So I officially listened to the worst ever Desert Island Selection today, by Clive Woodward. I know Rol (unfairly probably the only one with a chance of appearing on the actual program) has had a chance to do this but I'd be interested to know what are everyone's selections for their 8 discs, 1 book and 1 luxury would be? I'd propose relaxing the rules to allow an LP, but still pick an indicative song:
1. Space Oddity - David Bowie
I love David Bowie. I'd probably be happy with 8 Bowie albums, but my real choice is between Hunky Dory and the more obvious Space Odity. I chose the later because I think (particularly the title track) is a better record to have when lonely.
2. Bach's Goldberg variations played by Glenn Gould
Purists dislike this recording because you can hear Gould humming along when he gets carried away. But the being carried away is what's so amazing about this recording. All the great pianists have tackled the Goldberg variations at some point in their career, but I've never heard one as idiosyncratic as this. Absolutely amazing. Personally, this marked a departure point where I pretended to be interested in Classical music to impress girls (didn't work) and became genuinely interested. (A girl gave it to me).
3. Mendelssohn's Octet (and the Quintet as a freebie, it's normally on the same disc) no preference on ensemble
The opening bars of the Octet have got to be amongst the most uplifting in music and yet manages to drive the same incredible energy through the entire piece.
4. Plaid - New Family; Double Figure
Plaid was the first band that got me into Electronica. This wasn't the first album I listened to, but it is easily my favourite. New Family's astonishing darkness creates an intangible emotion which just can't be done with just words or images. I'm sure to Seffers it sound like the load music for a video game but this is one of the most affecting pieces of music I've ever heard and I never tire of it.
5. Love - Andmoreagain; Forever Changes
First album I liked produced pre-1990. Kind of marks when I started to be more interested in music as well as, you know, becoming a woman.
Sublime, amazing - not to much more to say, but a complex enough piece to listen to again and again. Described at incredible length in Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore", one of my favourite books. I liked it before but this definitely augmented my obsession with the piece.
7. Joanna Newsom - Monkey and Bear; Ys
I absolutely love this entire album. Lyrics and melodies to dwell on. Joanna Newsom is also hot, so the album art might be handy, though I think it's all medieval and shit.
8. Notorious BIG - Things done changed; Ready to Die
Best hip-hop album ever recorded. I never get bored of it. Along with a handful of early 1990s albums basically perfected the genre. Everything produced since sounds derivative and also overproduced. With the brash and aggressive there's also tenderness, humility and doubt. You can feel the realness of the phrase "feel the realness" on this.
Book: War and Peace - obvious, I grant, but this really does contain every story and is really really long.
Luxury: Huge sack of porn. No-one's ever asked for this for obvious reasons, but carving coconut trees from your imagination is not going to suffice.
Oh, and if I had to pick one I'm slightly ashamed to admit it'd probably be Biggie. Songs for every occasion including the messy suicide after 2 months of isolation, no doubt.
Author: charlie | Posted: Mar 2 2010 at 09:46:25 AM
Did you ever hear Ellen MacArthur's? She had some real stinkers in her choices. And I still say that Matthew Pinsent's choice of the commentary on his own Olympic victory is a little vainglorious.
My choices:
Hyperballad - Bjork. I think I've listened to this since I was sixteen, many times, and never been bored by it.
Mahler 3 - anyone conducting, I have the Sinopoli and the Thomas, and I really like both of them.
And past that I kind of run out of ideas. There are lots of pieces of music I like, but I can't think of anything I really return to. Anything I liked a year or more ago, I've slightly got bored of. I presume that makes me a bit of a shallow listener, which is probably fair.
I still think I'd take a ukulele over porn, and Ulysses. So fairly predictable there.
Author: Kenny | Posted: May 25 2010 at 03:10:47 PM
Just wondering whether that would work. Exciting. Even if the discs change every year it's still interesting to log what you think is awesome at one point in time. I remember thinking I would definitely have "Ruiner" by NIN and something from the Music from the Jilted generation at some point as well.
