Let’s say I find myself stranded on a desert island. If that concept sounds a little too clichéd, imagine that I find myself abandoned in a cornfield in the middle of Kansas. All I have to comfort me until I’m rescued or I grow so sick of corn that I don’t even bother waking up in the morning is my CD player and five CDs (and a really, really large pile of batteries). What five CDs make the cut?
This is a classic music geek question and my answer always changes. I have three constants, one that usually makes the cut, and a fifth that changes daily. Here are my answers for today.
R.E.M. “Murmur”: Their first album and the one that really showed that a bunch of college kids in a garage in Georgia can change the face of the music industry. My main reason for picking this album is that even though I have been listening to it for, I don’t know, fifteen years now, I still don’t know what half the songs are about. I could spend days just trying to figure out just what in the world is Michael Stipe saying and then figuring out what he meant. For example, Radio Free Europe is this great rocking song that I could listen to every morning to get going and in the evening spend hours trying to understand “What do you mean ‘Calling out in transit?’” No question that this makes the cut.
Jeff Buckley “Grace”: There’s going to be a lot of long dark nights on the desert island. This is an album to listen to in the dark with the music washing over you. Jeff easily had one of the best voices that I ever heard and this is the one full album that he released in his much too short life. I could spend days just listening to the first three songs (Mojo Pin, Grace and Last Goodbye) over and over again. Interestingly, if I could take a DVD with me and only listen to it Jeff’s live show in Chicago makes the cut without a second thought. Let’s put it this way, I had that on in the background before every test of business school and basically before every major decision of my life in the past five years. It will travel with me.
Uncle Tupelo “Anodyne”: Life wouldn’t be complete without having a copy of “Chickamauga” around. Despite the fact that as I learn more about the politics of the band I can now see all of this subtext about the band breaking up in the song lyrics this is still the best example of the Americana/No Depression/Alt Country/Whatever You Want To Call It genre. Steel guitar and fiddle enter rock songs at the perfect moments and for a moment you are transported to another world. I know that most people say it is my fandom speaking when I call this the best album of the 90’s but at the end of the day that is what my heart tells me.
Kelly Willis “What I Deserve”: This is the disc that usually makes the cut but sometimes doesn’t. Part of it is because of the fact that this is one of the many albums that has protected me through difficult times in my life. You know how there are times when the world just seems to be against you and the only thing that keeps you from curling into a ball and hiding in a corner is knowing that you can listen to a song and feel that there is some brightness in the world? Well, when I had a few months like that it was this disc that never left my CD player at work. The backstory is great as well, an artist says screw you to Nashville and makes one last album on her own just to have one shot at having her own legacy and having it find major success. (Oh, and there is a small fact that Kelly is beautiful and there are lots of pictures of her in the CD booklet and look, it’s going to get pretty lonely on that island after a while).
Jack Johnson “On and On”: This is the spot that constantly changes. Honestly, I had to look through my collection to figure out what disc I would place here because it really changes all the time. But if I am on a desert island I’ll need some music that would be fitting and the Hawaiian surfer turned guitarist is fitting. Also, this is such an incredible collection of songs. It’s one thing to say that Taylor or Rodeo Clowns have great hooks, when you sit down and actually look at the lyrics you find that there is a striking amount of depth there. Just one of those discs that you can play and know that nothing can go wrong in the world for a little while.
(Of course, if I really was on a desert island what I’d really be looking for is a boat. Or an Xbox 360 with a really long extension cord.)
The five random CDs of the week:
1) Chris Mills “Every Night Fight For Your Life”
2) The Frames “Burn the Maps”
3) Robbie Fulks “South Mouth”
4) Gillian Welch “Hell Among the Yearlings”
5) Kelly Willis “One More Time: The MCA Recordings”
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