desert island discs – adrian

with radio 4 about to announce the entire nation’s desert island discs, and just because we love radio 4 at electric angel HQ, we thought we’d indulge ourselves.

the problem with the eight record limit is not really selecting the records, but on what criteria to make the selection. james and i have discussed this on more than one occasion when we really should have been doing some kerning (apologies to whoever’s poster wasn’t quite as typographically sensitive as it might have been that day).

from a practical point of view, you may not want to just take your eight favourite tunes but rather a selection that will keep you entertained for the coming months or possibly years. in this respect, people who decide to take classical music do rather well, being allowed entire symphony’s that span several discs, whereas those who enjoy a bit of pop could easily find themselves with only 20 minutes of music. and those who grew up in the album era feel the rules are grossly unfair as they don’t allow for albums which really need to be heard as a whole rather than singling out one track – my selection of desert island albums would certainly be different to the selection below (although i have managed to sneak in a whole album under the above symphony rule).

there’s also the issue of choosing for memories as well as music. this is actually something of a relief for those of us who take our music listening seriously (well, some of the time) as it means our desert island selection isn’t necessarily a perfect cross-section of our musical taste. that’s my excuse anyway. thankfully as none of us are running for government office we haven’t had to include anything really popular and vaguely of the moment in order to look with-it, trendy and worthy of your vote come the next election. although of course, i absolutely love coldplay and james is a massive lady gaga fan.

anyway, enough waffle, kirsty will be getting annoyed with me for wasting time. here’s mine. james and rebecca’s to follow. (click on the song titles to listen to them)

1. in pursuit of happiness. the divine comedy
as we’ll be playing these to each other in the studio, i’ve put the tracks in the best order for the mix tape. yes, tape. get us with the retro music delivery methods. so due to using a full orchestra and, being scored by pop musicians and thus sounding a thousand times better than ‘real’ orchestral music, this is a great opener. *sentimentality alert* the divine comedy are fixed in my mind as the soundtrack to my and rebecca’s courtship, so that’s the main reason for this. but it’s also a fab song. neil hannon gives it loads on this recording, it’s sentimental, witty and because neil can see the bittersweet in everything, has a slightly unsettling end too. hey, it’s not throbbing gristle or anything – this is as unsettled as i want to be on a desert island.

2. sidewalk surfer girl. super furry animals
SFA are the best pop band since the beatles. and for that reason the whole album this comes from (rings around the world) would be with me on the island if the rules could be bent. oh, and the title is a nod to the beach boys who sadly didn’t make this selection but i feel brian is here in spirit.

3. do you believe. webster lewis feat. the post-pop, space-rock, be-bop, gospell tabernacle chorus and orchestra BABY!
i didn’t choose this just for the name of the band, honest. it’s just one of the most fabulous pieces of music i’ve heard. it does, of course, feature lots of hammond organ.

4. a love supreme. john coltrane
as this is one work spread over four movements i figure i can have the whole album. and really, everyone should. unless you don’t like jazz, or take issue with the religious overtones. but really, it is an album everyone should own. but not play very often because really it’s just too good to listen to too regularly. funny that – i listen to other albums i don’t consider anywhere near as good a lot more often than i do this. what’s that all about? it’s for the same reason i’ll drink the blended whisky more often than the good stuff. of course, i’ll be distilling my own whisky from coconuts or something on the island, but i’ll drink more of the rather rancid cuttlefish liqueur i also knocked up because the coconut stuff is just too good for everyday.
(btw on the mixtape i just put ‘part 2 – resolution’. the whole album is just too good to put on a mixtape).

5. interlude/theme from jack johnson (from agharta). miles davis
at this point i’ve just realised there’s no room for any bowie, which has come as major disappointment. anyway, i still don’t know what to make of miles davis. back in the days of disposable income i bought a big chunk of miles’s recorded output to try and figure out what the fuss was about – this was in the days before you could buy almost anyone’s entire ouvre ‘used – like new’ on amazon for £1.27 so i’m talking a decent investment of cash. i’m still figuring it out. which, i think, is why i’ll take this. this is from miles’s psychedelic cocaine-funk period which many jazzers think is his absolute nadir. i however, am with julian cope on this one. besides, the coltrane album was a hymn to god in thanks for him kicking his heroin habit (tranes’ habit, not god’s) so i’m evening things up a bit here.

6. hit me with your rhythm stick. ian dury and the blockheads
this is possibly the best pop single ever made*. everyone on this single is playing a different riff and each one is the greatest riff ever heard. genius. and it features an atonal sax solo. double genius.
my mate richard said he heard an interview with dury who said this was a song about someone going slowly mad. which is what might be happening to me on the island.
my 7 year old son also says this is the best pop single ever made without any prompting. although i did play him it every day between the ages of 2 and 5.

*(see also ‘video killed the radio star‘ by buggles, ‘hey mickey‘ by tony basil, ‘rio‘ by duran duran and ‘don’t you want me‘ by the human league. oh, and ‘since you’ve been gone‘ by rainbow. and anything released by the KLF under a pseudonym.)

7. like a rolling stone (from ‘the bootleg series vol.4 live 1968.’). bob dylan.
it has to be the live version to get the “judas!” moment in, but also for the sheer intensity of the performance. i once put my head too close to the speakers listening to this with the result that the blistering heat of dylan’s scorn melted my entire face. true story.

8. hey jude. the beatles.
for dylan, my son, who is named partly after the scornful one above. this is ‘his song’ (it’s his middle name) which he denies strenuously whilst drumming a duet version at ferocious volume. of course, it’s not the best beatles song, or even the best paul mccartney song but there had to be some beatles on the island somewhere. unless i can take ringo as my luxury which would free up space for another record?

the disc i’d take if i could only take one? – ‘good to your earhole‘ by funkadelic.
what?! (looks around all innocent, like)

the luxury: a piano.

the book besides the bible: complete songs of david bowie. a book of sheet music isn’t cheating is it?

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