Deserted Island Music
We're at the second 5 (of 10) of my list. Here's the first 5.
Bill Adams' list, 2nd five
6. Modern Jazz Quartet, "Pyramid"
I choose this one because it was the first one I bought, when I was in high school and trying to learn to like and understand jazz, mainly because I wanted to be Hugh Hefner of Playboy Magazine.
But the group was together on and off for 40 years, and this still pleases me. It's mostly quiet, but lovely.
I have scores of jazz CDs by great artists, but nostalgia means I bring this one.
7. Paul Robeson, "Ballad for Americans and Other Great Songs of Faith,
Love and Patriotism"
Seems like a funny title for an artist who loved
Soviet Russia years longer t
han he should have, but Paul's voice came
into my ear for the first time on the same day I discovered Cisco
Houston in the Trenton NJ Public Library. Given all the Houston and
Robeson records I purchased in the last 50 years, that was an expensive
listening experience.
"Get on Board, Little Children" only lasts 1:15, but it changed my life.
Some of these have orchestra backing, but most have only piano and the bass-baritone of the singer/actor/activist.
If you can forgive his politics, you can appreciate the soul revealed in his recordings.
8. Frank Sinatra, "In The Wee Small Hours"
One of the very first concept LP's, full of slow songs about troubled love that are brilliantly acted out.
Listen with earphones and your heart, and even the pauses Frank chooses seem to be filled with significance.
9. "The Best of Al Stewart"
The Scottish-American intellectual rock lyricist was someone brought to my attention in the mid-90's, ten or more years after his biggest hits.
However, "Time Passages" and "Delia's Gone" and "Lord Grenville" and "Nostradamus" all somehow spoke pleasantly to me, and still do.
10. "Songs of the Hawaiian Cowboy, Na Mele O Paniolo"
I lived on the Big Island from 1978-81, and learned to love a lot of Hawaiian-style music.
My time there had joy-filled moments, such as the birth of my first child, and stress-filled, having to leave because of a depressed wife and a job situation which had become difficult.
But I am not sorry I had the three-year adventure, and this largely unknown CD is wonderfully done.