Lets Give Politics A Break....

You know, I'm trying to keep this blog going, with at least one or two posts a week, but sometimes even though there is news out there, it bores me. Today, I'm going to take my lead from my friend Chris over at Redhogdiary.wordpress.com. While Chris and I rarely see eye-to-eye on politics, we both share a passion for good music, and since there was so much cross-pollination of our musical tastes when we were roommates in college. Today Chris had a post of top ten favorite songs - for today at least at http://redhogdiary.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/top-10-favorite-songstoday-anyway/

Check it out (but then come back). Chris got me to thinking about that age old question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what five albums would you take with you. Before I answer that question, let me speak to the under-30 crowd: An "album" is kind of like a CD, only bigger, and was played on a thing we called a "record player". Also, a CD were these shiny things that we listened to in the days before we had Ipods. You'll understand this a few years from now when you're forced to explain to your own kids what an Ipod is.

And no, you can't take your Ipod. I know, I know, an Ipod is a lot smaller than five albums (or five CD's), but if that's the case you have to sit hear and read the list of the 3,000 albums that I would take on my Ipod, and no one wants that.

As a background, I have no musical talent whatsoever, although I continue to harbor delusions of grandeur that one day I will break through as a rock star. The good news is I get closer every year, not because my (nonexistence) talent is improving, but the bar for "rock star" gets a little lower every year. Can you say Courtney Love? Terry Schibo had more talent than that women.

But I do love music, and personally own about 2,000 CD's, and just added my 10,000th song to my Ipod. I listen to Pop, Rock, Acid, Easy Listening, Country, Rap, and just about everything else under the sun. Sure, some of it is crap, and I'm not going to tell you that what I listen to is good for you, but I'm telling you that I like it.

And with that, let me present my top five CD's for a Desert Island, in no certain order:

LITTLE FEAT: Waiting For Columbus. Now some people would say you can't include this album because it's a live album. Others would say it has to be two of my five, since its a double-album (kids, ask your folks). To those people I say, get your own damn blog.

Little Feat is a band that has been around in some variation or other since the late 1960's, and they still tour and release material to this very day. And, in the vein of the Grateful Dead, most of the CD's they release are live shows, of which Waiting For Columbus was their first. And while the group is still great, they are a mere shadow of whom they were when founder Lowell George was still alive (Lowell died in June of 1979 at the age of 34 of a massive Heart Attack). It was Waiting For Columbus, which was released in 1978, that was their biggest seller, and still sells well today. According to Wikipedia, "The group's 1978 live album Waiting For Columbus, hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest live records ever released." Check this one out, you will not be disappointed.

BARENAKED LADIES: Gordon: Many people know the Barenaked Ladies (or BNL, as they are known to their fans) through their hit One Week. This is the first CD released by the Barenaked Ladies, and while their more recent release are solid, they will never again reach the peak the achieved with Gordon. This album is hard to describe. Several songs are pop, some are rock, and most have a real intelligent strain of humor running through them. As musicians they are flawless, and their vocals are perfect. I can honestly say that there is not one wasted track on this CD. I bought this CD based on a two paragraph review in People Magazine, which has lead to seeing the band four times in concert.

REO SPEEDWAGON: You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish. That's right, REO Speedwagon. Actually, I debated between this album and "Got Live If You Want It", but I didn't want to push my luck with two live double-albums.

REO Speedwagon falls into a group of late seventies Midwest rockers that define my youth. This group includes Styx, Cheap Trick, Head East, and Foghat. Maybe it's because these were the bands that came through Cedar Falls at that time. Now REO Speedwagon really hit the big time with Hi Infidelity (and at the same time left the big time with the same album), and while that was a great album, nothing beats You can tune.... except maybe "Riding The Storm Out" from the aforementioned live album. But with such tunes as Roll With The Changes and Time For Me To Fly this is one great album.

THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: Tales Of Mystery And Imagination: Like all of the artists listed above, I love just about everything Alan Parsons has ever done, and it would be easy to make a realistic argument for I, Robot, or Eve, or Eye In The Sky, or any of a dozen other Parsons albums being named their best. And one of the reasons I choose this one is A) because it was their first album, which of course introduced them to me, and B), the unique premise on which this album was founded.

This album was a concept album, based on the poems of Edgar Allen Poe, and while that is a recipe for disaster, it actually works quite well here. Parsons has also based albums on the life and works of architect Antonio Gaudi (Gaudi), and gambling (Turn Of A Friendly Card).

As if I need to sell him further, know that Alan Parsons was an engineer (at age 18) on The Beatles Abbey Road album, as well as Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Al Stewarts Year of The Cat.

And that brings us to the fifth album (drumroll please...........)

Aw come on, you didn't expect me to stop at five, did you. That means I would have had to choose from Boston by Boston, Heaven Tonight by Cheap Trick, Hotel California by The Eagles, Back In Black by AC/DC, Born To Run, The River, or Born In The USA by Bruce Springsteen, Toys In The Attic by Aerosmith, From The Inside by Alice Cooper, Life Beyond L.A. by Ambrosia, Just about anything by The Beatles, Whatever and Ever, Amen by Ben Folds Five, The Stranger By Billy Joel, Night Moves by Bob Seger, A Hangover You Don't Deserve by Bowling For Soup, BR5-49 by BR5-49, Built For Speed by The Stray Cats, Lines by Charlie, Twangin' by Dave Edmonds, Seconds of Pleasure by Rockpile, Van Halen I by Van Halen, Making Movies by Dire Straits, Fickle Heart by Sniff n' The Tears, Out Of The Blue by ELO, They Only Come Out At Night by The Edgar Winter Group, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John, Flat As A Pancake by Head East, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne, Deja Vu by CSN&Y, See The Light by Jeff Healey, M.U. by Jethro Tull, Anything by Jim Croce, London Calling by The Clash, Songs You Know By Heart by Jimmy Buffett, Night & Day by Joe Jackson, Scarecrow by John Mellencamp, Who's Next , Tommy and Who Are You by the Who, Deguelo by ZZ Top, anything by Led Zeppelin, and for Chris, Fotomaker by Fotomaker.

And about five hundred more.....

Guess I'm going to have to take that Ipod after all.

And dear reader, what albums would you bring.....