Island Pick #10 | Gradedrock

Desert Island Pick #10

Mark - Triangulation - Steve Morse

10th month at JoJo’s delight. A shallow self-introspection and juicy rationalization…forgive me. Looking back at my picks for this series I’ve realized that all are from the last century. Therefore, I asked myself have I become an old fuddy duddy? Maybe. Have I become an ancient noble showering my bitterness on youth? Partly. Am I incapable of embracing tuneage that is squeezed from the youthful hearts and minds of the contemporary? Then the thought accrued to me, Can I become a “Swifty?” Maybe a “prog swifty”? Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. And yes, the Kansas City Chiefs can suck it! Ok focus…

While this month’s pick comes from an artist that has weaved his magic through let’s see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, possibly 6 decades of interstellar guitar stupendousness. This is technically new music of this century. Right? Ok now Steve Morse just released a jewel called: Triangulation that is so crispity crunchity delicious that I had it air dropped into my secret underground submarine lair/base. And I love it so! This guy is such a gift from God. His inspiration to me is wonderful. Even dealing with arthritis, a personal loss, he composes and squeezes those strings with defiance and Grace. And his band doesn’t suck either. So, my redemption is secured, I haven’t become an old fuddy duddy right? I can still protect myself from the “Swifty” hoards with confidence that good new music is alive and well in the now, and my heart, mind and ears are open to the new. Yes.

Kip - Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt

My final selection for our desert island picks comes entirely from my wife Mary, who is far less the music nerd than I. In the late 80's and into the early 90's, Bonnie Raitt teamed with uber-producer Don Was to create three consecutive Grammy winning albums that turned her from a somewhat niche brilliant slide guitarist with a sultry, whiskey voice into a bona fide superstar. The middle album of the three, Luck of the Draw, is one of the “deepest” albums in my collection, both in terms of the quality of every one of its 12 songs AND the subject matter of its songs. The opening track, “Something to Talk About” was a huge radio hit, but also became extremely important to Mary and me, as our relationship was one that slowly blossomed from friendship into something much more, which was apparently much more obvious to our friend circle than it was to us. When the song became a hit years after we had become a couple, we joked with our friend group that she had stolen our line, as we had thought we had hidden our feelings for each other until we finally just decided to give our friends, “something to talk about” when we quit being so quiet about it. Our friends all erupted in laughter, revealing that they had all started making plans to come to Rapid City the night Mary and I first talked, as they apparently immediately knew we were going to get married the first night we met. So much for “secrets.” Much like Zach Brown, Bonnie Raitt's albums are brilliantly arranged to have deep relationship songs followed by humorous tunes about damaged people. Raitt only has two writing credits on the album, “Tangled and Dark,” and “All at Once,” which are both relationship songs, though VERY different in tone and subject matter. The remaining songs were noticeably chosen carefully for the album, as they work both in terms of the themes of her albums but also because they work perfectly for her voice. Just one great tune after another. Jeff often recounts hearing Alice Cooper say that you have to have the one song that allows you to have a career. And did Bonnie find hers. “I Can't Make You Love Me” featuring a red hot Bruce Hornsby on piano became a career defining smash for her and won the Grammy for song of the year. I also think it's the saddest song ever written, made even more so by the defeated, resigned manner in which Bonnie sings it. My school students, especially girls, always gave me a hard time about liking stories where the main character DOESN'T get the girl. They were sure somebody must have really broken my heart, which surprisingly, has never happened to me. Mary and I saw Bonnie in Rapid several years ago, in a theater, so it was a pretty intimate setting. One of my pet peeves occurs when a performer is playing something very soft and beautiful and someone in the crowd feels compelled to whistle or shout. Just drives me crazy. When she and her guitarist played “I Can't Make You Love Me,” you could hear the proverbial pin drop, until one lady couldn't hold it in any longer and just sobbed. Was one of the most touching moments I've ever experienced in a live setting. Even Bonnie gave her a glance of sympathy. I see myself watching the sun go down, listening to this song with a contrasting tear rolling down my cheek and a half smile on my face.

Jeff - 1962 - 1966 (Red) - The Beatles

Number 10 for me has to be more Beatles. I just can’t head to that desert island without the Red Album 1962–1966. Those early tracks are just too important, and I love the early Beatles every bit as much as the later years. I need A Hard Day’s Night, And I Love Her, Can’t Buy Me Love, She Loves You, I Feel Fine, Help!, Day Tripper and Eleanor Rigby with me. So yes… more Beatles for the island.

But part of this choice isn’t just about rounding out my top ten. It’s also about everything I’m not taking. Doing this experiment makes you realize how much music gets left behind. No Supertramp, Nazareth, Porcupine Tree, Monkees, Cheap Trick, Starz, Dean Martin, Neil Young, Angel, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Styx, Alan Parsons Project, Badfinger, Bee Gees, Montrose, Runaways, Simon & Garfunkel, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Elvis Presley, Sweet, Queen, Foreigner, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Electric Light Orchestra… and so many more. With all those bands staring me in the face, picking just ten albums is brutal—but it’s a great premise, so thanks to Mark for pushing us to give it a try.

Still, as I’m sitting here on the beach looking at my turntable and my ten precious albums, surely I could’ve smuggled something else onto this island, It’s been a couple months now just listening to these same 10 albums and I’m starting to crack up, losing my appetite, breaking out into a sweat at night, then I remember that deal I made last week; I start thinking and smiling…. I pull out my binoculars and there he is: JoJo, floating toward me on a tiny raft made of coconuts. Smart little monkey. And greedy.

He drags his raft up onto the sand and gives me a knowing nod when I ask if he’s got the goods. “All right, all right,” I tell him. “How many coconuts and bananas? What! I don’t care how much Kip paid you for the extra Mountain Dews!” It’s a ridiculous price, but I pay, it's worth every bit. I hand over the huge bag of island treasure to the sly little guy, and he hands over my phone and a pair of earbuds. Thank God, my entire iTunes library, all 7,000 songs, I’m saved! As he starts paddling back toward Mark’s island, I yell after him, “Remember, JoJo, a deal’s a deal. Don’t tell anyone else!”