Top 25 "Desert Island" Albums

In no particular order:
1) Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs
2) Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
3) Jeff Beck - Wired
4) Santana - Amigos
5) Miles Davis - A Kind Of Blue
6) Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love
7) Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare
8) Van Halen - VH I
9) Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains The Same
10) Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
11) Gov't Mule - Deep End Vol. 1
12) Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
13) Rush - 2112
14) Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
15) Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
16) Frank Zappa - Them Or Us
17) AC/DC - Back In Black
18) Queensryche - The Warning
19) Frank Sinatra - Strangers In The Night
20) Andreas Vollenweider - White Winds
21) Steve Vai - Flex-able
22) Jeff Beck - Live At Ronnie Scott's
23) Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
24) Black Sabbath - Paranoid
25) Michael Jackson - Thriller
 
OK, a bit of a different list...


1. The Church, Starfish
2. The The, Mind Bomb
3. Peter Gabriel, Us
4. Peter Gabriel, The Last Temptation of Christ
5. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
6. Shearwater, The Golden Archipelago
7. Bon Iver, Bon Iver
8. Hammock, Chasing after Shadows…Living with the Ghosts
9. Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther
10. Sigur Ros, Hvarf-Heim
11. Midlake, The Courage of Others
12. The Church, Hologram of Baal
13. Crowded House, Recurring Dream
14. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
15. Explosions In The Sky, All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone
16. Gillian Welch, Time, the Revelator
17. Midnight Oil, Blue Sky Mining
18. Portico, Quartet, Isla
19. R.E.M., Fables of the Reconstruction
20. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
21. Iron & Wine, The Creek Drank the Cradle
22. The Posies, Dear 23
23. Ray Montford, Live Sessions
24. Blind Faith, Blind Faith
25. Pink Floyd, Animals
 
I really like explosions in the sky. It's no cell to see someone else knows them. They are incredible live.

I think the "post rock" genre is very cool and inventive. I've always been very particular about vocals/lyrics--some things just get in the way of great music.
 
There are some bands (like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles) that I just can't narrow down to one album...so I didn't. There's so much good music, it's hard to narrow it down to 25 but here goes:

1. Led Zeppelin – IV (or I or II or III or Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti)
2. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (or The Wall or Wish You Were Here)
3. The Beatles – Abbey Road (or Sgt. Pepper’s or The White Album)
4. Van Halen – Fair Warning (or I or II or Women and Children First or 1984)
5. Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street (or Some Girls or Tattoo You)
6. Tool – Ænima (or Lateralus or 10,000 Days)
7. Black Sabbath – Paranoid (or Black Sabbath or Master of Reality)
8. The Who – Who’s Next (or Tommy or Quadrophenia)
9. Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced? (or Electric Ladyland or Axis: Bold as Love)
10. U2 – The Joshua Tree (or Achtung Baby)
11. Rush – Moving Pictures (or 2112)
12. AC/DC – Highway to Hell (or Back in Black)
13. Metallica – Master of Puppets
14. Pearl Jam – Ten
15. Alice in Chains – Dirt
16. Mastodon - Crack the Skye (or The Hunter)
17. Soundgarden – Superunknown (or Badmotorfinger or Down on the Upside)
18. Guns ‘n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
19. Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
20. Nirvana – Nevermind
21. Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime (or Empire)
22. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
23. The White Stripes – Elephant
24. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
25. Queens of the Stone Age - Music for the Deaf
 
Geez, I don't think anybody so far would want to be stuck on my desert island with my choices. A few that I'd definately NOT want to live without would easily be:

1. Bach Brandenburg Concertos conducted by Gustav Leonhardt (two cds)
2. Beethoven Complete Symphonies conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt (five cds)
3. Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt (three cds)
4. Wes Montgomery "Smokin' at the Half Note"
5. Beatles Red Album (two discs)
6. Beatles Blue Album (two discs)
7. Omar Faruk Tekbilek "Whirling"
8. Bach Mass in B Minor directed by Konrad Junhanel (two discs)
9. "Monshogodo: Meditative Sounds of Old Japan" by Michael Chikuzen Gould and Sebastien Gishin Cyr
10. Barney Kessel "Let's Cook"
11. Since we can't have "compilation" albums, and as most 78's are only available on compilation albums, I'd grab a handful of Django and Son House records on my way to the island

My island rocks!
 
I actually keep a "top 25 songs of all time" playlist on my iPod, which I modify slightly from time to time. But albums is a bit more complicated. But here goes. It's not in any sorted order, just albums as they occur to me, with some back-tracking along the way. Certainly it's not a ranked ordering.

1. Beatles - "Help" (the 14-song UK version, which has all of the US album (minus the soundtrack snippets), plus other songs that were on the US "Yesterday and Today" album)
2. Rolling Stones - "Let It Bleed"
3. The Who - "Tommy"
4. The Who - "Who's Next"
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Cosmo's Factory"
6. Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"
7. Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells A Story"
8. AC/DC - "Back In Black"
9. Prince - "Purple Rain" (I was very tempted to pick "Dirty Mind" instead, but ended up opting for PR.)
10. David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust"
11. Derek and the Dominoes - "Layla"
12. Rolling Stones - "Exile on Main St"
13. Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper" (It's hard to NOT include several others, such as Revolver, Rubber Soul, and the White Album, so maybe one will sneak in later....)
14. The Ramones - "Rocket to Russia" (here is where it would make sense to pick their 30-song greatest hits album - Ramones Mania)
15. Rancid - "And Out Come the Wolves" (Everything just clicked for this album - the whole thing is a gem.)
16. The Clash - "The Clash" (first US album, great from beginning to end)
17. Little Feat - "Waiting for Columbus" (OK, as a double live album maybe it's cheating. But the playing and sound quality are top-notch.)
18. The Faces - "A Nod is as Good as a Wink, etc." (If you combine Rod Stewart's solo albums and the Faces albums, there is no better string of great work from between 1969 and 1972.)
19. Crosby, Stills, and Nash - first album (OK, this was a toss-up with Deja Vu, which added Neil. But Suite: Judy Blue Eyes has to be included somehow....)
20. Nick Lowe - "Labour of Lust" (a brilliant collection of songs, with Dave Edmunds and the rest of the Rockpile band. But how to choose a Dave Edmunds album???)
21. Dave Edmunds - "Tracks on Wax" (OK, I figured a way... A narrow edge over "Repeat When Necessary". Same band as item 20, above)
22. The Police - "Outlandos d'Amour" (Or however its spelled. Hard to pick one Police album, but I like the greater edginess of their first album.)
23. Elvis Costello - "My Aim Is True" (Even if the Attraction didn't play on this first album, it's still probably his best collection of songs.)
24. B. B. King - "Live At Cook County Jail" (Ah, the ambience of a great live venue.....)
25. Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run"

A few great individual songs that didn't make it, plus a few other artist regrets:
- Badfinger - a bit too erratic, but "No Matter What" and "Baby Blue" are both on my top 25 songs list
- Humble Pie - a guilty pleasure. "Shine On" with Peter Frampton on vocals is a great tune.
- "All Right Now" by Free
- What, no Cream? No Allman Brothers? I tried to kill two birds with "Layla".....
- TYA and ELO are both favorites of mine (certainly in the three-letter nick-name category), but no single albums stood out
- I was also tempted by James Brown, "Live at the Apollo" - he's another good argument for a greatest hits exception
- I also regret not being able to include any Lou Reed or VU - "Sweet Jane" is on my top 25 songs list.
- Not enough modern music, I know. Eve 6's first album is a contender. And Sublime's self-titled album is also (their second?) And I'm super impressed with the cohesiveness of One Republic's "Waking Up", which is pretty brilliant, even if I'm not a big fan of the vocal style.
 
1. Hotel California - Eagles (the song and album that saved my life and made me pick up the guitar especially because of Joe Walsh but also Don Felder too. My favorite band!)
2. Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones
3. Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
4. Back In Black - AC/DC
5. Toys In The Attic - Aerosmith
6. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
7. Disreali Gears - Cream
8. Tres Hombres - ZZ Top
9. IV - Led Zeppelin
10. Abbey Road - Beatles
11. Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan
12. Featuring Eric Clapton - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
13. Super Session - Al Kooper
14. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
15. Rides Again - James Gang
16. Appetite For Destruction - Guns N' Roses
17. Hysteria - Def Leppard
18. Escape - Journey
19. Damn The Torpedoes - Tom Petty
20. Fire And Water - Free
21. Layla and Assorted Love Songs - Derek and the Dominoes
22. From The Cradle - Eric Clapton
23. But Seriously Folks - Joe Walsh
24. 1984 - Van Halen
25. Shake Your Money Maker - Black Crowes
 
I could easily live on a desert island with the music listed below, but man, it's hard to pick just 25 :)

1. Pink Floyd - Pulse
2. Pink Floyd - Wish you were here
3. Pink Floyd - Atom heart Mother
4. Pink Floyd - Animals
5. Roger Waters - Amused to Death
6. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 4 Way Street
7. Lee Clayton - Naked Child
8. Yes – Tales from Topographic Oceans
9. Genesis - Selling England by the pound
10. Steve Hackett - Spectral Mornings
11. Lou Reed – Rock n’ Roll Animal
12. Moody Blues – A question of balance
13. Leonard Cohen – More best of
14. Led Zeppelin - I
15. Led Zeppelin – II
16. Led Zeppelin – III
17. Led Zeppelin – IV
18. Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
19. Robert Plant – Fate of Nations
20. Pendragon – Pure
21. Camel – Never let Go (2 disc set)
22. Camel – Harbour of Tears
23. Gary Moore – The Essential
24. The Beatles – The White Album
25. Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos
 
1) Queensryche - Operation:Mindcrime
2) Queensryche - Operation:Mindcrime (in case the first one gets messed up!)
3) Queensryche - The Warning
4) Pink Floyd - The Wall
5) Metallica - Master of Puppets
6) Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
7) Whatever I can find that has "The 1812 Overture" on it
8) The Cult - Sonic Temple
9) Styx - Kilroy Was Here
10) Michael Jackson - Thriller
11) The Who - Tommy
12) Metallica - Ride the Lightning
13) Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
14) Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz
15) Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic
16) Extreme - Three Sides to Every Story
17) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
18) Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny
19) Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
20) Dio - Holy Diver
21) Metallica - ...And Justice for All
22) Led Zeppelin 4
23) Ra - From One
24) Pearl Jam - 10
25) Collective Soul - Hints, Allegations and things left unsaid
 
OK... I've delayed this long enough. I'll update this post over the next week - until my list is complete.

1) Long Road Out of Eden - The Eagles
2) Purple Rain - Prince & The Revolution
3) Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Mails
4) The End of The Innocence - Don Helnley
5) Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty
6) Up - Peter Gabriel
7) ...but seriously - Phil Collins
8) Sailing The seas of Cheese - Primus
9) Operation:mindcrime - Queensyche
10) Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
11) Seal - Seal (1991)
12) Subliminal Plastic Motives - Self
13) Seasons - Sevendust
14) Tuesday Night Music Club - Sheryl Crow
15) In Your Honor - Foo Fighters
16) Listen Without Prejudice - George Michael
17) Born Again - Black Sabbath
18) Blue Valentine - Tom Waits
19) 5150 - Van Halen
20) Appetite For Destruction - G-N-R
21) Italia - Chris Botti
22) Long Cold Winter - Cinderella
23) God Shuffled His Feet - Crash Test Dummies
24) G. Love & Special Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce
25) D.A.D. - No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims


Below are the albums I am still trying to evaluate vs what's already on the list above (damn... this is HARD). They are just there as a placeholder. I'll whittle it down to 25. Eventually...
Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
Fallen - Evanescence
Continuum - John Mayer
Start The Car - Jude Cole
Hopes & Fear - Keane
1984 - Van Halen
Step Inside This House - Lyle Lovett
Peace Beyond Passion - Me'Shell Ndegéocello
Left Of Cool - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste - Ministry
Dulcinea - Toad The Wet Sprocket
For Evert Heart - Twila Paris
More To This Life - Stephen Curtis Chapman
I Still Believe in You - Vince Gill
Inside The Electric Circus - WASP
This Is War - 30 Seconds To Mars
Tommyland: The Ride - Tommy Lee
Can't Slow Down - Lionel Richie
Dogman - King's X
Rising Force - Yngwie Malmsteen
Dummy - Portishead
Everything from Jamiroquai
 
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1. Another Green World - Brian Eno
2. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
3. Basket of Light - Pentangle
4. Wildflowers - Petty
5. Meet the Beatles - The Beatles
6. Exodus - Bob Marley
7. Synchronicity - The Police
8. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
9. Bringin' It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
10. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
11. Music From Big Pink - The Band
12. Truth - Jeff Beck
13. Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart
14. Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt
15. Kid A - Radiohead
16. Rush of Blood To The Head - Coldplay (I don't care, I like it)
17. Joshua Tree - U2
18. This Is War - 30 Seconds to Mars (my son helped make this record and I love listening to it)
19. Live At Leeds - The Who
20. Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones
21. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
22. Aja - Steely Dan
23. Bitches' Brew - Miles Davis
24. Romantic Warrior - Return to Forever
25. All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
 
25 wow, I don't know but I can start with :

1. Beatles- Abbey Road
2. Aerosmith- Toys in the Attic
3. Yes- The Yes Album
4. Traffic- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
5. Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick
6. Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
7. Steely Dan- Aja
8. Rush- Moving Pictures
9. Deep Purple- Machine Head
10. through 15. Led Zeppelin- I, II, III, IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti
16. Bad Company- Bad Company
17. Beatles- Sgt. Peppers
18. Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
19. Yes- Close to the Edge
20. Heart- Little Queen
21. Bob Marley- Exodus
22. Simon and Garfunkel- Sounds of Silence
23. Fleetwood Mac- Rumors
24. Alice Cooper- Schools Out
25. Who- Tommy, Who's Next, and/or Live at Leeds.....you mean I can only take one?

Man, I could do another 25 without a problem...
 
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To make it more challenging, I decided to list concept albums only. Originally thought I could do one album per band, but I couldn't =)

Dream Theater - Scenes from a memory
Ayreon - The Human Equation
Opeth - Still life
Mind's Eye - Gentleman's Hurricane
Pain of Salvation - One hour by the concrete lake
Shaolin Death Squad - Five deadly venoms
Angra - Temple of shadows
Porcupine Tree - Fear of the blank planet
Jethro Tull - Thick as a brick
Dream Theater - Six degrees of inner turbulence
Ayreon - 01011001
Opeth - My arms your hearse
Pain of Salvation - Entropia
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Pain of Salvation - Perfect element
Porcupine Tree - The incident
Pink Floyd - The wall
Sting - If on a winter's night
Evergrey - The inner circle
Katatonia - Viva emptiness
Blind guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Opeth - Ghost reveries
Riverside - Second life syndrome
Riverside - Rapid eye movement
 
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