Okay! Now for something really important to spend the next 20 minutes doing!

In no particular order:

The Genius of Ray Charles. Side One, with a jazz orchestra featuring some of the best Basie and Ellington players; Side Two, silky orchestral stuff arranged by Marty Paich. Highlights include "Let the Good Times Roll" and "When Your Lover Has Gone," but the whole thing is amazing.

Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. The first real use of the long-player format to arrange a set of songs around a consistent theme and mood. Never done better.

Elvis Costello, Get Happy!! Costello's first step away from the 'new age' pigeonhole, many of these songs are based on Motown and Stax riffs. His peak lyrically, with songs like "Motel Matches," "New Amsterdam," and "High Fidelity."

I Never Loved a Man... Aretha Franklin. Sublime, brilliant, powerful, great band, great singer, great songs.

Steely Dan, Katy Lied. You could just as easily pick Aja or Royal Scam -- 1975-77 was an unbelievably fertile period for this duo. I prefer this one because of the incredible range of song styles, the brilliant piano-playing of Michael Omartian, and the lyrics that are both heart-rending and funny as hell.

Something Cool, by June Christy. An excellent example of neurotic jazz-pop, sung by an overlooked great singer who followed Sinatra's concept-album lead.

The Beatles' White Album. Big, wild, personal, emotional, funny, brilliant and some fantastic musicianship.

Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround, by the Kinks. Again, you could pick any album from this band's peak of 1966-71, but this one cuts a little deeper than the rest because it's a bit more personal writing from Ray ("This Time Tomorrow," for example), and it features two of Dave Davies' three great songs. Also very funny in parts.

Blonde on Blonde, by Bob Dylan. Hard to believe that when Dylan entered the studio to record this masterpiece, he hadn't written most of it yet. So many great albums from Bob, but how can you not include the one with "Visions of Johanna," "I Want You," "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," and "Just Like A Woman."

Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys. Hard to imagine life without this brilliant, highly detailed album.

Is that it? I hit 10? Now I have to leave? This leaves out too many classics I can hardly live without -- from Warren Zevon's first (real) album to Exiles on Main St, from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue to the Grateful Dead's American Beauty. There are also a lot of artists who weren't so much the masters of the album as the single, from Louis Armstrong to Phil Spector to Creedence Clearwater. All that stuff would have to be airlifted I guess.

1. Charles Mingus - Ah Um
2. Dr. John - Dr. John's Gumbo
3. J.J. Johnson - J.J. Inc.
4. John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - Eponymous
5. Taj Mahal - The Natch'l Blues
6. Wynton Marsalis - Blue Interlude
7. Duke Ellington - Black, Brown, & Beige
8. Ike and Tina Turner - Shake a Tail Feather
9. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
10. Randy Newman - Good Old Boys

Guilty pleasure bonus pick:

Reel Big Fish - Turn The Radio Off (first CD I ever got as a gift from a girlfriend; I don't play it often, but I feel very guilty about liking it as much as I do)

1- If I'd refreshed in time, I would have had sense enough to drop Monk and put I Never Loved a Man in its place. Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround is tempting, but not enough to displace anything.

Wow, this is hard. This list is not necessarily my favorite albums, just some favorites and albums that I think may fit my mood and surroundings.

Faith No More (Angeldust)- My favorite album from my favorite band. Has a nice wide variety to it and I think was the best music the band ever put out.

Fantomas (Director's Cut)- My favorite Fantomas album. No one can cover themes from movie classics quite like Mike Patton.

Between the Buried and Me (Alaska)- Easily their best produced album and cleanest sounding. Has great musicianship and I can listen to it over and over more than their other albums.

Dillinger Escape Plan (Miss Machine)- Great musicianship also on this album and this album has far more variety than their earlier work, which is just insane when it comes to technical skill, but would probably be harder to listen to over and over all the time.

Blind Melon (Soup)- A great album that everyone forgets because Shannon died before they could really promote it well. "Galaxie" is one of my favorite songs ever.

Dave Attell (Skanks for the Memories)- I figured I would need some humor if I am stuck on an island. Louis CK does not have a comedy CD, Mitch Hedberg has too much good stuff to listen to just one CD, and there are other comedians like David Cross, Bill Hicks, etc that I would want, but I go with Dave Attell because he worked on this routine forever and perfected it.

Isis (Oceanic)- I think this album would be perfect for being stuck on an island. One can get lost in this music.

Pelican (The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw)- Pretty much the same reason why I chose Isis, except this is all instrumental.

Stone Temple Pilots (Core)- If I was stuck on an island I would hopefully have a lot of booze with me and Stone Temple Pilots is really fun to sing when you are drunk. This all started because one night my friend and I were drunk and we stumbled upon Jeff Conine's band covering "Plush". Needless to say, it was hilarious. I suggest singing "Plush" next time you are drunk with your friends.

Kool Keith (Sex Style)- I could not decide which album to take between a bunch of my favorite artists such as Mr. Bungle, Deftones, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Jimi Hendrix etc. So I went with something completely different, pretty much the most offensive album ever made. Plus, I needed some rap on there.

Wild Card

Depeche Mode (Violator)- To borrow a line from the film, Orgazmo...

"I don't wanna sound like a queer or nothing, but I think Depeche Mode kicks ass."

Violator has "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence", therefore it wins.

Oops and I forgot my guilty-pleasure pick. Hmm. I don't really like "crap." But there are a few things I like that are desperately uncool. The first thing that comes to mind is The Carpenters' Greatest Hits, except that violates the rules. There was a serious genius at work on those singles -- the first heir to Brian Wilson.

So instead, I'll go for ELO's "Out of the Blue." It's not uncool enough, but back when I was in college, it would have been.

Wow, trainwreck! That list completely intimidates me. I've only heard of 4/11, and of those, only actually heard STP. I feel like I hardly exist.

I could have brought out even more obscure stuff. I have what many would call, odd taste.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Beatles - Rubber Soul
Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Mississippi John Hurt - The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (technically a compilation, but screw the rules)
Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers
Bob Marley - Legend (again flouting the rules)
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

I don't really have guilty pleasures. In my opinion all the music I like is good and worth listening to. But this slot gives me an opportunity to sneak Simon & Garfunkel's "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme" onto the list, so that's cool.

Also considered...

Beatles - Abbey Road
Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
Creedence - Cosmo's Factory
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
R.E.M. - Automatic For the People
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
Tom Russell - Borderland
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
U2 - Joshua Tree
Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992
M. Ward - Transistor Radio / Transfiguration of Vincent
Kanye West - Late Registration
Wilco - YHF

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
Selected Ambient Works, 85-92, Aphex Twin
In the Aeroplane over the Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel
Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen
Takk . . ., Sigur Ros
Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan
Entroducing . . ., DJ Shadow
Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites, Yo-Yo Ma
Achtung Baby, U2
London Calling, The Clash

The one-recording-per-artist thing was difficult, especially with Springsteen (just missing the cut: "The Wild, the Innocent, & the E-Street Shuffle" & "Born to Run") and Dylan (I could easily have gone with "Highway 61" or "Another Side of . . ."). I still feel like I'm clutching, as I'm currently away from my music collection. There's a lot of stuff I love not on this. No jazz, and only the Bach representing classical. Not a single hip-hop MC. Hmm.

Anyway. I reserve the right to discard "London Calling" and grab "The Clash" instead at the last moment.

Real quick, as I head into an all day meeting. No particular order.

Bruce Springsteen- Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (probably my favorite Bruce album that I wouldn't get sick of quickly)
Bob Marley- Catch a Fire (Stir it Up, nuff said)
G. Love & Special Sauce- Philadelphonic (though I'd be very torn b/w this, Electric Mile, and Yeah It's That Easy)
Jurassic 5- Quality Control (it's been all downhill since this one)
The Roots- Things Fall Apart
The Who- Who's Next (nice taste)
Toots & the Maytals- Funky Kingston
The Fratellis- Costello Music
Tom Petty- Full Moon Fever
The Vines- Winning Days

And my wild card is Live at Folsom by Johnny Cash, because even though it's a live album, I'd take it over 3 or 4 discs on my list...

1. Thelonious Himself - Thelonious Monk
2. Whatever & Ever & Amen - Ben Folds Five
3. Either/Or - Elliott Smith
4. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
5. Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan
6. SuperSessions - Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills
7. Lifted... - Bright Eyes
8. Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
9. Life Aquatic Studio Sessions - Seu Jorge
10. Loaded - Velvet Underground

Guilty Pleasure Pick:
Turn the Radio off - Reel Big Fish

In no particular order...

1. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue
2. The Clash - Sandinista
3. John Coltrane - Giant Steps
4. Muddy Waters - Hard Again
5. Ramones - Ramones
6. Paris Opera Orchestra w/Maria Callas - Bizet's Carmen
7. Patsy Cline - Patsy Cline Showcase
8. U2 - The Joshua Tree
9. Billie Holiday - Billie's Blues
10. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication

I'm not trying to be eclectic. I just figured if I was stuck on a desert island I'd want as broad a mix of voices as possible. I love all the music on this list but my knowledge of opera is not great, jazz a bit more. Three of my favorite songs are 'Way over Yonder in a Minor Key' (by Woodie Gutrie) recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco with Natalie Merchant on backup vocals, 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle' sung by Maria Callas, and 'Summertime' sung by Billie Holiday - I had to include the whole albums to get those songs and I think it's worth it. I thought I would want women singing if I was stuck on an island and also some purely instrumental music so I picked the John Coltrane. I also used to go drink at a little jazz bar in Chicago in my early 20s and the Coltrane reminds me of a cute bartender that I still remember fondly.

The Muddy Waters reminds me of my late brother and if I were packing I might swap out one of my picks for the Firesign Theatre album he used to play for me when I was a kid that I thought was so crazy funny. Or maybe Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, which I heard more as a kid then nursury rhymes.

There's a new book out, Marooned I think it's called, of essays by music critics on the album they'd take with them to the desert island. It's something of a sequel to an earlier, similar book, Stranded, which Greil Marcus edited. The review I read of Marooned took Greil Marcus (who wrote the intro to Marooned) to task for implying in much of his writings that pop music ceased being a unifying and therefore powerful cultural force by the time punk's first wave was cresting in the late '70s. I guess many of the essays in Marooned, which focus on music produced since the late '70s, offer an alternative to that dismissive thinking. With that said, all my favorite music pretty comes from the olden days, late '60s to early 70s, with two early '80s albums just barely sneaking in (and apologies to the Ramones and the Clash and the Byrds and, etc. )...

The Band-Music from Big Pink
Grateful Dead-Workingman's Dead
Minutemen-Double Nickels on a Dime
Rolling Stones-Exile on Main Street
Beach Boys-Pet Sounds
Bob Dylan-Blood on the Tracks
Velvet Underground-Loaded
Stooges-Fun House
The Beatles-White Album
AC/DC-Back in Black

Mine hasn't changed in some time:

Beatles- Revolver
Miles Davis Quintet- E.S.P.
Orbital- Snivilisation
Beastie Boys- Paul's Boutique
Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Television- Marquee Moon
The Sea and Cake- Nassau
Elvis Costello & The Attractions- This Years Model
Tool- Ænima
Nick Drake- Five Leaves Left

1. Beatles- White Album (So many to choose from, this just has the greatest variety for whatever I'm in the mood for).
2. Led Zeppelin- III (How could I live without Immigrant Song?)
3. Pink Floyd- The Wall (Isn't this Where/We came in?)
4. Billy Joel- The Stranger (the songs are going to be in my head anyway, might as well have the album along)
5. They Might be Giants- Flood (a little silliness to keep up morale)
6. Modest Mouse- Good News for People who Love Bad News
7. The Kinks- Village Green Preservation Society
8. The Who- Who's Next
9. Radiohead- OK Computer
10. Cake- Fashion Nugget

Wild Card/Guilty Pleasure: Snow Patrol- Eyes Open (but only if I'm stranded with my girlfriend)

It's like the 80s never existed...

Long, you forgot to mention "Bulletproof" on Radiohead's Bends CD.

I'm kind of shocked that no one has included Beethoven Symphony No. 5. Sir Georg Solti's early 70's recording with the Chicago Symphony is IMO the greatest existing version.

Not that the other suggestions are bad, I think you would need Beethoven No. 5, (in particular the transition from the 3rd to 4th movement) just to remind you that music can strive for something beyond human reach, i.e., God or some other transcendental state that can't be described.

Arthur -- The Kinks (If I could have one compilation it would be the Kinks Kronikles)
The Beatles -- The Beatles (aka the White album)
Fakebook -- Yo La Tengo
Dead Dog's Eyeball: Songs of Daniel Johnston -- Kathy McCarty (Johnston writes some terrific songs, but he can't carry a tune to save his life. McCarty can.)
Fight Songs -- Old 97's
Sailing to Philadelphia -- Mark Knopfler
I -- Magnetic Fields
Reflecting -- Chad Mitchell Trio
The Life Pursuit -- Belle & Sebastian
Sail Away -- Randy Newman

Wild card
Bursting at the Seams -- The Strawbs (Not really a guilty pleasure, but definitely an acquired taste.)

mehmattski - Good call on Fashion Nugget. Cake is one of those brilliantly underappreciated bands.

In no particular order:

RUSH - Moving Pictures
Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South (thanks to Will Carroll for clueing me into DBT)
Steely Dan - Aja
Dire Straits - Making Movies
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Who - Who's Next
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
REM - Life's Rich Pageant
PJ Harvey - Dry

Guilty Pleasure
Peter Frampton - Breaking all the Rules

1) Guns and Roses: Appetite for Destruction
2) The Killers: Sam's Town
3) The Pet Shop Boys: Discography (I'm cheating here aaand it's the frickin Pet Shop Boys but shut up.)
4)A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory
5) A Tribe Called Quest: Beats Rhymes and Life
6) Pete Rock and CL Smooth: Mecca and the Soul Brother
7) Eric Clapton: Journeyman
8) Prince: Purple Rain (I think the no soundtrack restriction is goony.)
9) L.A. Guns: L.A. Guns
10) L.A. Guns: Cocked and Loaded

And before anyone busts my nuts over Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls is a great song. If it were arranged rock and rollishly it would be an absolute classic. Because it's arranged Discoishly it's only a minor classic.

Very, very difficult question. Especially, in this IPod age, seeing as how the whole notion of "album" is going out the window.

Metallica-...And Justice for All-

A dense, furious, angry record. Not the one that drew me to them , but the one that hauled me bodily through some dark places.

Guns N Roses-Appetite for Destruction-

Still holds up, 20 years on. Took music by the scruff of the neck and threw it into the next room

Billy Joel-The Nylon Curtain-

Really hard choice here, as I am a huge, huge fan. The Stranger's not a bad choice, but this has some hits, too, is very Beatleish, and has a hugely underrated second side, like my next choice...

Led Zeppelin-IV-

Yeah, yeah, Stairway to Heaven. As Janeane Garofalo once said, I'm not made of stone here, people. Plus an underrated second side, which I didn't listen to for YEARS after buying the tape.

U2-Rattle and Hum-

Sort of live, I know. But a lot of new songs, and even though it got terrible reviews, a great record.

REM-

Since Eponymous doesn't count, I would go with Out of Time. This was the first REM record I ever loved, since I thought they were faggy for a while during my misspent youth.

The Beatles-Abbey Road.

'Nuff Ced.

Nirvana-Unplugged-

I know that's bending the rules, too, but it really was new arrangements, and the last song on it still curls my hair to this day.

Tesla-Five Man Acoustical Jam-

Again, new arrangements of older songs. There was a brief time when this band was all that mattered to me.

Rush-Presto-

By no means their most acclaimed work, but an album that spoke to me at a certain time.

and the wild card.....

The Black Crowes-Southern Harmony and Musical Companion-

Their second album, which I thought was quite a bit better than their first, and unique to me in that, as much as I loved it, I never cared about anything they did, ever again.

1. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
2. The Clash - London Calling
3. Public Enemy - Nation of Millions
4. Stone Roses - Stone Roses
5. Smiths - Queen is Dead
6. John Coltrane - Love Supreme
7. Pixies - Doolittle
8. Radiohead - OK Computer
9. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
10. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Wild Card: NOFX - Punk in Drublic

Does anybody else's list feel like a stock ticker, ready to change second by second?

All of my choices would be books on tape, or CD or whatever, headlined by "The Bible" as read by Larry King.

Well first the Obvious:

Beatles, White Album---As someone mentioned, not their best, but has the greatest variety of music.

Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti---I was just listening to this last night...I love everything about that album.

Now the not so obvious,

Dreams So Real, Rough Night in Jericho---REM contemporaries from Athens GA...if Buck and Stipe had done this album it would rank as one of their best.

NoMeansNo, Wrong---Hunker down, ya'll!!

Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow--As much as I like Cheap Trick, in their dreams they didn't imagine an album this good. 'The very first lie' is a great song.

Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation---Love this album, love this album, love this album.

Screaming Trees, Buzz Factory---I'll take this album regardless, but I'd be especially glad I did if there is any Cannibis Sativa growing wildly on the island.

The Church, Priest=Aura---I'd have more Church albums on here but for the rules...My favorite band ever, like another fave (BOC) they cover such material as hauntings, interstellar wars and ancient history and they do so with rare musical virtuosity.

Blue Oyster Cult, self-titled---'Then came the Last Days of May', 'Workshop of the Telescopes' are highlights on an album with no filler.

Guilty Pleasure, Depeche Mode, Violater---Some would consider this 'guilty', but they are great live.

The 80's live, Mother F***cker!!!

Would have liked to include:
Rush---2112
Any number of Wilco albums
Flaming Lips---Yoshimi
White Stripes---Elephant
Something from U2, REM or the Who.
Ministry---The Land of Rape and Honey
Marvin Gaye---What's Goin' on
etc...

Hopefully, if I'm stranded on an Island I'll have my ipod and a 120v outlet.

20 Schteeve, I admire the inclusion of the Pet Shop Boys, but have always considered the GnR album to be the most overrated album in history.

Sorry.

Also, glad to see the inclusion of the Minutemen in a few of these lists, although I always preferred fIREHOSE.

I think I'm far less exciting than the rest of you, but choosing things that I could listen to over and over again and not get sick of would give me this list I think:

Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Beatles: Let it Be
John Lennon: Shaved Fish
Soul Coughing: Ruby Vroom
Morphine: Cure for Pain
TV on the Radio: Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Jurassic 5: Quality Control
Social Distortion: Social Distortion
Tom Petty: Wildflowers

Guilty Pleasure:

Elton John: Honky Chateau (before he lost his marbles)

Sorry Scott, as I wrote the list, I completely disregarded at least three of your rules - not intentionally, but because I would have to have them. I have good reasons. =)

1. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
2. Soundtrack to "Good Will Hunting" (that album got me through a lot of tough times)
3. Queensrÿche - Promised Land
4. Tony Orlando and Dawn - Greatest Hits (my grandfather loved this record, and its one of the few things I remember about him)
5. Live - Secret Samadhi
6. Frank Sinatra - Duets
7. The Simpsons - Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (like mehmattski said, it'd be running through my head anyway)
8. Van Halen - Balance
9. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Wildflowers
10. Enya - Watermark

Wildcard: Metallica - Garage, Inc.

Now you see what I mean. This topic shows peoples likes and idiosyncrasies better than anything else I could think of discussing.

A few random comments. Eric I understand your point, but by choosing something that some would go what? about was the point. For example, I've never really listened to Reel Big Fish, but I'm going to check them out after 2 people here listed them.

Schteeve- I'm not dogging your Pet Shop Boys, as I can see the appeal, now 2 LA Guns records...I doubt anyone in the actual band would choose them.

The first 2 lists did a great job of getting us off to a cool start.

Now for those flouting the rules, don't think names haven't been taken down and your actions reported to the Toaster authorities.

I listed my next 10 in the piece. Here would be the specific work.

CCR- Willy and the Poorboys: Fogerty's Fortunate Son and Lennon's Imagine are the 2 best songs in rock history. Sadly, none of their sentiments connect with the current administration.

Stevie Wonder- Innervisions: This initially was in my top 10.

David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust: I love the glam stuff and it just beats out the album that actually influenced bowie to make it, T. Rex's Electric Warrior.

Elvis Costello- This Year's Model: Elvis' first 4 albums are brilliant, but I would go with This Year's Model, as it to me is the most consistent.

The Clash- London Calling: Truth be told, let me take 5 other songs from the Clash's career that weren't on London Calling and I would be fine.

Ben Folds- Rockin' the Suburbs: I initially had the Pixies on here, but decided to put this one in it's place. Each song is great, as there seems like about 5 Eleanor Rigby's alone are on this record.

AC/DC- For Those About to Rock: While Back in Black would be in my top 10 if hadn't of listened to it so much, I go with the follow-up, as it sounds fresher to my ears. Some days I'm sure I would wish I went with Highway to Hell, though.

Bruce Springsteen- The River: Hard to choose just one, but I go with this one, as it is a double album and it has such a great mix of musical genres.

Billy Joel- The Stranger: I would have went with Nylon Curtain a few years back, but I've come back to his original great recording, as I think it holds up better. As was mentioned the second side of Nylon Curtain is brilliant, though.

Michael Jackson- Off the Wall: The only great song Justin Timberlake wrote was a lift off of this record and so much of Maroon 5 and Jamiroquai's best stuff is framed from this record. Thriller might have sold more copies, but this record was Micheal's last gasp of looking or behaving somewhat normal.

Off the cuff, but here goes:

Elliott Smith—Self Titled
Neutral Milk Hotel—In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Jimi Hendrix—Electric Ladyland
Led Zeppelin—Phyiscal Graffiti
The Beatles—Rubber Soul
Bob Dylan—Freewheelin'
The Allman Brothers—Eat a Peach
Pink Floyd—Dark Side of the Moon
The Who—Who's Next
Bob Marley—Exodus

Wild Card: 2Pac—Me Against the World (is there a better album title for a guy stranded alone on a desert island?)

This is great because there are a lot of albums that I own on these lists that I don't really get. Knowing that it's someone's desert island album makes me want to get more into some of them.

Let me try my own list--

Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
Beatles- Revolver
R.E.M.- New Adventures in Hi-Fi (which I am a listing to right now, which is probably why I picked it. Electrolite is so good it hurts)
The Smiths- Strangeways, Here We Come
Belle & Sebastian- The Boy With The Arab Strap
Pulp- Different Class
Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
Wilco- Summerteeth
Jay-Z- The Blueprint
Stone Roses- The Stone Roses

Guilty pleasure--

Lou Reed- Metal Machine Music (which I do own). Something has to break up the tranquility, and it will probably keep the bugs away.

BTW: You also implied you had a list of the top 10 rocks songs.

Here is mine:

1. The Who: Baba O'Reilly - I'm totally with you on that one.

2. Bob Dylan: Like a Rolling Stone - If rock is about youthful angst then no song sums it up better.

3. Led Zeppelin: Black Dog - Other Zeppelin songs are better, but this is the best pure rock song they made (well that or When the Levee Breaks).

4. The Rolling Stones: Paint it Black - The first song I can remember where I could name the song in one note. It is so distinctive and so angry. I just love it.

5. The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil - What happens when young and angry grows up.

6. Social Distortion: Story of my Life - A tough choice leaving out Ball and Chain and Prison Bound, but again young, lost, and angry and this song sums it up perfectly.

7. Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road - It doesn't exactly rock, but it isn't anything else either and it is great.

8. The Vines: Get Free - Don't know much by these guys, but I love this song.

9. Jimi Hendrix: The Star Spangled Banner - Who knew it was a rock song?

10. Violent Femmes: Kiss Off - Look I know these are the 10 greatest rock songs EVER, but when I think about rock I think about being angry and listless and loud. So Kiss Off makes it on on that account.

The Line-Up:

SS - The Beatles - Abbey Road
Best All-Around, Team-Leader

C - The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Lots of Hits

LF - Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Savvy Veteran with plenty of Power

RF - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Knocks it out of the park.

2B - Willie Nelson - Redheaded Stranger
Always there when you need it.

CF - Nat King Cole - After Midnight
Nat's piano is never better and Stuff Smith on the Jazz Fiddle brings all kinds of speed.

3B - The Band - Music From the Big Pink
Good glove. Good bat.

1B - Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
As solid as they come.

DH - Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
Monstrous Album

P - David Weatherman - Hometown Nobodies Sessions
This is my newest record. It comes out next month. Get it? It's a pitch!

Bench

Brahms:Violin Sonotas (Op. 78, 100 & 108)
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Son Volt - Trace
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Gillian Welch - Time the Revelator
Brad Mehldau Trio - Anything Goes

The "no live ablums" rule bothered me because I had to exclude "Live from the Old Quarter" by TVZ, "Live at Folsom" by Cash, and "Unplugged" by Nirvana. Also, I kind of cheated with Redheaded Stranger since it is technically a soundtrack, but the album came out before the movie, so I think it's okay.

I love Different Class. If I were a rocker I'd want to be Jarvis Cocker.

Not sure what's on my final list yet, but I've noticed Neutral Milk Hotel list a few times already. I just got tuned into this record a few months ago, and I have no idea why it took so long. Outstanding stuff...

"A Star is Bought" Albert Brooks
"The Nightclub Years: 1964-68" Woody Allen
"Let it Bleed" The Rolling Stones
"The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" Slick Rick
"De La Soul is Dead" De La Soul
"Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)" Wu Tang
"Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop" Diamond D
"London Calling" The Clash
"Bizzare Ride II the Pharcyde" The Pharcyde
"Step in the Arena" Gangstarr

With a couple of you adding comedy records, I will have to do a best of comedy album list in the future. Albert Brooks is still brilliant, despite a couple of his most recent efforts.

If I was going to put a rap album on here, I would have De La Soul or Beastie Boys.

I love New Adventures in Hi-Fi as well, Tom.

Hythloday- Love the Morphine inclusion.

Shaun- I give you the honesty award for including Tony Orlando. I think of my grandfather when I hear early Johnny Cash. It's one of those great things that only music is able to do. Bring back memories of person who was special to you.

Here are the ten albums I'd bring with me on a desert island. These aren't my ten favorite albums, but they're what I'd want to listen to if I had nothing else, putting an emphasis on variety, uptempo, and uplifting. If I'm going to be stuck on an island by myself, I don't really want to listen to anything that's a downer, except perhaps as a change of pace.

In no particular order:

1. Beatles - The White Album. Abbey Road's my favorite Beatles album, but The White Album earns extra points as being a double album and more varied.

2. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds. Fairly self-explanatory.

3. Stuart Davis - What. Not many have heard of Davis, who does spiritual Beatlesesque pop, but he's unusual and one of the best lyricists I've heard.

4. Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs. A great album that manages to be funny, smart, biting, and uplifting all at once.

5. LIVE - The Distance to Here. LIVE's my favorite mid-90's rock band, and while this isn't their best release, I think it's ideal for the circumstances.

6. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow. One of my favorite rap/hip-hop releases ever. Another uplifting, spiritual album.

7. John Coltrane - Giant Steps. I'm really not a big jazz guy--I love lyrics--but I find Coltrane's music very expressive. Love Supreme is better, but this is longer/more varied.

8. Elvis Costello - Armed Forces. You really can grab any of Costello's early works and I'd be happy.

9. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions. I can't imagine being stuck on an island without it.

10. They Might Be Giants - Lincoln. Because sometimes you need to laugh. Lincoln's their most consistent release, I think.

Wildcard: Supertramp - Breakfast in America. Because no one would be able to see me dance to it.

Peter Gabriel - Security. My favorite artist and the most difficult call to make on which of his albums to select. All 8 tracks on this one are strong. Second place is probably Up, mainly because it's new so I haven't heard it as much.

Rush - Counterparts. Some really good tracks on this one, including Coldfire-which is probably my favorite Rush song.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral. This was really my introduction to the band and the album has held up well on many replays.

Green Day - American Idiot. Also couldn't go wrong with Dookie.

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Probably my favorite album ever. First one I thought of when I saw the title of this post.

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Double album bonus points (although CD 1 is much stronger).

Pearl Jam - Ten. Evenflow, Black, Jeremy, Alive...tasty!

Radiohead - The Bends.

R.E.M. - Automatic For the People. If I'm stuck on an island, I better have Nightswimming.

Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow. Figured I needed a female artist among the ten, just in case I'm alone. Don't want to completely forget about the fairer sex. This one makes the cut over Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes.

Wild card: Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind. Surprising number of good tracks on this one, but Semi-Charmed Kind of Life is my favorite.

Final cuts: Live - Secret Samadhi, Queensryche - Empire, Dream Theater - Images and Words.

Wild card alternative: George Michael - Faith (or Listen Without Prejudice for that matter), Boston - Third Stage.

This was off the top of my head. I'm wondering if anything would change if I look at my album list. I think my list skewes a bit towards recent albums since I feel like I've already heard 70s rock enough times.

In the order I'm thinking, not the order I'm listening, I think:

Magnetic Fields "69 Love Songs"
Brian Eno "Another Green World"
Yo La Tengo "Electr-o-Pura"
Roxy Music "Siren"
Lucinda Williams "Lucinda Williams"
Elvis Costello "Imperial Bedroom"
Frank Sinatra "Songs for Swinging Lovers"
Mekons "Mekons Rock 'n' Roll"
Richard & Linda Thompson "Shoot Out the Lights"
Matthew Sweet "Girlfriend--special edition"*

WC--OK, it's not really a guilty pleasure, but leaving out Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs" just left me feeling really really bad. Plus I need some Marc Ribot.

*I'm assuming my wife will be there, and it's her favorite album. Plus then I get to listen to some Robert Quine.

this is pretty much going to be a sampling of favorite bands from different points of my life... so i'm not saying these are the 10 best albums of all time. these the 10 that i have connected to the most.

stars - heart
jawbreaker - dear you
minus the bear - highly refined pirates
nirvana - unplugged (yeah it's a live album but so what)
weezer - pinkerton i can't decide
mates of state - my solo project
isis - panopticon
hum - downward is heavenward
the appleseed cast - low level owl, vols. 1 and 2 (yeah, it's 2 discs)
portishead - pnyc (another live album, i am SUCH a cheater)

[42] i meant to say for weezer, either pinkerton or blue, i can't decide. but then i decided on pinkerton and forgot to erase the evidence :)

In no particular order:
Outkast- Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

Ryan Adams- Gold

Oingo Boingo- Only A Lad

Buzzcocks- Single Going Steady (which I'm pretty sure is bending the rules, at the very least)

Guru- Jazzmatazz vol. 1

Electric 6- Senor Smoke

Mobile- Mobile

Prince- Purple Rain

Organized Confusion- Stress

Nirvana- Nevermind

Wildcard:
some book on CD. It would be a book that taught you how to get off a desert island with only a coconut, a seagull, and some dead fish.

1. X Wild Gift
2. Sex Pistols Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
3. The Stooges Raw Power
4. Television Marquee Moon
5. Stones Exile on Main Street
6. RockPile Seconds of Pleasure
7. The Clash London Calling
8. Prince Controversy
9. Manassas Manassas
10. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Guilty Pleasure: Carlos Guitarlos Straight from the Heart

In no particular order:

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Led Zepplin - Houses of the Holy

Slayer - Reign in Blood

Phillip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Bonus Guilty Pick: AC/DC - Highway to Hell

ack ... changed my mind already ... i'm gonna remove The Decemberists and replace them with:

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Fabulosos Calavera

Billy Joel - The Stranger
Billy Joel - The Nylon Curtain
Billy Joel - An innocent Man(No, I will never get tired of Billy Joel, even on a desert island)
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane (Just a good, all around loungish kickback album)
Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesound (there is gonna be some dancin' on that island)
Kanye West - College Dropout (I hate, hate, hate Kanye West, but I can skip his stupid skits and enjoy rest of his genius)
Common - Go! (I liked it the first time I heard it, and it has gotten better every time I have put it on)
Boyz II Men - II
Byz II Men - Cooleyhighharmoney (Billy Joel and Boyz II Men are my two favorite artists. I have no problem having them comprise half my music collection if I were stuck on an island)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (he may have been getting weird by this point, but nearly every song was a top 5 song).

Wild Card - since we are going with the "if I am stuck with my wife/girlfriend/hot fantasy celebrity" (okay, I added the last one) I'll go with Nu Flavor's debut album, the most sappiest, last song at the high school dance love song album I know.

man, nothing older than the 80's, and 4 albums from this decade. Scott, I must be your youngest reader... Shows just how awesome Billy Joel is.

Off the cuff (I'm trying to work here! Damn you Scott Long! BTW, Josh Wilker's list reeeeally resonates w/ me)
No part. order:
Beatles - Revolver (White Album always freaked me out as a kid living in so Cal w/ the Manson family getting off on it.)
Van Morrison - Poetic Champions Compose
Jerry Garcia Band - Cats Under the Stars (if a live album could be included I would slot the Dead's Dead set - an integral part of my spiritual development)
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Jeff Beck - Wired
Eagles - Hotel California
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Beethoven's 6th - Pastorale

Another great topic and another half-hour shot to hell. Only ten, huh? Here goes (in no particular order)...

1. Stevie Wonder--Innervisions
2. Miles Davis--Kind of Blue
3. Charles Mingus--Mingus Ah Hum
4. John Coltrane--A Love Supreme
5. The Fall--Hex Induction Hour
6. Pavement--Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
7. Arcade Fire--Funeral
8. Wilco--Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
9. Beethoven's 9th symphony
10. Sonic Youth--Daydream Nation

Wild Card The 88--Over and Over
Los Angeles pop band that provides light lyrics but a sound that makes you smile. A very different listening experience compared to the albums listed above.

NOTE: I've listened to the Beatles White Album a lot. Were this a "best albums ever heard" list, the White Album would be way up there.

By top ten on a desert island, I take it to mean, ten(+1) albums you simply could not go through life without ever hearing again. For me, with opinions:
Guns 'n Roses - Appitite for Destruction
Simply the best hard rock album of all time.

Judas Priest - Stained Class
The best classic heavy metal album. Sabbath, Zepplin, BOC, DP, take a step back.

Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
The best concept album ever. Politically charged, a masterpiece. Revolution Calling!

Bach Cello Suites - Mitsitlav Rostropovich recording
No other solo piece is as evocotive and emotive.

Warlord - Deliver Us
Campy and dated, but still gets regular spins in my house.

Cirith Ungol - Paradise Lost
The most underrated metal band ever. Join the Legion!

Accept - Balls to the Wall
Neither Scorpians nor AC/DC need be on the list, since Accept does both, better!

Joe Satriani - Self Titled
I don't listen to Satch as much as I used to, but never again? No way!

Megadeth - Rust in Peace
This was a tough split between RiP and Metallica's Ride the Lightning. But Mustaine's focused anger wins over Metallica's groundbreaking thrash, when lost on a desert island.

Ratt - Out of the Cellar
The guilty pleasure. Another tough call, between this and Dokken's Tooth and Nail.

Bonus:
Bach - Brandenburg Concertos
Bach simply can't be reduced to a single work.

Radiohead - Kid A
some of the others brought the Bends and OK Computer, so those would be covered

The Replacements - Let it Be
drunk, sloppy fun.

Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Can't pass up Gimme Shelter

The Secret Machines - Now here is Nowhere
the wall of sound these three guys achieve blows my mind

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
barely over Ghost is Born and Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne for the best record out of my home state

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
You could spend years trying to pull all the layers out of the lyrics

Jeff Buckley - Grace
A magnificent voice, and my wife really likes his version of Hallelujah

Medeski Martin and Wood - It's a Jungle in Here
Something to mellow out with

My Morning Jacket - Z
The one I wonder if I'll love as much in 10 years, but for right now, it works

Richard Buckner - Since
great songwriting and musicianship

WC Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
I don't really know if it's that guilty a pleasure, but it's pretty damn entertaining

Ok, couldn't resist a go before Dodgers/Giants starts . . .

Wilco – Yankee
Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Sinatra – Songs for Swingin' Lovers or A Swingin' Affair (tough choice)
Mozart – Don Giovanni (recording I currently own is Solti/Flemming/Terfel; but could throw this over for one of the historic Bruno Walter / Ezio Pinza live recordings floating around)
Rudolf Serkin -- Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel
Coltrane – Love Supreme (can't miss w/Russell Martin's namesake)
REM – Automatic 4 People
Clash – London Calling
Beck – Sea Change
Wild card: The Waterboys – Fisherman's Blues

Could easily swap out Beck for a Beatles (Revolver or Rubber Soul)

FYI on the BBC's Desert Island Discs program it's a given that you are also stranded w/ a Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and your choice of "luxury item."

Because I saw a few lists with some attempts to open up to the jazz repertoire, but none that represented a wide knowledge of the genre - I thought that I'd share 30 years of listening to America's Classical music in my choices.(and they're the albums that i'd take with me…hey I already listened to the Beatles when i was a kid !)
-------------
(Baseball & Jazz - Ken Burns would say what could be more American !)
-------------
Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil(1964)
Very difficult to choose one out of all of Wayne's Blue Note albums from the 1960s, but this one stands out. i've been listening to it regularly for 28 years. Some of the best Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard on record as well.

Jim Hall: Live(1973)
Now that he's 77 years old, he's finally starting to get a little bit of the recognition he deserves as one of the 5 most important guitarists in the history of the instrument. The spontaneity within structure with constant group interaction and perfectly constructed improvised solos on this very humble recording(the bassist Don Thompson-was the sound engineer) would make it a perfect companion on my desert island.
The fact that it's a 'live' album dosen't have anything to do wth the connotations of a 'live' album in the rock sense(i.e. some kind of a greatest hits compilation) so i have no qualms about including it. Ideally, all jazz albums are 'live': whether recorded in on stage or in a studio.

Charles Mingus: Changes1&2(1972?)
Mingus Ah Um has already been chosen so I have no qualms about choosing this CD from the 1970s which has two vinyl records on one CD. The great combination of Pianist Don Pullen and Tenor saxophonist George Adams with some of Mingus' most challenging compositions.

Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life(1976)
His debut album with Jaco Pastorius on bass - there isn't another recording where Jaco stretches out more than this one. great playing great tunes. Over 50 albums later it's still Metheny's best recording.

Etta James/Eddie Cleanhead Vincent: Blues In The Night (1986)
a live album- but this group only did 2 albums - both live so I'm making another needed exception to the rules. Blues/R&B/Jazz all mixed together with no boundaries. buy yourself a beer, sit down and participate in the fun.

Albert Ayler Spiritual Unity (1964)
The quintessential free jazz album. Bassist Gary Peacock turned down the job in Miles Davis' band to play in this group. Sunny Murray reinventing the drums.… And Albert Ayler screaming, beeseeching and crying his way to eternity on the Tenor Saxophone. Yet it can be very lyrical at times. Essential listening for those that picked Sonic Youth recordings for their list…And "Ghosts" would be on the regular playlist at my desert island.

John Coltrane: Crescent (1964)
Not as intense as Love Supreme but just as profound. (I could have picked the live album Live At Birdland which was recorded a few months before). This how Russell Coltrane Martin got his name ! Also there is a church in San Francisco that is dedicated to the propagation of Coltrane's music.

Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra: Ballad Of The Fallen(1982)
Hard to choose between this one and the original recording from 1969. Can't lose: Tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman is on both of them…

Ornette Coleman: Science Fiction(1973)
After being available only on vinyl for 25 years, the idiots at Columbia finally decided to release this amazing recording on CD. This is the recording that i would take with me if only ONE was permitted…This recording changed my life. Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus says the same thing.

Duke Ellington: Far East Suite(1965)
Duke towards the end of his career, but at his best. Ditto for Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney and Billy Strayhorn. Dave Holland's all time favorite recording.

--------------
I'd like to show my 'hipness' and select something from the last 20 years but alas nothing makes the grade for me…
Honorable mentions to Dave Douglas "Soul On Soul"(2000), Kurt Rosenwinkel's "The Next Step"(2001) and Dave Holland's "What Goes Around"(2001)
-------------
The rules kept me from being able to select a greatest hits collection by either Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles
(but if I could break the rules, any compilation of Brother Ray's Atlantic recordings would have made my list-that's Ray "pre violins"),
Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett or James Brown.
The rules make it difficult to include these singles oriented artists.
-------------------

And among the more mainstream music tastes represented here, I still enjoy listening to the Band's 2nd album (better tunes and better execution than Big Pink)35 years later, BDylan Blood On The Tracks, King Crimson "Larks Tongues in Aspic" (although I normally detest the progressive rock genre) and also… The Minutemen (VERY glad to see them represented here ! ! ! !)
I once saw them doing the opening act for Charlie Haden at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica CA. I also played in a Festival in 1985 - a "We Are The World" inspired benefit concert in Irvine CA, where the Minutemen were the headlining act. Most amazing rock band I've ever
seen.
Yet, DBoon(their leader) was a very down to earth personality-hanging out with everyone before going on stage. The concert was promoted as "Musicians For World Hunger". The first thing DBoon said when he arrived on stage was: "I don't know about anybody else here, but we are musicians AGAINST world hunger…" He died in a car crash several years later…

Scott, I bet a lot of the guys in the bands on these lists wouldn't pick their own bands' records for this list.

As Hythloday and others have noted, a desert island collection for listening to over and over again is the rub, as opposed to a ten favorite albums list. The two are not necessarily the same thing.

In no real order--

Velvet Underground, 1969, Vols. 1 & 2 - Ok, so I am already breaking the rules, as this is a live album. Orginally released as one double album and made into two CDs later on, I'm counting it as one. This smack-fueled boogie through the VU's catalog is amazing and is a snapshot of the band at its live peak. It can withstand repeated listening, since it reveals something different every time.

U2, Zooropa - Or maybe Achtung. I dunno.

Zappa, Weasels Ripped My Flesh - Maybe not my favorite album, but its up there. Again, the emphasis on repeated listening is why this one makes the cut.

Blind Willie Johnson, Sweeter as the Years Go By - Roots music. Christian music. It would sustain me in many ways.

Stan Getz with Cal Tjader, Stan Getz With Cal Tjader - The album opens with an 11 minute "Ginza Samba" and continues gloriously onward from there. It was hard to choose this over Tjader's Cal Plays Mambo. I can't go long without some Latin jazz.

Beatles, Let It Be - In college, we were all about the Beatles. I dig everything from Help! onward. LIB is the one album I can put on at any time and love all over again.

Talking Heads, 77 - Stands up to repetition without the aural exhaustion of their later--and possibly "better"--works.

Beck, Mutations - Any one of his first four albums might have won here, but I'd put this and Mellow Gold in the upper half.

Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Land, San Francisco - Vibes, reeded instruments. Repeat.

Grant Green, Matador - Fuck Wes Montgomery: Grant Green, baby. The only name you need to know in guitar jazz. Sweet, sweet guitar.

Guilty pleasure pick: Devo, Duty Now for the Future - He's an altruistic pervert.

Can't believe I left off: All classical, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" (ideally the Paul Whiteman version), Steely Dan, Parliament/Funkadelic, Miles Davis, and a lot of classic RAWK and great jazz

Scott--here's an interesting thought experiment: I wonder what these lists would look like if we had to try to imagine what we would have said when we were 16. I can say with confidence that none of the ones I listed for now would be on that list.

I love your idea, Jgpyke. It would enable me to get the answer that so many can't understand here about guilty pleasures. I will have to pull that idea out sometime later this summer. THanks!

Thinking of the age 16 list would take me a lot less time, too (oddly enough). Maybe that's because I was more provincial then--and more dogmatic. When I was 16, I didn't know what "rest of my life" means. Now I do.

Awesome calls on:
1 Jawbreaker
2 HUM
3 Replacements
Older bands who aren't as popular now as they are influential.

I will add my two cents:
Slint - Spiderland
Guided by Voices - BEE (MF) THOUSAND
How Robert Pollard has been left out this long is criminal.

1. London Calling - Clash
2. Remain in Light - Talking Heads
3. The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
4. Quadrophenia - The Who
5. Drill A Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See - Jim White
6. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
7. Mule Variations - Tom Waits
8. Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim - Pixies (actually, two different recordings lumped together and sold as one)
9. Rebels Not In - The Halo Benders
10. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - Brian Eno-David Byrne

Wild Card: Anythinig by the Backyardigans (fun to sing with the kids and Evan Lurie knows a thing or two about music)

Honorable mention: Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello, Come On In - R. L. Burnside, Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones, Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis with the Watason Twins, Black Letter Days - Frank Black and the Catholics, In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs, Aqualung - Jethro Tull, Blues Dream - Bill Frisell, Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears, Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse...

In no particular order, these are the albums that I've tried to wear out.

1. Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
The use of sampling and layers of sound throughout this album are brilliant...then there's the message.

2. Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen
Every tune is a winner from a master lyricist.

3.Back In Black - AC/DC
The boys are hitting on all cylinders in this one. The perfect party album

4.Tapestry - Carol King
Another master with the pen.

5. Night At The Opera - Queen
This one has been noted a couple of times in the thread already. The scene from Wayne's World says it all.

6. Closing Time - Tom Waits
Stories and how to tell them.

7. Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones
The most of what's great and bad about the Stones. Besides, I can't live without "Happy."

8. Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd
There's a lot of brilliant Floyd to choose from, but this one is a perfect package with everything from pop tunes to psychedelic trips.

9. Post - Bjork
A lot to choose from here: danceable, thoughtful, laughable.

10. Forget About It - Alison Krauss
I could listen to her voice all night.

Guilty Pleasure: The B-52s - The B-52s
You can help but dance!

57 A great point, but I realized when looking my list over that I couldn't use half of my picks because they hadn't been released yet when I was 16! I bet almost everyone has this problem.

Shaun P:

Only two of my picks were released since age 16. I wasn't aware of the others, even though some had been there for 15-20+ years.

Even so, none of my age 16 picks would make it now (e.g., at age 16, Naked Raygun would have been essential).

Eliminating me from choosing live albums precludes me from picking Sinatra: Live at the Sands and BB King: Live at Cook County Jail. I'm not I'd care to live on a deserted island without either.

Also, no soundtracks? That's a clear anti-showtune bias. Truly, Scott Long, you are history's cruelest monster.

So here's my list:

* Songs for Swinging Lovers -- Frank Sinatra
* Who's Next -- The Who
* Let It Bleed -- The Rolling Stones
* Wish You Were Here -- Pink Floyd
* Brothers in Arms -- Dire Straits
* Bridge Over Troubled Water -- Simon & Garfunkel
* Sweeney Todd: Original Broadway Cast (Yeah, it's a soundtrack. What are you gonna do -- throw me in Hypothetical List-Making Jail?)
* Kind of Blue -- Miles Davis
* Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs -- Derek & the Dominos
* Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars -- David Bowie

Wild Card: Beezlebubba -- The Dead Milkmen

21 You ever hear 3D Picnic's cover of West End Girls? It's kinda sorta a rock and rollish arrangement.

in no particular order

*let it be - the replacements
*reckoning - rem
*october - u2
*darklands - the jesus and mary chain
*clap your hands say yeah - clap your hands say yeah
*moondance - van morrison
*some girls - the rolling stones
*who's next - the who
*the queen is dead - the smiths
*highway 61 revisited - bob dylan

I know I can come up with 5 or so. Let's see if I can stretch it out to 10.

Undisputed top 3
Stevie - Songs in the Key of Life
Beasties - Paul's Boutique
Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

Solid Additions
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Tonight's the Night
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Pixies - Doolittle
Prince - Purple Rain (not sure why I'm choosing that over Sign - I guess I just like the hits + Beautiful Ones is probably my fave Prince song)
X - Los Angeles

Stretching it a bit
Brian Wilson - Smile (that doesn't count as same artist twice, does it?)
Duke Ellington - Nutcracker Suite

64 jgpyke...Naked Raygun!! See we do have something in common...although I was more partial to Big Black.

54 Thank you for recognizing "Far East Suite." I came thisclose to putting it on my list and frankly, I'm not sure why I didn't.

Beatles -- Revolver
Josh Ritter -- Hello Starling
Pete Townsend -- Who Came First
The Bangles -- All Over the Place
Lyle Lovett -- Joshua Judges Ruth
Rolling Stones -- Let it Bleed
Neil Young -- Harvest Moon
REM -- Life's Rich Pageant
Michelle Shocked -- Arkansas Traveller
The Jam -- Sound Affects

S'funny -- some stuff seems dated now, but if I was on a desert island, I would want a strange combo of things I have identified heavily with and variety. I would want 10 albums I could make a few mixes out of to give to some pretend island girl and be pretty happy with it. What is it exactly one looks for when they choose their '10 albums?'

I'm almost ashamed to post considering the depth of music knowledge on display here, but dangitall if I'm just too narcissistic not to. Mostly just a check of my iPod reveals these guys, I'm sure there are some I miss:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II
Descendents - Milo Goes to College
Bad Religion - How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
Fugazi - Repeater
Metallica - Puppets
Incubus - Make Yourself
Marcy Playground - Shapeshifter
U2 - Achtung Baby

65 "Brothers in Arms" was my last cut, and it was a hard one to make. One of the first albums ever released on CD . . . I still get chills when I see the West Wing episode that used it . . .

64 jgpyke, without spoiling it for whenever Scott posts the age-16 requirement, my list would have been dominated by Def Leppard, which doesn't come close now, even if I expanded my current list to 25. So believe me, I understand. =)

Possumbait- Thanks for including Lovett's Joshua judges ruth. I forgot about it. The one recording listed that I would have to rethink my list for.

01. Frank Sinatra/Songs for Swinging Lovers - I'm not sure it's his best, necessarily, but it's the album via which I "discovered" Sinatra, and that kind of thing can go a long way.

02. Pavement/Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Tough for me to choose only one Pavement album, but I guess this would be the one, if for no other reason than Fillmore Jive.

03. Neutral Milk Hotel/In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - With unlimited desert island time, and with enough listens, maybe I'll be able to figure out what the hell it's about.

04. David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust - As with Pavement, this is a touch choice. But Ziggy has a slight edge over Hunky Dory.

05. Bettie Serveert/Dust Bunnies - Nobody but me seems to know about (or maybe just care about) this record, and on a deserted island, I imagine it would stay that way.

06. Bobby Darin/This Is Darin - The "no compilations" edict really hurts when it comes to Darin, as none of his individual studio albums are, in and of themselves, masterpieces. But I suppose this is the best of the lot.

07. Elliott Smith/From A Basement On The Hill - The definitive "feel bad" album.

08. Talking Heads/Remain In Light - Could just as easily have been '77 or Speaking In Tongues.

09. The Mountain Goats/Tallahassee - It's like the musical equivalent of a really fanastic American novel.

10. Spoon/Gimme Fiction - I suppose that this one hasn't really passed the test of time, so maybe it's a foolish choice. But, man, do I love it.

Wild Card: Original Cast Recording/Guys & Dolls - Technically a soundtrack, of course, but probably not the kind that Scott meant. So I'm a straight guy who likes musicals, what of it?

OH F!!! I left off a Stones album.
Will add now as my 'Wild Card' -
"Tattoo You" just cause it's how my pal and I (along w/ the two previous Stones albums got our nickname in high school of 'the glimmer twins'. (We were always 'glimmerin'.)
God bless Chris Brown. He never made it out of Newton alive.
Whenever I hear 'Waiting on a Friend" I always look at the passenger seat and say hello.

Guess commercial music works for me.

Tool: Aenima - THE rock album

Offspring: Americana - why not have a little humor while stuck on this island. Pretty Fly for a White Guy, Why Don't You Get a Job and She's Got Issues are the three funniest songs I've ever heard, and they're all on one album.

Elton John: Yellow Brick Road - hard to find albums with great songs clocking in over 11 minutes and under 3

Genesis: Selling England By the Pound

Live: Throwing Copper - a little filler can be overlooked when Lightning Crashes, Shit Towne and a few others are around

Rush: Moving Pictures

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Christmas Eve and Other Stories - celebrate Christmas any day of the year

Van Halen: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge - little uneven, but Top of the World, The Dream is Over and Right Now always work

Alice In Chains: Dirt - great as it is, little worried this one will cause me to find a rope and a branch

Penumbra: The Last Bewitchment - metal with beautiful female vocals to be enjoyed over and over again

Guilty Pleasure, Meatloaf: Bat Out of Hell 2 - I know I'm supposed to like Bat Out of Hell 1 more, but the extra cheese and pompousness of 2 always satisfy more

01 Terry Riley : In C
02 Husker Du : Zen Arcade
03 Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant:Stratosphere Boogie
04 Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain
05 X : Los Angeles
06 Professor Longhair: Rock N Roll Gumbo
07 The Soft Boys: Underwater Moonlight
08 Tom Waits: Swordfish Trombones
09 Eric Dolphy : Out there
10 Link Wray and the Ray Men: Rawhide
Guilty Pleasure-The Ramones Rocket To Russia

The last 2 lists are great examples for me to compare. Sammy Maudlin (great character from SCTV!) has a really cool list with Husker Du, X, Tom Waits, etc.) Worthing has a much less cool list, but I guess I believe his list more, especially considering he put on Bat out of Hell 2 for his guilty pleasure. I HATE Meatloaf, but I really appreciate the honesty. For Sammy Maudlin to list the Ramones Rocket to Russia as a guilty pleasure is ridiculous, since the Ramones are probably the best reviewed American bands by critics, outside of possibly CCR. What "guilt" is there in picking this choice? Not trying to just pick on Comment 77, as others have done this as well.

Breaking my rules on compilation, live, or soundtrack has been flouted, but the people who can't understand the concept of a guilty pleasure is what makes me crazy. Some of us have dressed up for the costume party, and those of you who haven't are making us feel a bit self-conscious in our efforts at opening ourselves up to a bit of ridicule.

Scott,

Not sure if Depeche Mode's Violater qualifies as a guilty pleasure (I've personally gotten much grief for being a fan) and since it ws my tenth pick, I'll just make it one of my ten and submit Harry Chapin's Songs and Stories Live as my guilty pleasure. I like the idea of breaking one rule in an effort to come in line with another.

My 20 month old twins go to sleep listening to this CD while I'm being a bit more 'progressive' with the boy---he loves Dark Side of the Moon.

I'm slightly embarrassed to be playing this stuff for the under 4 crowd, but what the hell. I'm not trying to be hip, it's just the stuff I like.

I'm sorry our guilty pleasures aren't living down to your expectations, Scott. It seems as if you've got a bit of reverse snobbery going on here--I really don't listen to popular music. That's just the way it is, so I can't include Madonna or Poison, even if that would be "more believable." Perhaps that's true for other people, too, and we aren't just trying to impress. And of course what more could one want than to awe 79 other Baseball Toaster readers? (cheap shot, I know)

The "what we would have listed at 16" game would be interesting, since my tastes have totally changed in nearly 30 years--back then 3 Jackson Browne's would probably make the Top Ten, if you'd let "Running on Empty" past the no-live-albums dictum.

And now I feel like my costume for the party was the emperor who has no taste.

It can be hard to define a guilty pleasure too. I was going to choose a Neil Diamond album, but the only one I have is a greatest hits album. But if these is a line between Elton John and Neil Diamond I'm not certain where it is. But Honky Chateau is a great album. I'm not sure how finely you can make the distinction about what a person is embarrassed about owning.

i forgot my guilty pleasure in 66, so i'll add it here. i believe it will qualify as a "true" guilty pleasure

*the world of roger whittaker - roger whittaker

Just because it's a guilty pleasure doesn't make it bad. I just find it weird that you can't name one artist who isn't a critical favorite. I'm not saying it should be Poison, but how about Abba, the Bee Gees, Hall and Oates, Kiss, Duran Duran, Goo Goo Dolls, Guy...I'm just pulling bands out of the air...hey, maybe how about putting one artist on your list that has been played on the radio fairly consistently.

I guess you could call this reverse snobbery, but I am not under the notion that as soon as you become mainstream you are over. REM, U-2, and Nirvana were good before and continued to be good after. I admire most an artist who can bring some art to a larger audience.

In regards to my 79 readers, I'm a big fan of probably 75 of them. (and I include George Y in the 75 I like.) A good shot always makes me laugh and this was fair, as I know how pretentious it is too express any strong opinions over a blog which is discussing 10 choices on a deserted island. It is on the level of Daniel Stern in Diner going nuts over his record collection being put in the proper alphabetical order. What can I say, I just wanted to push some of you hipsters into showing a little more flavor. Let's try it this way.

Sure Chilean Sea bass is good, but isn't there sometimes where you would prefer to have some Popcorn shrimp? What is your popcorn shrimp?

WOW, Roger Whitaker will hard to top in Guilty Pleasures. Unless you go with Christy Lane, Slim Whitman, or Xamfir-Master of the Pan Flute.

this would keep me happy for months.

1.pavement-wowee zowee.
2.mothers of invention-freak out
3.strawberry alarm clock-the world in a seashell
4.donald fagen-the nightfly
5.air-talkie walkie
6.terry reid-seed of memory
7.the sundays-static and silence
8.pete rock & cl smooth-the main ingrediant
9.neil young-on the beach
10. and finally a burned compilation of all my favorite j dilla cuts.

i chose not to discriminate between beatles albums because of my love for the white album and sgt peppers.

1. Cake - Prolonging the Magic -- Never gets old
2. At The Drive-In - In/Casino/Out -- only because it's six songs longer than Vaya
3. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
4. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
5. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
6. The Presidents of the United States of America - Self Titled -- The Presidents rock. End of story.
7. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers
8. Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever, Amen -- Could have gone with a Folds solo album, but I have a hard time choosing
9. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets -- could go with TOD, but this one makes me happier
10. Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming -- DMB got no love here, but their first three albums were very good

Guilty Pleasure: Reel Big Fish - Turn the Radio Off
Since that one was two other people's guilty pleasure already though...

Tenacious D - Tenacious D would be a good substitution.

Hell, I've got three or four albums up there some would consider guilty pleasures.

I don't listen to the radio beyond NPR (in my Volvo, yes, why do you ask?). If I had to go with a guilty pleasure CD, which would mean I'm leaving behind a good 100 others I'd take before it, I'd grab ABC's "The Lexicon of Love" because it seemed easier back in the day to try to be Martin Fry rather than Bryan Ferry.

How bout we agree that "Diner" is a guilty pleasure and leave it at that? I mean I just admitted I like a movie with Steve Guttenberg in it....

Rush - Moving Pictures
Queensryche - Rage For Order
Metallica - And Justice For All
King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind
Def Leppard - High N' Dry
Better Than Ezra - Deluxe
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Y&T - In Rock We Trust

Guilty Pleasure:
The Knack - Get the Knack (yeah, that's right)

Was good to see others mention Queensryche's Promised Land, Dreams So Real's Rough Night in Jericho, and Dokken's Tooth and Nail.

89 Thank you (I'm the guy who included Promised Land). I'm impressed that of all the Leppard albums one could choose from, you picked High N'Dry. Bravo. That would be on my "If I still 16 and picking this list" list.

Here's my no B.S. top ten (gotta' get back to work)

Pink Moon..............Nick Drake
XO.....................Eliot Smith
Resigned...............Michael Penn
OK Computer............Radiohead
The White Album........The Beatles
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...Wilco
Billy Breathes.........Phish
Redemption's Son.......Joseph Arthur
Sleeping on Roads......Neal Halstead
Oh Inverted World......The Shins

Guilty Pleasure........Ill Communication (The Beastie Boys)

Late to the party as usual..But such a provocative subject, here goes.

Residents--Third Reich and Roll

X--Los Angeles

NIN--With Teeth

Schubert--Octet

Philip Glass--Glassworks

Doors--first disc

Strunz and Farah--Mosaico

Little Feat--Just about anything, but Dixie Chicken or Down on the Farm will do just fine, thanks.

Brand X--Unorthodox Behaviour

Music for the Shadow Play-- Gender Wayang (Gamelan) from Peliatan, Bali

Egad!

That's not enough, Scott!
Not fair!

-Anyway, Wild Card:

One of Cosby's first albums (grew up listening to him --and lmao) Either

Wonderfulness
or

I Started As a Child

-I know they're live recordings but a spoken word/comedy selection might just prove very valuable to preservation of sanity on a deserted island.

To add my guilty pleasure to 54:
It took me 2 days to find it, but it's got to be George Benson's Breezin'. The first recording of his popstar career
(how many people know that he had a 15 yr career as a guitarist before 1976 - with only the exception of 2 or 3 vocals over those 15 yrs)
Breezin' is full of cheesy string arrangements and a tasteless pianist (jorge dalto) yet Benson's guitar playing is just amazing… but very soon after this recording his guitar playing lost it's bite as he became a 'stahh'.

8284
Lord help me Lord help us! Roger Whittaker - my father has been his number one fan since the mid 1970s ! As prisoners in thefamily car on summer trips, my brother and I were subjugated to serial listenings, so we took to referring to Whittaker as the notorious serial killer: Laurence Bittaker(sp?)
(nothing to do with Larry Biittner…)

Since People seem to be struggling so hard with the concept of guilty pleasures, I thought I would Google around and come up with some definitions on the subject.

A guilty pleasure is

something you enjoy, even though you know it's bad for you

something that I pretend to like ironically, but secretly really like.

something that would ruin us if our friends knew about.

something you would listen to, but sure as hell wouldn't wear a t-shirt in public of.

(Let me mention that I've been wearing a Beastie Boys t-shirt for over 10 years. There is no guilt in being a beastie boys fan, as most of their releases have been Top 20 reviewed albums by the end of their year.)

Maybe these definitions help explain what I was getting at.

94

Ok .... so that means I can mention

DEVO - New Traditionalists

19

Also, just missing the Top 10 cut

Pretenders - Learning to Crawl
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
U2 - Achtung Baby
Paul Simon - Graceland
Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

Perhaps I am hanging around the wrong people but I've been ridiculed for wearing a Ramones t-shirt on several occasions.

#89 I'm down with The Knack. I had it on vinyl and I bought the CD, too.

"Heartbeat, why do you miss when my baby kisses me?"

In 8th grade, before I knew better (and at that age I knew less socially than 99% of the population) I went to a John Denver concert with my parents and wore the concert shirt to school the next day. That was the last time that I did that. The ridicule was, in retrospect, awe inspiring. How anyone makes it out of junior high alive is amazing.

guilty pleasure to go along with post 85 would have to be Promise by Sade.

OK, I'm not much of a music connoisseur; I've never heard or heard of many of the artists listed above. So my list probably sucks. Plus, I'd really want Peter Gabriel's Passion, but that's probably DQ'ed as a soundtrack album. But I will make up for it by winning the "guiltiest pleasure" award.

Hunky Dory, David Bowie. You're stuck on an island. Turn and face the changes.

King of America, Elvis Costello. You thought you were the King of America, but it was just the boulevard of broken dreams. Or a desert island.

The Nightfly, Donald Fagen. A sort of doomed optimism runs through this album, which could be a useful emotion to harness on the island.

Graceland, Paul Simon. If I were stuck alone, I'd be thinking a lot about lost loves. "Like a window in your heart" would probably describe my feelings pretty well.

San Francisco Days, Chris Isaak. A little reminder of home.

Red Hot + Blue, Cole Porter. I don't think this qualifies as a compilation album--the songs in this tribute to Porter appear on no other album. My dad was a huge Porter fan, so its a reminder of family. kd lang nails "So In Love", a song about accepting the pains of love, which might help in persevering.

Love Over Gold, Dire Straits. The title track reminds us that you gotta do what you gotta do.

Robbie Robertson, Robbie Robertson. An album that explores our relationship with God without being so cocksure about His existence.

...och stora havet, Jakob Hellman. This is generally considered the greatest Swedish album of all time. Catchy pop tunes, with smart and funny lyrics that playfully and uniquely capture the odd rhythms and intonations of the Swedish language, instead of just copying the style of English-language pop tunes. The sad thing is Hellman decided after making this brilliant debut album that he didn't like being a pop star and retired. Which makes it even more uniquely Swedish, I suppose.

Ninth Symphony, Beethoven. If I'm going to have time to kill listening to music, I need a longer, layered work of art that I cann spend time picking apart and analyzing. Might as well pick one with an uplifting message. Plus, Beethoven wrote the thing while deaf, which might give me hope that I too might one day do something impossibly great. Like get off this doggone island.

And now, my guilty pleasure:

A Christmas Together, John Denver and The Muppets. Gotta have some Christmas music for Christmastime, right? Top that!

100 "...cocksure about His existence..."

Can you mention God in the same sentence as cocksure? Isn't there a prohibition against that in Leviticus, right after the part where God states that he hates shrimp??

(godhatesshrimp.com)

Shrimp, sure, but there aren't any prohibitions against roosters, are there?

Ken, your list is one of my favorites. I'm a huge fan of Gabriel's Passion. Possibly the most sensuous album I've ever heard.

King of America was a hard choice for me not to take. To me Costello's lyrics connect with me like Dylan does to others.

Nightfly and Fagen's follow-up solo release are really underrated. Robbie Robertson's solo debut is an atmospheric dream. And you get the idea of a true guilty pleasure. I will have to check out the Swedish popster, sounds interesting. If we were taking greatest hits, I probably would have chose Abba as my guilty pleasure (or Saturday Night Fever if soundtrack's were eligible.

The Red Hot and Blue wouldn't qualify, as it is a compilation of artists, but I love it as well. My favorite 5 songs on it are by Neneh Cherry, Iggy and Debbie Harry, U-2, Jungle Brothers, and the Lang song. Highly recommended.

103 I too considered the SNF soundtrack and ABBA's greatest hits as my guilty pleasure.

I've always been partial to "Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye", a compilation of Roky Erickson tunes by artists such as REM, ZZTop, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Butthole Surfers, Primal Scream, John Wesley Harding...weird, bizarre fun.

Chris, I like that one as well. The REM selection might be the best song that they've done that most of their fans haven't heard.

True guilty pleasure: Raffi "Baby Beluga"
Yeah, it's on my mp3. Let's keep it between us, 'kay?

54 wrote this: Because I saw a few lists with some attempts to open up to the jazz repertoire, but none that represented a wide knowledge of the genre... which sounds like a friendly challenge so here's ten to add to my list:

Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section: Fresh off a heroin bender and not knowing that he was even playing the gig, Pepper took his sax with a broken cork and met up with the band that backed Miles and many others. A unique and beautiful album.

Sun Ra "Jazz in Silhouette": Music's most wildly experimental artist decided to become accessible for once and the results are astounding.

Oscar Peterson "Night Train": If I were to choose an album of jazz to give someone as an introduction to the genre, I'm not sure if it would be this or "Kind of Blue" by Miles. That's how good this is.

Louis Armstrong "Hot Fives and Hot Sevens": If you make a best of jazz list and include Louis, you're showing your seeds, right? The people who don't include Armstrong on jazz lists are like the people who don't want the Beatles on their pop and rock lists. Sure, it's okay to have a preference but, c'mon, Louis Armstrong is the patron saint of American music: individual expression within the framework, improvisation to improve a standard... the man was a miracle.

John Coltrane "Blue Train": Coltrane in classical hard bop just before he became interstellar. The title track is as good as the saxaphone can possibly sound.

Kenny Burrell "Midnight Blue": You can get a helluva an argument about who's the best jazz guitarist of all-time. Jimi Hendrix thought Kenny Burrell was the best guitarist, period.

Joao Gilberto/Stan Getz "Getz/Gilberto": The last popular movement in music before the Beatles changed everything. It's got Girl from Ipanema and so much more more. Just a beautiful record.

Duke Ellington "Far East Suite": Yeah, 54 is right about this one. (sigh) I really wanted to beat him to it.

Jim Hall "Concierto": I prefer this from Hall over what 54 chose--it has the best version of "Concierto de Aranjuez" I've ever heard (better than Miles) featuring Paul Desmond and Chet Baker.

Eric Dolphy "Far Cry": Another artist where it is very, very difficult to pick just one track.

And like 54, I'm left with this: very, very tough to stop at ten.

Let me know when you're in LA, Charenton. We need to exchange some music.

Charenton is a cheater. It's easier to demonstrate broad knowledge when you don't have to stick to the rules. And not just the live albums, and anthologies, but the rule against doubling down on a performer; lots of the best Jazz musicians worked together. Actually, I think these rules are bigoted against Jazz fans. And the people who picked the Bach cello pieces, except they cheated too.

Lots and lots of cheating in this game. I'm disgusted with the lot of you.

And another thing, Changes One and Two is a poseur pick!

Scott: Anything in the last 15 years?

Tschiakovsky - 1812 Overture
Prince - Purple Rain
Mahler -Symphony #1
Springsteen - Tunnel of Love (cus my wife's not going w/me.)
Police - Ghost in the Machine
Radiohead - OKC (my god having to choose is just too hard.)
Roxy Music - Avalon (cus my wife's going w/me.)
Los Lobos - Kiko
Madonna - Like a Prayer
Paul Simon - Graceland

Ennio Morricone - The Mission Soundtrack

Funny thing is, if I did this next week I'd probably have at least 7 different choices.

Good list TFD. Avalon is the most sensual album I've heard that includes a singer. (see Gabriel's passion above.) Outside of the 2 classical pieces, it would appear everything is from a 10 year period.

Andrew- The rules were not set up specifically to negatively impact jazz fans. They were set up not even thinking about jazz fans. A couple of times a year I will break out the jazz music, but it is not a music I find that I enjoy in the car. Since I have a 4 year old daughter, the time to play it the way I like to, by myself with a libation is not possible. Jazz is music for people without children at home. At least, this is where my head is at on the subject.
(Yes, I do hear the sound of a can of worms being opened.)

As a big fan of Peter Gabriel's "Passion" too, I have to beg to differ with you when you say it doesn't include a singer. It might not have lyric vocals, but Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N'Dour certainly count as singers. Two of the best voices in the world the past 50 years (RIP--Khan).

I think of these voices as being more like another instrument. I should have been more specific. Thanks for the correction...you bastard. (insert smiley face)

Bruin:

Totally agree on Getz/Gilberto. One odd thing--in the age of CDs, the runtime always makes it feel like an EP to me. It's, what, 39 minutes? Being so great, it's over too soon.

Oops--it's 29 minutes. I don't know where the EP/LP line is, but it's definitely short.

110- I see. You're not bigoted against Jazz fans per se, just all childless people. Keep your patriarchy off my uterus, Mr. Long!