If You Were Stranded on a Desert Island…
You’ve heard the question before, many times:
If you were stranded on a desert island, and could only have ten albums (cd’s) with you, which ten would you take? Of course you have your stereo there with you, and a power source, don’t be a jerk. No compilations or bootlegs, officially released material only, dude.
There was a time that I couldn’t get though a weekend without having this conversation, but now I can’t remember the last time I discussed it. It was a silly game to play, the real point was getting to the heart of the respondent’s musical tastes, and it was likely to inspire a good deal of debate over the merits of a particular album or performer. I see Catbirdseat’s list whenever I visit his site, and am always amazed that he lists Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque as one of the Top 10 Of Ever. I mean, I like it, but not that much. Different strokes, you know?
I was listening to an interview with a recording industry critic the other day on NPR who talked about the preeminence of the single: that popular music these days does not focus on the album, but on the single. He also pointed out that this dovetails perfectly with new online music stores where consumers pay per track.
Now, some industry analysts will say that the move to singles was prompted by downloading and online stores and whatnot. In my view, it has more to do with studios pushing crap on us. That said - some of the crap is fun to listen to, but I don’t want to pay $15.00 for it, so I’ll pay $.99 and just get the track I want. Whether the business model came before or after is really not the issue - it just is, and we can all get what we want.
Anyway - I started this post to pick my ten albums (as of right now, that is):
Graceland - Paul Simon
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Icky Mettle - The Archers of Loaf
Boylan Heights - The Connells
The Joshua Tree - U2
Debaser - The Pixies
Help! - The Beatles
Moondance - Van Morrison
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Document - REM
