So between the horizontal lines is my original post from January 2, 2008, and then I will add my current commentary below that to wrap things up.
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Its always hard to define these kind of things, but I shall make the attempt. In so doing, I shall attempt also to define what I perceive to be the main influences in my music. (Kinda makes sense to me, anyway!) If I could only take 10 CDs with me, knowing I would be stranded on a desert island, what would I take?
Rush - Permanent Waves
John Doyle - Evening Comes Early
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Rich Mullins - A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
Michael Card and John Michael Talbot - Brother to Brother
Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Johannes Linstead - Guitarra del Fuego
And of course, I'm immediately struck with the fact that, tho' these are indeed 10 great albums, I'm missing a lot of essentials...
So how about expanding the question to be what 10 ARTISTS ENTIRE CATALOGUES would I take...
And the list is similar to above. So much so, that I would probably choose the 10 artists listed above (Ooops, there's 11 listed! Between Michael Card and John Michael Talbot, I'll have to choose JMT. That would still get me the BtB album...).
But what about Phil Keaggy? Ottmar Liebert? Genesis? Led Zeppelin? Michael Hedges? Man, what a quandary!
I give up...
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Well my first thought is - why does it have to be a desert island? Why not a frozen wasteland island? Yeah... So much for first thoughts... ;-) Well at this point, two years on, a lot of musical waters having flowed under the bridge of my troubled mind, and almost everything gets replaced.
I noticed that there is a flavor missing - Middle Eastern. I really love Belly Dance music, especially the instrumental stuff (some with vocals just does nothing for me, but I suppose its like that with any style of music...), so I will have to add something in the way of Middle Eastern music to bring things to some semblance of completion. And what better to add than something by the illustrious Hossam Ramzy! As an aside, I wrote to Mr. Ramzy awhile back with regard to permissions to use his percussion tracks as drum loops on my own music, and he wrote back saying absolutely, and also offering to work some personal magic on my stuff if I send him a track or two... Very cool!
This time around I'm separating them into categories, and because I can't decide on anything to exclude in my finalized list, I'll call it
MY TOP TEN FROZEN WASTELAND CD'S BECOMES A BAKER'S DOZEN...
Pop/Rock/Prog
David Gilmour - Live in GdanskMetal
Rich Mullins - A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band
Rush - Snakes and Arrows
Cirith Ungol - Frost and Fire/King of the DeadCeltic
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
Opeth - Watershed
Solas - Reunion: A Decade of SolasFlamenco/Latin Guitar
John Spillane - My Dark Rosaleen & The Island of Dreams
Flametal -Middle Eastern influenced
Incendio - Misterioso
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
No Quarter - Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded
David Gilmour's Live in Gdansk set is brilliant! Last recorded performances of Richard Wright (Pink Floyd keyboards/vocals who sadly passed away earlier this year, RIP) are moving, but the whole thing is moving! Mr. Gilmour's excellent On An Island album is performed in its entirety here, along with several Floyd classics. (To see a certain Mr. Crosby and Mr. Nash join Mr. Gilmour on stage to reprise their backing vocals on the On An Island title track, as well as several other tunes, & see a certain Mr. David Bowie join Mr. Gilmour to sing Comfortably Numb with him... pick up the Mr. Gilmour's live DVD set, Remember That Night: Live at the Royal Albert Hall) Get the 4 disc package - I did!
FAVE: High Hopes
Rich Mullins (RIP) was a Christian artist who was truly inspired! His music goes far beyond the dull Praise & Worship fare that most people associate with Christian music. Especially dig the somber vibe of "The Color Green" and see how it breaks into a majestic Celtic melody that will carry your soul toward Heaven.
FAVE: The Color Green
Rush is a must. With so many great albums to choose from, some diehard fans still say 2112, but I have to say that Snakes and Arrows, their latest studio outing, is a real winner! It has a certain vibe like they revisited a lot of their older sounds and jams, but updated them, and it all comes out wonderfully!
FAVE: Spindrift
Cirith Ungol has long been a favorite of mine. I chose the repackaged release that contains their first two albums, Frost and Fire, and King of the Dead, because... I can! That way I get twice the Epic Doom for the price! As an aside, I have some small correspondence with Ungol founder, Greg Lindstrom, once in awhile, who sells Ungol t-shirts on eBay, so get one! I had one back in the day, and I bought a new one from Greg awhile back, and wear it all the time. Those kneeling skeletons really draw some stares sometimes...
FAVE: Finger of Scorn
Iron Maiden has likewise been a long-standing favorite. I was loaned a cassette of their EP Maiden Japan by a shipmate in February or March 1982. A 'Killer' package containing the classics "Running Free," "Remember Tomorrow," "Wrathchild," "Killers," and "Innocent Exile," this EP instantly turned me into a Maiden fan for life! But this is not about that! The latest studio album by Maiden is called A Matter of Life and Death (and word has it that they will shortly be entering the studio again to give us another helping of classic Maiden riffing!) and this album rates right up there with the best of their catalog!
FAVE: The Longest Day
Up the Irons!
FAVE: The Lotus Eater
Solas is an Irish band that resides on this side of the waters, and was founded by John Doyle, one of my favorite Celtic guitarists. We had the pleasure of seeing Solas play a few sets at the North Texas Irish Festival back in the mid-90's. Back then John had long hair, and the way he played the guitar you woulda thought (I did, anyway) that he had cut his teeth playing in metal bands. Well, after several albums, John left to pursue his own thing (and can nowadays usually be found making music in the company of world-class fiddler Liz Carroll). Well, the Reunion album is just that, and features past and present members of the band all on one stage rocking the house!
FAVE: Reasonland
John Spillane. Like Solas above, my fascination with Mr. Spillane started by seeing him with his former band, Irish traditionalists Nomos, play a few sets at the North Texas Irish Festival. Mr. Spillane sung, and alternated between playing electric bass on instrumental numbers, and playing the nylon string acoustic during the vocal songs. I cannot tell you how my heart was touched! Well, as the Fates would allow, Nomos only made two albums. But thankfully, John went his merry way and continues to write some of the best modern Irish singer-songwriter material I have ever heard. Paula and I travelled 500+ miles two years ago to catch him play several sets at the Kansas City Irish Festival. Although we are a bit jaded when it comes to Irish Festivals (as we are regular attendees and volunteers at the North Texas Irish Festival which is one of the biggest and best in the world!), we enjoyed Mr. Spillane's sets to no end, and also Solas played a lengthy set, but without their regular vocalist. During a conversation with Mr. Spillane, he says to me, "Oh, you're the one who was singin' all the songs out there" and sure enough, that was me. I told him of my own musical aspirations, and he gave me verbal permission to record any song of his he has ever written - just send him a copy so he can give it a listen. And that's exactly what I'm going to do somewhere down the line, maybe sooner than later... Several songs of his are really on my heart to do (I'm not much of a cover tune guy, and therefore I honestly do not know many songs from other artists, but these are definites...) including "There Was a Man," "All the Ways You Wander," "Set You Free," "When You and I Were True," and "I Won't Be Afraid Anymore." Throw in a few more songs of similar flavo[u]r and I'll have an albums worth!
FAVE: There Was A Man
Incendio is a great band - make sure you look them up on Youtube and watch some live video's. I discovered them a few years ago while looking thru the used CD bins at Half Price Books. The name jumped out at me, the cover art was really cool, and when I opened it up (being used and unwrapped) the inner artwork was inspiring! So without any further deliberation, I bought it and have been pleased ever since! Its one of the most 'romantic' albums in my collection.
FAVE: Misterioso
Rodrigo y Gabriela are certainly my favorite duo out there! They began as co-guitarists in a metal band in Mexico City, but eventually sold their gear, bought some acoustics, and made their way to the southern end of Mexico, adding Spanish flair to Slayer and Metallica tunes on acoustic guitars, traditionalizing those things while they learned some new repertoire. Definitely a must for lovers of Spanish guitar! Watch the many videos on Youtube, including a really cool 9 minute video where bassist Rob Trujillo of Metallica joins them on a killer version of "Orion." The album version of "Orion" is amazing, and shows their love of Metal, but for me, their shortened and more intense and jazzy version of the ultimate power ballad is what stands out and shines a little brighter among a whole field of worthy gems. Ultimate power ballad? Yeah, you know it!
FAVE: Stairway to Heaven
To kill two of my birds with one stone (how to get the mighty Zeppelin & Hossam Ramzy's wondrous Egyptian flavo[u]r onto my list...) I added the excellent album No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded, which features Mr. Ramzy's work including arranging Egyptian orchestra on several classic Zep tunes!!! A must!)
Since having these CDs to play while I am stranded, I hope that I also have a Laptop computer with Perpetual Power so that I can play them, and since several of them come with DVD's, with the computer I can watch them as well!
