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Mission: Impossible (But I'll Try Anyway)May 19 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line You may want to add some of these titles to your own Desert Island list.
The first LP I ever bought was a budget label collection of Sousa marches, performed by "The Pride of the '48 Band" (whoever they were), which cost 99¢ at a discount store back in about 1959. Here I am, about 3,000 LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes, open-reel tapes, and CDs later. It's almost impossible to discard 2,990 of them to make a "desert island" list, but here goes...we'll do it Casey Kasem style, as a countdown... #10 - Turn Your Radio On - Ray Stevens - Barnaby Z 30809, 1972. Totally unlike other Ray Stevens records, this collection of gospel songs is a personal favorite which would sustain me on that desert isle. In addition to the title song, it includes essential Sunday School songs like "Love Lifted Me" and "Jesus Loves Me" as well as "All My Trials" and "Glory Special". It has been reissued on CD with a couple of different titles. A great collection of bright songs for dark days. #9 - 20 Reggae Classics - Various Artists - Trojan TRLS 222, 1984. A great UK import collection of early reggae songs. I don't know if it's ever been released on CD. It includes the original reggae version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" by Tony Tribe. This version inspired UB40's version. You'll also find songs by Bob Marley ("Keep on Moving"), The Maytals ("Pressure Drop"), and Jimmy Cliff ("Many Rivers to Cross") here, along with "Longshot Kick de Bucket" by The Pioneers and "Skinhead Moonstomp" by Simaryp. There's only room for one reggae album, so it has to be a good anthology. #8 - In Person / Cross Country Concert - The Brothers Four - Collectors' Choice CCM 090-2, 1999. This CD brings together a pair of Brothers Four folk music albums originally released on Columbia in 1962 and 1963. In Person includes a pair of my favorite folk songs, "Across the Sea" and "I Am a Rovin' Gambler". It's hard to choose just one folk music album, leaving behind the Limeliters, Peter, Paul and Mary, and all the others, but this is my top pick. #7 - The Very Best of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 - A&M 540 752-2, 1997. Another UK import, this 2-CD set is so much better than any domestic compilation of Brasil '66 songs. 48 tracks, including many of my favorites, like "Constant Rain (Chove Chuva)," "Tim-Dom-Dom," "Mais Que Nada," "Cinnamon and Clove," "Night and Day," "Agua De Beber," and "So Danco Samba". If I can't have their collected works, this is a close second. #6 - Blues Roots / Compadres - Dave Brubeck - My favorite Brubeck records, they were the first two albums recorded by "The Dave Brubeck Trio, featuring Gerry Mulligan". Neither one has been reissued on CD, so I'd have to make my own CD from the two vinyl albums. Compadres was recorded in concert in Mexico in 1968. It features a great rendition of "Amapola" and seven other wonderful tracks. Blues Roots is a studio album, and it includes "Limehouse Blues," "Broke Blues," and "Movin' Out" among its seven tracks. It's a very different sound than what the old Dave Brubeck Quartet had. #5 - They Call Me the Fat Man - Fats Domino - EMI, 1991. OK, I'm really cheating here, cuz this is a 4-CD boxed set, but I can't find a really great single disc of Fats's biggest hits. Virtually everything you ever wanted to hear by Fats Domino is included among the 100 tracks in this set, and the more you hear, the more you want to hear. This guy deserves a lot more recognition than he gets among the founding fathers of rock 'n' roll. Among my favorites by Fats: "My Girl Josephine," "You Win Again," "Whole Lotta Loving," "I Want to Walk You Home," "Blue Monday," "The Big Beat," "Let the Four Winds Blow," and "I'm in Love Again". #4 - Alligator Stomp - Various Artists - Rhino R2 70946, 1990. A natural companion to the Fats Domino set, this is the first of a series of compilations of Cajun and Zydeco music which Rhino released. The 18 tracks by Rockin' Sidney, Clifton Chenier, Jo-El Sonnier, Boozoo Chavis, and other leading artists of the genre will keep you jumping all night long. If you've never heard this Louisiana music, try this first-rate sampler. #3 - The Best of the Flying Pickets - 10/Virgin CDP VIP 115. Still another British import. The Flying Pickets are not well known in America, but their a capella style is worth discovering. It was a search for their song "Only You" (which is nothing like the Platters' song with the same title) which led me to one of their vinyl LPs and eventually to this CD. Try it; you might really like it a lot! #2 - Total Madness: The Very Best of Madness - Geffen GEFD-25145, 1997. Madness were pretty much a one-hit wonder in America with "Our House," but they had a string of hits in England. This disc provides a good 12-song sampling of the stuff that gave them more weeks on the UK singles chart during the '80s than any other artist. My favorites include "The Sun and the Rain," "Wings of a Dove" (NOT the old Ferlin Husky song), and "Michael Caine". Check 'em out! #1 - The Best of Gallagher and Lyle - Sorry, I don't have the label and catalog number handy, as I am still trying to acquire this CD. I do have several of their vinyl LPs. Still another act pretty much unknown in the US which enjoyed some success in Britain in the '70s. Very talented, very listenable. If you like Seals & Crofts, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Loggins & Messina, or similar duos, you'll probably like these guys. Art Garfunkel recorded their song "Break Away". Hmmm. Ten good solid choices and I never got to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Creedence, the Stones, or a bunch of other favorites. But if I have a radio on my island I might get to hear those guys over the airwaves. Most of the 10 listed here would never turn up on the radio these days. So at least for now I will stick with this list. If your local library has any of them, check 'em out. You might end up buying copies for your own collection.  |
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