5.02 /// Desert Island Discs: My Top Five Albums...

Hello , how the devil are you ? I'm hoping you're okay . Have you been well ? I hope you have been . And , yeah , let's get into today's episode . I was going through . I was saying I've been writing stuff down . I said in the last episode that I've been writing stuff down and let me know if you enjoyed the last episode . What was it about now ?

About Romulus , wasn't it , which I haven't seen yet . It came out yesterday . Um , so I need to . I'm arranging with my mate to go and see it . So , uh , soon , hopefully . Uh , I won't spoil anything , though , for you if when I do go see it anyway . So I was . I was going through my list of like possible show ideas and , as normal , I'm pretty well .

I'm pretty well last minute , so I decided I'd written down this one probably for last season , I think it was and never got around to doing it . So I thought , well , that that seems like a good topic for today .

So I thought I would count down um five albums that I couldn't live without if I was stuck on a desert island with only the availability of five , five albums . You know , desert island discs is , I'm sure , um , I think they normally do it as one album , but I decided to five .

You know I'm greedy and um , these were literally the first five albums when I was perusing my , my brain that I thought of and , um , oh , it was , it was tough , it was tough , but I think I went back to probably stuff from my childhood that I like resonates with me and stuff I remember , like when I was at college , like listening to stuff and and like

probably what they meant to me and stuff growing up as well . And there's a call of surprise and omissions even for me , of the things that came to mind and I wrote them down . I was like , right , there's the five , they're locked in and I was like , oh no , I forgot about that person I really like . Oh no , I forgot about that person I really like .

So , yeah , um , yeah , well , let's get

into it . So , the first one I thought of , and I'm sure it'd be quite a lot of people's lists as well , was bad out of hell by meatloaf jim steinman . I mean , this album's iconic , isn't it ? Released in 1977 , so well before I was born , well , six years before I was born . So that's not actually that far from when I was born , isn't it ? That's scary .

So , yeah , it came out in 1977 , and it's broke records , like you know it's . It was in the charts , I think , for like a record-breaking amount of consecutive weeks in the UK charts at least . Anyway , I haven't got that fact to actually tell you what it is , but if you google it you'll be surprised .

It was , I think it was technically consistently in the charts , for I think it was like five years or something , or six years . It was ridiculous , basically , and um , yeah , it's brilliant . I've listened to that album so many times .

It's a go-to good , good , feel good album and I think the reason , like like many good albums , I think , um one , it's an absolutely belting rock album . Um , there's not many , there's not many . There's not many tracks on it , though there's , um , it's quite a small album for like an album as you would compare today .

Um , there is , there is literally , like I think , seven songs on the album , which is which is quite , which is quite shocking when you think about a lot of albums nowadays have at least 10 songs , 12 , sometimes 14 , sometimes 15 , and I'm pretty sure there's only 7 on that . I'm just double-checking now I've got the page open .

So , yeah , so you've got Bad Out Of Hell To the Ways Of Out my Mouth . Heaven Can Wait . All Revved Up , no Place To Go . 2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad . Paradise by the Dashboard Light , which is like kind of three separate songs really .

And then for crying out loud and I think , um , the brilliance of this album is the short songs , but the long songs and they're so diverse , like bad out of hell , nearly a 10 minute behemoth of a song . I mean , what better ? It's a rock song to end all rock songs . Oh , it's just amazing , and you took the words out of my mouth .

It's like kind of kind of a love song . But the intro to that song is hilarious . Have you ever heard the album ? There's an intro and it's meatloaf saying on a hot summer's night , would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses ? And this girl's very breathy yes . And then he goes um , would you offer you ? Would you offer me a hunger ?

Would you offer I can't remember all the bits and then she says , yes , and he goes again would you offer me your hunger or your throat or something like that ? And she goes , yes , she goes , would you starve without him ?

And then he says I bet you say that to all the boys and I think when I was a kid I didn't really listen to it or get it properly as a young child . But to it or get it properly , uh , as a young child . But when I became a teenager and listened to it , I like partly my brain like clobbered out .

I don't think I ever really paid attention to it , just the music , but as a teenager definitely appreciate the sentiment of that . Um , and it's just now more around , like what you want from an album is like you want the good you want , you want them good , rock songs or you want them good , feel good songs , upbeat songs and we all like a good love song .

Um , and this one like like for crying out loud and two out of three ain't bad , just epic songs . I mean for crying out loud is again another epic rock symphony like beautiful , like jim steinman I mean they're both dead , unfortunately now jim steinman like what a musician to come for these songs . I'm paranoid about .

Dashboard like light is just a , an absolute kind of lesson in how to write such a mammoth track that has so many different , unique , diverse parts and very theatrical as well , like I don't know if you ever saw meatloaf live . He was a very theatrical guy . So , yeah , so my first one bad out of hell , yes

. Second one is an artist that's still going , and this is the one I discovered when I was in in college , and it's a , an artist called ryan adams , r-y-a-n . Not brian r Ryan , and it's the album Gold , which was released in 2001 and again very similar to like the Meatloaf album . Um , just such a brilliant , diverse album , and that got me .

That was the first time I bought an album by ryan adams and I went back and listened to the first album that he released , which is called heartbreaker , and that blew my mind as well . Very , very , very basic album compared to gold .

Gold is a very produced rock , folky country yeah , there's a bit of everything in there bluesy kind of album , and the first , the first one , is very much based in like kind of kind of roots of like country and and very , very basic and kind of , I believe um elton john was inspired , but from which one ? Which album was it ?

A common board album was Black and White , it's got I Want Love on it . And he was inspired by the . He was inspired to basically be a bit more simple on that album , inspired by Ryan Adams , heartbreaker , and Elton John actually did a cover of my Sweet Caroline , my Sweet Carolina , on tour and brilliant . And Elton John hasn't made this list , spoiler .

I love Elton John and he's not made this list because I chose the five albums and then was like that's it . And I was like , oh my god , elton John , bloody goodbye . Yellow brick road . Um , yeah , but uh , didn't , didn't make the list . Uh , but yeah , I mean this album . This is again like bad , out of hell , like seven tracks . This has 16 .

And again the brilliant my New York , new York title track , firecracker , answering bell . Last , the end of just smiled rescue blues is amazing . Was used at the end of enemy behind enemy lines . That's the song that plays the film out . Um , yeah , they're just all brilliant . Tino toledo's street walking blues , touch , feel , lose .

I mean all really good rock , bluesy songs , but like last end , last Enders , small , very , very basic , very like chilled . Oh , just amazing . The Rescue Blues and then , um , when the Stars Go Blue's on here as well , isn't ? It is is when the Stars Go Blue , is that yeah ? Well , yeah , frat 7 , when the Stars Go Blue really beautiful tune .

Um , listened to some of them sad songs , when I was sad about girls , and yeah , you know , that's just gotta gotta be done .

And another band I discovered when I was at college was counting crows and august and everything after is my third pick . Um contains a really famous song from them . Um called mr jones , and that's probably the one that everyone probably recalls . Um released in 1993 . Uh , again in september 1993 , like that . Ryan adams one was in september 90 , 2001 .

So , uh , right , but the first album I got by candy crows was again , I think was released in 2001 , which was hard candy . And then again went back and bought the back catalog which included august never there , august , never After . Um , oh god , what was the other album called ? I can't remember . Oh , my god , that's gonna annoy me so much .

Um , I can see the album cover , which is really , really annoying . Anyway , we've got a few albums prior to that , few albums since August and Everything After , probably my favourite album , hard Candy . It does have a soft spot for me , just because the first album I bought by them .

But , yeah , amazing band , I've seen them a few times live and I don't know how to pronounce his name . Actually I probably should know now . But Adam Duritz , I don't know how to pronounce his name , actually I probably should know now . But Adam Duritz , I don't know . But amazing voice brilliant musical band as well . But Adam's voice .

When he's live he sings the songs like in a style when he's live , so it sounds very much like the songs that he's singing . So my watch keeps going off . I need to put my stuff in airplane mode when I do this podcast . I'm sorry , but it wouldn't be me without doing that , would it ? So there you go anyway . Yeah , um , I , I . What was I saying ?

Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , um , he sings . He sings the songs brilliantly , but he puts his own twist when it's live . So ad-libs a bit like changes like the melodies a bit , and they're always like slightly different musically arranged and it's just , oh , it's just so refreshing , but not the point .

You think that's not the song on the album , it's just like oh , my god , that's just like a new take on it and it's just so good to my ears and um , some great songs on it , but again , an album that contains songs that are very much like slow , slow songs .

There's love songs , um , there's like songs that , um , you know , really reflective , and one of just one of my favorite songs ever , just for the build-up and adam's voice in it is a murder of one , which is the final track on the song and I and on the album , it's just amazing and , uh , the start and the start and the finish songs , I think , for me are

like two of the best songs on the album and it booked they bookmarked just a strong album throughout , to be honest . But round , here starts the album and I remember seeing them live once in manchester in england and they started with um , they started with round here , and it was just the most magical .

I don't know , I think it was the first time I'd ever seen them and it was just , it was just amazing . It was just amazing . I think they started with that song in my brain , they started with that song anyway and um , yeah , rain king is an amazing song as well . So , yeah , crack an album and , you know , go and listen to these albums .

If you've never listened to these albums like I can , I think probably most people probably know , know about , uh , bad out of hell and I'm sure people have listened to bad out of hell . But uh , yeah , if you don't know like about counting crows , go and listen to them .

If you don't know like about Counting Crows , go and listen to them , especially if you're into stuff like I don't know what would you be into to listen to them , like Train .

Maybe If you're into Ryan Adams , you'd probably like Counting Crows , and vice versa , if you like the Goo Goo Dolls or , yeah , if you just like good frigging , well-written songs with I don't know that , just make you emote . They're just good , strong songs . So there's number three .

So I've got Bad Out Of Hell , meatloaf Gold by Ryan Adams , and I've got August and Everything After by Counting Crows lovely . And someone else I didn't put on the list August and everything after . Why Counting Crows Lovely ? And someone else I didn't put on the list was Prince , and I bloody love Prince .

And again , I did think about Prince when I was doing the list but I actually really kind of omitted him . I suppose Kind of like how it would have been with Elton John If I'd have even brought him to mind Is , which album would you put on of Prince's , because Purple Rain's kind of a too obvious one .

It's the first one I kind of bought with his as well , but it's a bit too obvious . But he didn't make the list , so let's stop talking about Prince . But oh my god , prince , could I live that in Monod Desert Island ? I suppose his songs would live on my brain . I don't know , I can't exchange any . I've made the list . I can't exchange any .

I've got to keep them the same . I've got to be true to myself

. So the fourth on the list is by and I'm not going to talk about his personal life because I think for me that's a separate issue and I think you can still like an artist and music because musically it's different when stuff comes out in their personal life .

So my fourth pick , you may have guessed , is Michael Jackson , and I've chose a bit of a cheat album . Actually because I've chose and it's partly for two reasons one , because it gets that means I get more , more music and it is technically an album , so you can't moan too much .

And the second reason is it was one of the first albums I got of his for my own because , like my brother had some of his albums and my mum and dad had some of his albums . So it was the first album that was like solely mine and that was History , past , present and Future Book .

One is the full title of the album and this came out in like late 90s I think it was , and this came out in like late 90s I think it was , and um sold a ridiculous amount like 20 odd million copies and yeah , um , yeah , just just a great album . So it's the two cds . Um I came out in 1995 . There you go . So they are . So it's the it's two cds .

So the first cd obviously it's called past , present and future . So two cds were um . First cd basically had his hits on . It was like a hit album from his , from his whole kind of um , from his whole career , really up like through . You know , I think mine it was only solo career , let's say , because it didn't have any .

It didn't have any uh jackson five on . So so the first cd was like billy jean , black and white rock with you bad man in the mirror , thriller . You can name an album of his . It was probably the hit off . That album . Um also had they don't care about a stranger in moscow , earth song and it had some um , so yeah .

So there was all the old stuff was on , like was , was on like you know , dangerous albums , all that . And then the new stuff was like they don't care about us this time around . Uh , songs on the album ds money come together as a cover you're not alone .

And then there was some some other songs that were like smile , which is um , smile is a song that was written by or co-written by charlie chaplin , and michael jackson was a massive charlie chaplin fan , and smile is just such a beautiful , beautiful um song and , yeah , it was just an absolutely stunning song and um , he sings it so well and with so much passion

. And then there was a song called little suzy on it as well , and histories or like sound clips and tabloid junkies sound clips as well . So a lot of personal stuff went into this album , I feel . And um , one of the songs as well on the album was um , a song called childhood . Have you seen my childhood ?

Um , I think it was used in the film Free Willy and it's basically it's so emotional .

He's basically saying in the song , like before you judge me , before you judge my character and how I am , and all this like , take a look at my childhood , like I didn't have a childhood , and it's a very deep personal song and he basically cries while he's singing it and it's absolutely beautiful .

I'll mention another song that is beautiful and always makes me cry it's Gone Too Soon from the Dangerous album that didn't make this album but yeah , and for me I know it's a bit of a cheat there's two CDs .

There's like a hit CD and then there's the current stuff and like covers and stuff like that , but for me absolutely brilliant album , uh , and it was like the first michael jackson album I had and they were gold , the old gold cds which always made me . They were like laser etched with michael jackson's uh , like , uh , outline on stuff that were . It was cool .

So I I kind of like had my , had my cake in it . I ate it with that , with that album , and I got it for christmas if it came out in 1995 , that's the christmas . I got it , um , and I played that CD . So so much .

And Michael Jackson is such an icon and all the news stories aside , I would have to have some Michael Jackson with me just for his diverse collection and absolutely astounding musical production on his songs . So that's

number four . And number five is A Lady , because there's no ladies on the list so far . So this is , like , um , the first lady and only lady on the list , and that is , uh , alanis morissette with the song jagged little pill . Not the song jagged little pill , the album jagged little pill . Uh , firstly , cracking album name jagged little pill .

What a crack , cracking name . Um , and again another astounding album with like diverse songs from like all I really want , like quite angsty song to you learn , which is quite soft , to ironic , to you ought to know to write through you , to wake up , to perfect , which is just just beautiful .

And this , this album was played a lot while I was at college , um , but it came out again in 1995 but I didn't really discover it until I think my brother bought it a couple years later . And then , when I went to college , I bought it myself , um , because I wanted to own it . He'd buggered off to uni so couldn't make any CDs .

But Alanis Morissette and she was an artist I always wanted to see live and never had , and she toured a couple of years ago in the UK and I was so happy to get to see her in person in a concert . I mean , if I could travel back in time to see her on this album tour would have been , that would have been the thing to do .

But to travel to Birmingham and watch her I think it was like two years ago and it was just the sounding . She was fucking brilliant and , yeah , that'd be my fifth . So they're my five albums . They are the five , and I'm not counting bonus mean some of them have bonus tracks on um . Do they come on the album ?

If you took the album with you , I suppose they do , don't they ? So , yeah , some of them have bonus tracks . So bonus , um , bonus . Where did that come from ? Um , yeah , so what would your five desert island discs be ? What would you want me ? What if I could narrow it down to one out of that list ?

Oh , I don't know if I could because I'd literally want 10 . To be honest , like I knew , I couldn't get down to one . So I cheated and basically said I'll take five um , missing out some . Some like there's no bruce spring springsteen at last . No billy joel oh , so many artists that I like . No . Iron maiden , massive iron maiden fan , umiden fan .

There's no musical scores on that sound , on that , I mean , I love John Williams . I love Michael Gio . I never remember how to pronounce his name . It's terrible , isn't it ? Goldsmith Horner , what's it called ? He did like the back to the future soundtrack . My brain's gone blank . I can't think of his name . Alan sylvester , is it ? Oh yeah , that's right .

I was listening to him literally yesterday and I can't remember terrible . Uh , yeah , so there's no musical scores on this , neither like , and I do like a musical score and a bit of classical . So , uh , the thing is that's what you choose , doesn't it ? Otherwise I'd have like 100 CDs with me . Anyway , what would yours be ?

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