an unanswerable question brought to you by my new blank iphone

[moominmolly]

What one (music) album do I need to carry around with me all the time? (Three, if you can't pick one.)

Comments

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

De La Soul "Three Feet High and Rising"

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[inahandbasket]

Paul Simon - Graceland

And to fill out three...
Zoe Keating - (any of hers)
Something beepy and electronic, like The Prodigy - Experience

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Check! :)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

For me, it would be Mr.Bungle "California" or Grandaddy's "Sumday"

Whaaaaat? Songs about suicide and adroids. Good times, good times.

N.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yay new things and androids.

[the-xtina.livejournal.com]

I feel it should not be surprising that I thought you were referring to a photo album, until I read the comments.

Also!  I may have music for you!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

No but it is awesome!

[beah.livejournal.com]

Are we talking music? If you can only have one, Graceland. If two, add Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Everything else is gravy.

That said, "Raising Sand" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant is pretty freaking amazing.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Edited to read "music album". Beatles! Hadn't thought of that.

[the-xtina.livejournal.com]

In general, I dunno from specific albums, because I don't know what you have.  For a general theme, and if I were in this situation, I'd pick one that is good for both background and foreground music (techno, Sigur Rós), a good thumpy sort of rock/singy type music (Alice In Chains, Men At Work), and whichever one is sort of timeless -- that I have honestly rarely grown tired of (Men At Work, Metallica).

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Either "Happiness" or "Say I Am You" by The Weepies.

"The Near Demise of the Highwire Dancer" by Antje Duvekot

And your favorite U2 album (which may not be the "greatest hits" one, since that doesn't include "One").

Also, podcasts! Dan Savage and This American Life! :)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

I will add to your podcast list: RADIOLAB!!!

♥

N.

[bluepapercup]

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

[cutieperson]

Mumford and Sons - Sigh no More
i would third the rec for Graceland.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

What I prefer to have with me:
Specific Albums I need:
Solitude Standing by Suzanne Vega
Calle 13 (pref all three albums)
Arlo Guthrie Amigo
Buffy St. Marie: Running for the Drum

Specific Artists:
At least one Indigo Girls album
At least one show by either Sondheim or William Finn
At least one Bob Dylan album
Something by Simon and Garfunkel (prob. Bookends)
Something by John Denver

Genres I must have represented:
Something of old standards, Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald or Diana Krall
Something to groove to: Alicia Keys or Barry White or Soul II Soul
Something silly: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego or They Might be Giants
Something ambient: Cibo Matto, Niyaz, Drumsex, Blue Man Group, Shakti Rhythms

[prosicated.livejournal.com]

++ on the Calle 13. (Atrevete te-te ends with "arrrrgh, zombie!")

I believe firmly that Nina Simone belongs on all portable music players. If you have one album with songs that can make you happy & bouncy, sultry & sexy, sad & mopey, perplexed & arhythmic, jazzy & swingy, soulful & spiritual... why not?
Also, either the Talking Heads or Django Reinhart, depending on what direction you swing, is also indisputable.

There, that's 3.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

http://dcart.livejournal.com/930847.html

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Back in Black! Yes.

[spike.livejournal.com]

Looking at the lists above, and the many good suggestions there, it is once again apparent to me that I listen to all the wrong music (or maybe just listen to music wrong) and am therefore unlikely to be of help.

I can recommend music to orchestrate a party, music to fan the flames, and music that can fold the clock in half, but I'm not sure I have anything to recommend that you would want to have with you all the time.

What do you want this music for? What do you want it to do? What do you do with it?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Everything. I want to know what everybody thinks they need with them -- or, if that's too much, what they believe based on their notions of me that I need with ME. If the things you are thinking are entirely unlike the things mentioned above, I'm likely to want to hear the suggestions maybe even a little bit more.

[dot_fennel]

The things I used to always have on my ipod:

The Complete Stone Roses
Loud Family - Interbabe Concern
New Order - Substance

The things I seem to just never get tired of (or slower by an order of magnitude that anything else):

Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Tarkio - first disc of Omnibus [alt-country band led by Colin Meloy before the Decemberists]
Silkworm - Even A Blind Chicken Finds A Kernel Of Corn Now And Then

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Whichever one N likes best this week.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense?

(But I thought the point of an MP3 player was that you could pick and choose songs and weren't tied to playing a whole CD! There are several albums I love except for one or two songs -- so I just keep the songs I enjoy in my collection.)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to limit it to three either:

* Ditty Bops, Ditty Bops
* Dave Brubeck Quintet, We're All Together For The First Time Again
* Antje Duvekot, Snapshots
* The White Album
* Beyond Boundaries: the Providence International Mandolin Festival 2001
* Moby, Play
* Madness, One Step Beyond
* Leo Kottke, 6- and 12-String Guitar

There are lots of others that almost make the cut, but these are the ones that I can never bear to take off my iPod, no matter how much I fiddle around with the playlists.

Based on what I know of you, I would particularly recommend the Ditty Bops, Moby and Madness.

If I had to pick just one Paul Simon, Graceland is an excellent choice, but for personal reasons I would probably go with There Goes Rhymin' Simon or even One Trick Pony.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I don't usually think of it as albums I cannot do without now that I can segment the stuff. Unless something is a concept album, it's okay to break off the crap tracks and not even update them to the MP3 player. For example, Remain in Light by the Talking Heads is an amazing album but the last track doesn't even belong as a b-side.

If I had to get it down to three albums that have not already been mentioned (because I totally agree about the first De La Soul album), it'd be:

Beatles - Revolver
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (which reminds me I am not alone in my insanity)
Del Close & John Brent - How to Speak Hip (I often need a reminder when I've got my superego confused with guilt).

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I have been listening to Exile in Guyville quite a lot lately. I think the album sort of got eclipsed at the time by Liz Phair the Media Sensation, which is a shame, because I really do like it a lot.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

My preferred genre of music appears to be Angry Lesbians, since I mostly listen to Melissa Etheridge and to early Indigo Girls.

If I were limited to three albums, I'd have

1. Something soothing, probably Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Handel's Flute Sonatas
2. Something full of pain and heartbreak, for when I was in the mood for catharsis, probably Melissa Etheridge's Skin
3. Something energetic and cheerful, to do chores to or dance to or just feel good to, probably a custom compilation (for dancing) or Melissa Etheridge's Lucky, for general feeling good.

I wouldn't want to be without my Indigo Girls, though, or Simon & Garfunkel, or even the occasional show tune.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Bach's Harpsichord Concertos
Eliza Carthy, Dreams of Breathing Underwater

and I apparently am always in the mood for Liz Phair or Alanis Morrisette.

I also suspect something from ENSMB should be on there. So you can go, "HEY LISTEN TO THIS" when necessary.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Bonobo's Black Sands

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

Abbey Road

[chillguru.livejournal.com]

well clearly, ENSMB's Reign of Revelry is the obvious answer here. ;)

really, if it can be only one
John Coltrane's A Love Supreme

others
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Slavic Soul Party - Teknochek Collision
Radiohead - Kid A
Sex Mob - ...does Bond
Parliment - Chocolate City
Antibalas - Who is dis America?
Charlie Hunter - Natty Dread

[cuthalion.livejournal.com]

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

[cacahuate.livejournal.com]

Deliberately omitting classics like the Beatles because they were less formative for me...

Okkervil River - Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See
Elliott Smith - Roman Candle
Ani DiFranco - Out of Range
Owen Pallett (formerly Final Fantasy) - He Poos Clouds
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Yann Tiersen - Soundtrack from Amelie

I fail at limiting my selections, but it is unanswerable, after all.

[bolowolf.livejournal.com]

I was mildly surprised no one had mentioned Ani until now.

(It's Meg/srisydasti)

[(Anonymous)]

Rain Dogs- Tom Waits (or Beautiful Maladies, if you want the hits)
the Amelie soundtrack by Yann Tiersen
So - Peter Gabriel

In other news, the captcha below right now says "in altrock" Apropos!