There are four friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their lists:
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
I got to see the Grateful Dead three times while I lived in Denver, in '79, '80 and '81 and I really got to enjoy their songs and the improvisational nature of their shows. (That might be why, a few years later I was intrigued by Phish.) And as every Dead fan knows it's really all about the shows and tapes of their concerts, not about their albums. Now I really like their albums (especially Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) but their three-album, two-disc live collection from that era, Europe '72 is perhaps an even better record of those years. The recording is crystal clear and the band, who recently added Keith and Donna Godchaux to the mix, was in fine form. This was the last tour with Ron "Pigpen" McKernon, who was dying from liver failure, and he's pretty quiet throughout. In fact, his organ parts were replaced in the studio later by Merl Saunders. But even with that studio trickery (which is really foreign to what the Dead are all about) this album is a wonderful collection of songs played well and recorded beautifully.
I have a clear memory of working on a crew mowing lawns on my second summer in Denver singing these songs to myself. "Cumberland Blues," "Ramble on Rose," and "Jack Straw" are among the highlights for me but the song that really caught my ear as a college student was "China Cat Sunflower." This performance absolutely sparkles and the interesting counterpoint between Bob Wier's running guitar figure and Jerry Garcia's vocal is always entertaining. I have LOTS of live Dead on my shelf but this version of "China Cat," and the wonderful collection of songs here puts Europe '72 at the top of the pile.
There are four friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their lists: My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
Today, for my desert Island Disc, I pick a CD that does not come from one of my all time favorite artists. Instead, this is an album that is one of the few I own by this artist but one which has stood out for me for many years and I keep coming back to as one of my favorite albums of all time – So by Peter Gabriel.
I got this album as a present for Father's Day, way back in 1986. The songs that were on the radio, "Sledgehammer" and "In Your Eyes," made me want to get this album and when I did I was absolutely floored by the whole thing. The funk of "Sledgehammer" and the ethereal quality of "In Your Eyes," "Red Rain," "That Voice Again," and what may be my favorite of all, the wonderful duet with Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up."
This is an album for the ages, one that doesn't sound dated and one where the writing playing and Gabriel's emotional singing all come together in a way that I don't think they have before or since.
There are four friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their developing stagnant lists: [EDIT 8/4/07 - as my friend Jim K points out, his list is NOT stagnant. Apologies to Jim. But not to the other slackers :) ]
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
As I mentioned in my review of Add to the Beauty, I have almost given up on CCM. So much of it seems to be slick, over-produced and mostly interested in not offending anyone. It's like they want to make sure that the point is so clear that someone scanning the radio can't help but catch that the song is about Jesus. There are, however, a few exceptions, artists that I continue to listen to. Jars of Clay, Derek Webb, Andrew Osenga and Phil Keaggy are on that list (and all three of them have taken a detour away from the big-time CCM industry.) But 
Sara Groves might be my current favorite. Ever since I heard All Right Here, her first nationally released album and third overall, I was sold on her music. I went back and found her first two independent albums and enjoyed them too. Her most recent album, Add to the Beauty, is also so good that I couldn't leave it off the list. I was trying to decide which album be my choice I realized that I needed to include "First Song That I Sing" from All Right Here. That song has such a simple yet elegant message and energy that I couldn't resist making sure it was on my list. All Right Here is a quantum leap better than her first two albums and it features wonderful writing, singing and production. The songs all seem to come straight from Sara's heart (with a path through her brain to make them cool and thoughtful.) The themes are about the value and love of family and friends and trust in the Lord and she explores them in a way that gets to me almost every time I hear the album.
I was slightly disappointed with The Other Side of Something, the album between these two. That album almost made me think that Sara was going to be another CCM casualty but I was wrong. Here is what I said about Add to the Beauty in my review nearly two years ago: "Groves once again goes back to one of her favorite themes – that the love of God is needed to help us love each other. In Add to the Beauty she doesn't use a lyrical sledgehammer to make her point but does it gently with directness, grace and sometimes even humor, as in the delightful "To the Moon." With Brown Bannister in the production chair this time she seems to be back in a place where production doesn't overwhelm the songs or scream 'Look! I'm trying to have a hit!' Groves and Bannister hit just the right balance between art and accessibility." I still agree with that assessment. She nailed it on both of these albums.
There are four friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their developing lists:
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
I must admit that so far this list has been a trip through my favorite artists, picking a favorite CD from each. So today I continue that trend and give the nod to an artist that I've been a fan of since about 1974. That year, as a student at Calvin, I helped host a Christian rock band called Wing and a Prayer, a short-lived offshoot from the seminal Love Song. As I was hanging out with the guys, bass player Jay Truax asked me if I'd heard of Phil Keaggy. When I told him I had not he told me that I absolutely had to hear his album. So, when I saw Love Broke Thru, Keaggy's second solo album, at my local Christian book store I picked it up. What I heard was a great album with an amazing guitar player and a sense for melody that was very much like Paul McCartney. It was better than all the other Christian music I had heard by a long shot.I have followed Keaggy's career ever since and it's been quite a journey. He has had his ups and downs but never really hit it big in terms of sales in the Christian music industry – or the mainstream industry for that matter. So when he dropped out to go independent a few years back that allowed him to be a lot more, well, independent. His releases throughout the years have perhaps been uneven (although I really like most of them.) I realized that my desire to have him put out more of his stuff was a mixed blessing when, as an independent, he was allowed to release things whenever he pleased. Having an editor is a good thing and some of his recent releases are not as strong as some of his earlier ones. However, back in 1998, while he was still signed to a CCM label, he released his first regular vocal album in quite some time and it was great. He must have realized that he was onto something with this album because he titled it simply Phil Keaggy. Usually artists only self-title albums if they're first albums or if they have a special personal connection with them. This is the case with Phil Keaggy. It includes great songs and great arrangements played and sung well. The opener, "A Sign Came Through the Window," really gets things off to a great start with a cool acoustic riff and a driving beat. "Tender Love" sounds like one of those great album-closing McCartney power ballads. "Under the Grace" is a beautiful song, perhaps one of Keaggy's best. All in all, I find myself really enjoying this album whenever I put it on.
There are many other fine PK albums – Crimson and Blue with it's Cream-flavored guitar-heavy rock; Beyond Nature and The Master and the Musician, perhaps his two most fully realized instrumental albums; Ph'lip Side and Town to Town, the vocal albums that really caught my imagination in the late seventies; Find Me in These Fields, the mid career album where it all came together nicely – and I could have been happy with any of these on my island but I had to pick one and I picked Phil Keaggy. For people new to his music this is a great gateway album.
There are four friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their developing lists:
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
Here is one that I'm not yet sure about. I know I want a Yes album on my list and I've got it narrowed down to four of them and I'm having a tough time deciding. The four albums in question are Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans and Going for the One. Fragile was Yes' fourth album, their second released in the US (I believe) and the first one to really make a splash over here. It's that album that first brought them to my attention. I was a senior in high school and I'm not sure where I heard it for the first time but once I listened to the cool acoustic guitar intro and the organ solo in "Roundabout" that I was hooked. That song is like a microcosm of everything that Yes can do right. The singing is great, the playing is unreal, the bass line is sing-able and the lyrics are mostly incomprehensible. You can understand all the words, you just have no idea what they mean. But you can tell, just by the way Jon Anderson sings them, that they're really deep, you know what I mean? And the titles of the songs - "Heart of the Sunrise," "South Side of the Sky," "Long Distance Runaround" – these are the kind of songs that you can listen to while contemplating the universe. At least that's the way it struck me when I was 17. This album also had a solo track by each of the five members of the band. Cool stuff and perfect for 1972. This is the way albums ought to be. It even has great artwork. This was their second album with Steve Howe on guitar and their first with Rick Wakeman on keys. All the pieces of the classic line up are in place and the music just soars.
Then, I heard somebody say that they can actually play this stuff live! I was stunned. No band could be that good! But they were – and, in fact, they still are (I've seen them five times.) And during their peak creative period in the 1970s they made some magnificent albums and the four I listed are all brilliant. Close to the Edge, the follow-up to Fragile, is just three songs, two on one side of the vinyl album and one on the other. The band started playing around with longer and longer song forms until, with Tales, they had gone "Over the Edge" and had a double album with just four songs, at almost 20 minutes per song – one per album side. But here's the thing – they were all good! It took a while to wrap my ears around those long songs but once I got them I loved them.
Rick Wakeman left the band and they put out a good album, Relayer, (as opposed to one that was completely mind blowing) with Patrick Moraz on keys and then they made a bunch of solo albums. I was surprised when their next album, Going for the One included Rick Wakeman again (playing pipe organ in spots!) It was great and it had a rockin' song by bassist Chris Squire ("Parallels") and what may be their best long song, "Awaken." The history of the band goes on and on and, while they had some great albums since then (like their mega-hit 90125 with the catchy "Owner of a Lonely Heart"), this is the period which really defines the band.
How do I choose? I have good memories of listening to all these albums. So I'm picking the one that first caught my attention, Fragile. Truth be told, I have so many live versions of "Roundabout" that I'm almost sick of it. But, when I forget how often I've heard it, when I just sit back with headphones and listen to it like I did in 1972 when I was wearing it out from playing it so much, then I remember why it's so good. This is what progressive rock music ought to be about. So, while I'd probably be content with any of the four, for today at least I'll pick Fragile as my desert island album of the week.
There are now four more friends joining me on my Desert Island journey. Check their developing lists:
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
So far in my desert island list I've gone to my favorite artists and picked which CD of theirs I'd most want to take along. That is as opposed to looking specifically at CDs and judging each on their own merit. I expect to think about things this way for a few more weeks since I've already started and it makes sense to me to do it this way (and it's easier). So this week I turn my attention to an artist that I first became familiar with when as an eighth grader I heard "Sunshine of Your Love" on the radio. This was 1968 and that song served as my intro to blues-based guitar music. I listened to friends' copies of Cream's Disraeli Gears (which will likely show up on this list down the road) and
soon bought Eric Clapton's album with his new band, Blind Faith. I've missed only a few of his albums since – and there have been a lot. So picking one of Clapton's solo recordings is a challenge. The obvious choices, perhaps, are Layla (although it is really a Derek and the Dominoes album so I could get away with picking that one later too,) his two mid-career highlights, 461 Ocean Boulevard and Slowhand (but I think they are not his best,) or the album where he seemed to find his way as a guitar hero again, Journeyman and the album that re-launched him into the mainstream, Unplugged. But, having seen Eric's show less than a year ago and having paid attention to him for quite some time I think that, live at least, he's in as good a place as he's ever been. His shows are consistently great and he's got a wealth of material to choose from. That is why for this week's pick I am choosing his most recent live album, One More Car, One More Rider.
Like Matt, I'm a bit wary of choosing a live album because they can be little more than greatest hits compilations with clapping. But this 2-disc set shows Eric with a crack band playing at the height of his game. He does an acoustic set which features what I think is the definitive version of "Change the World." It blows the studio recording completely out of the water. It also gives added life to the songs from Pilgrim which suffered from a bit of production woes – the use of drum machine, for example, and Clapton's guitar tone made the album, which had some great songs, feel a bit brittle. But on One More Car songs like "River of Tears" have an amazing amount of emotion. Clapton's singing is spot on and his guitar just soars. Add a killer set list, ending with a wonderful rendition of "Over the Rainbow" – yes, that "Over the Rainbow" – and you have what I think is Clapton's best album.
The version of the album that I bought came with a DVD of the whole show too – and you get to see the late Billy Preston in the band singing his hit "Will it Go Round in Circles" which isn't on the album. You should see it just to watch Billy dance.
There are so far three more friends joining me on my desert Island journey. Special thanks to new list makers Matt and Jim for playing along. Check their developing lists:
My Complete Desert Island List (so far):
I knew that I had to have a Beatles album with me on my island but I've gone back and forth multiple times trying to figure out which one to put on my list. Sgt Pepper just had a 40th birthday and I've written before about how much I like that album. I've often said that Revolver is perhaps the Beatles' best album just because it is so consistently strong and inventive throughout. Abbey Road is wonderful with it's second side suite of songs, not to mention some wonderful songs in addition to that like "Something" and "Come Together" and "Here Comes the Sun." Then again, early Beatles are great too and A Hard Days Night is a great album with the wonderful chiming twelve string guitar that George had just gotten. (On a side note, I've just heard that the DVD of Help! will come out in a 2-DVD set before the end of the year - hooray!!!)
But because of the sheer volume and variety of music I picked the White Album (actually called The Beatles.) I've written about my love for this album before (both here and here) so I don't need to elaborate a whole lot but the writing, playing and singing on this album is simply remarkable. I don't know if any other band has ever produced anything so broad in it's scope in the history of pop music. Even though it is often considered the point at which the Beatles stopped working as a group and started working as individuals the interaction on some tracks is simply stunning.
I thought it would be nice to do a series here on Bob's Bloggery and, since I love to make lists, I thought I would start a series on my desert island discs – albums that, were I to be stranded for a while on a desert island with a CD player and the power to use it (a somewhat unlikely scenario,) I would want to have with me. I have no idea how long this series will last so this isn't a top-ten list but each week (or so) I'll list another cool album that would be good to have with me.
Some ground rules:
I'd like to challenge my frequent readers who also blog to join me in this endeavor. You know who you are, What would be on your list? You just have to add one every week and the writeup doesn't have to be long. Come on, you can do it. Who's in? I promise to link to you every week if you do.
So this week I'll begin with U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. This album absolutely floored me when it came out. I had it in heavy rotation on my itunes, in my ipod and on my car stereo for months after it came out. You need to understand that I have a LOT of music and it is rare for an album to keep my interest as long as that one did but I don't think there is a weak track on that record from the heavy rock of "Vertigo" and "All Because of You" to the beautiful "City of Blinding Lights" and "Miracle Drug ." In this post I called it my top album of 2005 (even though it was released in 2004!) and in this post, written at the end of 2006, I mentioned that it had still probably one of my top current albums. Now, well over two years after its release I still think it is great and it's in my car again right now too. Seeing U2 in concert on the "Vertigo tour" and being in Ireland soon after it's release put it over the top for me. I especially appreciated how Bono continued allowing his faith to come through in his lyrics in almost every song on the album. I certainly don't want to dismiss other U2 albums of which I'm very fond (especially All That You Can't Leave Behind, Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree – and all the other ones too) but this one has a special place in my heart.
