The ‘desert island album’ was already a dusty cliche by the time Greil Marcus asked 20 writers to submit essays on the topic in 1978. The resulting book, Stranded: Rock And Roll For A Desert Island, features the writers that Marcus most wanted to work with at the time, including critics known (Lester Bangs, Nick Tosches, Langdon Winner, Dave Marsh, and others) and unknown (Ariel Swartley? Grace Lichtenstein? Joe McEwen? Tom Smucker?). As you might expect, the essays are hit and miss, depending on who you’re stuck on that island with.
One critic (Lichtenstein) chose to strand herself with The Eagles’ Desperado, which led me to contemplate – for the first time in my life – the phrase ‘If I were stuck on a desert island with an Eagles album, I’d ____________’ (in case you’re curious, some representative answers were a) drown myself, b) go raving mad, and c) break the thing over my knee).
On the positive side, Langdon Winner makes an excellent case for Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica as the perfect desert island album. According to him, “[it] offers two features that other records do not: 1) an enormous variety of musical puzzles that require a considerable amount of time and concentration to figure out, and 2) a seemingly inexhaustible supply of unfinished ideas that one can fill in oneself.” Winner’s essay doesn’t just stand out in this collection, it’s perhaps the most persuasive argument ever put forth on behalf of Beefheart’s offbeat classic.
Stranded is stunning in its lack of musical breadth, and shows how many critics of the day were drinking directly from the same punch bowl. The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison each get two essays, and the four black artists represented were pre-Beatles artifacts. Very little of the music represented here lives outside the rock canon of the 60’s and 70’s. Robert Christgau laments as much in his forward to the 1995 edition (pictured above), “It would be nice to encounter James Brown or George Clinton or Public Enemy in this context.”
A profane phrase in Nick Tosches’ essay on Sticky Fingers offended the publisher so much that publication of the book was delayed by nearly a year. To his credit, Marcus refused to let the book be released without the offending phrase. If all the essays included here had the wit and edge of Tosches’ piece, this would really be something. Yet as it stands, Stranded is a book that all too often leaves you feeling just that.
*****
AND THE OBVIOUS QUESTION: What’s your desert island album?
*****
Some great answers…
Gene says Dire Straits: “…[an] excellent air guitar album — and when you’re on a desert island you don’t have to worry about being seen…”
Rob M says The Wall: “…every time I listen to that album, I hear something I never heard before…”
kdub says Golden Age Of Radio: “…two of my DI albums would be two you introduced me to: Alabama 3’s Exile on Coldharbour Lane and Josh Ritter’s Golden Age of Radio.”
Punker Foo says Bad Brains: “The range of this album is fantastic and it has so much raw material to work with, it is to the music lover what a set of Lincoln Logs would be to a stranded architect.”
EZ Rawlins says People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm: “…deep, wide, and soulful. It’s a journey.”
DancingTool says Never Mind The Bollocks: “It’s the perfect blend of anger and frustration with just enough pop riffs to keep me from talking to a volleyball.”
Jimmy James says War Of The Worlds: “Richard Burton narrating War Of The Worlds. Incredible.”
CindyPinc In The Stink says Sgt Peppers: “I’ve already proved to myself that I can listen to it over and over and over and over again and never lose interest.”
Cordell says Girlfriend: “Now I’m going to have trouble sleeping as I sit and wonder if I chose correctly.”
Pricklee Pete says Pelican West: “…it’s an album that will always make me feel good even when I’m pondering how high up my leg I’ll need to amputate to keep the gangrene at bay.”
Rob F says Five Leaves Left: “…if only for Cello Song which, despite the fact I’ve heard it a million times, never, ever fails to make my bones ache (in a good way).”
Dylan says Zenyatta Mondatta: “Solid songs start to finish.”
LC says The Very Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions: “It has the right song for almost every emotion.”
RKelly says London Calling: “It’s a no-brainer.”
Arlo Chingaderas says Life Is… Too $hort: “A true west coast classic.”
jkg says Abbey Road: “I can rediscover songs on that record over and over again.”
Tags: A Tribe Called Quest, Bad Brains, Books, Captain Beefheart, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Greil Marcus, H.G. Wells, Haircut 100, Josh Ritter, Langdon Winner, Matthew Sweet, Nick Drake, Nick Tosches, Pink Floyd, Richard Burton, Robert Christgau, Sex Pistols, Stranded: Rock And Roll For A Desert Island, The Beatles, The Clash, The Eagles, The Police, Too Short
31 May 2008 at 11:25 am |
My desert island album is Robert Redford singing to me.
31 May 2008 at 11:27 am |
Santana — Inner Secrets
I still go back and listen to this one. Greg Walker’s vocals, the percussion break on ‘One Chain don’t make no prison’, their 70’s era take on ‘Well Alright’.
Dire Straits — Dire Straits
With Sultans of Swing, Down to the Waterline…
The connective thread may be that they’re both excellent air guitar albums — and when you’re on a desert island where you don’t have to worry about being seen…….
31 May 2008 at 12:08 pm |
Oh, that’s easy: U2’s Joshua Tree and Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. Can’t narrow it down any more than that.
31 May 2008 at 12:13 pm |
Tie between LEd ZEppelIn’s Physical Graffiti and the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers.
31 May 2008 at 12:15 pm |
This thread reminds me of a joke a priest once told me:
What’s the only kind of wood that doesn’t float?
Natalie.
31 May 2008 at 1:08 pm |
I love this post! this used to be one of my top5 banters of previous day. If you were stuck on a island and could only have 5records with ya, what would they be
31 May 2008 at 1:30 pm |
Well… what would they be?
31 May 2008 at 2:11 pm |
Wow! Incredibly tacky “joke” about Natalie Wood.
31 May 2008 at 2:13 pm |
yeah, yeah, there are some good entries up there. If you’re a pussy! You’re not gonna last a week on that music before you just walk into the ocean and drown yourself like Kris Kristofferson at the end of “The Rose.” If you plan to last long enough to be rescued (and look how long it’s taken those poor saps on that “Lost” show) then you better have an album with some staying power. something versatile. something that encompasses not just one sound, but a collection of many. and influenced by many other types of music. My pick, THE WALL. Now, for starters, we’re talking a double album here. Twice as nice. Each song not only holds up on its own but collectively they tell a story. ANother bonus. Throw in the fact that you’ve probably seen the movie, you get to visualize while you listen. Another bonus. The double album also lets you clean your bud super easy. Those book cover type jackets are perfect for that. And I plan to start growing the second I get there. And finally, and perhaps the strongest argument, every time I listen to that album, I hear something i never heard before.
31 May 2008 at 2:50 pm |
What would they be? My thinkin always was be well rounded with your choices a little taste of everything
Last time I had that discussion I’m sure my choices were different but today my choices would be:
Nina Simone “Sings the Blues”
Iron & Wine – “The Shepherds Dog”
Spirit Caravan – “The Last Embrace” (because its a double disc, “Dead Love/Jug Fulla Sun” is the perfect beach music)
Black Sabbath – “Vol 4″
Jimi Hendrix – “Electric Ladyland”
31 May 2008 at 3:23 pm |
seems kinda interesting…have to give it a try!
31 May 2008 at 7:11 pm |
@ Berkley Pissbag – please don’t make DK’s Mom mad.
Here’s what’s likely playing on my island – row on over and bring a Stones album with you… please also bring a margarita and a flare gun.
Old + In the Way – self titled
Dave Alvin + the Guilty Men – Interstate City
Vivaldi – Four Seasons (Itzhak Perlman + London Symphony Orch or Claudio Abbado/Leslie Pearson also with the LSO)
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
John Phillps – Wolf King of LA
M. Ward – Transfiguration of Vincent
Gustav Holst – The Planets (Andre Previn + Royal Symphony Orchestra)
31 May 2008 at 7:12 pm |
Look out Berkley – my mom’s coming for you with the spaghetti spoon!
For me it’s down to these two albums:
Rolling Stones * Exile On Main St – The presumptive choice, simply because it’s an album that I never get tired of listening to, and it’s the perfect soundtrack for all the grit and grime that would accumulate on your person over the long haul, desert island experience.
John Phillips * John Wolfking Of L.A. – A surprise choice, but this album is the perfect mood setter for all those lonely sunsets and sunrises, as it’s full of melancholy, poetry, and regret.
31 May 2008 at 7:45 pm |
I am fucking pleased as punch to say that two of my DI albums would be two you introduced me to: Alabama 3’s Exile on Coldharbour Lane and Josh Ritter’s Golden Age of Radio. But fuck, how do you leave out Michael Penn’s March or Ella and Louie Armstrong?
My mom’s album would probably be some horrible Kris Kristofferson/Barbra Streisand compilation, so perhaps my mom and your mom should get together and go bowling.
31 May 2008 at 9:25 pm |
DK – thanks for getting your mom to help with the editing! That’s a nice touch.
No doubt about my DI – Bad Brains self-titled debut (often called the ROIR album). The range of this album is fantastic and it has so much raw material to work with, it is to the music lover what a set of Lincoln Logs would be to a stranded architect. I could play this record to tickle my rap itch, to satisfy my reggae needs and could play “Pay to Cum” to get out a lifetime’s worth of punk angst.
As an aside, I would pick their album “The Youth are Getting Restless” as one of the finest live albums of all time. They do a BAD ASS cover of “Day Tripper”. You can catch a sweet version on youtube:
31 May 2008 at 10:02 pm |
richard burton narrating war of the worlds. incredible.
31 May 2008 at 10:38 pm |
if i can’t take my wedding mix, i think it would be the first Tribe album, Peoples Instinctive Travels…deep, wide, and soulful. It’s a journey.
1 June 2008 at 7:11 am |
Let me please apologize for my son’s behavior in your fine establishment. How about lunch at Cancun Taqueria on me?
And suffice it to say, I will NEVER sleep with a priest again.
1 June 2008 at 12:12 pm |
Well, I have a less romantic view of being stranded on a desert island than others. Frankly, I’d be pissed. And to match my mood-but still be worth endless listenings-my pick is:
Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks
It’s the perfect blend of anger and frustration with just enough pop riffs to keep me from talking to a volleyball. It might upset some of the local spider monkey and macaws, but fuck ‘em. Rotten and Vicious weren’t concerned about being good neighbors and neither am I.
1 June 2008 at 6:32 pm |
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band
When I was little, my Mom bought us the album. One little glitch is that it was done entirely by the Bee Gees (I’ve since given that vinyl to dk to enjoy).
I’ve already proved to myself that I can listen to it over and over and over and over again and never lose interest. PLUS it’s really long.
I’d take the Beatles with me instead of those silly Gibbs boys.
1 June 2008 at 10:27 pm |
the one desert island disc? not 10, not 20, not 40. just one? a next to impossible question. next, you’ll be asking which kid i can bring with me.
however, since many could narrow it down only to two, i will do the same.
matthew sweet’s girlfriend and healing by todd rundgren.
now i’m going to have trouble sleeping as i sit and wonder if i chose correctly.
2 June 2008 at 12:02 am |
Hmmm…There’s two scenarios as I see it.
Scenario 1: I pick the album that I find the most torturous, abhorrent and repellant. That way, after I’m done burying the dead pilot and finding the port-o-let walls, it will inspire me to sail the hell off of the island as quickly as possible and back to Kelly and the rest of my music collection (before she marries that dentist and gets all of my cds mixed-in with his.)
In this scenario it has to be any of the cds I ordered back in the ’90’s from the BMG music club by mistake that I was too lazy to mail back.
Scenario 2: I’m assuming I’m stranded on this island alone and can indulge my most guilty musical pleasure as I slowly drift into insanity from the steady diet of crab and coconut. I can hallucinate that I’m surrounded by beautiful bikini-clad women, calypso bands, and a fully stocked bar (tended by Tom Cruise and Ian Brown.) The jaunty hooks will offer a welcomed counterpoint to the festering bug bites covering my crimson body. It’s not the best album, or even my favorite. But it’s an album that will always make me feel good even when I’m pondering how high up my leg I’ll need to amputate to keep the gangrene at bay.
Haircut 100-Pelican West
2 June 2008 at 2:24 am |
For me it would have to be Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, if only for Cello Song which, despite the fact I’ve heard it a million times, never, ever fails to make my bones ache (in a good way).
2 June 2008 at 9:38 am |
The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta. Solid songs start to finish. It’s almost impossible to listen to only one song – once it goes down on the turntable you have to listen to the whole thing.
2 June 2008 at 5:06 pm |
The Wall is good and all but I think I would take the soundtrack from Gilligan’s Island for its irony.
2 June 2008 at 5:33 pm |
It’s gotta be The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions…from Almost Blue to Clubland, it has the right song for almost every emotion.
3 June 2008 at 7:33 am |
if i’m on a deserted island where do i get my electric to play my vinyl album?
and what kind of island? like a troical paridise with tons of coconut trees and a calm lagoon and lots of fruit trees or a harsh land with wild beasts and tall cliffs and no fruits or berry’s?
This would all have to be accounted for before i can make my choice….
3 June 2008 at 8:03 am |
I’m thinking that the real questions for you are: 1) which Sabbath album do you choose? and 2) why?
3 June 2008 at 10:16 am |
London Calling! It’s a no-brainer: 18 songs (and 1 bonus!), and the best intro bass-line in the history of intro bass-lines…
3 June 2008 at 4:46 pm |
Life Is… Too Short. Both sides (AAA & XXX) of the original cassette. A true west coast classic.
4 June 2008 at 9:21 am |
im way late on this, but id have to say my desert album would probably be, due to its depth and variety of styles, the beatles Abbey Road. i can rediscover songs on that record over and over again.
4 June 2008 at 10:40 am |
Hey Jon, thanks a bunch man – that is the 1,000th comment on this blog!
Please enjoy the virtual confetti and streamers. I’ll contact you regarding your prize…
26 July 2008 at 7:38 pm |
[...] 1987 interview which lists these albums as Townes Van Zandt’s top LP’s of all time, and given recent discussions, it seemed appropriate to include [...]
21 October 2008 at 11:34 am |
Sorry I’m late to this, I just recently was forwarded this site. For me, the immediate answer is Double Nickels on the Dime by The MInutemen.
21 October 2008 at 6:14 pm |
Thanks for stopping by UC. It’s never too late to share your opinion, especially when you’re talking about an excellent album like that. Great choice…