i've been waiting to post this list since late september, on the cusp of the shuffleathon 2007 festivities. not to beat a dead horse, but swisstoni sent out the shuffle match emails on october 1st. i didn't want to post anything reflecting my musical tastes for fear of influencing the alleged person who was to send MY shuffleathon cd. i needn't have worried, it's still not here! he's apparently uninfluencible! (take that, jamiesmitten's boss!) what's 75 days amongst non-friends?
anyway, when i worked in radio, the trade magazines would sometimes publish the lists of the "desert island albums" of the folks in the industry, the albums you'd take with you and listen to for the rest of your life while marooned on a deserted island. (if you're not busy running for your life from the others, of course.) alas, i was never asked to compile my own list for publication. but i did compile my list in my head. the list has changed a bit since then, but not too much.
so, here it is, my top 10 best albums ever list:
bruce springsteen -- born to run
ah, bruce. rocking, angry, passionate, melodic. plenty of gorgeous piano and sax. rock perfection, start to finish.
rick springfield -- working class dog
ah, dr. noah drake. those eyes, those lips. and rick also managed to write some of the catchiest pop songs ever. even after his limo drove over my friend daphne's foot.
cars - cars
more fantastic rock and pop. one of the first albums i purchased myself, post-abba and k-tel compilation phase. god i had great taste even then.
crowded house - crowded house
as i spent a year abroad at uni, "mean to me" became my anthem. well without (most of) the psycho stalker undertones. the rest of the album, pure genius. and without fail, the best live performances ever.
police -- zenyatta mondatta
"don't stand so close to me." need i say more? for some reason, i bought a copy of this album when i was in greece. it has some of the credits in greek and still has the price tag on it. 490 drachmas? surprised we didn't use those for a drunken game of "drachmas" in the hotel room!
boston - boston
ok it had nothing to do with the fact that the drummer sib hashian's dad lived in my neighborhood in virginia, or that his dad had a tiny crush on my mom. brad delp's vocals and tom scholz' guitar...... rock heaven. sadly in more ways than one. and i will fight you to the death if you say this is "corporate rock." just because crappy radio stations played the songs to death doesn't mean they're not fantastic songs. i can still listen to this album after hearing it approximately 4278 times.
jellyfish -- bellybutton
ironic that the only album to appear on this list that was released during my days at 96rock is one that we never played. but the second i heard "baby's coming back" i knew this was the genius partridge family album i always wished for. and they had the second best live performances ever. i still have no idea how my buddy shalom got those amazing harmonies live.
led zeppelin -- in through the out door
ok, it's no surprise that i have 8 of these 10 albums on vinyl. in this case, it's vinyl i stole from my brother. it's still got the original brown paper bag wrapper, and i do believe i painted the water on the sleeve myself. i was too young for led zeppelin iv, this is my generation's led zep lp. i used to crank this up on my dad's ginormous speakers, open the windows, and listen to it down the street at meghan o'leary's house.
van halen -- 5150
despite the "tinny drum sounds" skot was always going on about, van halen rocks. and SAMMY rocks. these songs were meant to be cranked up to 11. "dreams" still gives me goosebumps.
todd rundgren -- nearly human
whoops i miscalculated on the 96rock era album releases, this one came out then. i can't remember if we played anything off this or not, i'll have to check with beth. and actually the first side of this album is perfect, but side 2, not so much. so i'll combine it with half of:
whoops i miscalculated on the 96rock era album releases, this one came out then. i can't remember if we played anything off this or not, i'll have to check with beth. and actually the first side of this album is perfect, but side 2, not so much. so i'll combine it with half of:
lenny kravitz -- mama said
rock and funky soul. lenny is so underrated! did i ever tell you about the time lenny kissed me on the lips in front of his management, label guy, my boss and my boss' boss? thanks, rude!!
honorable best of mention:
beatles - 67-70
the first album i ever stole from my brothers, this is what i cut my rock and roll teeth on, when i was in 2nd or 3rd grade.
when i put this list together, these amazing soundtracks tried to sneak onto my non-compilation list.
when i put this list together, these amazing soundtracks tried to sneak onto my non-compilation list.
saturday night fever
footloose
singles
starstruck
purple rain
big chill
heavy metal
commitments
hotel de love
vision quest
footloose
singles
starstruck
purple rain
big chill
heavy metal
commitments
hotel de love
vision quest
7 comments:
You DID tell me about the time Lenny kissed you!
As I suspected, I've never heard most of your albums from start to finish (although strangely, I've heard almost ALL of your soundtracks start to finish), but I'm inspired to go listen. Thanks!
dude i think i've told every single person i've ever met about lenny!!! :)
but i wouldn't hurry to listen to my top picks, they're mostly not your cuppa. too poppy or classic rocky.
It is wrong, wrong, wrong to consider "Purple Rain" a soundtrack. It is a cohesive album, and although I love the movie, it was an afterthought. I protest.
you could have a point there, anon. but still my purple rain cd lives with all the other movie and show cds. though i can't remember where the vinyl is filed. hmmm.
ola.
sorry about the non-arrival of your shuffleathon. As I've just been saying to JamieS, if you don't get yours by the beginning of January, how about I make you one? I'm not saying that it'll be any good, but I do want to make sure that you get something out of this whole damn thing, and I hope that something is better than nothing.
Now I remember why the shuffleathon was a pain in the arse when I did it last year......
Anyway. Would that be okay with you? It won't have any of this lot on though, I don't think. Not that this is a bad list... far from it... but that's not really the point of my mix tape.
I like mix tapes.
Anyway. I'm rambling. You have been waiting a long time. Maybe your CD will turn up, and maybe it won't. I'm going to send you one anyway.
ST
any requests? or would you prefer pot luck and whatever is passing through my brain?
swisstoni to the rescue!!!
you can definitely wait until mid january, maybe my cd is stuck in the mail somewhere.
but if it doesn't come -- i'd love a scott walker song!! i realised that his name sounded familiar to me because an actor i ADORE, gale harold, produced the documentary.
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