Desert Island - 5 Albums

I think it's because it was the last one before they signed to a major label, so it kind of gets caught in no-man's land in that it doesn't sound quite like the "Murmur" stuff that first got them acclaim but the pop sound from it is more well-known from "Green," "Out of Time," etc. Too bad bands don't have a chance to develop like that any more. R.E.M. is a classic success story. A band that started off really good that just kept getting better and better, and did some of their best work after they signed with a major label.

 

Jimmy Buffett - A1A
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Hootie & the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View
Hank Williams Jr. - The Pressure is On
Bob Marley - Legend (yeah, it's kind of a rule breaker, but I think it stands on it's own)

 

The Beatles (The White Album)
Allman Brothers Band: Live at Fillmore East
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland
Grateful Dead: American Beauty
The Who: Who's Next

 

Makes a good avatar, too!

 

If you only get five, may as well make them all double LPs (or CDs):

"Something/Anything" -- Todd Rundgren
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" -- Smashing Pumpkins
"Being There" -- Wilco
"The Beatles" -- The Beatles (aka The White Album)
"Exit Stage Left" -- RUSH

Honorable mention: "Candy O" by The Cars, for the cover. I mean, if you're going to be alone on a desert island ...

 

The Who - Quadrophenia
Led Zeppelin - Zeppelin II
Badfinger - No Dice
The Clash - London Calling
Phil Collins - Face Value

 

It's a desert island, so I'd go with stuff that fits the environment, man...

1. Jimmy Cliff - Harder They Come Soundtrack
2. Clash - Sandinista
3. Misty in Roots - Live at the Counter Eurovision
4. Rodrigo y Gabriella - Rodrigo y Gabriella
5. Dick Dale - King of the Surf Guitar

 

DAMN! Doolittle by the Pixies. I'll put that over Heartbreaker, reluctantly.


And I'm shocked so many people picked Life's Rich Pageant as well. Has been my favorite by them forever. But it's well deserving of its desert island status.

And Waylon, Document was on IRS, came out in 1987. They also released Dead Letter Office and Eponymous before signing to Warner's and releasing Green.

 

Dirty South, DBT
Trace, Son Volt
Fighting, Thin Lizzy
Physical Graffiti, Zeppelin
Pantera, Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits (I need workout music)

As for Life's Rich Pageant, a buddy who drove a bunch of us to high school one year always had that in his cassette player. I must have listened to Swan Swan H and Superman hundreds of times way too loud early in the morning. Recently, I found a video of R.E.M. with Eddie Vedder doing Begin the Begin. What an awesome jam. On another day, LRP makes my top five.

 

Wow. I'm rusty. Good catch on "Document." That at least had a couple real mainstream hits, though. So that might be why I was thinking along those lines.

I wouldn't count "Eponymous" and "Dead Letter Office," but I get your drift.

Also, one minute I hate a guy on a music thread. The next minute he drops "Trace" as one of his five. Gotta love this board.

 

Eponymous is a greatest hits album. Only one originial tune IIRC.

 

Some great tunes being cranked on desert islands around here. I agree on "Life's Rich Pageant" -- the best REM album, even if it didn't really have any "hits" on it.

And if I hadn't gone all double-LPs, Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" would have edged out "Fighting" in my top 5, YGBFKM. They're both great albums.