[an error occurred while processing this directive]

September 29, 2004

Not an ad for iPod (though it may sound like one)

It's been nearly eight consecutive years now that I've been living in a semi-permanent state, taking a bare minimum of possessions with me as I travel and take up various expat gigs. I haven't really missed all the "stuff" in my life -- but as a longtime music enthusiast, I've always missed having access to my full CD collection. I even went so far as to write an essay about my yen for those missing tunes, which appeared under the title "Anthem Soul" in World Hum, Best Travelers Tales 2004, and on public radio.

Hence, the advent of Apple's iPod (which allows me to store my entire CD collection -- and more -- on a device the size of a cassette tape) is perfect for someone with a lifestyle like mine. I first saw the device in action during the Drive Around the World expedition last winter, when my driving partner Justin Mounts kept our Land Rover full of tunes with his 40-gig iPod. Later, while in Brazil, I met some other travel friends who used wallet-sized speakers to turn their iPods into portable juke boxes. I knew I had to have one, so this summer I ordered a 20 gigabyte iPod from Apple and started to fill it up with tunes. I must say it's a thrill to have my music back, and I recommend the iPod (or an iPod equivalent) to any vagabonders who don't want to go without their music for long stretches at a time.

Just for the sake of documentation (and because I'm kind of a music geek), I've detailed my playlists below. These albums account for 3000 songs, which fill up 60% of my iPod. Nineties-era alternative/indie music is heavily represented (probably because this was the last era when I was actively buying new CDs), but I do have good selections of classic rock (which I listened to while growing up in the mulleted Midwest), country/bluegrass (a recently acquired taste), classical, jazz, blues, pop, and techno. Oddly, I don't have much world-beat music on the iPod, since most of my Syrian techno, Burmese hip-hop, and Mongolian throat-singing tunes are on cassette tapes.

The list is below. Let me know if you have any playlist suggestions that would make for good travel music.

Alternative, Rock, Rap, Punk, Pop Etc.

Beck – Mellow Gold
Beck – Mutations
Beck – Odelay
Beck – Sea Change
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Black Happy – Friendly Dog Salad
Cake – Comfort Eagle
Cake – Fashion Nugget
Cake – Motorcade of Generosity
Cake – Prolonging the Magic
Cypress Hill – Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill – Black Sunday
Depeche Mode – Violator
Everclear – So Much for the Afterglow
Everclear – Sparkle and Fade
Fugazi – 13 Songs
George Michael – Faith
Girls Against Boys – House of GVSB
Gooding - 3x
Green Day – Dookie
Heatmiser – Dead Air
Heatmiser – Mic City Sons
Helmet – Meantime
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
Jane’s Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual
Limp Bizkit – Chocolate Starfish
Lenny Kravitz – Best
Love and Rockets – Express
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Nirvana – In Utero
Nirvana – Nevermind
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
Operation Ivy – Energy
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
Pearl Jam – Ten
Pearl Jam -- Vitalogy
Peter Gabriel – So
Peter Gabriel - Up
Pixies – Bossanova
Pixies – Come on Pilgrim
Pixies – Doolittle
Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
R.E.M. – Monster
Ramones Tribute – Various
Rancid – And Out Come the Wolves
Rentals – The Return of the Rentals
Repo Man – Soundtrack
Richard Cheese – Lounge Against the Machine
Sebadoh – Bakesale
Sheryl Crow – Best
Sheryl Crow – Sheryl Crow
Skankin’ Pickle – The Green Album
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
Soul Coughing – El Oso
Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
Soundgarden – Superunknown
Strokes – Is This It?
Sublime – Sublime
The Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
The Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
The Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
The Breeders – Last Splash
The Cure – Disintegration
The Cure – Mixed Up
The Dandy Warhols – Dandys Rule OK
The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin
The Hives – Veni, Vidi, Vicious
The Presidents of the United States of America – The Presidents
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Smiths – Best
The Velvet Underground - Loaded
The White Stripes – De Stijl
The White Stripes – Elephant
The White Stripes – The White Stripes
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
U2 – Achtung Baby
U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind
U2 – The Joshua Tree
U2 – Selections (from Boy, October, War, Unforgettable Fire, Rattle and Hum)
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Voodoo Glow Skulls – Who Is This Is?
Weezer – Weezer
Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
X-Ray Visions – Soundtrack


Classic Rock and R&B

AC/DC – Back in Black
Black Sabbath – Best
Bob Dylan – Best
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
Chuck Berry – Best
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Best
David Bowie – Changesbowie
Elvis Presley – The Number One Hits
Grateful Dead – Skeletons from the Closet
Guns ‘N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
James Brown – Best
Jimi Hendrix – Best
John Mellencamp – Uh-Huh
Johnny Burnette – Rockabilly Boogie
Led Zeppelin – Box Set (selections)
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
Led Zeppelin – II
Led Zeppelin – IV
Pulp Fiction – Soundtrack
Rockabilly Dance Party – Various
T.Rex - Electric Warrior
The Beach Boys – Best
The Beatles – Abbey Road
The Beatles – Revolver
The Beatles – White Album
The Cars – Best
The Doors – Best
The Eagles – Best
The Kinks - Best
The Police – Best
The Rolling Stones – Best
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Best
Van Halen - Van Halen


Classical

Beethoven – Symphonies #1, #3, #5, #6, and #9
Chopin - Nocturnes
Chopin - Polonaises
Copland – Rodeo
Dvorak – Symphony from the New World (#9)
Gregorian Chants
Grieg – Peer Gynt
Haydn – Symphonies #50, #87, #89
Holst – The Planets
Mahler – Symphony #1
Mendelssohn – Symphonies #3 and #4
Mozart – Symphonies #40 and #41
Ravel – Bolero
Rossini – Overtures
Satie - Gnossiennes, etc.
Satie - Gymnopedies, etc.
Schubert – Symphonies #3 and #8
Schumann – Symphonies #1 and #2
Tchaikovsky – Symphony #6
Tchaikovsky – 1812
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
Wagner – Best


Country, Folk, Bluegrass, Country-Rock, etc.

Billy Bragg and Wilco – Mermaid Avenue
Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Session
Emmylou Harris – Anthology
John Prine – Prime Prine
Johnny Cash – American III
Johnny Cash – Live at Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash – Love / God / Murder
O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Soundtrack
Old 97's - Too Far To Care
Old and In the Way – That High Lonesome Sound
Reverend Horton Heat – Spend a Night in the Box
Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys – The Spectacular Sadness
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Willie Nelson - Across the Borderline
Willie Nelson - Revolutions of Time: Pilgrimage
Woody Guthrie – Smithsonian Folk Collection


Jazz, Blues, Zydeco, Old Pop, etc.

Billie Holiday – Best
Blind Willie Johnson - Best
Dave Brubeck – Time Out
Edith Piaf – Best
Frank Sinatra – Best
Fritzel’s Jazz Band – Jazz Hit Parade
Jimmy Sturr – Super Polka Party
John Coltrane – Best
John Lee Hooker – Best
Ken Burns' Jazz - Soundtrack (Box Set)
Louis Armstrong – Sugar (Best of RCA Victor)
Miles Davis – Best
Mitchell Cormier and the Can’t Hardly Playboys – Big Ones or Little Ones
New Orleans Jazz Vipers – Jazz Vipers
Ray Charles – Best
Swing Collection – Various
Twin Peaks – Soundtrack


Singer/Songwriter types

Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind
Chris Isaak - Forever Blue
Elliott Smith – Either/Or
Elliott Smith – Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith - XO
Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
Jack Johnson - On and On
James Taylor – Best
Leonard Cohen – Best
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Paul Simon – Best
Rufus Wainwright – Poses
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Van Morrison – Best


World Beat, Electronica, Trip-Hop, Industrial, Dance, etc.

Bob Marley – Legend
Enya – Watermark
Erasure – Chorus
Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit
Fight Club – Soundtrack
Leftfield – Leftism
Massive Attack – Blue Lines
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Moby – 18
Moby – Moby
Moby – Play
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
Oliver Mtukudzi – Tuku Music
Portishead – Dummy
Six Feet Under – Soundtrack
Sun – Lovely Sunset
Trainspotting – Soundtrack
The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
Tricky – Maxinquaye

Posted by Rolf on September 29, 2004 01:35 PM
Comments

I don't see The Steve Miller Band! Sure you don't have "Jet Airliner" or "Fly Like An Eagle" in there somewhere?!?!

Posted by: Justin on September 27, 2004 09:06 PM

Beware. we took our Ipod around the world and it froze up at 12,000 or higher, every single time. It never worked at all in Tibet. I keep meaning to tell Apple, as if they'd care.

Posted by: Al poon on September 28, 2004 03:46 AM

As a pedestrian commuter, music is a must. Here's some stuff I did not see on your list -

311, Aerosmith, Bjork, Crystal Method, Dire Straights, Foo Fighters, Greyboy, Jurassic 5, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Metallica, Nightmares on Wax, No Doubt, Outkast, Phil Collins, Pink Martini, Rage Against the Machine, Ramstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Saint Germain, Sting, Swollen Members, Thievery Corporation, Warren Zevon, ZZ Top, and perhaps the band with name that fits you best when you travel, Foreigner.

Posted by: Matt on September 28, 2004 06:34 AM

Long live the Repo Man soundtrack! I remember riding my dirt bike to the local record store during junior high to pick that up on vinyl.

Nice to see the Cure's Disintegration there too. That masterpiece got me through high school. I read an interview with director Tim Burton in which he named that his all-time favorite record.

Years ago, my staple travel music was Nirvana and Nick Drake -- Nirvana for the maddening times, Nick Drake for the transcendent. These days, the Beatles and John Lennon solo material cover all the bases.

Seek out the Libertines, Rolf. You'll love them.

Posted by: mike pugh on September 28, 2004 11:38 AM

Don't forget Frou Frou (Imogen Heap)! They are (she is) going to get famous before you know it! :-)

Posted by: Julie Ann Baker on September 28, 2004 10:17 PM

Baja Sessions by Chris Isaak for your baja sessions.

Posted by: Eric Forsythe on September 28, 2004 10:39 PM

I recommend U2 for those "just reached the top of the mountain moments"...oh and a current favorite...Howie Day.

Posted by: Steve on September 29, 2004 01:24 PM

Nice list, but no Tool?

Posted by: Dan on September 29, 2004 08:28 PM

Justin called it right off the bat. Gotta have Steve Miller. C’mon, The Joker!

I’d also add some Dexter Gordon, Go! and Cesara Evora, Mar Azul. Two to beef up the jazz.

And Dwight Yoakam has the most pathetic lyric I’ve ever heard with Two Doors Down on the album This Time. That should speak to that newly acquired country-ish thing you’ve got going on.

G. Love’s first album for no good reason.

Posted by: Annette on September 29, 2004 08:47 PM

Ok, Rolf, we need to start adding to that Blues list!...BTW, enjoyed the Robert Johnson story a few months back...Here are a few suggestions on Blues to start you:
-Son House- Original Delta Blues (Robert Johnson,Muddy Waters,etc..One of their main influences)
-Robert Johnson- King of the Delta Singers
-Rev.Gary Davis- Live at Newport
-Mississippi John Hurt- LIVE
-Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee- At the 2nd Fret
-Howlin' Wolf-His Best (Chess)
-Sonny Boy Williamson- His Best (Chess)
* New CD- Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama- There will be a light.

If you get a chance check these artists out...Though, anything by them would be worth the time!...Hope all is well in SD & Baja

Posted by: Kyle on September 29, 2004 11:40 PM

Can't have a blues collection without Muddy Waters' Hard Again. I can't tell you how many copies of this thing I've "loaned out."

Posted by: Annette on September 30, 2004 05:09 AM

Elliott Smith and T-Rex definitely make great travel music, depending on what mood you're in.

If you're into throat-singing, Bjork collaborated with an Inuit throat-singer on her new album, Medulla. Good stuff!

This is the freelancer for Relevant, by the way :)

Still going to BA?

Posted by: Erica Gomez on September 30, 2004 09:29 AM

Wow, we probably have 80% crossover on our MP3 players! I do have a few suggestions:

1. Can't go wrong with more Dylan... Live at Budokan is good travel music.

2.Red Hot Chili Peppers.. anything up to and including Blood Sugar Sex Magic.

3.Simon and Garfunkel/Paul Simon... Graceland, Live in Central Park, Greatest Hits

4.Sex Pistols... Nevermind the Bulloks

Posted by: Plucky Purcell on September 30, 2004 03:23 PM

A few bands / albums I love to travel with.

Broken Social Scene "feel good lost" Album
Dntel "life is full of possibilites"
Mogwai-"rock action"
Isan-all
The Postal Service

Never had you pegged for a Pavement or Belle fan!

Posted by: Andrew on October 1, 2004 05:56 PM

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I've just gotten back from Baja, and I'm making a list so I can investigate these tunes as I have time.

Anyone with classical music suggestions?

In no particular order, here are some comments:

1. Of course the lack of Steve Miller Band is a horrible shame. I actually had it on the playlist, then took it off when my friend's Mac was running out of room, then forgot to put it back on again. But I'll have to, since Steve Miller always makes me smile.

2. Bloodsugarsexmagic and Never Mind the Bollocks also got bumped that day, and shall return to the iPod in due time.

3. I'll look into The Libertines, Crystal Method, Frou Frou, Pink Martini, Baja Sessions, etc. And some more jazz and blues. I actually have Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters on vinyl, but that won't do my iPod much good. Son House and Howlin' Wolf are definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

4. A lot of recommendations, from Kruder and Dorfmeister to Metallica to Saint Germain, I already like -- I just never had them on CD. I can appreciate that you like Tool, Dan, but I never got into them for some reason.

5. Yes - long live the Repo Man soundtrack! I discovered it late (early nineties) as I did The Cure's Disintregration.

6. Has anyone else had altitude issues with their iPod? We used one in the Andes during the Land Rover expedition, and it seemed to work fine...

7. Cheers. Feel free to send along more recommendations!

Posted by: Rolf on October 2, 2004 03:06 PM

Classical Music
I'd recommend,
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Mendhellson (sp?)

Posted by: Eric Forsythe on October 3, 2004 12:15 PM

Rolf, you never got Old and In The Way! it's time my friend, get your bluegrass pants on. Oh, and get some more Wutang and ween.

Posted by: Colin on October 5, 2004 11:10 AM

A fine list, Rolf,. Have you heard Joe Jackson's album, "Big World"? A great travel-themed album. I've got it here in SD...

Posted by: jim on October 5, 2004 09:03 PM

Spiritualized--psychedelic orchestra pop.

GRANDADDY. Absolutely wonderful. People like to compare them to the Flaming Lips, but don't see the similarities. I think they're better...they're just a great blend of indie-pysch-synth-pop-whatever. Songs like "So You'll Aim Toward the Sky" and "The Saddest Vacant Lot" are just beautiful. Then you've got the fun, Weezer-ish "AM 180."

I could drive to that stuff all day.

Dios-Really digging their s/t. 60s/70s inspired indie rock. Big Beach Boys influence.

Posted by: Erica on October 6, 2004 11:28 AM

You have got some great musical taste. However, you are missing a vital Pixies album, SURFER ROSA. How has nobody noticed yet? Where is my Mind is the perfect Pixies tune. It doesn't get much better than that. And for classical, I'm a big fan of Pachelbel's Canon. I mean, if you can spin it into a Coolio song (C U When U Get There) it has got to be a pretty timeless piece of music.

Posted by: Jeremiah on October 7, 2004 01:01 PM

Thanks, everyone, for the further recommendations. And Colin -- I did get Old and In the Way, just look at the list above!

Yes, Jeremiah, Surfer Rosa is a glaring omission, not just for Where is My Mind? (which I do have on the iPod, as part of the Fight Club soundtrack) -- but for songs like Bone Machine and Broken Face. Steve Albini produced that album; great stuff. Problem is I had it on cassette instead of CD, so I'll have to add it later.

Which makes me wonder if all the file-sharing fuss these days is just kharmic revenge at the music industry for making us buy vinyl/cassettes/CDs of the same albums every time technology changed over the years...

Posted by: Rolf on October 11, 2004 03:39 PM
Post a comment