End of BYE week distraction

Thank God, our game against BYE is over…

Now, before we all get obsessed with our next game against UCLA (which we will win going away), how about a short distraction from football. When I was young and playing music with friends as a hobby, we often played a game, loosely described as:

If you were isolated on an island for the rest of your life, with no contact to the outside word, and could take only 5 musical albums (yes, we spoke of music in units of albums in those days), what would you take? You can only take one album/CD/Collection from each musical genre, so if you ONLY like Rock, well, you ONLY get one.

Here are the genres:

Rock,
Blues,
Jazz,
Country
Classical.

There are clearly other genres, but each has an obvious association with one or perhaps two of these. Choose the closest.

My selections:

Rock: Allman Brothers, “At the Fillmore East” (of the dozens of competing choices, the top might include the Rolling Stones’ Let it Bleed)

Blues: BB King, “Live in Cook County Jail” (too many competing choices to mention, well, maybe an old Robert Johnson, or Mississippi John Hurt recording…) BTW – saw BB live at Kingsbury Hall, in perhaps 1974; spectacular!

Jazz: Wynton Kelly Trio w/Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half Note. This is the most difficult choice for me, I want to trade all other genres for ALSO taking Jazz recording, Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue”. Have to choose one, so Smokin’ is it.

Country: When I was a teenager in the mid-seventies, I had a double album (long since worn out and discarded), something like The Best of Hank Williams. His tunes were so short, I think the collection included virtually all of his recordings. I want this! Having said that, I could list several dozen alternatives in this category, including several that cross the lines into Rock or Blues.

Classical: I want either a recording of Verdi’s Opera Rigoletto, or the nine Beethoven Symphonies… Since the nine symphonies account for a great deal more volume of music, I’ll take them… But this is also difficult…

Obviously no “right” answers and if you don’t care about a genre, ignore it. However, you don’t get more than one Rock recording :blush:

And, yeah, I’m old… but apparently the music never gets old. There are as many tunes from my youth, played at football or basketball games, as from any era since. (This actually seems unfair to me.)

Hope you enjoy the game.

Thank God the BYE week is over and we are only 6 days from football.

Go UTES!

Since I don’t listen to any blues, very little jazz, not a single bit of country (ever), or much classical, I guess I won’t have much music on my deserted island. :slight_smile:

So imma break the rules and just list my five personal “desert island” albums instead. Cool?

  • David Bowie - Hunky Dory. I think most people would pick Ziggy Stardust as their one Bowie album, but Ziggy doesn’t have “Life on Mars”, which is the best song ever written. So Hunky Dory wins.
  • Wilderun - “Sleep at the Edge of Earth”. One of the most perfect albums ever made, imo. An epic, beautiful, brutal mix of black metal, folk, and symphony.
  • Skinny Puppy - “Too Dark Park”. If nightmares had soundtracks, they would sound like this. It’s truly an incredible bit of musical sculpture. I’ve listed to this album hundreds of times over the past 30 years, and I still hear something new every single time I spin it.
  • Sigh - “Scenes from Hell”. It’s insanity put to music, basically. Nothing else can sonically capture dread and unease like this album does. One of the few albums that still creeps me out, even though I’ve heard it a bazillion times.
  • Agalloch - “Marrow of the Spirit”. Does an incredible job of capturing both the beauty and the power of nature. There’s nothing better to thrown on the headphones for a walk through the woods.
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Rock: Revolver by The Beatles
Blues: Any “best of” by Howlin’ Wolf or Muddy Waters
Jazz: Any “best of” by Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller
Country: I have a 3 CD set of Johnny Cash that I would take
Classical: I have a CD collection of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies that I would take

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Not necessarily “the best” but just ones to throw out there

Rock: Steve Miller Fly Like an Eagle
Blues: ZZ Top Fandango
Folk: Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
Jazz: Thelonius Monk Blue Monk
Pop: Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Hip Hop: Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
Notable mentions:
Elton John goodbye yellow brick road
The Last Waltz - The Band
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
Grateful Dead - Reckoning
James Taylor - Flag
David Bowie - Ziggy

I can never decide

Get rid of blues and jazz and replace with pop and hip/hop. That would leave you with the five most popular genres out of the group.

Yeah, I’m not down with the narrow set of parameters you have set, most of us younger folk wouldn’t know the first thing about jazz and blues, and I wouldn’t be caught dead listening to country.

Here are some candidates for me:

Kid A - Radiohead
Vespertine - Bjork
American Idiot - Green Day
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
Blue Sky Mining - Midnight Oil
Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em - Eric B. & Rakim
The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga
Tron Legacy Soundtrack - Daft Punk
Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
This is Acting - Sia
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads

There are so many more. I’d have to have an iPod with tons of memory.

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