Picture this: you’re stranded on a desert island with nothing to comfort you but sand, sun and, miraculously, the solar-powered sound system that washed up with you. All of your CDs were lost at sea but, miraculously, a genie appears, promising to restore ten albums–but only ten–of your choice. Oh–and your selections will be published in America’s oldest political weekly.
Such is the scenario we posed to the would-be castaways below, some of whom responded with enthusiasm, others with anxiety, many with a combination of both. The results were, as expected, revealing. –The Editors
THOMAS FRANK
Iggy & The Stooges
Raw Power (Columbia)
Duke Ellington
The Immortal 1938 Year (CBS)
Micronotz
Smash (Fresh Sounds)
Embarrassment
Heyday: 1979-1983 (Bar None)
Half Japanese
Sing No Evil (Drag City)
Ben Selvin
Dardanella (Asv Living Era)
Jay McShann
Blues from Kansas City: Original Decca Recordings (GRP)
Silkworm
Libertine (El Recordo/Matador)
Artie Shaw
Vol. III of the Bluebird Anthology (RCA)
Damon & Naomi
Playback Singers (Sub Pop)
Thomas Frank, a founding editor of The Baffler, is the author, most recently, of One Market, Under God (Doubleday).
SANDRA CISNEROS
Chavela Vargas
De México y del Mundo (Orfeon)
Lila Downs
La Sandunga (AME)
Lola Beltrán
Serie Platino 20 Exitos (BMG/RCA)
Various Artists
Los Gitanos Cantan a Federico García Lorca, Vol. 2 (Mercury)
Astor Piazzolla
Tango Zero Hour (American Clavé)
Paquita la del Barrio
Grandes Exitos de Paquita la del Barrio (Musart)
Joni Mitchell
Blue (Warner Bros.)
Maria Callas
anything and everything
Billie Holiday
ditto
Agustín Lara
sung only by Toña la Negra
Sandra Cisneros is the author, most recently, of the novel Caramelo (Knopf).
DOUG HENWOOD
Patti Smith
Horses (Arista)
David Bowie
Hunky Dory (Virgin)
Gang of Four
Entertainment! (EMI)
PJ Harvey
Is This Desire? (Polygram)
Velvet Underground
Peel Slowly and See (Polygram)
Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation (Geffen)
Ludwig van Beethoven
The Late Piano Sonatas, Maurizio Pollini (Polygram)
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Complete String Quartets, Sorrel Quartet (Chandos)
Chicks on Speed
Will Save Us All! (Efa)
The Coup
Party Music (Tommy Boy)
Doug Henwood, a Nation contributing editor, edits the Left Business Observer. His latest book, A New Economy?, is forthcoming from the New Press.
ELLEN WILLIS
Velvet Underground
(Golden Archive Series) (MGM)
Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde (Columbia)
Bessie Smith
The Bessie Smith Story Vol. 4 (Columbia)
Otis Redding
The Very Best of Otis Redding (Atlantic)
John Fahey
Vol. 1: Blind Joe Death (Takoma)
Lotte Lenya et al.
The Threepenny Opera (MGM/Capriccio)
Tupac Shakur
2Pac-Greatest Hits (Interscope)
Marianne Faithfull
Broken English (Island)
Various Artists
Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs (Music from HBO Original Series) (Sony)
The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main Street (Virgin)
Ellen Willis directs the cultural reporting and criticism program at New York University. Her latest book is Don’t Think, Smile! Notes on a Decade of Denial (Beacon).
DAVID CORN
The Clash
London Calling (Epic)
Bob Dylan/The Band
The Basement Tapes (bootleg)
Bruce Springsteen
Nebraska (Columbia)
Sam Cooke
The Man and His Music (RCA)
Uncle Tupelo
March 16-20, 1992 (Rockville)
Velvet Underground
Live 1969 (Polygram)
The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main Street (Virgin)
Tom Waits
Small Change (Elektra/Asylum)
Patti Smith
Horses (Arista)
Miles Davis
Kind of Blue (Columbia)
David Corn is The Nation‘s Washington editor.
EDWIDGE DANTICAT
Boukman Eksperyans
Revolution (Lightyear)
Wyclef Jean
Masquerade (Sony)
Cesaria Evora
Very Best of Cesaria Evora (RCA)
India.Arie
Voyage to India (Universal)
Salif Keita
Moffou (Universal)
Caetano Veloso
Live in Bahia (Nonesuch)
Cassandra Wilson
Belly of the Sun (Blue Note)
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Be Glad (Word Entertainment)
Lauryn Hill
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (Sony)
The Classical Jazz Quartet
Plays Bach (Vertical Jazz)
Edwidge Danticat’s most recent books are After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmal, Haiti (Crown) and Behind the Mountains (Orchard), a young adult novel.
JOHN NICHOLS
Miles Davis
In a Silent Way (Sony)
Phil Ochs
Gunfight at Carnegie Hall (A&M)
Laura Nyro
Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (Sony)
Al Green
Call Me (Capitol)
Kevin Ayers/John Cale/Nico/Brian Eno
June 1, 1974 (Polygram Int’l)
Patti Smith
Horses (Arista)
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Dread Bead an’ Blood (Caroline)
Tom Robinson
Band Power in the Darkness (BMG/Razor & Tie)
Pulp
We Love Life (Sanctuary)
Nicola Conte
Jet Sounds Revisited (Esl Music)
John Nichols is The Nation‘s Washington correspondent.
KATHA POLLITT
Ralph Stanley
Saturday Night & Sunday Morning (Freeland)
Doc Watson
On Praying Ground (Sugarhill)
Alison Krauss and The Cox Family
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow (Rounder/Pgd)
The Nashville Bluegrass Band
To Be His Child (Rounder)
Bob Dylan
World Gone Wrong (Sony)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Die Winterreise (Schubert) (Polygram)
Thomas Hampson & Samuel Ramey
No Tenors Allowed (Elektra/Asylum)
Mozart
Don Giovanni, Conductor: Josef Krip (London)
Mozart
Cosí Fan Tutte, Conductor: Karl Böhm (Angel)
Cesaria Evora
São Vincente (Windham Hill)
Katha Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation.
ERIC ALTERMAN
Bruce Springsteen
You Can Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears the Star: Live at The Main Point, 1975 (bootleg)
Bob Dylan
Biograph (Sony/Columbia)
The Beatles
The White Album (Capitol)
The Rolling Stones
Forty Licks (Virgin)
Miles Davis/John Coltrane
The Complete Columbia Recordings, 1955-1961 (Sony)
Duke Ellington
The Blanton-Webster Band (RCA)
Frank Sinatra
The Complete Capitol Singles Collection (Capitol)
Hank Williams
The Complete Hank Williams (Polygram)
Elvis Presley
The Complete 50’s Masters (RCA)
Various Artists
Beg, Scream and Shout!: The Big Ol’ Box of Sixties Soul (Rhino)
Eric Alterman is a columnist for The Nation.
KATRINA vanden HEUVEL
Aretha Franklin
The Very Best of Aretha Franklin, Vol. 1 (Rhino)
Al Green
Greatest Hits (Hi Records)
Stevie Wonder
Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection (Motown)
Lucinda Williams
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Polygram)
Carole King
Tapestry (Epic/Ode)
Van Morrison
The Best of Van Morrison (Polygram)
Portishead
Dummy (Polygram)
Tom Waits
The Early Years, Vol. 2 (Manifesto)
Bob Dylan
Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Sony)
Bulat Okudzhava
Collected Songs (Solyd)
Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor of The Nation.
