~Runicen

I'm going to see if I can't spark something off.

We've all heard of the "Desert Island Discs" lists that people put together for radio shows, etc. Well, now we're going to update the concept since most of those islands will be underwater in the next few years. For this experiment, we'll assume you're comfortably sitting on a rapidly melting glacier. You've got a working boom-box and enough time to listen to 10 of your favorite albums before you are plopped into the ocean and...either tread water until you die or are eaten by radioactive jellyfish - fill in the blank for what happens after the glacier melts (personally, I sprout fins and gills and get to make it with all the sexy mer-people).

So, 10 albums (length is unimportant - we'll assume your personal glacier will give you enough time to get in every last tasty track before the ocean eats you) with a brief blurb as to what the album means to you. Pass it on and bug other people to try it as well.

Mine (in no particular order):

1. VNV Nation - Futureperfect
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This album defines that immediately post-high-school experience of trying to figure out how in the hell I made it past 18 alive. Many friendships were forged and broken during this era, great concerts happened, and peace was made with just about as many things and as I declared war on. All told, fucking miserable at the time - highly interesting with the benefit of hindsight. This sums up the textures and thoughts of that era rather well.

2. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
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When I first heard this album, it was a true sleeper. I couldn't do anything with it, I couldn't really actively listen to it, and I certainly couldn't groove to it (to be fair, I think I wasn't even 10 when this came out). Over time and as my taste in music has matured and allowed for a greater measure of patience (why no, music doesn't need to kick your teeth in to be awesome). This has revealed itself to be a very textured album, sonically, musically, and lyrically. It's one of those vibey pieces you can easily get lost in without meaning to.

3. King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
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My Dad made me a King Crimson mix tape many moons back and songs like "Book of Saturday" and "Easy Money" were (at that point) the most bizarre pieces of music I'd heard. Still, there is an angular abrasiveness to King Crimson music from this era that allows it to stand alone and prove pretty persistently infectious. This album sums up that era of their career incredibly well. It didn't hurt that they had a fucking lunatic like Jamie Muir in the band to add flavor either.

4. Faith No More - Angel Dust
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Another album that I simply didn't get at all when I first got it (again, pre-teen naivety). This album gets into your brain like Mad Cow Disease and starts to tug apart expectations, rendering all manner of nightmarish and purely bizarre/comical imagery for your soon-to-be-twisted imagination. What's not to love?

5. Ian Anderson - Secret Language of Birds
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This is just a great condensation of the songwriting that makes Jethro Tull one of my favorite bands - melodically simple yet beautiful, well-played, and incredible sounding (speaking of the engineering of the album there).

6. The Cure - The Top
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This is a later addition to the list. Ok, Robert Smith on a fuck-ton of drugs... Nearing the peak of his game but nowhere near logical or rational. Need I say more? Truly amazing.

7. Oingo Boingo - Nothing to Fear
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Before Danny Elfman saw fit to write the soundtrack to the first Batman movie over and over, there was Oingo Boingo. New Wave music with marimbas, and other ethnic music influences (largely African or Central American). This album must have sounded incredible to people hearing it for the first time in '82.

8. Robert Palmer - Addictions Vols 1 & 2
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Ok, this is technically two CDs, but since it's essentially his self-selected best of, I'm going to combine them. As for my justification? It's Robert Palmer, the motha-fuckin' man!

9. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
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While there are probably better Porcupine Tree albums, this was my first and proves a very good condensation of what they do right. There are the ambient jams, the riffing out, the incredibly bizarre lyrical imagery (ok, maybe just slightly bizarre), and the distinct English-ness of Steven Wilson's work. Easily one of their best if not THE best.

10. Queen - Queen II
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I love everything Queen did (yes, I've even been known to spin that bizarre funk/disco album they made from time to time). That said, this album is the best example of their 70s work - some of which almost delved into regions of Prog Rock, albeit with a poppy edge. While weightier albums were to come, tracks like "Nevermore" make this indispensible to me.