After the Desert Island post, I started wondering about the list I’d made years ago at my managing editor’s suggestion. I dug around and found it tonight. With a * indicating those that are also in yesterday’s post, here is my Desert Island list (alphabetically by artist) as published on February 18, 1982:
The Beatles (a/k/a/ “The White Album”)
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis*
Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan*
Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan*
Abandoned Luncheonette, Hall & Oates*
Look to the Rainbow, Al Jarreau
Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones
The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen*
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder
I guess there’s no question about my opinion of the five albums that made both lists. I must admit, though, that there’s nothing about those on the 23-year-old list that weren’t in yesterday’s post that would cause me any hesitation taking them to a desert isle.
What I find most interesting is that every album in yesterday’s post was in my collection at the time of the earlier list. Does this indicate my musical tastes are mired in the vinyl era? Does it indicate anything about changes in taste? Does it indicate how certain albums age with time? Or does it simply reflect my state of mind when compiling the lists?
Once you wanted revolution
Now you’re the institution
How’s it feel to be The Man?
“The Ascent of Stan,” Ben Folds
