Thursday, May 8, 2008

Choose wisely - It's a long trip


Let's suppose that you're chosen for a three-year mission to Mars and (hopefully) back. Space is tight. Alan Shepard couldn't even bring his golf club. But you are allowed to take along three CDs to entertain yourself on the long, long flight. You can pick a soundtrack album, a greatest hits package, a live album, even a CD of a Broadway show. The only restriction is that the album have no more than two CDs. In other words, no 200-song boxed set. Also, no homemade compilation CDs. So, out of the millions of CDs in circulation, you have to pick just three. Let's hear your choices, your thought process in choosing them and even some of the CDs that almost made the cut. My picks are "The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 1977-86." It's the very best of Elvis Costello. Who could ask for anything more? You've got "Alison," "Oliver's Army," "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Watch Your Step" and assorted other goodies. Choice No. 2 is "The Last Waltz," the live CD of The Band's last concert (It's the original two-CD version, not the bloated, four-disc reissue). You get The Band performing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "The Weight," "Stagefright" and more, plus Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and others. My third pick is Neil Young's "Decade" album, featuring his work from 1966 to 1976, including his stints with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and, of course, Young. CDs that almost made the cut were Ryan Adams' "Easy Tiger" (think about downloading the songs "Two" and "Halloweenhead."), Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Gold" collection and Fountains of Wayne's "Welcome Interstate Managers." If you're lucky, your crewmates on the flight will share their music, expanding your listening options. Just hope they don't load up on Bangles CDs.

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11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greatest Hits - The Beatles: "1". Every #1 single (even though some of their best material wasn't #1)
Live - Pink Floyd: "Delicate Sound of Thunder". Space music at its best.
Soundtrack - "Guys & Dolls." (The movie, not Broadway) What can I say? Great tunes. "Luck Be a Lady," "I Got the Horse Right Here," "A Woman in Love," "The Oldest Established," "Take Back Your Mink," "Sue Me," "Adelaide's Lament (A Person Can Develop a Cold)." And if Don Henley can turn "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" into a reggae tune, what's not to like?.

May 8, 2008 at 11:18 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

The McGuffey theater department staged "Guys and Dolls" when I was in high school many decades ago, and I was in the pit orchestra. Lot of good tunes there.

May 8, 2008 at 12:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You were a musician? What instrument?

May 8, 2008 at 12:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greatest Hits -- "1" by the Beatles

Live -- "Live 1966: The Royal Albert Hall Concert" by Bob Dylan

Soundtrack -- "2001: A Space Odyssey." How can you not think of "Also Spake Zarathrusta" (sp?) and "The Blue Danube Waltz" as you're traveling through space?

--Brad Hundt

May 8, 2008 at 12:59 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

I wouldn't go so far as to say I was a musician. I was a moderately competent high school trumpet player, and I'm pretty sure that 30 years later, I couldn't even get a scale out of the old horn. I have a three-quarter grand piano in my multi-purpose room in the basement, I can read music and I live with a piano teacher, yet I've never even attempted to learn to play it. That sounds like pure laziness to me.

May 8, 2008 at 2:05 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

Just to be clear here. You don't have to pick one greatest hits, one live and one soundtrack. It can be three regular albums, three live albums, three greatest hits, two greatest hits and a regular album, one live with two soundtracks, etc., etc. Any combo is fine.

May 8, 2008 at 2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OK, for the three albums I would have to go with "The White Album" and "Revolver" by the Beatles, and "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan.

How many books can I bring along?

--Brad Hundt

May 8, 2008 at 2:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Crosby Stills and Nash"
"Upstroke for the Downfolk" by Paul Cebar
"Spilt Milk" by Jellyfish

May 8, 2008 at 2:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wouldn't budge without my 3 favorites:

Thee Best of Slim Whitman: "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again," "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," Down in the Valley," and more...

Box Car Willie: "Box Car Blues"

and finally, Johnny Cash, "One Piece at a Time"

Now, this is what I call Music!

May 9, 2008 at 11:40 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

I actually saw Slim Whitman live at the Jamboree in Wheeling. He put on a great show. I'm partial to
"Rose Marie" and "Secret Love." I also liked Boxcar Willie, and Johnny Cash is one of the all-time greats. Good picks.

May 9, 2008 at 2:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm going to go with Paul Simon's Greatest Hits; Mojave 3 "Excuses for Travelers"; and Gillian Welch's "The Revelator."

I had a really hard time with this one. De La Soul's "Buhloone Mindstate" almost made it. So did "Live" by Built to Spill, "Souvlaki" by Slowdive, "Doolittle" by the Pixies and "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.

Forget it. I'm stashing more albums in my bag.

May 11, 2008 at 11:01 PM  

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