Desert Island discs

[karloschaos]

Nice choice Sevendown. I was lucky enough to see Townes Van Zandt at The Adelphi Club in Hull a good few years ago, sadly not long before he died. The Adelphi is basically a converted terraced house so the people at the back of the audience were only about 30ft away from the stage. One of the most electric shock shivers up the spine type gigs I've ever seen. As I'd managed to grab a bit of floorspace right in front of the stage I ended up being his personal barman for the entirety of the gig i.e. "hey man will you go to the bar & get me another treble vodka". So sad he died an alcoholic, if only I'd known. Pancho & Lefty was incredible that night.

[sevendown]

Very lucky fellow, you are
I Know that in Europe he played mostly in germany and in England, but never in Portugal.
He was a true genius , that lived almost from royalties of others that sang is songs (Emmylou harris, willie nelson for instance). Comparing things could be quite tricky and stupid sometimes, but he never made a bad record, like... dylan or others more famous stars.
That list could go one, but if i really had to take only ten then he will be in my list for shore.

Adeus

Sevendown

[sohtatexas]

thanx guys....sevendown & karloschaos! ..from Europe..

I'm really glad to hear that you guys talkin' about my man! his Texan!

and Legend! yes ....goes to in my list, too!

[cialtrone]

Music

-Casta Diva from Norma - Bellini- sings Maria Callas
-Starway to heaven - Led Zeppelin
-Concerto for violin and orchestra Nr. 1 - Max Bruch - performed by Nigel Kennedy
-E lucean le stelle from Tosca - Puccini
-Like a hurricane - Neil Young
-Una furtiva lacrima from L'elisir d'amore - Doninzetti
-Bohemian Raphsody - Queen
-London Calling - The clash
-Imagine - John Lennon
- Piano concerto Nr.3 - Rachmaninov

Book

The truce ( US The reawakening) - Primo Levi
Flight without End - Joseph Roth
Yddish Novels - Isaac B. Singer
The name of the rose - Umberto Eco
History of western philosophy - Bertrand Russell
Poems - Sergej Esenin
Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
1984 - George Orwell
Galactic Trilogy - Isaac Asimov

[AMDefoe]

SONGS :
Rolling Stones - Sister Morphine
Hawkwind - Spirit Of The Age
Black Sabbath - Megalomania
Doors - When The Musics Over
Venom - Black Metal
Satyricon - Repine Bastard Nation
Motorhead - Step Down
Dimmu Borgir - Puritania
Viking Skull - Beers,Drugs & Bitches
Nemhain - Heroin Child

BOOKS :
Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf
Clive Barker - Damnation game
Shaun Hutson - Victims
Robert Rankin - Armageddon The Musical
Luke Reindhart - Dice Man
Mick Farren - C.O.R.P.S.E
Robert Calvert - Hype
Dante - The Divine Comedy Trilogy
Stephen Davis - Hammer Of The Gods
Michael Moorcock - Behold The Man

[Bovon]

Well, having seen this type of thread on other Forums, I long-ago concluded that the choices put forward, to some degree or other, reflected the pretensions of the posters' rather than the actual choice that would be made. (Presumably you may be stuck with these tunes/books etc for a long time). Thankfully, most of that element seems to be absent from the preceeding crop of VEF posters', so well done!
As others have said - these may be today's snapshot of larger bodies of work by Artist's or Corporation's - These I could live with for a long time:

TUNES:

Spem in Alium - Thomas Tallis (How 40 human voices blended together can sound).

Violin Concerto (Em) - Felix Mendelssohn.

I'm Only Sleeping - The Beatles at their quirky best.

Just The Way You Look Tonight - Fred Astaire. (Yep, that Fred Astaire. Beautiful rendition).

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye. Sexy man at the peak of Motown.

America - Simon & Garfunkel. Just one of many Masterpieces.

Hollywood Waltz - Eagles. Underated song about Los Angeles.

When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin. Hey, we're on a desert island, what better place for all those air-drums, air-guitars, preening-vocals!!!

BOOKS:

The Bible.
Shakespeare Complete.
The Times Comprehensive Atlas Of The World.
Ulysses - James Joyce.
Oxford Book of English Verse.
Oxford English Dictionary.
Set of Thomas Hardy novels - so I'll always know that there is someone, somewhere, worse off than me!

Luxury etc:

Large, and well-framed High-Quality photo of Marina Larsen.

Given a constant supply of clean drinking water, and a sufficient variety of foodstuffs to maintain health - then there's absolutely no need to escape back to the Rat Race. Now, how do I get there?!!

[thinlizzy]

Originally Posted by Bovon

Well, having seen this type of thread on other Forums, I long-ago concluded that the choices put forward, to some degree or other, reflected the pretensions of the posters' rather than the actual choice that would be made. (Presumably you may be stuck with these tunes/books etc for a long time).

I think even the original Desert Island discs suffers from people selecting songs or books to reflect how they wish to be perceived rather than their actual choices.I started the thread to see what the members of VEF liked and have enjoyed reading their selections.I've heard or read a few of your selections,one of my favourite pieces of music is Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis but I like so much different types of music ,I've over 20gb's of music on my pc alone that narrowing it down to 10 songs was very hard.Most of my choices musically or book wise reflect choices that continually delight me,some have emotional memories,some I just love coming back to,to see if they have the same impact.Thank you for adding your selections,I also love "When the Levee breaks",great song in fact most Led Zeppelin songs are a joy to listen to....only song that I skip when listening to them is "stairway" and that's only because I've heard it so much.I chose "black dog" by them because I love singing it so much but it could so easily have been"Hotdog" which I equally love singing.One of my favourite Live Led Zeppelin moments is hearing Robert Plant forget the words to this song whilst singing it at Knebworth in 1979 and trying to pretend he knows the words,probably helped by it being a newish song then,most of the audience probably didn't realise....now just think if he'd done that to "Stairway"or "whole lotta love"

[Bovon]

TL - Yep, some good points ^^^^.
Obviously, though the (Original radio) concept is still valid to some degree, the sheer wealth of music available now as opposed to the 1940s(?) does become limiting very quickly. Given unlimited choice (not that much more choice in actuality) I would certainly have included one of the best live-recordings of a rock song ever, and that is from Mr Lynott & Friends: 'Emerald'. : )
In my estimation, Ralph Vaughan Williams = Genius. If only for his 'shorter' pieces: The Lark Ascending, Fantasia/Thomas Tallis, 5 Variants of Dives & Lazarus.

Good thread and idea, hope more contribute.

[pto]

This is a going to be a real chalange-here I am @ 60 and I am have to tell the world what I think (in my opinion) are the best records/books ever. I will work hard on this one - great thread.

[MaxJoker]

If i was stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere with presumably no alcohol - female company - Chinese take out - or Internet i'd only need one song "Suicide Is Painless" ,that is unless there`s a book entitled "How to move land mass with the power of your mind "