Choose carefully, you're gunna be there for a long while.

Bob dylan - Blood on the tracks

Talking Heads - Remain In Light

The Beatles - Abby Road

Radiohead - Kid A

The rolling Stones - let It Bleed





Because you can only choose 5, I left out some key favourites in exchange for lifelong variety (Arcade Fire - Funeral, Neil Young - After The gold rush, Grateful Dead - American beauty)

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Radiohead - OK Computer

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

New Order - Substance

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Prince- 1999

Prince- Lovesexy (yes, I need both)

The Cure- Disintegration

Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Björk- Vespertine

Beatles- Help!
Talking Heads- Stop Making Sense
Pink Floyd- Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Stooges- Funhouse
Beck- Odelay

Leave out the downer stuff and just drive myself crazy instead of driving myself to depression.

The Beatles - "1962-1966"
The Beach Boys - "Good vibrations" boxset
Jellyfish - "Fan club" boxset
Frank Zappa - "Hot rats"
Todd Rundgren - "A wizard, a true star"

Robert Wyatt Rock Bottom
Beatles Abbey Road
Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
Leadbelly Huddie Ledbetter's best
Georges Brassens La Mauvaise réputation

Although there's 3 Bob Dylan albums in my top 5 (I know, I know) I kinda want some Stones as well. In honor of his 67th birthday I am gonna keep two though:

Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Who's Next
Born To Run
Beggars Banquet

Velvet Underground & Nico

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

Radiohead - OK Computer

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon


Although maybe i would replace some of them with my personal unofficial Beatles's and Bowie's compilations.

Just presently, I think:

Leonard Cohen Songs of Leonard Cohen
Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
R.E.M. Reconstruction of the Fables
Steve Wynn Kerosene Man
Warren Zevon Warren Zevon

Off the top of my head right now:

The Who - Who's Next
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - Abbey Road
U2 - The Joshua Tree

Probably not my absolute favorites, but that sounds about right. OK Computer/The Bends probably just barely missed the cut.

You cheat Dumbangel!

The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

Dumbangel, I remember checking your Todd Rundgren ratings on RYM not that long ago, and you had 3 stars for A Wizard, A True Star. What's been the difference since?

desert island?

The Story of Jamaican Music
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Arkology
Trojan Rocksteady
Konbit: Burning Rhythms of Haiti
Calypso Carnival 1936-1941

Not my really 5 favorites, but would be good in that situation:

1) Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
2) The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
3) M.I.A. - Kala
4) Blur - Parklife
5) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Love - Forever Changes
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Stooges - Raw Power
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Al Green - Greatest Hits

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Led Zeppelin - IV
Radiohead - The Bends
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
dc Talk - Jesus Freak

I put on Jesus Freak the other day and I don't think it's aged well. I think Free At Last has held up though, I still really like that album. I don't mean to knock one of your favorites, I was just wondering if you thought Free At Last was good. I used to really like Jesus Freak... it just doesn't do anything for me anymore.

I don't cheat John !
5 records doesn't mean necessarely 5 albums. Compilations or boxset should be allowed.
If I should spend my whole life on a desert island I prefer having the 5-cds boxset than "Pet sounds" or "Sunflower' only !

Georgie, Todd Rundgren is really a great discovery of these last 10 months for me. After having read a guide to best albums of all-time eight years, I listend to "a wizard" and was disapointed. Too experimental for me at that time.
Last year I decided to buy the other acclaimed album of Tood Rundgren, "Something/anything" and I loved it !
I also purchased his last album released in 2004, "Liars", a surprisingly great album for an artist that seemed to be forgotten by everybody since some long years.
Now having 2 great TR albums, I decided to give another chance to "a wizard" and then... A true masterpiece, difficult the first time you hear it but a real grower. I now love this record.
After that, I immediately bought 12 other TR albums !

Dumbangel, I too have browsed your RYM page before and have alot of respect for your taste in music. But, please tell me you didn't rate A Wizard, A True Star 3 stars the first time after having listened to it only once!

Trying to ignore my person top 5 albums of all time, here is what I would bring that might satisfy most of my musical needs.

1. Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti
2. Frank Zappa / Mothers of Invention - Burnt Weeny Sandwich
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
4. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
5. The Cars - The Cars

Sorry Chris but I must admit that I had given it 3 stars after 2 or 3 listens only...
I was young and dumb at that time .
Now I'm older and more patient, I take the time needed to appreciate the good things.

Actually, I haven't heard the "Free at Last" album yet, but I have heard that it is quite good. I'll have to check it out sometime! Do you like the Newsboys or Jars of Clay? I was tempted to put "Take Me to Your Leader" as one of my island picks, but sided with "Jesus Freak."

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted

Daniel, not really. I listened to all that in high school but I just don't think it's aged well. It's more nostalgia for me rather than something I still listen to frequently. Alternative Christian music is more of a tool than an art I think. It brings the gospel message to kids by using the music trends of the day. Nothing wrong with that, but I wish there were more creative artists in the scene.

Christian bands I still listen to include Johnny Q. Public, Morella's Forest, some Audio Adrenaline, some All-Star United, and some various bands that were on Tooth and Nail in the late 90's.

Exile On Main St
Are You Experienced
Blonde On Blonde
OK Computer
Horses

My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
Bob Dylan- Blonde on Blonde
The Beatles- The White Album
Belle and Sebastian- If Your Feeeling Sinister
Radiohead- Ok Computer

1. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
2. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
3. Paul Simon - Graceland
4. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
5. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Rage Against The Machine - "dto."
Wu-Tang Clan - "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)"
Tocotronic - "Digital ist besser"
The Beatles - "Abbey Road"
Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

Hmmm...the whole "desert island" aspect tends to change things up a bit...

The Cure - Disintegration
Jeff Buckley - Grace (Legacy Edition)
The Stooges - Fun House
Teenage Fanclub - Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds: A Shortcut to Teenage Fanclub
The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime

My last choice is by far the most outside choice, as it's not even in my top 50 albums list, and I don't have it as a five star on RYM, but I'd need something with a lot of variety, brevity, and pep...something to satisfy me in times of short attention spans.

Bach's B minor mass
Beethoven's 9th symphony
Motzart's Clarinet Concerto
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits

Musictoad - I like that choice of Teenage Fanclub. Should have thought of that...

Laurie Anderson, United States Live
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
R.E.M., And I Feel Fine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years (Collector's Edition)
Various artists, The Sun Records Story
X, Beyond and Back: The X Anthology

Actually, that’s 13 discs, but hey, if I’m gonna be there a while…

Thanks Midaso. Yeah, if I could only choose one album to live with for the rest of my life, I might actually choose Teenage Fanclub. I could listen to that album nonstop (and have at times) and not get bored with it.

And after thinking about it, I'm tempted to replace Double Nickels on the Dime with The Best of Sam & Dave...what d'ya think, everyone

Velvet Underground and Nico
Sonic Youth Daydream Nation
Cat Power What Would the Community Think?
Otis Redding The Very Best of, Vol. 1
The Smiths Singles...though I'd prefer their entire anthology

You should have told me box sets count! Now I need to rethink my list.