Desert Island Discs

I used to really dislike Desert Island Discs, as it was always old people choosing music that I’ve never heard of, and which I didn’t like.  Now, of course, I’m older than many of the castaways, and they sometimes choose music that I like – I still don’t get Classical music though, as I’ve never heard a piece that couldn’t be improved by some drums, a bass line, and a decent set of lyrics!  Passing the time on a long drive I’ve often wondered which bit of music I would choose, so here goes.  I’ve cheated a little bit and chosen albums rather than single tracks – and the ten are in no particular order.

 

Love – Forever Changes.  Obvious I know, but it’s no coincidence that this has been voted greatest album of all time in so many polls – as time has passed, naturally Forever Changes has slipped down people’s lists, but it still features in almost all of them.  It’s 44 years since it was released but it’s hard to describe just how revolutionary it was. It may be a Love album, but it’s the great, and truly eccentric, Arthur Lee’s masterwork.  I still play it regularly, and it still moves me.  It has influenced so many bands over the years – listen to it and then Belle and Sebastian’s latest!

Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako.  Released in 2005 by this blind Malian duo, and produced by Manu Chao, it’s the perfect introduction to what is referred to somewhat condescendingly as World Music.  Not a week goes by without me playing an Amadou & Mariam album, and Dimanche a Bamako is top of that list, with Camions Sauvage my all-time favourite World Music track.  I’ve always liked guitarists where their style is so individual that you know it’s them as soon as you hear a few notes, and that’s what you get with Amadou Bagayoko – it’s simply wonderful stuff.

Richard Thompson OBE – Watching The Dark.  I couldn’t get by without a Thompson album - I like my lyrics to be beautifully written, and his are that and as dark as can be.  The master guitarist who first came to prominence with the best Fairport Convention line-up, the next 40 years have produced a string of great and not-so-great albums, but even the latter category always feature some great songs.  I’m cheating with Watching The Dark as it’s a three-CD retrospective, and has my favourite Thompson song, From Galway to Graceland.

Michael Marra – Posted Sober.  Another album where its absence would make life on the island almost intolerable – although I know every word of Marra’s songs so I guess I could sing them loudly to console myself.  Scotland’;s best kept secret, Dr Marra is from Dundee and is a master of his craft – right up there alongside the likes of Richard Thompson.  Posted Sober is simply magnificent with gems such as Frida Kahlo’s visit to the Tay Bridge Bar.  Everyone I’ve introduced to Marra’s music has loved it, and it’s a scandal that he’s so little known outside of Scotland.

John Martyn – Solid Air.  Even when he was bad – which he often was when drunk or stoned – he was still better than most other performers.  When he was on top form he was utterly brilliant, and Solid Air has him at his absolute best.  In my undergraduate days this was the ultimate seduction music – if you heard this playing late at night you could draw your own conclusions!  There isn’t a duff track on the album: Solid Air is s tribute to Nick Drake, and May You Never is just plain wonderful.  My favourite Martyn track is not on Solid Air, it’s Small Hours which is on One World which appeared a few years later.  Almost everything John Martyn did was worth listening to, but Solid Air captures a period in time for me, and it still gets lots of plays – again, it appears on lots of lists of greatest albums, and that’s because it’s timeless.

Orchestra Baobab – Pirates Choice.  Another World Music choice, this time from Senegal.  Pirates Choice was the ultimate ‘slow burner’: recorded in 1982 it was acclaimed by critics and was popular in France, but only really impacted on the UK when it was re-released in 2001.  Originally the house band of the Club Baobab in Dakar, the Orchestra has had many, many personnel changes in its time, but Pirates Choice captures a moment in time perfectly.  A truly great album and a cracking introduction to World Music – even I want to dance when I hear this one!

Van Morrison – Enlightenment.  There will have to be some Van the Man on the island, and from a remarkable back catalogue I’ve chosen Enlightenment.  It’s funny how particular tracks strike a chord with us, and ‘In the days before Rock ‘N’ Roll’ does it for me.  The image of turning the wireless knob through strange names such as Luxembourg, Athlone, and Hilversum is etched deep in my consciousness, as it is for many of my generation.  When Morrison sings about it I go back more years than I care to mention, and it’s not a bad feeling.

Pete Atkin – Driving Through Mythical America.  Everyone knows the polymath Clive James, but fewer know that he considers one of his greatest achievements to be the songs he wrote – and still writes – with singer Pete Atkin.  I first encountered this music through a video (one of the earliest ones) of the title track of this album that was featured on the Old Grey Whistle Test, and I loved it immediately – ‘Four students in the usual light of day, set out to speak their minds about the war’ is simply the best of several songs written about the shootings at Kent State University in Ohio on 04 May 1970.  I’m a sucker for clever lyrics and some of James’ / Atkin’s are almost too clever by half – ‘He couldn’t tell a wah-wah from Akira Kurosawa’ and ‘The powers-that-be will arrange a, pre-release of a Beautiful Stranger’, to mention but two!  It’s clever, witty, touching stuff and I still play their albums a lot.  

The Clash – The Story of The Clash.  I was at university in 1976 – Nottingham was run by the Federation of Conservative Students – lovely campus, great place to study, but as right wing as it came!  You might say that I rebelled against this and the release of The Clash’s eponymous debut album was like a bolt from the blue.  Punk had an energy that was the perfect antidote to the over-blown nonsense of the early 70s, and The Clash were different from a lot of the other Punk bands in that they had real talent.  White Riot, and Police and Thieves were inspiring, but then came London Calling in 1979, and it’s simply one of the greatest ever Rock albums.  The compilation album has 28 tracks and would help me rage against the injustice of being stranded on an island.

Finally, we have the most perfect 3’18” of pop music ever recorded.  I’d be happy with the single, or even better, a compilation of the original and all of the covers of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division, but in the spirit of the list lets go for:

Joy Division – The Best of Joy Division.  Dark, desperate and beautiful are words that can all be applied to Love Will Tear Us Apart, and on this double album there’s a studio and live version of the song.  If you want to know more about this wonderful band, and their trials and many tribulations, watch ‘Control’, Anton Corbijn’s excellent film about their singer Ian Curtis.

I don’t much fancy a desert island, but give me that box of CDs and it might just be a bit more tolerable!