desert island disc

the steamboat pilot has a weekend section called 4-points, and every friday they ask a local to list 10 to 20 of their favorite songs they'd put on a mix CD. this friday is my turn. picking and choosing was not at all easy. after much deliberation, here's my list (the comments were for my benefit, and will be left out of the paper):

“Fool’s Gold,” – The Stone Roses (10 minutes of perhaps the most amazing, all-natural, non-electronic beat ever, with some damn good trippy guitars to boot)

“Jesus, etc.,” – Wilco (lyrics that evoke 9/11, yet predate the catastrophe by a year)

“Sodom, South Georgia,” – Iron & Wine (so beautiful, so sad)

“Army,” – Ben Folds Five (“grew a mustache and a mullet, got a job at chick-fil-a”)

“Whiskey Bottle,” – Uncle Tupelo (the album this song comes from virtually invented country punk, and spawned the entire “no depression” alt-country movement)

“Double Trouble,” – The Roots feat. Mos Def (lyrical linguistics, yo)

“Get Miles,” – Gomez (Ben Ottwell has the best freakin’ voice in rock n’ roll right now)

“I Think She Likes Me” – Treat Her Right (Fronted by Mark Sandman, who later went on to greater fame with Morphine; these guys were bluesier)

“Hannah & Gabi,” – The Lemonheads (I’d take pretty much any of Evan Dando’s songs)

“She’s the One,” – The Beta Band (if The Beatles had grown up in Scotland with electronica and ecstasy, they’d sound like the Beta Band)

“B-Boy Bouillaibaisse,” – The Beastie Boys (Paul’s Boutique is a sampled masterpiece made from the junk heap of pop culture)

“Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel,” – Whiskeytown (how can a country lament be so punk rock?)

“Watching the Detectives,” – Elvis Costello (I’ve been absolutely infatuated with this song for months)

“What More Can I Say,” – Jay-Z w/sampled Beatles beats by DJ Danger Mouse (Beatles-sampled beats and Jay-Z lyrics; you can still download the entire illegal “grey album” on the internet)

“(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” – R.E.M. (Michael Stipe and company do country better than most of Nashville)

“She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” – The Beatles (I just love Abbey Road)