Desert Island Discs
The following is an article I was persuaded (against my better judgement) to write for my company's newsletter. I publish it here for no particular reason, it just may be of interst to someone. Actually, that is fairly unlikely.
Distilling my music collection into 4 songs to take with me to a desert island (or possibly Didcot) was always going to be a challenge. Firstly, my iTunes collection has increased to over 13000 mp3s, so much that I can fit less than a quarter of it on my iPod at any one time. Secondly, some of the material on there is so obscure that very few of you would recognise the songs anyway! My shortlist ranged from classic rock (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Queensryche, Slayer) through eighties pop and stadium rock (U2, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Del Amitri), blues (John Lee Hooker) and more modern rock (Avril Lavigne, REM, the Manics, Matchbox 20). I deliberately didn’t choose the soundtrack to my profession, “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats, as its awful!
For my first choice, “Grendel” by Marillion. I’m likely to be on this island for a considerable time, so a 17 minute escapist epic would come in handy to while away the hours. Its Fish at his most wordy, with an intricate arrangement worthy of more than just an obscure B side to a single which only just scraped the Top 40. Marillion were a much maligned and overlooked band, and taking Grendel means I don’t need to take Beowulf as one of my books! I used to present a late night rock show on university radio in Norwich: it was quite an achievement to only play 3 songs in an entire hour’s programme (you’re welcome to guess what the other 2 songs were). Somehow, I think this explains my audience ratings….
Second, “The Colours” by The Men They Couldn’t Hang. There is nothing like a bit of rebel rousing historical politics, “These are my last words before the scaffold and I charge you all to hear - how a wretched British sailor became a citizen mutineer.”
Third, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, by the Levellers. A modern rendition of a country classic, fiddle playing with real attitude. One of those songs that causes a phenomenal amount of energy to spring from the speakers. Aural pleasure, indeed, so why was it only ever released as ‘B’ side? And it is superb live.
My final musical choice is basically anything by Magnum. Another hugely under-rated hard rock band of the 1980s and 1990s, they managed three Top 40 singles in 1988 but never made the big breakthrough. They did however look very out of place during their two appearances on Top of The Pops (but not as much as Iron Maiden, who were annoyed at having to mime so swapped instruments half way through the set). I remember seeing them live in Reading, with the unusual sight of someone asleep inside the bass speaker. I very much doubt it was a ‘natural’ sleep. Magnum spilt in the late 1990s, but reformed a couple of years ago and since then have released a couple of obscure (but still rather good) albums since. The song I have plumped for is Midnight (You Won’t Be Sleeping) from the Vigilante album, if only for the excellent saxophone solo.
My books are both extremely long, one of which I have read thirty or forty times, and one of which I keep failing to get beyond the first few chapters. Both classics but in different ways – J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (or possibly the Silmarillion), and Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
I’m assuming that the rules stop me from taking a Lear jet or cruise ship as my luxury item, and I’m not going to be sensible and say a penknife. I’ll take a rugby ball – I can practice my drop kicks even if I’m not going to get much of a game!
Distilling my music collection into 4 songs to take with me to a desert island (or possibly Didcot) was always going to be a challenge. Firstly, my iTunes collection has increased to over 13000 mp3s, so much that I can fit less than a quarter of it on my iPod at any one time. Secondly, some of the material on there is so obscure that very few of you would recognise the songs anyway! My shortlist ranged from classic rock (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Queensryche, Slayer) through eighties pop and stadium rock (U2, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Del Amitri), blues (John Lee Hooker) and more modern rock (Avril Lavigne, REM, the Manics, Matchbox 20). I deliberately didn’t choose the soundtrack to my profession, “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats, as its awful!
For my first choice, “Grendel” by Marillion. I’m likely to be on this island for a considerable time, so a 17 minute escapist epic would come in handy to while away the hours. Its Fish at his most wordy, with an intricate arrangement worthy of more than just an obscure B side to a single which only just scraped the Top 40. Marillion were a much maligned and overlooked band, and taking Grendel means I don’t need to take Beowulf as one of my books! I used to present a late night rock show on university radio in Norwich: it was quite an achievement to only play 3 songs in an entire hour’s programme (you’re welcome to guess what the other 2 songs were). Somehow, I think this explains my audience ratings….
Second, “The Colours” by The Men They Couldn’t Hang. There is nothing like a bit of rebel rousing historical politics, “These are my last words before the scaffold and I charge you all to hear - how a wretched British sailor became a citizen mutineer.”
Third, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, by the Levellers. A modern rendition of a country classic, fiddle playing with real attitude. One of those songs that causes a phenomenal amount of energy to spring from the speakers. Aural pleasure, indeed, so why was it only ever released as ‘B’ side? And it is superb live.
My final musical choice is basically anything by Magnum. Another hugely under-rated hard rock band of the 1980s and 1990s, they managed three Top 40 singles in 1988 but never made the big breakthrough. They did however look very out of place during their two appearances on Top of The Pops (but not as much as Iron Maiden, who were annoyed at having to mime so swapped instruments half way through the set). I remember seeing them live in Reading, with the unusual sight of someone asleep inside the bass speaker. I very much doubt it was a ‘natural’ sleep. Magnum spilt in the late 1990s, but reformed a couple of years ago and since then have released a couple of obscure (but still rather good) albums since. The song I have plumped for is Midnight (You Won’t Be Sleeping) from the Vigilante album, if only for the excellent saxophone solo.
My books are both extremely long, one of which I have read thirty or forty times, and one of which I keep failing to get beyond the first few chapters. Both classics but in different ways – J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (or possibly the Silmarillion), and Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
I’m assuming that the rules stop me from taking a Lear jet or cruise ship as my luxury item, and I’m not going to be sensible and say a penknife. I’ll take a rugby ball – I can practice my drop kicks even if I’m not going to get much of a game!
posted by Jonathan | Friday, November 19, 2004
1 Comments:
I do agree with you about Devil Went Down to Georgia. Dan and Rence and i tried to play it once, but the middle bit when the devil plays sounded absolutely rubbish, which defeats the purpose of the song, so we couldn't do it.
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