Ah yes, the desert island disc question. I've contemplated this question many times but usually just bailed out before answering it. This time I’m going to give it some effort. It is going to be hard though. It takes me a half hour to pick out three CD’s to take a trip to Wegmans let alone to a radio free island.

The fact that you can take three helps. I don’t want to take this to seriously though. I mean, the ghost of Jimi Hendrix is not gonna get pissed if I don’t include Are you Experienced? And I don’t want to give too much thought on what CD’s I have that are already on the famous Top 50, 100, etc. lists. Rolling Stone is not going to email me in disgust that I don’t have a Bob Dylan CD on the list. So these are the three CD’s:

Not so fast (some stipulations and declarations):

I’m not going to pick any double disc CD’s. I feel this is cheating. No live CD’s either. These are epic performances but they also tend to double as greatest hits CD’s, so they can’t be on the list. Which brings me to my next point, no greatest hits CD’s. Not that I would but I wouldn’t think it would be fair to take The Beatles #1 over Rubber Soul. Has to be a proper studio album. No soundtracks or other compilations.

Lastly, the fact that it’s not a deserted island and there are going to women there and beers to drink, it sounds to me kinda like a party. Now I know that this might sound like an answer Kid Rock would give but I don’t think bringing depressing music that is going to bum some people out would be a good idea. Or music that is brilliant but the subject matter is something that people wouldn’t want to hear over and over again. Granted, there are a lot of CD’s that would be good to listen to in the headphones while you are all alone while everyone else is cooking pulled pork and you wonder, “How the fuck did that canoe trip end up so far off course? I mean, we’re in the ocean for Christ sakes!!” But for the good of the island, I don’t think I’ll be taking any thing of this sort. Sorry Pet Sounds, Illmatic, RATM’s Catalog, Reasonable Doubt, Everyone Knows this is Nowhere, Innervisions, What’s Going on? to name a few.

Without further ado, here we go:

A Tribe Called Quest
MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS

I thought it was necessary to put a rap CD on the list. All music by white guys and guitars would have gotten too repetitive. And for some of the reasons I mentioned above, I chose this CD over other rap classics that I own. Basically, I just asked myself, would I rather listen to Midnight Marauders over and over or Title **? Midnight Marauders kept advancing like it was March Madness. That’s the approach I took to whittle it down to the finalists.

I like the Midnight Marauders Tour Guide intro and the idea overall. Nothing spectacular. It’s funny throughout the CD. Good enough for me. The first song is Steve Biko (Stir It Up). It’s a head nodder for sure. Phife and Q-Tip go together like peanut butter and jelly. This song, like the rest of them can move a party but not on some Lil’ Jon level. Where you need to be all crunked up and put your brain away. It has meaningful lyrics, but at the same time some that are funny and ribald. Q-tip rhymes about sex most of the time but you don’t really notice it. Sure, you probably would if you had to if this was 33% of the music you had but I don’t think this is necessarily bad.

We on Award Tour, example #2 of almost perfect production on a rap CD that filled with perfection. The more you hear the lyrics you will pick up funny references that you didn’t get the first time. This is probably important. “I never let a statue tell me how nice I am.” Let em’ know Phife. I could listen to this song 15 times a day. And it’s probably not even in my top five songs on the CD. An important quality. The CD tour guide sums up why I actually don’t listen to this CD as much as I should. I do feel that I need to be chillin’ out at night listening to this CD. It is a CD that does sound better at night. I put this on during the day and I just want to ill out and think about what’s up for later tonight.

8 Million Stories is Phife’s solo cut. If you had to, I mean absolutely had to, skip a song, it’d be this one. Still very good. “To top it off, Starks got ejected,” a mid 90’s time capsule sports reference. Starks will not be remembered very much by anyone 10+ years either side of me. But for ball fans my age, you bring up John Starks, you’ll get a reaction. Plus this CD eventually gets people asking “Who is Bob Power?” and the legend and stories will grow.

Sucka Nigga- Looking at the title, this has to potential to alienate some island dwellers. Give it some time, let it soak in. Just listen. Listen to what is being said.

“The night is on my mind, but the sun still shines.” My point exactly. It’s actually not my point, but I agree. Midnight has great lines like “On a midnight run like DeNiro.” I always liked that line. Writing about this CD seems harder than the one that didn’t make the cut. I don’t know how to sum this CD up as well. I almost think this is better. If it were really easy to write about it, then I don’t think you can call it a classic. Or I just can’t write.

If you need much more from a song, you are quite the beggar I’d say. Not much better than We can get down. I don’t really have much to say. Top-notch production, Phife and Q-Tip come through nicely. Sun rises and sets. Big surprise.

This is a perfect song. Perfect. Electric Relaxation. “Relax your self girl, please set-tle down.” Maybe the most argued about chorus. Lots of misunderstandings about it. Q-Tip -“Or we can do like uncle L, swing and ep in my jeep.” Actually thought it was 'eff in my jeep' I will still believe that it is. The song is sexually explicit, not like 2 Live Crew though, kind of on the sly. Well, except for “Bust off on your couch, now you got semen’s furniture.” Not too sly with that one Phife.

“If I ever solo, my favorite MC would be me.”–Phife. Clap your hands is tight just for that line. This one will grow on you as well. Overlooked at first but people will start to feel it in due time.

In Oh My God, Q-Tip says “Drafting of the poets, I’m the number seven pick.” I think this is a great line. Doesn’t really get all into that “I’m the best” mantra, it’s sort of self-depreciating. And for this one too “It’s not like honey dip would want to get with me, but just in case, I got more condoms than TLC.” Well-done Phife. The Busta vocal sample works well.

A lull before the back to back to back classics to end it. So Keep it Rollin’ might get skipped unfairly.

The first of the three back-to-back-to back classics is The Chase, Part III. Yowsers is this fuckin good. Top five track. Inside jokes a plenty. “Styles are incomplete same as Vinny Testaverde.” –Phife. Accurate. The Biz Marke vocal sample, Don’t you know Nobody Beats the Biz?? I love the last part - “And we out like shout, nine tre. Oh, oh, I don’t want to say nine tre, my man extra p said don’t say the year, so this is for eternity.” Probably my highlight of the song. “Rock rock on”

The title says it all. Lyrics to Go. To write about the lyrics of this song would be redundant after looking at the title. They say it right there in print. Lyrics to go. So I will cease giving examples about the lyrical genius of this song. Well, except for “Like Jordan with the mic, wanna gamble?” Basically.

The last cut, God Lives Through, holds it’s own in the lyrical shadow of the previous song. But saying it just “holds it’s own” isn’t really giving the song it’s just due. Far from it dude. Phife just absolutely rips it, “Walk past mc’s like that girl did the pharcyde”. So many lines from the pair that you would rewind it for. I’m sure you’ve heard many times, rappers shout out their friends or rappers from the same city, stuff like that. In this song, the way Phife does it is just classic. The best mentioning of mc’s from Queens ever. “See, I like to get down Jack”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
BORN TO RUN

This CD doesn’t make this list four months ago. Not until I started listening to it almost every night before I went to bed while I was in Naples. No TV, shitty Dvd’s that I’d already seen, no social life, not wanting to listen to my Uncle talk about his girlfriend troubles or how much money he makes off of real estate, dead tired from working, all these things contributed to why I listened to music to go to sleep by. But something about this CD separated it from the others. Listening to stories about people that don’t have it all figured out either. Stories about finding your place in life. Maybe things aren’t going to work out like you had planned or dreamed they would. That’s life I guess. They can always get better though. Or fuck, maybe they won’t, who knows. And on a side note, if you ever left for a road trip in the middle of the night and didn’t play this CD, your experience was not as grand as it could have been.


Everybody knows how this CD starts off: Thunder Road. Just looking at that title, Thunder Road inspires awe. Rock song-writing perfection. Just poetry. Yeah, the whole blue-collar pick yourself up thing may get old for some people. But I don’t care. As I tried to write what I thought about the song while I listened to it, I made more mistakes writing than any other during this song just because I’m so focused on the song. I hang on every word; it’s phrased so wonderfully. What makes Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen is that he can write about common problems and make you think that it’ll be okay; you’ll get through it, maybe. Hopefully. I know that this is not a new revelation. And “Waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets” may hit a little too close to home for me right about now.

An almost complete shift in tone, 10th Avenue Freeze Out is next. If this doesn’t make you move around island dweller, you may have scurvy my unlucky friend. The Big Man, Clarence makes the song. “The night is dark but the sidewalk's bright and lined with the light of the living.” I like that a lot. Especially how fast he says it. No Twista but still fast. I’m not sure what the 10th Avenue Freeze Out is exactly but I don’t care. I’ll have plenty of time to try and figure it out on the island. “Tenth av-en-ue freeze out.” Preach it Bruce.

“And the world is busting at the seams / and your just a prisoner of your dreams / Holding on for your life 'cause you work all day / To blow 'em away in the night” Bruce sings in Night. Maybe the “Work sucks but we’ll be miserable together once we let the night take us away” sentiment is not the best for the island. Since it’s an island there aren’t many that would have a 9-5 job in some cubicle that they need to escape from. But maybe they did before they got to the island and are glad to get rid of that bullshit. Bruce singing about it makes it even better. I could see that.

Backstreets starts off with some lovely piano. Bruce is just so lyrical, you really can’t just put it on and drift away to it. I can’t listen to him half-assed. And this isn’t even the stark Nebraska where you don’t really have a choice. For example, I’m trying to write about all the feelings that I have as I listen to the song, but I end up just listening to the song, staring at the computer. This is a good thing. Not for the blog but for evidence that it should be on the list. “Trying to learn to walk like the heroes / We thought we had to be / Well after all this time /To find we're just like all the rest.” *gulp* Well, might as well find out at 23 and deal with it before I get too far. A tough lesson but a necessary one. “Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets.”

To wait and put the title song fifth takes a pair of brass ones, and I’ll be damned if the payoff isn’t more than worth it. I don’t normally consider the production of a rock song too often. It either rocks or it doesn’t. But Born to Run is definitely different. I am amazed on how they made this song. No, I don’t know how they did but I like it a lot. I know it’s the Spector Wall of Sound style, I don’t really know what that means. Many others know more about it than I. The Big Man rips it. Again, pure poetry. “But til’ then, tramps like us, baby we were born to run.”

I can sum up She’s the One
Male Island Dweller – You know what my favorite Bruce song is?
Female Island Dweller – No, Born in the U.S.A?
Male Island Dweller – Nope, it’s probably She’s the One, it reminds me of you

Male Island Dweller has sexual relations with Female Island dweller.


After She’s the One, it’s Meeting across the river. It’s easily the saddest song on the CD. When people are forced to do things to make ends meet that they don’t want to do, unfortunate things happen. No such thing as easy money. I’m glad the song ends when it does, nothing good probably came of it but at least you can postpone thinking about it.

Jungleland. The song is poetic as a bastard. Just like that last sentence was. “Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge / Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain.” Vivid imagery. Trademark Bruce characters, Magic Rat, local cops. The basic foundation of rock and roll music is in this song. Granted, this song probably doesn’t do anything you haven’t heard before musically speaking. But I’m not picking songs for innovation; I’m picking them for how good they are. That’s why I chose this CD. You think it’s going to end in somewhat of a whimper then Bruce decides that it’s not over. “And the poets down here / Don't write nothing at all /They just stand back and let it all be / And in the quick of the night / They reach for their moment /And try to make an honest stand / But they wind up wounded / Not even dead /Tonight in Jungleland”

Built to Spill
KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET

I picked this CD because it does not have one bad song on it. 1-10 rock out like their life depended on it. And after reading about Bruce’s lyrical opus, Born to Run, this album doesn’t hang with it on that level. But that’s ok, not much can. It is just great rock music. And it did come down to this or The Blue Album by Weezer. Everybody knows that CD is the balls so writing about it would be more easily accessible. Writing that “Say it ain’t so” rocks hard, people would be like, “Hell yeah it does.” Which is fine and good. I guess I’m admitting that I’m picking this CD over that because I want people to hear this. If I had to rank the CD comparatively, The Blue Album gets a 9.999998 and Keep it Like a Secret gets a 9.999999. People would probably not agree, The Blue Album is a certified classic, gets love from everybody. But I think this is better. Just because not as many people have heard it repeatedly over the years like they did The Blue Album doesn’t make it any less classic. So that’s why it’s on the list. And I just wanted to shake it up a little bit, you know, let's get crazy, we'll get some coke, some hookers and we'll fu-- Sorry Pat O'brien took over my computer there for a minute.

Starts off with The Plan- What’s wrong with this song? Does it not shred enough for you? Is the guitar work not epic enough for you? Ok, I’m not quite sure what all of the lyrics are about. As it happens with a lot of the songs on this CD, the guitar power chords just drop the mother load down on your ears. I know I don’t really know how to describe it. Doug Martsch will get loose on the guitar, but without really going into the deep jam band end. He dips his calf into the jam band waters but pulls it out just in time.

Next up is Center of the Universe. Brilliantly worded phrases in this one. “I don’t like this air, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop breathing it, who doesn’t think they’re the center of the universe.” If you are on the island and can’t rock out to this song, sorry pal, you need to get next to my scurvy addled friend and we will soon be ravaging your belongings. This shit rocks. Pretty much after every song I’ll say so. “Don't look now / Just keep watching your TV / Hating what's to see / Waiting for someone to say something that's RIGHT!” Fuckin’ A right Doug.

People really need to hear this CD, Doug Martsch is not to be trifled with holding the gee-tar. Carry the Zero is in the three hole. That story about the dude that pushes the rock up the hill only to have it fall back down before it gets to the top, Sisyphus , well this song reminds me of that. You think Doug is gonna just get loose, just freak out and you’ll be rocking your head too hard, you’ll be pushing that boulder down the uncharted territory on the other side, you'll rock out too hard and have a headache. But he just pushes it right to the top before he looses control. The rock is tumbling at a rapid clip back down the hill. Easy darling, it’s alright. The fall back down the hill is just as fun. Hang on but don’t worry it’ll be a fun ride. I think you need to hear this song to catch my drift. Guitar Hero Doug Martsch.

You could dance to this music, this whole CD. It wouldn’t be hard. Sidewalk, song #4. Fast paced rock without the long hair and ripped jeans. I would bounce around like a mofo at a concert. It’s like they can just flip a switch from casually keeping the pace and the beat to just getting ready to fly off the handle rock. Not too similar to anything I’ve heard.

The fifth song, Bad Light, starts off a little slower than the rest, you can try to catch your breath. But Doug won’t let you for too long. Solid track, not gonna set the world on fire.

Time Trap is epic. I like how the lyrics start on this one, almost on the drop of a hat. I really like his voice too, distinctive, almost whiny but not complaining type of whining. The music just keeps building, building on this song. You know it’s going to get hectic in here real quick. It’s like watching a tidal wave almost take out someone’s porch while you are watching from a safe distance. “Is it gonna hit the house? Give it time, give it time. Oh shit! There it goes, bye bye plastic furniture.”

They follow Time Trap with Else. It’s a hypnotic track, you’ll get sucked in listening to this one. If you were chemically altered and accidentally (or on purpose) had this song on repeat, don’t make any fuckin plans

After Else comes the masterpiece of the album. You were right is a song writing homage to all the greats of rock and roll at its absolute pinnacle. There is nothing out there like this song. Such a bad-ass idea. In lesser hands, the idea and execution of this song could have been really fucked up. Read the lyrics, see if you notice some familiar phrases from rock’s past. Manages to chronicle the history of rock and roll, the optimism and the hope. Now looking at it today, Doug says rock let us down. “Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone” The 60’s didn’t work man, bummer. “Do you ever think about it?” Martsch repeats as the song ends. Talking about rock and roll and the lost innocence. I’m guessing people do think about it but with rose colored glasses that most people like to wear, I don’t know for sure.

Singing about not seeing everything for whatever reason, whether you choose not too. People blinded by other things in there life. But it’s ok “isn’t everyone” Doug says in Temporarily Blind. Probably right. And they end the song with these lyrics “Yeah, they might let you say it / But it'd take all day to explain it.” Then follow it up with unintelligible mumbling. No really, that’s what it says on the lyrics page. Unintelligible mumbling. I like this.

The closer is Broken Chairs. It starts off with angry guitar playing. I like the line “Who themselves are mirrors of apprehension” Nice. Whistle while you slay fellas, good work. The way he says “Alright” over and over again is defiant for sure. Pissed about something.

So there it is, I've written more about music than ever before. That's it, that's the list -PTI. My eyes are malfunctioning and I don't know about clutch athletes right now. Tomorrow that will go up. Look forward to your list Domingo. If anyone else wants to weigh in, feel free. For your sake I hope it's not this long, there are better things to do I'm sure.