{"id":189945,"date":"2026-07-13T12:59:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/?p=189945"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:31:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:31:55","slug":"ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten and five"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s the challenge<\/a>:<\/p>\n

You all know the premise: you\u2019re stuck on a deserted island somewhere, and all you have for entertainment is a wind-up (or solar-powered) record- or CD player and a few records. Which records would you choose to have?<\/p>\n

… Here, then, are the parameters:<\/p>\n

Ten composers, singers or groups. Examples: Beethoven, Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones. It can be any mix of the above \u2014 all bands, all singers, whatever. But only ten.<\/p>\n

Specify up to five albums for each selection. Assume 45-50 minutes of music per album.<\/p>\n

So you\u2019ll have a maximum of fifty albums allowed. (For the pedantic, we can allow CDs to ensure that they\u2019ll last however long you\u2019re marooned.) But no carrying over: if you can\u2019t think of five but only three, that\u2019s what you get. I will allow only ONE compilation album, in total.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are my picks:<\/p>\n

Bach<\/strong> — As much of the Well-Tempered Clavier<\/i> as you can fit on five CDs.<\/p>\n

Beethoven<\/strong> — The last four piano sonatas, plus the Waldstein<\/i> and Pathetique<\/i>; the Diabelli Variations<\/i>; the seventh symphony.<\/p>\n

Chopin<\/strong> — The Ballades<\/i>, Etudes<\/i>, Waltzes<\/i>, Polonaises<\/i>, and as many mazurkas as you can fit on one disc along with the Berceuse<\/i> and Barcarolle<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Faur\u00e9<\/strong> — The complete piano music.<\/p>\n

Ravel<\/strong> — Complete solo piano music and concertos; as much of the orchestral music as will fit on two discs (you can skip Bolero<\/i>).<\/p>\n

(Yeah, I like the piano.)<\/p>\n

Fairport Convention<\/strong> — the first five albums.<\/p>\n

Gentle Giant<\/strong> — Acquiring the Taste<\/i>, Three Friends<\/i>, Octopus<\/i>, In a Glass House<\/i>, The Power and the Glory<\/i>, Free Hand<\/i>. (That’s six, but they’re all essential. If you’re going to be picky, roll a die to select the one to skip.)<\/p>\n

Steve Morse\/Dixie Dreg<\/strong>s — What If<\/i>, Night of the Living Dregs<\/i>, Unsung Heroes<\/i>, The Introduction<\/i>…. Actually, you can just pick any five from all his recordings; they’re all good.<\/p>\n

Allan Holdsworth<\/strong> — i.o.u.<\/i>, Metal Fatigue<\/i>, Atavachron<\/i>, Secrets<\/i>, Wardenclyffe Tower<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Compilation album — Japanese favorites, e.g. Yuki Kajiura, Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, etc.<\/p>\n

Ask me again tomorrow, and you’ll get a different list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s the challenge: You all know the premise: you\u2019re stuck on a deserted island somewhere, and all you have for entertainment is a wind-up (or solar-powered) record- or CD player and a few records. Which records would you choose to have? … Here, then, are the parameters: Ten composers, singers or groups. Examples: Beethoven, Elvis … Continue reading “Ten and five”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4xam3-ten","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189945"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189962,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189945\/revisions\/189962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}