You can take 2 books with you.

1 that you've previously read and 1 that that you always meant to get round too.

Which books and why?

If you could take one Dundee Utd match on video to watch over and over again...what match would you choose?

What one alcoholic drink would you take with you if you could?

And finally as the sun set on the Island for the final time in your life what song would you like to play out?

Grantomac, I thank you Sir.

Tek wrote:

The 12th 'castaway' we are joined by is Grantomac.

Grant you have been destined to spend the rest of your days on an isolated island somewhere in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.

In an extremely lucky quirk of fate however there is big package washed up on shore.......when you open the said package you find a cd walkman,headphones and what would appear to be a 50 year supply of AA batteries.

If you could pick any 8 albums to take with you on the Island...what albums would those be Sir? And can you give a small insight into why you've chosen each one please?

Thanks very much Tek. Hopefully my choices aren't too horrifying or boring.

I'm pretty certain that my choices at the time of writing are probably different from those I may have chosen last week, last month, last year and so on. My choices next week will probably be different as well.

Here goes.

First album would be The Smiths - Meat is Murder



It is a tough thing to pick a favourite album by The Smiths but I have to give this the nod. I love Morrissey and allied with the musical genius that Johnny Marr is blessed with we have an album that really raises the bar.

Funnily enough, I feel that Meat is Murder is a great album for the summer. The Headmaster Ritual musically always struck me as quite summery.

Rusholme Ruffians has a hypnotic quality as Morrissey delves yet again into the brutality he felt was all around him during his childhood. Continuing his creation of Morrissey's Manchester I love that Johnny Marr has effectively sampled Elvis Pressley's His Latest Flame.





I Want the One I Can't Have is a track I have never and will never ever tire of. The incredible production and the pretty much perfect arrangement of Johnny's guitars just makes it impossible for me to dislike this song in anyway. Lyrically it is simply Morrissey on absolute fire. I used to be the singer and lyricist in a band once upon a time and I was so heavily influenced by The Smiths and Morrissey I used to get a wee bit annoyed at him sometimes. I laugh now and even at the time because I'd feel like "Damn that is so good. I wish I had written that." This song is one of the many examples of that.


I'm not going to go track by track so I'm skipping ahead to Nowhere fast. A song in which Marr and Morrissey have captured each other's elements in perfect harmony.

Well I Wonder has some of my favourite lyrical lines of any song. I always wanted to cover this song.

Barbarism Begins at Home. Now this song I did actually cover with my former band. I always admired the guitar and bass playing on this song. The bass and guitar riffs are unbelievably creative.




The second album on the list is Kate Bush - Hounds of Love.

I saw Kate Bush live in London last year. It was, for me, the greatest live show/concert/performance I have ever been to. She did two 1 hour 30 minute sets. The first of which consisted  of songs from the Hounds of Love and Red Shoes albums. In particular the first set consisted of side two of Hounds of Love which is called The Ninth Wave.

And Dream of Sheep is just beautiful. Probably my favourite Kate Bush song.


The album has some truly superb songs such as Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Hounds of Love and Cloudbusting.

Cloudbusting had a video starring Bush and Donald Sutherland. A song based on the book A Book of Dreams. Wikipedia contains a pretty good insight into the story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudbusting




Now here is where I kind of struggle. I'm a playlist sort of guy and I think Desert Island Discs is going to have to learn how to adapt to things like Spotify playlists etc almost overtaking albums. We are almost back to a singles industry. I like to listen to a whole artist's stuff in a playlist. So with Electric Light Orchestra I struggle because songs I love of there's are so spread across their albums. I find it too difficult to leave ELO out because I can't pick an album so I'll have to cop out and pick a compilation album. Probably Flashback. I think that should be a fair enough choice considering it was what got me into ELO.

Although it is missing the following favourites of mine



This little beauty Wishing


and



Next album is Pet Sounds


It is for me, the best collection of songs in album form ever. By this album The Beach Boys have recorded 10 albums in the space of four years. Brian Wilson had produced most of the albums by that point and by far and away had written the vast majority of songs. The first of which was this song Surfin'


Four years later, at the age of 23 he was releasing Pet Sounds. He'd written songs like California Girls
and now Pet Sounds. To go from songs like Surfin' to songs like God Only Knows and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is astounding and a mark of the undoubted genius he is.



One man, self taught at the age of 22 to 23 wrote, produced and arranged an album as musically rich as Pet Sounds. I can't quite get over how much of a genius the man is.

Song in the Key of Life


I've got an original release Vinyl of this album in mint condition thanks to my Dad keeping it wrapped in plastic. Now this is another example of genius. This album has elements that modern musicians are still emulating today. It's almost timeless for that fact. It is very much of it's time and yet is very much still current and you can here styles and sounds that sound very current.

The opening track Love's in Need of Love Today is such a lovely introduction to this album. An album that contains classics like Sir Duke


Funk/Disco genius in I Wish


Love songs like Knock Me Off My Feet


Ordinary Pain


One of my favourite Stevie Wonder songs Isn't She Lovely


There's other beauties in there but I'd like you to listen to the whole album and discover the great stuff in there.

Iron Maiden - Powerslave


I struggled with this one a wee but  because I love so many of the Iron Maiden albums of the 80s. Songs like Stranger in a Strange Land

from Somewhere in Time pulled me in that direction and Flight of Icarus in the direction of Piece of Mind but I went with Powerslave. Back in the Village is inspired by my favourite TV show The Prisoner and Rime of the Ancient Mariner is immersive at 13 minutes and 42 seconds


Morrissey - Bona Drag


Difficult to pick a favourite Morrissey solo album. Although, essentially a compilation album I just all the songs from start to finish. It is in all honesty the one and only album I can think of that does not have a song on it that I will skip. That is something I find rare.

November Spawned A Monster

Lyrically superior in many respects to the sort of vacuous crap you hear. Morrissey has almost made it his mission to touch on subjects no one will.

Hairdresser on Fire

It is a song about getting a haircut. What's not to love?

Yes, I Am Blind. For me it is very revealing insight into Morrissey's experience with depression. With lines like "Little lamb on a hill. Run fast if you can. Good Christians want to kill you and your live has not even begun" I can't praise this song highly enough.


Disappointed

A great end to a great album.

I am a fan of Genesis. Specifically the Phil Collins led Genesis. I know some people may laugh and some people think Collins is a bit of a prick but I am a fan of Genesis and Phil Collins. I love his solo stuff like I Missed Again


and Easy Lover


and One More Night


to name only a few.

With the album Invisible Touch we have a band at it's artisitc peek. Due to solo successes of Collins and Rutherford, Genesis is at this point effectively a supergoup despite the fact of having been together for a significant length of time.

The opening track is Invisible Touch

A downright great pop song of the era.

Followed by Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. Eight minutes plus of Prog Pop


Land of Confusion. A political song. Catchy and I really enjoy the middle 8.


In Too Deep is probably my favourite Genesis song. At first glance it's just a mushy 80s love song but for me the production and the arrangement is really on a different level. I really do think this music is long overdue a re-evaluation. I get slagged for liking this stuff but I can happily play Genesis and Phil Collins all day.


So there we have it. But I am well aware that Fleetwood Mac Rumours and Tango in the Night really should be in there too but I had to make the cut somehow.

 

Tek wrote:

Which person would you miss the most?

Despite being very sociable I am quite private. I'd miss a few people though and I can't rank them. My brother, my sister and Laura.
 

Tek wrote:

What one other inanimate object would you take with you on the island if you could?

A tough one. Probably a piano. I can then play some of the albums I couldn't bring along with me myself.
 

Tek wrote:

What ONE album would you save if the tide started washing them away and you only had time to retrieve just one?

Pet Sounds came to mind very quickly. I love The Beach Boys and the album is so rich that I couldn't really choose another.
 

Great read that G.

Really liked some of your choices.

As you know i picked two of the same albums (SITKOL and Pet Sounds) and tbh very nearly took 'Hounds of Love' as one of my castaway albums also.

As you know i am also partial to a bit of Phil as a not so guilty musical pleasure also.(no minter here).

Bravo.

 

Sieb22 wrote:

Great read Grantomac 

Cheers mate.

Phil Collins though

Tory cunt

I knew I'd miss something out that I'd regret.

The Jayhawks.

What a band.

The album Tomorrow the Green Grass is incredible. Songs like Blue, I'd Run Away, Miss William's Guitar and Real Light. Unbelievable talent.




Can't get enough of Real Light. This live version is excellent. The Harmonies are just so right on.


They've got some great albums, Smile, Sound of Lies and more. Well worth searching out on Spotify or Youtube.

Love the song Wichita from Hollywood Town Hall.




Maybe more will pop into my head but I can not believe I missed these guys out. Songwriting of a superior standard and I have always felt they received and continue to receive less recognition than they deserve.