Let’s all be real here. With our top 5 desert island albums and an octatrack, we could pretty much make new music until the day we died.
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Bryan Adams - Waking Up The Neighbours
The Tea Party - Transmission
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Sarah Brightman - Eden
Bryan Ferry + Roxy Music - More Than This: The Best of Bryan Ferry + Roxy Music
(If I could smuggle in a few more I’d add something from Front Line Assembly and Elvis Presley. And maybe some BeeGees)
omg I forgot The Notwist - neon golden
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Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven
Autechre - Confield
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Frank Ocean - Blonde
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A lot of cool albums here, have to check out those I don’t know yet.
Joe Cooker, live in L.a. 1972
Different covers exist. Edit: I had this on repeat while playing monkey island on my amiga. Great match of vibes m
Underworld, second toughest…
Sublime. 40 Oz…
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Browsing this thread has done more for my sense of belonging to the community than I’d expected -yeah, we all probably use and like Elektron stuff, but I’d never expected the spectrum of music to so closely reflect my own interests and from members I’d never have anticipated and on the face of it, not too much of the music listed is coming from the 16 step sequencer paradigm camp … there are too many cool albums dropped to mention but I think I’ll applaud a few by way of a shortcut to answering this brutally difficult question - Five is just way too hard, five would be way too hard even in sub-categories and it’s a thread idea I’ve long wanted to pursue myself
Anyway - I’m on the case, think I’m down to 20/30 or so, but it’s a bit like choosing between your kids (well that’d be easy for me with just the one, but you know) - there are a few aspects to the choice that would make it easier, like having a mood survival album in there, something energizing, something for the head etc - but boy is it hard dropping all the seminal stuff you found along the way - so below I’m gonna flag up stuff above that I love, this might make it easier and take the pressure off making a selection, if I even manage that
Great thread @bruin and great replies and as per @TheFutureThoughtTapestries I’ve established a handful of island mates I wouldn’t want to end washed up sharing the decks with, but for the most part there’d evidently be at least 10 decent albums to pool … warning, mucho waffle and many many links ahead
I’ll start with a nod towards the (perhaps obvious to a few) reason for my avatar, this choice comes from a fellow mod no less and @xidnpnlss will (clearly) be in on the ref too, one of my top three (if not the top) albums is already in the bag so to speak, this gives me a top 6 I suppose
and some other notables (a selection, not exhaustive) from the 'nauts from the top …
box sets are kinda cheating on the painful selection decision, but any of his earlier stuff and especially his recent solo stuff would be awesome to be stranded with - he does so much with so little
brilliant album, I saw them do this live
great stuff, not quite so engaging live, but love the process and especially his sonic forebears
all terrific albums and it’s hard not to love Paul McCartney a bit for his contributions to side B, this speaking as more of a Lennon kinda guy … Radiohead thankfully broke their mold on Kid A, amazing and I have a soft spot for the first BoC album, but their appeal wore think for me after seeing them live and essentially treading over familiar ground on subsequent albums
LP5 is almost certainly the best electronica album I’ve ever heard, it never fails to grip me, their later stuff was too intense for my ears, this is just beautiful on so many levels, especially those tempo shifts and I love the sounds
So is a masterpiece, anyone in doubt or with progressive misconceptions should get their ears around this, the drums are sublime
The Hollis is amazing and possibly too brutal to enjoy too often, Spirit of Eden is a Stonewall masterpiece and on my shortlist
I went through a fairly brief Metheny phase but i’ve long since migrated away from the smooth tone; McLaughlin,Torn or maybe Frissell are more my kinda jazz-leaning guitarists - but I’d put Metheny’s appearance on Reich’s Electric Counterpoint as a highpoint
Wilson is a fascinating individual and genius songwriter
I bought this when I was as a Belew completist, but what an amazing and powerful album in its own right, lots of textures
One of the most criminally under-rated albums ever - absolutely incredible, but it’s one of those seminal albums I bought in the mid-eighties so you’re never sure if it’s just part of your own peak awakening or genuinely classic - I listen constantly to this day, only the cover disappoints … insane chops put to good use for once, Cobham is like a train … and before folk write them off, note that Massive Attack drop some Mahavishnu into Blue Lines
Massive could do no wrong in the early days, Tricky too, love this and Blue lines equally, but the production on Protection make it a more interesting album for me sonically
What’s going on is always there when you need it, stunning and timeless
Yeah yeah yeah - yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah - yeah - yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Love LCD, love this and every other album and everything Murphy loved that influenced him - lots of synth pr0n on their records - I stayed up for the NYC YouTube broadcast when they ‘quit’ but they’ve pulled off the unlikely and come back with some style, arguably their best and my 5.y.o. son loves it, especially this, his favourite requested track this past year by a long way, he adores following the big synth centre-stage from half-way through, good taste and what an epic sound
Don’t have the album, but I really like what Adamson did subsequently, these tracks from this album are both classics that I love from other sources a and the epic b, both essentials if your destiny was to be a post-punk kid
The early Eno era Roxy is more my thing here, but I like a lot of the Gabriel era Genesis, especially Lamb’ and tbh the earlier Gabriel solo stuff, but this is a really standout earworm track from Selling’ - however, this from the Roxy is totally next level … 'I blew up your body, but you blew my mind' … what a performance too, so intense
Great album I don’t play near often enough, would’ve seen him at ATP before this was released but I’d have been more hyped for The Sea and Cake than this although Sam Prekop guests on it - great artwork too
Don’t have it, but if it’s feasible this is better than Ladies and Gentlemen’ then i should check it out, i have one of the less-limited edition ‘pill’ packaged versions of that and it’s a fantastic album, big production, it’s relentless
I could’ve written this list - all off the scale brilliant - if i couldn’t hear Bill Callahan again I’d be sad beyond description, my hero songwriter ahead of Jeff Tweedy - I’ve seen Bill more than any other artists and he’s a deadpan genius
Ys is unbelievably brilliant, it’s a masterclass in melody and i love her voice (& it features Callahan of course) and I don’t mind saying that Joanna’s had me in tears on many an occasion, it’s like she’s plucking directly on your strings - the problem is it’s not an album to just drop on, you have to play the whole thing when you’re ready to listen - outstanding track from an album I’ll add to my shortlist
GYBE and associated acts are all doing stuff i wish I’d done - the guitar work is right up my street and their ‘found’ sounds are wonderfully weaved in - draining intense stuff, but utterly sublime
Too true - there’s gotta be Miles on there but which Miles, probably In a Silent Way for me but my iTunes stats show that i play Sketches of Spain the most, probably to complement my frequent plaintive moods, and even though Miles didn’t write the music it’s a great showcase for Trumpet, classy, if not too adventurous … yeah, In a Silent Way for me, it covers so many bases although, on paper, Bitches Brew should be more up my street, it’s one i go to less than most
The best album outta Scotland ever, so original, varied and plaintive - my Art Teacher at School put me onto this, never looked back, seeing them live in a Glasgow homecoming was a special special highlight - Buchanan has such a soulful voice
Bizarrely, as there’s no connection, the same teacher flagged this Late Night In Concert performance on TV which I VCR’d which rocked my whole polymetric world ever since and in so so many other ways - a very seminal moment indeed and one of the 80s crimson albums will have to be on my list, if only i could separate one from the iconic trilogy
Terrific, but my favourite of that loose trilogy is easily Swordfishtrombones, what an artist/album, I love how loose it is
I think I wore out the Propaganda vinyl back in the day, i love it, it’s relentless/motoric, great for a workout - really energizing and one of those records I know inside out, despite the many many variations of it
Being around for Blue Monday was a bit like a previous generation’s hearing the Beatles or Elvis etc, so many great tracks from that era, more-so than just those you can put down to your most receptive period, it was just so fluid and exciting genre-wise
It’s surely impossible to not love Blue Lines, but boy did MA run out of steam eventually - a timeless record though, always hits the spot
Great record / label
Love the Cocteau’s sound, but Endtroducing is just one of those albums that changed everything when it dropped, on every level a bonafide masterpiece although/because the source is predominantly sampled - The Neu! is on heavy rotation as it’s inexplicably one my young son seemed to love, especially Hero and rather nicely an album which Bowie tapped in to around his Berlin years - I don’t know how I’d pick between Low and Heroes for my Top five !
Rock Bottom is another album I play constantly, i adore all of Wyatt’s solo work, but Rock Bottom is the pick, it’s so so good
The Eno/Byrne is arguably one of the most influential albums of my life - it’s one of the hubs (if that even makes sense) of the whole wheel - I always have it with me
Björk’s work is also a bit hard to choose between, i’ve picked it all up since Debut but i tend to think of it as a whole, maybe the textures/sounds on Homogenic swing it for me, i wish she’d pushed the envelope somewhere less obvious - certainly a Top 5 female artist (Laurie Anderson being my first choice probably)
snap : although I love that Bowie and love the scope of it, there are a few more candidates from his Eno era higher on my list to whittle down to the 5 - my prevailing memory of the album is that when I saw it live at Wembley half the audience left (not me)
Can are awesome but I can’t really get into Tago Mago, Future Days would not be out of place on my shortlist, love it, I play it regularly
great stuff
don’t know it, but might like to check it out - recently heard this amazing track of theirs (first I knew of them) in a film and it really grabbed me
awesome, gonna dig this out for today, coincidentally featuring the Reich/Metheny sample referenced above . I probably play U.F.Orb more to hear wobble on Blue Room but aw man, happy days
Even though imho Shaking The Habitual is easily one of the best albums of this century, I just can’t get into this, perhaps because I heard STH first which is 100% right up my street, it’s perfect and totally on my shortlist
Gotta love some Beatles & Zep if you love music, the Rain song from Houses’ is one of their best and No Quarter might even be it, but there are so many to choose from—
all great, but Passion has a very very special place in my heart despite my being a militant atheist, the music (thankfully mostly instrumental) is that good, I simply have to look beyond the associations, I’ll add this to my shortlist - getting goosebumps just playing it back in my head
I like your thinking 
impressed that Ys has been mentioned so many times now - it’s incredible folks !
blimey, the shortlist has grown, not sure I’m gonna manage just five, I’ll ponder it for a while and see if this thread still has legs
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Though one…
Massive attack - mezzanine
Tool - aenema
Aphex twin - drukqs
Boc - geogaddi
Shpongle - tales of the inexpressible
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Mc cartney is brilliant on abbey road, not only because of his songwriting and putting together the medley on side b, but also or especially for his bass playing. His basslines shift come together, something, I want you and others as well to another level. It’s a pure joy listening to this album while only concentrating on the bass.
Lead guitars by harrison are also brilliant. Abbey road might no feature the best individual beatles songs but is has the nicest flow and synergy of the instruments of all their records imo
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Fully agree
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He sure does. His work on “The Downtown Lights” and “Headlights On The Parade” on Hats is incredibly emotive. Both albums are magical really and both genuinely do leave me with a sense of pride that they came out of Scotland.
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Completely agree. I’m going to dedicate a full week to parsing through un familiar selections from lists that otherwise resonate with me.
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Some time ago I asked for Spotifyplayllists of recommended music.
Feel free to ad songs to my shared playlist!!
I would be happy.
(I really love Kate tempest. But in this case she is only a placeholder as one cannot share empty lists)
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Ok let me try 
Younger Brother - Vaccine
New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Senser - Stacked Up
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
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Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Love that album
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Decided to take a punt on So. Obviously knew Sledgehammer (a classic!) but the rest of the album was a mystery to me.
Two listens in and I nearly gave up on it but it’s now been the only record I’ve played in the car for the past week or so. Really enjoying this one and glad I gave it a chance.
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Good stuff - it’s well worth watching the BBC documentary on this in the Classic Albums series - it was an album of obsession and Lanois’ insights into Gabriel are fascinating - they actually locked him in a studio room at one point to force him to do something iirc, rather than procrastinate options and so on
Gabriel’s worked with and was passionate about many great artists - coincidentally a huge fan of ‘A walk across the rooftops’ too
I can still recall with crystal clarity the day I took the vinyl home on the bus from HMV Renfield St, scanning all the track credits for who was using what instrument, I love albums with that level of detail
This is one of my favourite tracks, esp percussives, sorta defined the blueprint of what I find loveliest about drum sounds …
edit: @J0n35y a little snippet of the doc using the same track coincidentally
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I’ll check all that out. Love the small details about the instruments too.
This morning was an ear opener too. Was diving my kids to my parents and they started arguing (again). So I drowned them out by ramming the volume up (great parenting). But in doing so, I started to notice loads of production “flourishes” you just doing hear in a car stereo. So definitely putting “So” on the hi-fi this weekend to listen through.
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In case anyone else is discovering Peter Gabriel’s 80’s output, definitely worth checking out “Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ” as it has many of the same qualities as “So” (and more besides – the track credits are immense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_(Peter_Gabriel_album)).
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yeah - a far more interesting album imho more textural, still very high on production values but more innovative like his earlier work whilst being relentlessly catchy and engaging
off the top of my head…
1 Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
2 Air - The Virgin Suicides Soundtrack
3 John Coltrane - Coltrane Plays the Blues
4 JDilla - 3 Beat Tapes
5. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
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