Please tell me that you're only kidding...please.
Is There Just One Single Album That Does It For You, Completely? Just One.
If you somehow got stuck in a situation (lol) and had to spend the rest of your life completely by yourself, all alone, on a desert island ... and, as part of your situation you only got to choose one album to spend the entire rest of your life with.
Let’s say, some weird circumstance, and you also had at your complete disposal the system of your dreams, that you had assembled thru the years. And thank goodness you were a prepper and you thought ahead to install a solar power system, so power would never be a problem either.
Kind of like Tom Hanks on that island, except instead of a just a soccer ball, you had your dream stereo setup and one album only.
One album and that’s it. Got to pick one. Not necesssarily your all time favorite album, just one you could live with for the rest of your life.
Is there any album that just completely does it for ya, on that level?
I’ll kick things off by sharing mine: Steely Dan, Aja
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@acman3 I actually already picked my selection on page 2 of this thread, Trees of Eternity. The second 2016 album I was referring to above is the most interesting guitar album of the last 30+ years Nick Johnston - Remarkably Human. |
No greater evidence exists that this hobby is dying than these types of threads. It seems the average age of albums selected is probably around 45-50. And before you say there's no great music now, that is not true. It's just a lot harder to find now that anyone with a $100 audio interface and a computer can put out professional-quality albums from their bedroom as opposed to the old days of flipping through a few hundred records at the record store. And yes, I'm an old guy too, but my top two picks would have both been from 2016. |
tunefuldude, I held back as long as possible...desert island> Handel's "Water Music" Now, considering the mandate and having the world's best sound system at play, I'm going with Proprius "Jazz at the Pawnshop." Yes, yes, the music itself can be argued with great veracity and passion from many angles. My theory is that the album doesn't get its due based upon the fact that there is no apparent "order" to the cuts, no beginning, middle and end. I've made my peace with that, simply enjoying the uplifting joyfulness of sitting in the club, bouncing my knees. I'll settle for the vinyl, however, here, may as well ask for a continuous loop of the master tapes. More Peace and Happy Holidays, Folks Pin (bold print for old eyes)
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So I started by coming up with a short list of possible choices and came up with these, sticking with the heavyweights: Grateful Dead - Live Dead OR Europe 72 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks OR Blonde on Blonde OR Live at Royal Albert Hall The Beatles - Abbey Road OR The White Album Weather Report - Heavy Weather Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
What it finally came down to was that I couldn't bear a life without Garcia, so my pick is Europe 72. I'm not sure why but I decided to exclude the Dick's Picks series and bootlegs in general; probably would have made the choice much harder than it already was.
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These recurring threads are silly and fun at the same time. Aja? Walter Becker kept his platinum award in the outhouse to his Hawaii studio. And for good reason. It does not hold up. Add to that the simple fact that Donald Fagan was an anal-compulsive in the studio and that the pursuit of perfect musicianship from a technical perspective killed off the life of what could have been monumental recordings. I am a Dan-fan and for me Countdown to Ecstasy is their best, but it could have been so much better if Fagen had not obsessed over every aspect of the band's playing, mixdown, and production. The easy picks imho are Kind of Blue and Revolver. But being human I have sentimental favorites and for me they are ZZ's Tres Hombres and Alejandro's Real Animal. And for something no one or almost no one knows about there is Chuck Prophet's Age of Miracles and Southern Country on the Skids' Dirt Track Date.
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Man. TOP'S "BTO" is a great album, no question. So is ABB'S Fillmore Concerts. Really good choices. As is Floyd's ubiquitous "DSOTM". But for me? When it comes to this list? Santana's "Moonflower" typically holdsat #2 to Steely Dan's "Aja" at #1. I have "Abraxas" on SACD, and it is quite possibly THE definitive Santana album. However, I like the different flavors on "Moonflower" (as well as the studio/live mix of tunes) and consider the live version of "Black Magic Woman" that appears on it to be the best ever recorded, and that goes up to present day. And I've heard LOTS of live versions of that song. My opinion. But as always, it's: "Aja" for a million dollars, Alex! |
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The question of the OP has a meaning ... Because this question has a meaning it is possible to ask it without being accused to be an alleged victim of a "clickbait" ... We are grown men able to decide to be victims of cigarette, drinking or audio and discuss it without being patronized as irresponsible idiot .... I already explained how i understand this interesting question , which is not a questions about our taste and favorite album but about what music can be listened as the only music on the hand in an island exiled for life ... It is a question about a musical depth content, some inexaustible content which for sure we already know and love ... For example i think that Mozart Requiem by Hogwood is an absolute masterpiece... I will never pick it as my only musical album for life ... As i explained i prefer to pick a music with a deep inexaustible content even if it less moving emotionnally than the Mozart requiem ...As Bach art of the fugue music can be ... Or perhaps all Beethoven quartets as a compromise between form and emotion ...
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@unreceivedogma i’m hardly new here. I’ve been around for nearly 15 years, but don’t feel a need to comment on every thread; I try to reserve comments for discussions in which I have something appropriate or useful to say. It’s a shame you see that attitude as virtue signaling. Dismissing someone’s comments on the grounds that they are newbies is an unfortunate and counterproductive conversational tactic. Perhaps a slightly less caustic and cynical point of view would improve the value of your comments. Breath deeply before you speak. |
@asmithkash I couldn’t agree more. I’m always thrilled by these kinds of discussions, for the opportunity they provide to learn about music I know not yet. I drew from this one a list of 8-10 LPs with which I am unfamiliar. They will guide my next Tidal session. @unreceivedogma enthusiasm drives all hobbies. And, it is in the nature of enthusiasm to celebrate that enthusiasm with discussions of what we love most about our hobbies and pastimes. This is not unique to audiophiles; it is common to all communities built around common interests. If you don’t share the enthusiasm, it may be hard to understand. But, it hardly seems useful to stand on the outside and sling mud on the joy of others. As my son’s soccer coach once said to his team on the first day of practice, “if you are here because you want to be here, come back tomorrow. If you’re here because your parents brought you and you don’t love soccer, ask them to take you tomorrow to an activity that you think you will enjoy.” This seems good advice to me. @tunefuldude Thanks for the thread! Tough, perhaps ultimately unanswerable, question. I agree with those who said previously that no single album is likely to meet alone the musical needs of an enthusiast. That said, several suggestions above are tempting, eg Beethoven quartets, Tom Waits. Here are two I never seem to tire of, even after decades of frequent listening. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks Mingus, Nostalgia in Time Square: The Immortal 1959 Sessions Together, they would carry me a good while, anyway. |
The question of the Op is like asking to someone to read only one book for the rest of his life ... Who will take a romance Harlequin book , or even a classic novel ? Even Doistoievski could not be up to the task ...And i admired Dostoievsky over most classical writers ...He know what is the soul ... Read the "dream of a ridiculous man" ...Nothing so deep has ever been written before ...It is a short novel by the way ... The bible or a number theory book are my only choices ...Or the Yi-King ... Guess why ? We need books to meditate not a linear story; we need music to meditate not simplistic melodies on repeat ...😁 The OP did not ask what is your taste , the OP ask what will resist forever to repeated listenings and which you like for sure ... People dont get it i think ... 😁
I will check the Brentano version ... Mine is Talich ...😊.. I own it but never listened to it because i love Talich ...I had many music i never listened , life is short ... I spend more on books and music than on a audio stereo system by the way ... The opposite of many people... |
So many of the previously mentioned albums and artists would be on my list! AJA & Abraxas (both might be a little too short) would certainly be finalists. Did anyone mention "Hotel California"? If I had to choose just one album, it would probably be: "Hittin' The Note" by the Allman Brothers Band. Just one song? Desdamona from the same album. |
There IS a way out of the problem of having to pick just ONE album. A summer job in my formative years involved working on the apparatus used in PhD grants, and when there was a gap….us part-time guys were sent to the experiment station farm to chop weeds in 1/4 mile long rows (the plants had to be free of pesticides). The way I stayed sane was to play my favorite albums, one by one, side A then side B, in my head. As indicated by Hesse in Steppenwolf, the music externally will never sound as good as you imagine it inside your head. |
There IS a way out of the problem of having to pick just ONE album. A summer job in my formative years involved working on the apparatus used in PhD grants, and when there was a gap….us part-time guys were sent to the experiment station farm to chop weeds in 1/4 mile long rows (the plants had to be free of pesticides). The way I stayed sane was to play my favorite albums, one by one, side A then side B, in my head. As indicated by Hesse in Steppenwolf, the music externally will never sound as good as you imagine it inside your head. |
