Desert Island Songs

Yesterday, the great blog Rhapsody Radish published a list of desert island songs by various bloggers and music critics, myself included. You can read the Radish's full article on either FIQL.com or Blogcritics. The challenge was to pick one song on Rhapsody you would take with you, if stranded on a desert island. Being a music fanatic, this was a tough question to answer since I love so many styles of music: jazz, classical, popular, and on and on. Ultimately, I decided on John Coltrane's "Impressions" from Live at the Village Vangaurd-The Master Takes. John Coltrane is a god of the saxophone and I, a former sax player, need to listen to Coltrane for my soul. This particular track was selected because it had the excitement of a live recording. It is a complex tune with challenging melodies and rhythms, and I could listen to it over and over always picking up new things.

However, I would need a little something from the popular vein as well, plus I would need to hear the human voice. My number one choice in this area would have to be David Bowie's "Wild is the Wind." I believe this is Bowie's most beautiful recording. It would be a travesty to never have to listen to Bowie again. This is an absolute essential.

Now I must move on to classical. Where does one begin? Does one choose a symphony, a quartet, or a sonata? As a huge classical piano fan, I gravitated towards one of Beethoven's late sonatas, his Hammerklavier, sonata 29. My first choice would be Solomon's recording of this great sonata, but sadly it is not available. However, Schnabel's historic recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas are on Rhapsody and his version of the Hammerklavier sonata would keep me in excellent company.

The isolation of an existence on a desert isle may be too much to bear, if that is the case, one must have a plan, which will explain my final choice of The Captain and Tennille's "Muskrat Love." If I just couldn't take it anymore, I would play this song a few times. I am sure it will put me out of my misery.

To hear my desert isle selection click here.