10 Albums (That Shaped my Life) Part I

Ok, its a hypothetical, but a fun one to think about anyway, but what if you had to go live in isolation on a desserted island for awhile and there was only room for 10 cds. Which cd's would you take? And they have to be albums, not mix cds of your favorite songs. So here goes mine,

1. The Joshua Tree- U2: Probably U2's most loved album and truly a great one, if you don't own it, stop reading this, drive to Best Buy and purchase it. Now!! The music begins U2's exploration of American genre's such as blues, gospel, country, and folk, all done up to The Edge's elegant and beautiful guitar arrangements. Add in Bono's earnest, yearning lyrics about love, faith, and political oppression, and the word"soaring" comes to mind. I remember I first achieved U2 consciouness when the Joshua Tree came out in the late 80's and I saw a video for "Where the Streets Have No Name." Famously (and illegally) shot on top of a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, so U2 could give a free concert, you could see the playful rock n' roll rebelliousness in their eyes, but also a softness of integrity and compassion, as they sang and played with purpose, a song that seemed to echo out of the Bible, as if David had written it himself. To a 13 year old like myself, they were cool, but they were important also. I will never forget that moment of waking up to U2, and The Joshua Tree was the first album of U2's I ever owned. Almost 20 years later, its still a classic album.

Essential Tracks: Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Running to Stand Still

Key Lyric: You broke the bonds/ You loosed the chains/ You carried the cross/ And my shame/ You know I believe it.

2. Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan: Dylan's epic masterpiece, and as usual a strikingly confrontational piece of rock n' roll history. Folk legend Dylan plugs in, and makes a straight-forward rock album, with heavy blues influences. The album jolted the musical world, showing that the social consiousness and poetry of folk music could be tapped in rock music, brining Dylan a whole new audience and improtance; while at the same time, completely alienating the snobbish folk set, who labeled him a "Judas." The music here is meandering and loud, almost and at times improvised. Dylan sneers through it all telling modernist tales of isolation, absurdity, sadness, achings for redemption, and even sometimes hilarity. Here Dylan is taking on the underlying dissatisfaction and aimlessness of the world around. The album exudes rock and roll attitude, and contains arguably the greatest rock song ever Like A Rolling Stone, with its jaded and cutting character study of "miss lonely." Not only is it a living relic of American cultural history, but its also a beautiful layered piece of art, full of great organ hooks, crescendoing guitars, and Dylan's lyrics, which leave the listener diggin deep with every listen. Flat out just a great rock album, with Dylan's keen lyrical and literary wit.

Essential Tracks: Like A Rolling Stone, Queen Jane Approximately, Ballad of a Thin Man, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Key Lyric: Everybody said they'd stand behind me/ When the game got rough/ But the joke was on me/ There was nobody even there to call my bluff/ I'm going back to New York City/ I do believe I've had enough

3. No Depression- Uncle Tupelo: Before alternative country became moderately popular (for people of my age and generation) three young men from eastern Illinois put out a volatile and charged album that mixed punk, folk, country, and the gut feelings of injustice of the American dispossesed. Think Woody Guthrie meets Nirvana. You know from the opening sonic guitar riff on Graveyard Shift that this album was special, and could get your heart racing. With Jay Farrar's clear and earnest voice, and socially conscious lyrics, and bassist Jeff Tweedy's rock sensibility, Uncle Tupelo in one album defined a musical movement and coined the term "No Depression" that would help to describe and label and launch a multitude of up and coming bands. While Tweedy (who sings on a number of the cuts) was still coming into his own as a song writer, he still provides some solid moments on Screen Door and That Year. Still, its Farrar who shines brightest, singing about small time, blue collar, alcoholic malaise and nailing that American country/folk sensibility every time. You deeply believe his voice and lyrics, they are honest, true, and angry, yearning for something better, even salvation: "whiskey bottle over Jesus/Not forever/ Just for now." The two great influences of rock, both country and blues, were expressions of the poor and dispossesed in both the black and white community, and thus Uncle Tupelo stays to the roots. Also there is still time for a brillant cover of the Carter family spiritual No Depression about life during the Great Depression. In this, Farrar and Tweedy show they drink from the great well-spring of American music linking the future with the past. If you are even remotely interested in the fusion of country and rock, this is an essential album to own.

Essential Tracks: No Depression, Graveyard Shift, Whiskey Bottle, Life worth Livin

Key Lyrics: I'm going where there's no depression/ To a better land thats free from care/ I leave this world of toil and trouble/ My home's in heaven/ I'm going there

Next week three more albums.