(Holy shit, not another decades’ end related list. This is sort of inspired by the “major project” of my friend Wubin, who I can always count on for helping to put things into perspective, heh heh… Or more accurately, this came about after listening to this Velvet Underground album this morning and momentarily remembering how things were a few years back.)
It’s less than 200 minutes to Christmas, and I am glad to say that this year I have consumed just enough fine alcohol by this hour, while chilling out with my family no less, to write home about.
Several of my friends have expressed surprised how much I enjoy the holiday season – even to the extent of enduring the downtown crowds and overzealous carolers – and perhaps I should explain why here. About 12-13 years ago, when I was a destitute teenager barely surviving on a pitiful weekly allowance from my folks, CDs were a real luxury. But still I manage. There were many instances where I had to skip lunches just to scrimp together a few lousy bucks to buy that new, pretty fucked-up trip-hop record by Tricky from Tower Records (heh-heh!).
Each Christmas represented an opportunity: I’d get my sister and relatives to make gift requests for strange, esoteric CDs, and then I’ll buy the CDs off them on the cheap – good bargain both ways. (I still recall that from October onwards I’d start saving for this annual bonanza and there were quite a handful of albums that I got my hands on through this “scheme”: a few Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Stones – Exile on Main Street really made for such a fucking brilliant Christmas back in ‘96 – the Smith’s The Queen Is Dead one year (’98?), and quite a few others I can’t recall.)
This probably went on for about five years or so before I kinda grown out of it, but I guess those times really held a special significance to me still, made all the more special because it had to do with Christmas, and helped mold my rather parochial taste in music I suppose. And so in the spirit of these things, these are my 14 desert-island records (17 pieces of CD and 18 vinyl, I believe), definitive albums that I would definitely recommend to anyone I know. Maybe come to the next decade’s end, I shall expand this two- or three-fold. Merry Christmas everyone.
01. Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground and Nico [Verve, 1967]
02. Wire: Chairs Missing [EMI, 1978]
03. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde [Columbia, 1966]
04. Wilco: Summerteeth [Reprise, 1999]
05. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds [Capitol, 1966]
06. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation [Enigma, 1988]
07. Neutral Milk Hotel: The Aeroplane over the Sea [Merge, 1998]
08. Joni Mitchell: Blue [Reprise, 1971]
09. Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard [Blue Note, 1957]
10. The Beatles: The Beatles [Parlophone, 1998]
11. Miles Davis: Bitches Brew [Columbia, 1970]
12. David Bowie: Low [RCA, 1977]
13. REM: Murmur [IRS, 1983]
14. Billie Holiday: Lady In Satin [Columbia, 1958]
It’s less than 200 minutes to Christmas, and I am glad to say that this year I have consumed just enough fine alcohol by this hour, while chilling out with my family no less, to write home about.
Several of my friends have expressed surprised how much I enjoy the holiday season – even to the extent of enduring the downtown crowds and overzealous carolers – and perhaps I should explain why here. About 12-13 years ago, when I was a destitute teenager barely surviving on a pitiful weekly allowance from my folks, CDs were a real luxury. But still I manage. There were many instances where I had to skip lunches just to scrimp together a few lousy bucks to buy that new, pretty fucked-up trip-hop record by Tricky from Tower Records (heh-heh!).
Each Christmas represented an opportunity: I’d get my sister and relatives to make gift requests for strange, esoteric CDs, and then I’ll buy the CDs off them on the cheap – good bargain both ways. (I still recall that from October onwards I’d start saving for this annual bonanza and there were quite a handful of albums that I got my hands on through this “scheme”: a few Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Stones – Exile on Main Street really made for such a fucking brilliant Christmas back in ‘96 – the Smith’s The Queen Is Dead one year (’98?), and quite a few others I can’t recall.)
This probably went on for about five years or so before I kinda grown out of it, but I guess those times really held a special significance to me still, made all the more special because it had to do with Christmas, and helped mold my rather parochial taste in music I suppose. And so in the spirit of these things, these are my 14 desert-island records (17 pieces of CD and 18 vinyl, I believe), definitive albums that I would definitely recommend to anyone I know. Maybe come to the next decade’s end, I shall expand this two- or three-fold. Merry Christmas everyone.
01. Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground and Nico [Verve, 1967]
02. Wire: Chairs Missing [EMI, 1978]
03. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde [Columbia, 1966]
04. Wilco: Summerteeth [Reprise, 1999]
05. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds [Capitol, 1966]
06. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation [Enigma, 1988]
07. Neutral Milk Hotel: The Aeroplane over the Sea [Merge, 1998]
08. Joni Mitchell: Blue [Reprise, 1971]
09. Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard [Blue Note, 1957]
10. The Beatles: The Beatles [Parlophone, 1998]
11. Miles Davis: Bitches Brew [Columbia, 1970]
12. David Bowie: Low [RCA, 1977]
13. REM: Murmur [IRS, 1983]
14. Billie Holiday: Lady In Satin [Columbia, 1958]
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