BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Wayne’s Desert Island Disks

All listed are on vinyl (LP), my only format.  However, some of them have been released on CD, which I have not listened to.  Many of these will be available only in used record stores or used online sources.  My listening bias is for live performances as they often are more inspiring than studio recordings, even though the studio recordings often have better sonics.  I think this is true especially on jazz and rock recordings.

JAZZ
Ltd. Ed. German pressing, Enja ENJ-80781
Dave Brubeck Quartet: The Great Concerts…Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Carnegie Hall   Columbia 44215
Miles Davis: Nefertiti   Columbia 9594    and    Sketches of Spain   Columbia 8271
Chico Freeman: The Outside Within    India Navigation 1042
Erroll Garner: Concert by the Sea   Columbia CL883  (wonderful live recording, get the original Mono “6 eye”, the later digitally re-mastered pressing is a sonic tragedy)
Hawkins! Alive! At the Village Gate: Verve V6-8509 – Classic Records
Dick Hyman: From the Age of Swing   Reference RR-59
Ramsey Lewis Trio: At the Bohemian Caverns in Washington DC   Cadet 741  and  Hang on Ramsey!   Cadet 761   (These are early 1960’s live recordings of Ramsey Lewis at his creative best IMHO.  Especially memorable is the cut “Billy Boy” on side 2 of Cadet 761…9+ minutes of marvelous improvisation)
Herbie Mann: Impressions of the Middle East   Atlantic 1475  and Memphis Underground   Atlantic 1522 (these are some of Mann’s best work, I think.  I own a lot of his albums)
Incognito.  Acid jazz at its best.  I own 3 albums, all excellent and I suspect all of Incognito (a British group) releases are comparable.
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth   Impulse IMP-154   (find the analogue re-mastered release 180 gram)
George Otsuko: “You are my Sunshine”   Three Blind Mice TBM-35   (all the Three Blind Mice jazz recordings that I have heard are wonderful Japanese 180 gram pressings)  I also have Isao Suzuki: Black Orpheus  TBM-63 and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio: Midnight Sugar  TBM-23.  I think these were also released in CD.

CLASSICAL
Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra; Reiner/Chicago Symphony   RCA Classic LSC-1934
Dvorak: Symphony No, 9 in E minor “From the New World”  Kertesz/Vienna Phil.  Super Analogue KIJC 9114
Grainger: Country Gardens & Other Favorites   Mercury SRI 75102
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Rhapsodies)  Stowkowski  RCA Classic LSC-2471  (Stowkowski on steroids!)
Massenet: Le Cid-ballet Music; Scenes Pittoresquei; The Last Sleep of the Virgin  Klavier Patrician KS 522
The Moscow Sessions   Sheffield Lab TLP25,26,27  (wonderful live performances recorded in Moscow)
Mozart: Horn Concerti   VOX STPL 512.630
Orff: Carmina Burana  Telarc DG 10056/57  (I know, the bass drum is somewhat hokey, but I’m such a sucker for the Telarc sound.  If it is a mint Telarc pressing, I’ll buy it)
Respighi: Church Windows  45rpm  Reference RR-15  (I have a weakness for Respighi and have just about all his significant work)
The Royal Ballet   Ansermet/Royal Opera House Orchestra  Classic RCA LDS-6065  (absolutely marvelous recording and music)
Stravinsky:  Firebird and Borodin: Overture & Dances from Prince Igor  Telarc DG 10039  (Works by Russian composers are my favorite, particularly Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky)
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor   Leinsdorf/Rubinstein/Boston Symphony RCA LSC-2681   (This old warhorse is a favorite, when I play it I’ll hum the theme/melody for days))

ROCK
Jackson Brown: Running on Empty   Asylum 6E-113
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River    Fantasy 8393
Dire Straits: Love Over Gold   Warner 23728
Eagles: Hotel California    Asylum 6E-103
Grateful Dead: Live Dead   Warner Bros 1830  and  Blues for Allah   United Artists GD-LA494-G
Kraftwerk: The Mix   Electra 9 66501    German pressing
Led Zeppelin     200 gram   Atlantic Classic SD8216
Metallica    Electra 9 61119
Pink Floyd: The Wall   EMI/Harvest SHDW411   UK pressing   (this is hard to find but worth the effort, I found my copy in a used record store in London) and Delicate Sound of Thunder  EMI7 91480  German pressing   (a 2 record album.  Record 1 is an excellent live performance and Record 2 is a studio recording with excellent sonics, but not as inspiring)  All of Pink Floyd is at least very good IMHO and am such a fan I have 16 albums (all that I have found in mint condition)  also check out Ummagumma and Meddle
Simon & Garfunkle: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme   Columbia PC9363
The Who: Who’s Next  180 gram  Decca/MCA 11164  (I have a number of albums by The Who, all are great.  As you might discern, I have an affinity for Irish and British bands)
Yello    all of them, I have 10, especially the 45rpm 12” singles.  (I have been looking for the album Yello: Baby for 20 years.  If you know of a copy for sale please let me know.)

OTHER (difficult to classify)
Enya: Enya  Atlantic 81842 and Watermark and Shepard Moon.  All are great.  (also check out Clannad, especially Magical Ring   RCA 000317   German pressing, all my Clannad albums are excellent.  Clannad is Enya’s siblings and uncles – Enya collaborated with Clannad in its earlier years)
Dead Can Dance – all are excellent I have all that were pressed in vinyl.  Check out “Into the Labyrinth”.
“Whoopie” John Wilfahrt: Best of…     MCA2-4015  (Real Minnesota music at its best, a fun album – yes, there is a tuba in the band)
Ali Akbar Khan: Indian Architecture   Water Lily WLA ES-20   (marvelous Indian classical music)
Ravi Shankar at the Monterey International Pop Festival   Liberty WP-1442
Twenty-Five Miles to Barstow – Part One    Cardas CR 5816   (fabulous recording and music)
Burl Ives: The Best of Burl Ives, Volume !!   MCA2 4089   (I had to play this album every time my Dad visited from Iowa.  Wonderful folk music, sonics okay)
Technotronic: Pump up the Jam    L1-93422
Sons of the Pioneers: Cool Water   RCA LSP-2118
Up, Bustle and Out   I have 3 albums released on Ninja Tune Zen label, all excellent (this is acid jazz/jungle at its best)

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