Desert Island Discs

[BMD]

There's a programme on BBC Radio 4 here in the UK which I really enjoy listening to

 

Here's the premise, with thanks to Wikipedia:

 

"Each week a guest, called a 'castaway' during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices."

 

So what would be your eight discs (and your reasons for choosing them), your book, and your luxury item? By the way, the luxury item can't be anything that would help you escape from the island. It's purely to make your life more bearable. So a boat or distress flares are out, I'm afraid. Oh, and the discs are usually singles, not albums

 

At the end of the show the presenter asks the castaway which one disc above all others they would endeavour to save if said discs were washed away. So what would be your 'one disc'?

[Anderton]

Eight discs is nowhere near enough, so I'm including albums, and counting a boxed set as a single album. So there.

 

Brandenburg Concertos - everything you want to know about harmony, counterpoint, and transcendence. This would be the one I would save if the others washed away, but I'd get to choose the orchestra.

Are You Experienced? - Hendrix - such amazing guitar work, I never get tired of it

My four most recent albums (that may seem egotistical, but hey, I make the kind of music I like to listen to)

In a Silent Way - Miles Davis - because sometimes you just want to chill, in style

Boxed set of Beethoven Symphonies (is that cheating?) - they're just so effing grandiose. Again, I get to choose the orchestra.

 

The book:

 

Listen, Humanity - it always makes me think.

 

The luxury item:

 

Mac Pro loaded with a ton of software - music, games, eBooks, etc. Or maybe a short wave radio, so I could hear what was going on in the world. But then I guess I'd need electricity...hmmm...better think of something else. Maybe a really nice telescope for star gazing.

[Notes_Norton]

I absolutely love Rock, Blues, Salsa, and dozens of other kinds of music. But if I'm going to be on a desert island, I'd need symphonic music, because I can listen to a great symphony hundreds of times and still find something new, a twist of a theme, a combination of themes, etc.

 

Example, I played Dovrak #9 in school, wore out an LP and bought a couple of CDs until I found what I thought was a great interpretation. I listened to it hundreds of times, intensively most of the time, and one day I realized that Dvorak took part of theme from one movement, part of a theme from another movement to make a melody in a passage, took part of the theme from another for the bass line and a fragment of another theme for high accompaniment in the background. For about 30 seconds, all 4 major themes from all 4 movements are combined so slickly that it isn't obvious, all you hear is wonderful melody and harmony.

 

Dvorak symphonies 7-8-9 - Cleveland Orchestra - Dohnany conducting - Because #9 is the greatest piece of music ever recorded on American Soil

 

Beethoven symphonies 4&7 - Cleveland Orchestra - Szell conducting - my two favorite Beethoven Symphonies and a great interpretation

 

Tchaikovsky symphonies 4-5-6 - Gewandhaus Leipzig orchestra - Kurt Masur conducting - Tchaikovsky's 3 greatest symphonies and a truly stunning interpretation by Masur

 

Symphonic Poems from Russia - USSR symphony Orchestra - Evegny Svetlanov conducting

 

Prokofiev Ballets Complete - Various USSR orchestras - I like his ballets even better than his symphonies

 

Fikret Amarov: Arabian Nights (complete ballet), Symphony for String Orchestra and Shur - Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Azerbaijan Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conductors: Nazim Rzaev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Rauf Abdullayev - because I just can't get enough of this one

 

Camille Saint-Saëns Danse Macbre, Phaeton, and others - Charles Dutoit conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra - because Camille is my favorite French composer

 

Dmitri Shostakovitch - Complete Symphonies - Vladimir Askenazy conducting Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra

 

For anyone familiar, I prefer the dark, brooding symphonic works. The Blues of the Romantic to Modern era classical music.

 

These could probably last the rest of my life if they had to.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[KuruPrionz]

Hey Notes, what about your book and luxury item?

 

Hmmm, not really enough information?

 

If I am going to be fed that's one thing. If not then the luxury item I would want would probably want a fishing kit so I have a way to get food.

 

If food is not a worry then my luxury item would be my Rainsong WS3000 12 string guitar with case. I'd get a lot of joy out of that, the case would protect the strings and if I broke one string I'd still have an eleven string. It could take a while to get down to no strings. If I am stretching things then there would be 5 extra sets of strings in the case (and a tuning fork).

 

It is difficult to choose one book but perhaps the Enhanced Edition of Gardner's Art Through The Ages since it is a fairly comprehensive overview of Art going back to the cave paintings and includuing architectural Art. I would never get tired of looking at that and it would not depress the hell out of me like most of the books I love.

 

Since it appears both Craig and Notes have gotten away with choosing albums, I'll do the same. I'll list my Classical choice first so as to appear somewhat sophisti-muh-cated and save my guilty pleasure album for last.

 

Stravinsky - The Rites Of Spring

The Band - The Band

Joni Mitchell - Miles of Aisles - since this is pre-Jaco also the following record

Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

Taj Mahal - Giant Step/De Ole Folks At Home

Abba - Best of Abba, the double album

 

Yep, 5 out of 8 albums are double albums. I'm sneaky like that.

 

Edited to add, if I had to save one it would be Miles of Aisles with The Band a close second. Then the Rites of Spring, Kind of Blue.

[BMD]

Looks like the rules have been well and truly broken, so it would appear it's down to me to do this properly

 

By the way, I forgot to mention that you're given the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare...whether you want them or not

 

 

 

1. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles. My favourite song of all time. The song itself, the arrangement, and the production are just superb. The lyric is meaningless, but that doesn't bother me. The words just sound great, if you know what I mean

 

2. Nowhere Man - The Beatles. Never have the combined voices of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison sounded so good. This is my second favourite Beatles song. I'm very fond of Paul's bass-line on this, too

 

3. A Sort of Homecoming - U2. This takes me back to a time when I did nothing but listen to music and drink home-brewed beer all day long! I played the album 'The Unforgettable Fire' endlessly as I chugged away on my liver-rotting concoction, and the above is my favourite track from that album

 

4. Wonderland - Big Country. A similar story to #3, although this was actually a non-album single. But I had it on 12" vinyl and it completely blew me away. Pop perfection!

 

5. Symptom of the Universe - Black Sabbath. Before hearing this I'd been listening almost exclusively to pop music. Then someone lent me the 'Sabotage' album. It was a life-changing moment. I'd never heard anything like this kind of music, and my chosen track literally made my jaw drop

 

6. The Spirit of Radio - Rush. A superb blend of rock and (dare I say it?) pop. I loved this song upon first hearing it, and I still love it today. Terry Brown's production is excellent

 

7.

- Craig Anderton. Craig has covered a few of my songs but this is my favourite. I really do like what he did with what was originally a fast-paced, punky song. It's perfect. There's nothing about it I don't like, even though he changed a line because he refused to sing the word 'socks'

 

8. You Call to Me - Ernest Buckley. Another cover of one of my songs. This is how the song always sounded in my head, but I didn't have the talent to do it this way myself. It's like Ernest read my mind! It's a beautiful version

 

 

The one I'd save from the waves? Strawberry Fields Forever. No question

 

Book: The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis. I've always loved the Narnia books, and this brings the series to a perfect close. The ending always reduces me to tears

 

Luxury: A piano. I don't play piano, but being alone on a deserted island might give me the incentive to learn!

[harmonizer]

I'm going with the "album" rule bending. Here are 8 albums, in no particular order except the first:

 

Rob Mathes "Evening Train"

Steely Dan "Aja"

Chicago II

Roy Hargrove "Diamond in the Rough"

Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life"

Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"

Manhattan Transfer "Vocalise"

Elton John "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"

 

luxury item: piano (even though I am primarily a sax player)

 

For my book I would choose a Christian bible. I'm not trying to make a religious statement here - I will admit there are large parts of the old and new testaments I have not yet read. My book choice would be based on pragmatic issues of wanting something I could read a lot, read multiple times to break the boredom, and help me deal with the isolation.

 

The album I would save from the waves: Rob Mathes "Evening Train"

[Notes_Norton]

Hey Notes, what about your book and luxury item?<...snip...>

Book? That would be tough. I read books like chewing gum, enjoy them, but don't usually want to read them again. I'd do some research of the survival books on this page http://militarybackpackguide.com/7-best-survival-books/ and choose the one that would fit my needs the most.

 

Luxury item? I'm not really into luxury, basic and comfortable usually do for me. It would depend on what else is on that desert island. Obviously electricity and shelter or the CDs wouldn't do anybody any good. Same for food, there must be enough food to hunt or gather or else I'd never get through those CDs. So my luxury item would depend on what is already on that desert island and what I thought would need the most.

 

Is satellite Internet connection there? If not, that would probably be my luxury item (or is that cheating)

 

Notes

[Mike Rivers]

Just give me a fiddle. On a real desert island with nobody around to hear me, I might finally learn to play the darn thing. Been trying for 50 years and never got past the painful stage.

[The Real MC]

Well if I'm given the Bible then I'm going to want the Halley's Handbook to go with it.

 

Luxury item? A grand piano, there's no better way to woodshed.

 

Single discs:

1)

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6)

7)

8)

 

Why the empty list? The contest never said there would be electricity on a desert island. How are you going to play them.