Ivy - APARTMENT LIFE
Saint Etienne - TALES FROM TURNPIKE HOUSE
Kate Bush - THE DREAMING
The Avalanches - SINCE I LEFT YOU
Belle and Sebastian - IF YOU'RE FEELING SINISTER
Brian Eno - BEFORE AND AFTER SCIENCE
XTC - SKYLARKING
Sam Phillips - A BOOT AND A SHOE
The Go-Betweens -OCEANS APART
Calexico - FEAST OF WIRE
If you take a glance at my 100 favorite albums from three years ago, you'll notice that the top ten is radically different from this one. Has my taste in music fluctuated that much? Well, the earlier list is full of records I've listened to so obsessively that I feel I rarely need to hear them. Taking the desert island concept literally, I'm already somewhat sick of 'em, so I can't imagine what hell on earth would emerge if I was permanently stuck with 'em.
So, why these ten?
Well, the Saint Etienne, Go-Betweens and Sam Phillips albums, all released in the past three years, are there because they flawlessly encapsulate the great qualities of each artist’s oeuvre while also pushing them further than they previously dared to.
Though much older, the Brian Eno (and, to a lesser extent) Kate Bush albums are also recent discoveries; the intricate, adventurous worlds they contain ensure hours and hours of detecting all the unforeseen nuances within.
Ivy, Belle and Sebastian and The Avalanches were on the original top ten (and XTC in the top 20); perhaps they remain because I haven’t gotten to know them as well as this one or that one.
As for the Calexico album, I needed a tenth disc and could’ve easily put one by Tori Amos, Stew or Sufjan Stevens in its place. It wins out because of its sonic diversity, its flow, and the fact that it would make an apt soundtrack for a harsh, endless, isolated landscape.
And, if I bent the rules and snuck in five additional greatest hits albums, they would be Pet Shop Boys’ DISCOGRAPHY, The Smiths BEST… I, Kirsty MacColl’s GALORE, ABBA GOLD, and Saint Etienne’s SMASH THE SYSTEM: SINGLES AND MORE. Because what are the chances of being stuck on a desert island, anyway?
2 comments:
How exciting to see Kate Bush's masterpiece, "The Dreaming" make this list. It's such a dense, textured album, and includes one of my all-time favorite Kate Bush songs, Suspended in Gaffa. Glad you discovered this one!
Yes... I love "Hounds of Love" and am still intrigued by "Aerial", but "The Dreaming" is completely unlike anything else I've ever heard, and massively bonkers to boot. And to think she was only 24!
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