Your Favourite Desert Island Discs


I know that good music is more important than sound, but which records or CDs are your favorite, for both good music and a spine tingling, audiophile recording. Mine would include Patrica Barber "Split" (more natural than sonic fireworks but very very good) the old reference recording of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, and an original Dave Grusin Discovered Again on vinyl. (OK, a little bit cheesey pop jazzy, but still enjoyable.)
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Easy. (Kiddin'). 1) Mile Davis "Cookin'" It's so "REAL" I ask Miles if he'd like any cheese and crackers between tracks. 2) Kate Bush "The Hounds Of Love" Delicate and bombastic at the same time. The second side is an epic adventure! Her prior albums are the source of Tori's and Fiona's "sound". 3) Bizet "Carmen" Dynamically & compositionally breathtaking 4) Any Tindersticks album - All have lush soundstages you'll easily fine yourself lost in. (Imagine a damp night looking out a second-story window in Paris.-Relavent review) 5) The Smiths "Louder Than Bombs" Lyrics have never met more 6) V/A "Toys" OST Soundtrack produced/arranged by Trevor Horn and staring Tori Amos, Thomas Dolby, Enya, Seal, ... 7) Ricky Lee Jones (self-titled) with George Massenberg. Need I say anything more? 8) Led Zeppelin "Physical Grafitti" No one has ever matched the mega multi-layered guitar orchestrations of Mr Page.NO 1 9) Roxy Music "Avalon" Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. 10) V/A "Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation" A benefit album for the SR Musicians Fund for musicians with medical and financial hardships. This album has rockers playing country and visa-versa with everyone involved sounding better than they do on their own albums! All titles are covers of Vic Chestnut tunes. (This means all the lyrics are exceptional for anyone too hi-fi). Garbage, REM, Nanci Griffith, Hootie & the Blowfish, Soul Asylum, LIVE, Smashing Pumpkins, Sparklehorse, Joe Henry, Madonna, Kristen Hersh, Cracker, Indigo Girls, ...
I agree with Musikdok -- depends on the day & mood. So I would hope to have in hand a mix of different "good" stuff to cover my usual urgings: Hugh Masekela - Hope (lively and rhythmic), Abbey Lincoln - A Turtle's Dream (deep and blue like the ocean), Rickie Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys (tender and evocative), Jan Garbarek Group - Twelve Moons or Officium (spiritual), Bill Evans - The Paris Concerts, Ed. Two (sublime), Brian Eno - Discrete Music (to settle me down or send me to sleep), Steely Dan - Aja or Gaucho ("the end of a perfect day"), Aztec Camera - Knife on vinyl (fun & passionate), The Verve Pipe - Villains (raucous and powerful), Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa - King Kong (not an exceptional recording but a real departure that seems to fill the gap when I don't seem to be in the mood for anything else), and maybe Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (in case things got so gloomy I felt suicidal).
Hmmmmm....this is something that would change day to day for me. TODAY I would choose Bill Evans - Live at Montreux, Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, Pete Townshend/Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix, Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor, and Metallica - The Black Album.