor who to my mind is often over looked. His late 80's spin-off The Cross is well worth discovering if you haven't already. If not only for the original version of the post-Freddy Queen anthem "Heaven For Everyone".

 

Of course we shouldn't forget John Deacon's contribution to musical greatness with the, er-um, brillant (wrong word) theme track to the, er-um, brillant (wrong word) 80's movie Biggles - "No Turning Back". Oh dear!

Edited May 2, 2014 by tmcd35

[Novalee]

The Supremes - if this is music for a desert island, then we need something to sing to!

[Seb1780]

The Supremes - if this is music for a desert island, then we need something to sing to!

 

#3 - Holland / Dozier / Holland - one the basis that each of them had at least one release as an artist I'm shoehorning in the songwriting team of the 60's and early 70's. Just about every genre of music has picked up on one or more of their compositions and recorded their version of it.

 

And they're jolly nice sing-a-long tunes too

[Earthling]

Van Morrison. I think I'd get a lot of bonus collaborations as well as Them and The Chieftains, but he would be a strong contender just for "Hard Nose the Highway". It also covers a bit of blues and Jazz and I need some of that from time to time.

 

I'm going to see him end of July. 'Bright Side of The Road', one of the happiest songs I know. Always cheers me up when I hear it.

[creese]

I'm going to see him end of July. 'Bright Side of The Road', one of the happiest songs I know. Always cheers me up when I hear it.

 

I hope he turns up/faces the audience/in is a bad mood (as opposed to a foul one).

 

I think he is brilliant and have seen him live, but he can be very temperamental.

[rich_tech]

Led Zeppelin for me at #1

 

They are an act which is still very much timeless and classic to this day, artists today could not get close to being able to emulate their sound

 

Pink Floyd #2

 

Full catalogue of classic psychedelic rock, very relaxing stuff

 

Pearl Jam #3

 

I missed Grunge but found this band all the same while finishing school, the early stuff is better and a bit more lively, Ten is the seminal work of the band, but every album is worth listening to as far as what my ears like

[Andrew_C]

I've always prefered 80's Queen to 70's Queen.

It was hard to leave the pre-News Of The World disks out of my list. Post NOTW? Nah, I'll pass.

[jinnantonnixx]

It was hard to leave the pre-News Of The World disks out of my list. Post NOTW? Nah, I'll pass.

 

I've got the CD by Smile (Brian May, Tim Staffell, Eddie Howells, Roger Taylor in the late '60s). The had an unmistakable Queen sound even before Freddy joined. "April Lady" is well worth a listen.

Edited May 2, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[tmcd35]

It was hard to leave the pre-News Of The World disks out of my list. Post NOTW? Nah, I'll pass.

 

Oh don't get me wrong. No sense leaving any of the earlier discs off, still some classic tracks to be had across most of them ("Keep Yourself Alive"?), hell I'd be happy to throw in some pre-Queen Smile for good measure. But, when all is said and done, the quality of the song writing was just better post "Hot Space".

[Earthling]

This has taken me all day, on and off, but hey, it's Friday

 

1. David Bowie

 

 

Not a lot to say about The Thin White Duke that someone hasn't said already. Has to be included for 'A New Career in a New Town' from the 'Low' album. Released just

after my first marriage broke down, when I was starting a new career in a new town, Brighton.

 

 

2. Abba

 

 

'I must have left my house at eight, because I always do'...one of their most under-rated songs. For their volume and diversity of output. YouTube

v=_uaNwAV3TUU

 

 

3. Talking Heads

 

 

'The band in Heaven, they play my favourite song. Play it once again, play it all night long'

So many thought provoking lyrics, haunting melodies, and rhythms for every life. I'd have to include all DB's solo work and Tom Tom Club. YouTube

v=H506K66A3xo

 

4. Pink Floyd

 

 

Enough said, really. Free Four - 08 - Obscured by Clouds - Pink Floyd - YouTube

 

 

5. Bruce Springsteen (but could just as easily have been Bob Dylan)

 

 

Just keeps getting better as he gets older. The Seeger Sessions, The River, Nebraska, Darkness on the Edge of Town to name but a few. How can one person have so much music and so many stories in him? How could we be so lucky as to have him and Bob Dylan alive and writing songs at the same time? 'But now there's wrinkles round my baby's

eyes, and she cries herself to sleep at night'.

 

6. Pentangle

 

 

Bert Jansch, Jacquie McShee, Danny Thompson, John Renbourn, Terry Cox. I was lucky enough to see them live in 1968 or 69, in a tiny little mining village in South

Wales. Turned me on to Folk Music and I haven't turned it off since. Danny Thompson's got the gig as BBC 4's Transatlantic Sessions' resident bass player. Some of his

comments in interviews are classic....'You know, I wake up in the morning in this beautiful place and I think, I'm going to play music today. How lucky am I?'

 

 

7. The Bothy Band

 

 

More folk music but different, couldn't be without it. I'll take Planxty along too, as they're more or less the same band. The Black Bird - YouTube

 

 

8. The Mediaeval Baebes . Angelic harmonies, ancient songs and chants..........different.