Hiking Trails Blogs

Okay, so let's say you’re a professor, or your name is Ginger, and you’re heading out for a short three-hour cruise on a small boat. Unfortunately you run into a storm that wrecks the boat. The captain orders everyone off the boat before it sinks, but gives you 30 seconds to pack five CDs with you on a life raft. Which CDs do you grab? In addition to food, water and shelter, what are the five indispensable albums that you must have in order to survive an indefinite ordeal? You sure as heck don’t want to be talking to a volleyball for the next four years.

If pressed, here are the albums I would have to have:

Who’s Next (The Who) – I’ve probably listened to this album at least a thousand times, but it never gets old. It has the greatest song ever recorded on it. No, I’m not referring to We Won’t Get Fooled Again, or even Behind Blue Eyes. That honor, in my humble opinion, goes to Baba O’Riley. The title of the song is Pete Townshend’s tribute to Meher Baba, an Indian mystic and spiritual master, and Terry Riley, a minimalist composer of Western classical music. All nine of the original tracks are solid hits in the pantheon of great rock and roll songs, several of which still receive quite a bit of air play today.

Massey Hall 1971 (Neil Young) – Over the last several years Neil Young has taken it upon himself to release new material from the course of his long career. One of the first albums to come out of this project was a live recording at Massey Hall in Toronto. The concert was recorded in 1971, several months before the release of his seminal Harvest album. Neil didn’t quite seem to have the lyrics for A Man Needs A Maid in stone at that point. In this version he sings “a man feels afraid” during the first verse. It’s also quite interesting to hear the muted reaction from the crowd when he launches into Heart of Gold. It was the first time anyone in the hall had ever heard the yet-to-be-released classic. The concert was just Neil, his guitar and a piano. No backing band and no electric music. Although he complained of back pain, his voice and his guitar playing were extraordinarily crisp that night. No wonder he’s embarked on this project.

BBC Sessions (Led Zeppelin) – This one may have slipped past a lot of Zep fans. It was released 18 years after the band broke up in 1979. The album features a collection of 24 songs recorded live at the BBC studios in the late 60s and early 70s. These days, listening to The Song Remains the Same, Zeppelin’s live album from 1976, the music sounds excessive and bloated. The BBC recordings are from the bands’ early years when they were still cutting their teeth. The songs are raw, powerful, and reflect the heavy blues influence derived from the bands roots. If you listen closely to What Is And What Should Never Be, Robert Plant begins singing the verse during Jimmy Page’s guitar solo. You can tell he picks up on his mistake almost immediately, but stays with it to seemingly avoid further embarrassment. The collection also contains the first live broadcast of Stairway to Heaven. The band did a great rendition of the song, but it’s quite interesting to hear the tepid response they received from the audience afterwards. My only complaint with the album is that the producers decided to include three separate versions of Communication Breakdown. Although a great song, it was a bit of an overkill. In my opinion, the BBC Sessions is the best Led Zeppelin album, period!

Live at Leeds (The Who) - Okay, you’ve probably already figured out who my all time favorite band is. The first live album by The Who was recorded during the height of the Tommy era, but before the band became an arena act. All four members of the band were “on” that night. The Who’s cover of Young Man Blues is one of the greatest hard rock songs of all time. The 15-minute extended version of My Generation is an excellent example of Pete Townshend’s sheer power as a master guitarist. The album was originally released as a six-song album in 1970, and then re-released in 1995 with 14 songs from the concert. Then, in 2001, the entire concert was finally released, and includes a complete live version of Tommy. One of the other things I really like about Live at Leeds is the comedic banter between Townshend and Keith Moon in between songs.

At Filmore East (Allman Brothers) - The Allman Brothers continued to make a lot of great music after Duane Allman’s untimely death in 1971. After hearing what he had already contributed up to that point, however, it’s easy to conclude the music world lost a great deal as a result of his death. The Filmore East album was recorded just a few months prior to his death, and reflects the bands’ heavy blues influence, in particular, Duane’s slide guitar. Over the last three or four years I’ve been listening to a lot of old blues music. Prior to my “education” on this form of music I thought the Allmans were simply playing Southern Rock & Roll, a genre they’re generally credited with founding. However, when I listen to Filmore East it’s pretty apparent that the band is actually playing true to their roots. The Allmans version of T-Bone Walker’s Stormy Monday Blues is just out of this world. In fact, I would say they perform it much better than T-Bone, or any other version of the song I’ve ever heard. The album contains several other blues covers that the band re-defines through their Southern heritage.


So what’s on your “A” list? Which CDs are you grabbing before the ship goes belly-up?



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com