# Shall We Talk? Desert Island Disks



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Probably a well-discussed topic, but here's my take: I'm looking at Rock/Pop disks wherein almost every song is interesting enough to justify the long stay on the proverbial island. I propose limiting the collection to ten, so that there will be room on the raft for our classical and other such categories....

My list--not in any order:

Led Zep One
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
Joan Osborne: Relish
Mother Love Bone: Apple
Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
The Doors: the Doors
Genesis: Selling England by the Pound
PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Paul Simon: Graceland
Bruce Springsteen: Darkness on the Edge of Town

For me, the key here is having a very high density of excellent songs on a single album, as opposed to having one or two or three truly superb songs, with the rest paled to insignificance. I note, for example, that these 10 albums have not one of my absolute top songs of all time. Kate Bush's _The Dreaming_ is illustrative of a disk bearing one of my ten favorite songs, Night of the Swallow, amid a few other pleasing efforts (Suspended in Gaffa), but otherwise not of great interest. In fact, most of my preferred artists have never issued a single disk bearing a large majority of songs that ring my bell; they must be appreciated over their whole oeuvre, as it were; R.E.M. would be a model here.

So what are others' choices for such "near-perfect" albums, suitable for repeated hearing on the mythical island?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Dire Straits - Love over gold
Genesis - A trick of the tail
Genesis - Selling England by the pound
Kate Bush - Hounds of love
Kayak - Merlin (Bard of the unseen)
Peter Gabriel - So
Pink Floyd - Wish you were here
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a blank planet
Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines
Tori Amos - Scarlet's walk


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
John Martyn - Solid Air
Deep Purple - In Rock
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Peter Frampton – Wind Of Change
Little Feat – Sailin' Shoes
Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here are a bunch that I would want (besides tons of classical):

Jimi Hendrix: Blues

Eric Clapton: From the Cradle

Deep Purple: Machine Head

Neil Young: Harvest, Rust, Lucky 13, Sleeps with Angels, Americana, La Noise

Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan, Self Portrait, John Wesley Hardin.

Johnny Winter: Progressive Blues Experiment, Johnny Winter, Second Winter, And, Still Alive And Well, Nothing But the Blues, Guitar Slinger, Serious Business, Third Degree, Let Me In, Hey Where's Your Brother.

Tom Feldmann: Delta Blues and Spirituals, Lone Wolf Blues, Tribute

Johnny Cash: (can't think of a studio album now, much of my favorites are compilations)

EDIT TO REMOVE LIVE and COMPILATION RECORDINGS


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I appreciate all contributions. But let us stipulate that the albums to be considered shall not be either live or compilation disks, as that opens too many doors. If anyone wants to start a Favorite Live Albums thread, I will happily add my favorite ten.


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## Guest (Oct 28, 2015)

I guess here's 20 nice non-classical albums [No more than one per artist, as well, vaguely chronological]:

The Beatles: _Rubber Soul_
Jackson C. Frank: _Jackson C. Frank_
Black Sabbath: _Black Sabbath_
Pink Floyd: _Dark Side Of The Moon_
Camel: _Moonmadness_
King Crimson: _Red_
Tangerine Dream: _Rubycon_
Townes Van Zandt: _Live At The Old Quarter_
Kraftwerk: _Trans-Europe Express_
Joy Division: _Unknown Pleasures_
The Cure: _Seventeen Seconds_
Metallica: _Ride The Lightning_
Steve Roach: _Structures From Silence_
Slayer: _Hell Awaits_
The Smiths: _The Queen Is Dead_
Dead Can Dance: _Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun_
Nirvana: _Nevermind_
Incantation: _Onward To Golgotha_
Mayhem: _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_
Skepticism: _Stormcrowfleet_


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Hey where are the moderators when you need them??????

Any fule no that you are only allowed 8 Desert Island *Tracks* - NOT LP's.

Honestly the standard of edumacation today.

8 tracks.......too hard......pass.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Rock/Pop? Probably nothing. Well... the Velvet Underground albums, I guess. The few rock acts I like nowadays are more like Jazz fusion groups.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Sorry to be contrary, but if I was going to be marooned on a desert island the what I wouldn't want is albums I've heard hundreds of times already. I can always play some of the songs in my head as best I can if I miss them. Instead I'd want some really chewy music which would take time to fully assimilate because I haven't already played it to death.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Ten. Ten? No boxed sets. Impossible. But I'll try.

Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
Yes - Close to the Edge
The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord
Gentle Giant - Interview -- no, The Power and the Glory. No, make that Free Hand. (Guess I'll have to toss a coin.)
Genesis - Foxtrot
Yes - Going for the One
ELP - Tarkus
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath -- no, Paranoid -- no, make it Heaven and Hell. (another coin toss)
Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
Jethro Tull - Roots to Branches.

I suppose you can tell I lean toward 70s prog. I'm leaving out about ten thousand of course.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

My sentiment is similar to that of a number of respondents: I am so out of touch with rock/pop and the albums I have that I still like have been played to death decades ago, for the most part. I, too, could probably handle the Velvet Underground, as well as Nick Cave's first six or so, a few Einstürzende Neubauten, Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy), Rammstein's first four, some early Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, early Van der Graaf Generator, early Talking Heads, Nico's second to fourth, perhaps a Can or two and a Cabaret Voltaire. That would pretty much do me, since I wouldn't likely be spending huge amounts of time on them, anyway, considering that I'd likely have at least 500 classical albums along


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Mike Keneally-Sluggo
Yes-Fragile
Frank Zappa-Sleep Dirt
Richard Thompson-Daring Adventures
Bruce Cockburn-Night Vision
Gentle Giant-The Power And The Glory
Jeff Beck-Blow By Blow
Joni Mitchell-Hejira
National Health's first two albums
ELP self titled
Jethro Tull-Stormwatch
Allan Holdsworth-IOU
Sam Bush-Howlin' At The Moon
Little Feat-Sailin' Shoes


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Weston said:


> Ten. Ten? No boxed sets. Impossible. But I'll try.
> 
> Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
> Yes - Close to the Edge
> ...


Sorry to pick on you, but this made me think of a possible new thread.

Who's record collection would you least like to be washed up on a Desert Island with?

chacun à son gout


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I would hate to have to make a decision like this, but here we go...

Here's the list that I complied today. Ask the same question tomorrow, and I'm sure several choices would be different. 

None of these are 'pop'.

Genesis - Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
King Crimson - Larks Tongue
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero
Zappa - One Size Fits All
Anglagard - Hybris
National Health - Of Queues and Cures
Magma - Hhai / Live
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House
*Area - Arbeit Macht Frei
Il Balletto di Bronzo - YS

I kept the list to contain only one album per artist/group.

There are 3 Italians, 4 Brits, 1 French, 1 USA, 1 Swede on my list.

*There are many that would classify 'Area - Arbeit Macht Frei' as a jazz/fusion album, so, if it doesn't belong on the list, substitute 'Eskaton - 4 Visions' (another French band) in its place.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

An interesting thread so far. I am clearly much more of a "mainstream" listener than almost all of the other contributors, having never been much of an audience for esoterica, wordplay, satire, etc. in popular (Rock, Pop) music. For me, it's been primarily the musical experience, with good lyrics being an unexpected afterthought: icing on the cake. I remember reading a review of a Scorpions album--_Savage Amusement_, as I recall--and the critic, by way of mild disparagement, writing that the melodies were "broad enough for your golden retriever to love". I took this as an endorsement, as I already owned the CD and listened to it with undisguised pleasure. I am glad to see that many share an appreciation for early Genesis, Tull, Yes and other Prog classics-- love them too.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Oh, this is easy.

The Incredible String Band: _The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter_
Comus: _First Utterance_
Death in June: _The Wall of Sacrifice_
Current 93: _Swastikas for Noddy_
Current 93: _Earth Covers Earth_
Current 93: _Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow_
Current 93: _Island_
Current 93: _Thunder Perfect Mind_
Current 93: _Of Ruine or some Blazing Starre_
Current 93: _Sleep Has His House_


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2015)

Goodness, that was hard work. I have restricted myself to one album each by any particular artist. Tough choices. Crimson fail to make the cut (gasp!).

Anyway, in alphabetical order:

Alice in Chains - Dirt
Clutch - Clutch
Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Gosta Berlings Saga - Glue Works
Guapo - Elixirs
Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
Thinking Plague - In Extremis
This Heat - This Heat
Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Xaltotun said:


> Oh, this is easy.
> 
> The Incredible String Band: _The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter_
> *Comus: First Utterance*
> ...


Respect! .


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Maybe these...

Led Zep - IV
Led Zep - I
The Doors - The Doors
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Days of the New - Orange
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
The Tea Party - Splendor Solis
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers w/ Clapton - "Beano Album"


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

There are really only two albums (aside from a few classical works) out of thousands I have listened to that I feel are flawless:
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
The Residents - Meet the Residents (1974 mono version)

I'd have to think really hard to decide what else I would bring.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Beatles Revolver
Led Zeppelin 4
Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story
Who Who's Next
Yes Close to the Edge
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
Queen A Night at the Opera
U2 War

Miles Davis Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck Time Out
Getz / Gilberto featuring Jobin
Chick Corea Return to Forever
Herbie Hancock Headhunters
Claude Bolling Concerto for Classical Guitar and Jazz Piano Trio

Oklahoma 
Grease
West Side Story


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## Asterix77 (Oct 17, 2015)

OK, no live albums, that rules out some of my all time fav's from Dire Straits and Supertramp, anyway my list will be this:

Dire Straits - Love over Gold
Dire Straits - Making Movies
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Cream - Strange Brew
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Freaky Styley
Genesis - Genesis
Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor
Eric Clapton - Pilgrim
Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
Genesis - Trespass


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

since reacquainting myself with Todd Rundgren's Utopia performing 'The Wheel' from their album Another Live I am trying to work out if this one track would be one of my desert island discs....this apparently simple task is proving somewhat taxing and reminds me why I just cannot work out the answer to this form of question.......


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

I've been drifting away from pop music for more than twenty years now- so much so that most of my collection could _already _have washed up on some faraway island, and I'd never have noticed its loss. However, I will say that, like Strange Magic, I wouldn't like to be without Darkness on the Edge of Town, and if I get round to writing a list, that album will certainly be on it. Worth it for 'Racing In The Streets' alone, although there's not a bad song on the whole record.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I didn't realize we could include Jazz. In that case my list would be endless.

I am surprised no one has included Zappa in their lists.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

To Jim Prideaux and other Todd Rundgren fans, Todd has collaborated with Darryl Hall of Hall and Oates to yield wonderful performances of Rundgren classics like I Saw the Light, Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel, and The Last Ride. Hall has a whole series of great reworkings of songs with many collaborators under the title of Darryl's House--all viewable on YouTube. Highly recommended!

Figleaf, glad you share an appreciation for Darkness on the Edge of Town with me. A great way to reacquaint yourself with whatever enthused you about great Rock and Pop, I've found, is to look for live concert versions of songs from your past on YouTube and check out what comes up. There are marvelous things out there!


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Dr Johnson said:


> Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy
> *Frank Zappa - Hot Rats*
> *Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All*
> John Martyn - Solid Air
> ...





Morimur said:


> I didn't realize we could include Jazz. In that case my list would be endless.
> 
> I am surprised no one has included Zappa in their lists.


Perhaps you didn't read page 1.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I'd bring my favorite electronic albums and would throw away all pop and rock music ever made in a heartbeat.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Morimur said:


> I didn't realize we could include Jazz. In that case my list would be endless.


The OP stated 'Rock/Pop' discs. So, I specifically left jazz and fusion off my list.



> I am surprised no one has included Zappa in their lists.


You missed my list on the first page.

Genesis - Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
King Crimson - Larks Tongue
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero
*Zappa - One Size Fits All*
Anglagard - Hybris
National Health - Of Queues and Cures
Magma - Hhai / Live
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House
*Area - Arbeit Macht Frei
Il Balletto di Bronzo - YS


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I am new to Zappa (sort of) but the albums I've liked so far are:

Hot Rats
We're Only in It for the Money
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
Weasels Ripped My Flesh

I didn't care for 'Joe's Garage' at all as I found it to be mediocre and mildly abnoxious.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Morimur said:


> I am new to Zappa (sort of) but the albums I've liked so far are:
> 
> Hot Rats
> We're Only in It for the Money
> ...


Check out the album "Just Another Band From LA". Clips here.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-The Beatles

Greatest Hits-Johnny Mathis

Songs for Young Lovers-Frank Sinatra

Bitches Brew-Miles Davis

Jack Johnson Soundtrack-Miles Davis

So Beautiful or So What-Paul Simon


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Besides what I posted earlier (way earlier as I recollect), I am definitely adding the Sinopoli Der fliegene Hollander disks to my desert island knapsack.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Agree with what others have said: this is not easy. Here are my ten albums (not classical):
* Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans
* Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
* Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
* Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte
* Rennaissance - Novella
* Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow
* Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
* Art of Noise - The Seduction of Claude Debussy
* Anthony Phillips - The Geese & The Ghost
* The Enid - Aerie Fairie Nonsense


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Belowpar said:


> Sorry to pick on you, but this made me think of a possible new thread.
> 
> Who's record collection would you least like to be washed up on a Desert Island with?


My own


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I thought I'd bump this five-and-a-half-year-old thread and add another ten favorite desert island disks to my list and also invite others to revisit old friends and vanished posters from yesteryear. New input greatly welcomed!

Here are the ten more:

Led Zeppelin 3
Genesis: Foxtrot
Janelle Monae: The ArchAndroid
Maria McKee: You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
U2: Rattle and Hum
Derek and the Dominoes: Layla and Other Assorted love Songs
Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago Transit Authority
Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story
Jonny Lang: Wander This World

One of the things I noticed over the course of this thread was the overwhelming selection of male artists and male-dominated or fronted groups by almost all posters (except me). I've always thought women could rock, and put together for listening in my car a whole series of cassette tapes of killer rock and
pop tunes sung by women over the decades, though the real breakthrough of women got rolling in the 1980s and exploded in the 1990s.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

The Band - Brown Album
The Band - Rock of Ages
Van Morrison - Moondance
Ella Fitzgerald - Live in Berlin
Frank Sinatra - A Swingin’ Affair
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Miles Davis - (which to choose) - In a Silent Way
Modern Jazz Quartet - European Concert
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Bruce Springsteen - Live at the Capitol Theater 1978
Follies - Live from Lincoln Center

I could list 50 more


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I recently compiled a list of 15 favorites, one per artist. In very loose order, and with parentheticals indicating near-tossups between two albums of the same artist:

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Antonio Carlos Jobim's Finest Hour
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (Foxtrot)
The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Revolver)
Pink Floyd - Wish you were Here
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Radiohead - OK Computer (Kid A)
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (Kind of Blue)
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Yes - Close to the Edge
Willie Nelson - Stardust
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Gentle Giant - Octopus (The Power and the Glory)

Honorable (?) mention:
The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World


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## julide (Jul 24, 2020)

Anything else besides classic rock and miles davis?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

julide said:


> Anything else besides classic rock and miles davis?


Yes. On my part, several albums of traditional, "classical" _cante flamenco_; you can find several mentioned in the Articles Forum under "Thoughts about Cante Flamenco". Thoughts About Cante Flamenco An excellent old LP of two ragas performed by Dr. Gaurang Yodh and Dinesh Patel. A great old Vanguard LP of Paul Robeson singing a mix of spirituals and anthemic songs. An old Monitor LP of The Chorus of the Volga singing mostly Soviet-era songs praising the Volga and the towns along its banks. _The Music in my Head_: classics of West African pop. Any number of albums from the 1950s and 1960s of composed Israeli kibbutz "folk" tunes sung by the Oranim Zabar troupe and by Shoshana Damari.

The advent of YouTube has both replaced much album-buying but also discovered and preserved an enormous mass of hitherto obscure music from all over the globe.


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