My Desert Island Wines - Part 2

Last week I shared my desert island wines – the eight wines I would want to have with me to enjoy if I found myself a castaway on a deserted island. But the original idea for the desert island scenario came from a weekly BBC radio program that invited well-known figures to discuss what music recordings they would want to have with them to listen to should they find themselves stranded on a desert island, along with one book and one luxury item. Here are my choices!

First, let’s cover my eight desert island recordings, which represent my all-time favorite albums starting with my number 1 and proceeding down to number 8:

• The Beatle's "Abbey Road".  It should come as no surprise that the absolute best musical group of all time ends up making my desert island disc list. This classic captures the Beatles at a time when they were, creatively, still at their peak, but starting to break apart as a group (thanks a lot Yoko, ...). Each of the Beatles contribute their own songs to this recording. Ultimately, Lennon went public with his dislike for the album, and called McCartney's contributions, "music for the grannies to dig, ...".  But everyone else in the world, sans Lennon, absolutely loved the album, and for good reason.  Every song is a classic, and the 8-song medley composed by McCartney on the second side is one of the best 16 minutes of music ever written.  And of course, the iconic cover, ...  This is as good as music gets.

• Supertramp's "Breakfast in America".  Supertramp released so many amazing albums over the time they were together as a group, but none compared to Breakfast, not only in terms of critical praise, but also creativity and popularity.  This mega album spawned the hits "Breakfast in America", "The Logical Song", "Take the Long Way Home", "Another Nervous Breakdown", and "Goodbye Stranger".  And the rest of the songs are fantastic as well. 

• Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".  It was a huge challenge to pick my favorite Elton John record - he has produced so many classics. But this one stands out among the crowd for its musical perfection.  Released in 1973, this two-album set represented a departure for Elton from his softer, country-tinged pop period to a more expansive, pop rock period.  Rumor has it that Elton wrote this whole record over a single weekend - if true, this has to be the greatest set of quickly written songs ever and included the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday's Alright for Fighting", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Bennie and the Jets", and "Harmony" to name a few. 

• Alice Cooper's "From the Inside".  Yup, you heard that right, ... Alice Cooper, aka Vincent Damon Furnier, the son of a Baptist preacher (his parents must have been so proud!).  This masterpiece was produced by David Foster and contains Cooper's best effort as a songwriter and singer.  "From the Inside" is a concept album about Cooper's actual stay in a New York sanitarium back in the 70's due to his alcoholism.  From Alice's gorgeous ballad (you don't hear those three words together often, ...), "How You Gonna See Me Now", to the "tender" love song "Millie and Billie" ("And I loved your late husband Ronald, but what torture his memory brings, all sliced up and sealed tight in baggies, guess love makes you do funny things, ..."), to the raucous "Nurse Rosetta" (lyrics suitable only for audiences over 21 years of age), to his magnum opus, the macabre album closer, "We're All Crazy" with full orchestra and choir ("It's not like we're vicious or gone, we just talk to our shrinks, they talk to their shrinks, no wonder we're up the wall"). Classic, classic rock - always on the rotation (Laurie's not a fan, but she puts up with it without complaining).

• Jellyfish's "Spilt Milk".  Most of you are probably thinking, "what the frack???  Jellyfish? Short answer:  YES!  This band had a short life and only released two CDs, but both were absolutely fantastic.  Taking their cues from the Beatles, Jellyfish wrote bright pop rock songs with amazing melodies, clever lyrics, and intricate arrangements.  They were a weird group of artists, but boy were they talented. I have great memories of going to see Jellyfish live at a small club in Honolulu, HI when I was living in paradise back in the early 90's.  I have played this CD more often than any other over the past 25 years - that's how good it is – ‘nuff said!

• Genesis's "Duke".  Released in 1980, this became the soundtrack of my high school senior year summer and pretty much stayed on the permanent daily playlist for the entire year.  This represents Genesis's best overall effort, with fantastic melodies and the classic Genesis sound, before they became more of a progressive pop band (instead of a progressive rock band).  The opening three-song cycle (Behind the Lines, Duchess, and Guide Vocal) is one of the greatest opening song cycles of any album, ever.  It's also a classic to "play" to if you fancy yourself an "air drummer", ...

• Pat Metheny's "Secret Story".  Pat Metheny is one of the world's great jazz guitarists, with an amazing solo career as well as numerous collaborations with jazz greats and a hugely successful run with the Pat Metheny Group.  His music doesn't fit into a single genre, and while he's best known as a jazz performer, his melodic style, and interest in innovating and pushing boundaries with his music makes it impossible to classify his work in any single category.  This solo work, released in 1992, is superb from start to finish.  If you think you don't like jazz, give this one a try.

• The Tube's "Completion Backward Principle".  This classic, released in 1981, transformed the Tube's from a punk rock, slightly off kilter band to a pop rock juggernaut.  This CD spawned the hits, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" and "Talk To Ya Later".  It's one of those records that's entirely too short and once you reach the end, you want to start from the beginning and play it all over again.  And it's still on my regular rotation almost 35 years after its initial release.  Fantastic melodies, and great lyrics, this one was on the turntable non-stop for years after I bought it. 

• Honorable mentions: Queen’s “A Night at the Opera”, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”, Billy Joel’s “The Stranger”, and Pink Floyd’s “Animals”.

My one desert island book? This is a tough one, but I’d have to bring my all-time favorite novel with me, Stephen King’s “11/22/63”. It’s a book about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Clocking in at 850 pages, it provides a fantastic mix of science fiction, alternate history, and suspense. I remember reading the entire 850 pages in three days – that’s how hooked I was on the story.

And it’s one of only four books that I have read more than once (actually, three times now)! The other three include C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed (a fantastic exploration of the human experience of loss and mourning based on the passing of his wife); Eugene O’Neill’s The Last Will and Testament of an Extremely Distinguished Dog (a book about the loss of his cherished dog, told from the dog’s perspective); and Landscape Turned Red by Stephen Sears (a retelling of the Civil War Battle of Antietam and the single bloodiest in American history).

And finally, my one luxury item? It would be my favorite armchair of all time – my Pottery Barn Turner Roll Arm Leather Chair! Laurie and I bought two of them for our wine room in our house in Alexandria, VA and brought them with us when we moved down here to Sarasota. It is THE absolute, most comfortable sleep-inducing chair ever! I’ll need somewhere to sit and enjoy my wine and music on my desert island, and this is the perfect piece of furniture for that task!!

My all-time favorite lounge chairs in our wine room in Alexandria, VA

So, what would be your Desert Island discs if you found yourself stranded as a castaway on a desert island? Let me know!