Back in the day, WNEW FM radio used to have call in contests for the best album and Allison “The Nightbird” Steele would play songs from them and sometimes even play a whole side. I loved Allison’s voice.
I’ve thought for a while that a Desert Island Record list would be fun and my blogging friends could post their own. The idea is this. If you found yourself stranded on a desert island and a record player washed up with a box of records, what albums would you hope were in the box? These would not be cool albums or trendy ones, but albums that you would want to list to over and over again, perhaps for years until you were rescued.
This list changes according to my mood. My favorite albums number about 50 and some will float to the top from time to time. This list is just about how I feel today, but tomorrow it will be different.
Here is my list.
1) Muddy Waters, Hard Again. I will try to keep this from being a list of my favorite blues albums. This was record was cut late in Muddy’s career. He had been sick and didn’t play much anymore. The blues revival of the 1960s was over and disco was taking over the world. The rocker Johnny Winter found Muddy and financed a record date. Many of the great bluesmen that had played with Muddy over the years showed up. Johnny, Muddy, Cotton and some of the greatest bluesmen of all time drink beer and play great blues. Just about the best blues recording of all time and always number one in my Desert Island List.
2) Captain Beefheart, The Spotlight Kid. I can’t begin to describe the genius of Captain Beefheart. Trout Mask Replica is conceded to be his best work, but I find The Spotlight Kid much easier to listen to. I love the song Grow Fins and I even wrote a story based on the song.
3) Johnny Winter, Johnny Winter. Blues/Rock at its best. Johnny begins pushing into Rock and Roll but keeps it all based in the roots of the Blues. Killer guitar. Johnny can play for 45 minutes non-stop and never repeat himself. There are plenty of good Johnny Winter albums, but I’ll pick his first one.
4) The Band, The Band. From the first moment I heard The Band I knew I’d listen to them forever. I know every word on this album by heart. You can see me crossing the Tappan Zee bridge every morning at 8AM and if I’m singing, it’s probably Cripple Creek.
5) The Beatles, White Album. Why the White Album? I concede that Sergeant Pepper’s, Rubber Soul, and Abbey Road are better records. If I am going to be stuck on a desert island, though, I would like a variety of music swept off the recording room floor. All of it is brilliant and even Revolution #9 is interesting. I’ll never tire of the White Album.
6) Jethro Tull, This Was. Tull’s first album is totally different than any of the following ones. This Was had a jazzy funky blues sound in contrast to operatic structured albums like Aqualung. This Was always astounds me.
7) Bob Dylan. Highway 61 Revisited. Believe me, listing just one Dylan Album is hard. I was even thinking about listing a compilation. This record has Desolation Row, so I included it.
8) King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King. Head banging music at its best. I only listen to side two, though.
9) Harry Nilson, Harry. I just had to cleanse my palette. This is a sappy sentimental album, but the others on this list are too intense. I’ll let Harry smooth things out for me. Harry’s cool.
10) The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Girls Go Wild. This is the album that made me want to play harmonica. The Thunderbirds have been living up to this record for nearly thirty years, and they never sounded better than on this first album. The album name was originally The Fabulous Thunderbirds, but the cover art had the word Girls Go Wild, so that’s what everyone called it. When it was re-released, they renamed the album.
I could have listed 20 Blues albums here and I did not include things like the Allman Brothers Live a the Filmore East, because I wanted just a little variety. I could list some Jazz and some Folk. Peter Paul and Mary Album 1700 should appear on any Desert Island list. There are a few albums that only I like, such as The Spanish Album by the Sand Pipers, that I can’t put here because I cannot explain why I like them so much. The poker boys won’t let me play my Schooner Fair tapes and I have a tape of Folk Songs from Newfoundland that I have to listen to alone. I just noticed there is no Sinatra on the list and no Glenn Miller. I could have listed a Piaf record or my collection of Fred Astaire or Marlena Dietrich records. The list could go on and on and on and on. Oh yeah, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen – Lost in the Ozone – the best smoking record of all time. I have to post this before I list every damn record that I ever liked. (Another one – Firesign Theatre – How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All?)
Push the Damn button, Keith!