ON MUSIC ~ Music Chatter...

While sitting around the fire at our awesome campsite on vacation on a rainy night without a deck of cards to entertain ourselves we fell back upon our old standby - listening to tunes and discussing music.

I am at a severe disadvantage in this realm because Concert Boy is all knowing. If ever you need a phone a friend for music, Andy is your guy. He regales me with history lessons of the Beatles catalogue, comparative opinions on Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix as master guitarists, and his top 5 list of essential artists, albums or songs - depending upon the terms I dictate for the desert island game.

I certainly hope that Andy and I are never actually stranded on a deserted island together with only 5 albums to decide on between ourselves, because one of us would be very unhappy. We can agree on everything but this. He would have Bob Dylan there and no Led Zeppelin. All the other choices vary depending on the day, and I have no issues with them. But I have never been able to talk him into Zep. Here's an example of how this little debate goes:

ANDY:
First of all, I grew up listening to Zeppelin and had all their albums on cassette first and then rebought them all on cd, it's just that I don't really listen to them anymore. There's nothing new coming out and I've heard it all a thousand times. And when I suggest putting some Zep on I always go for Presence, since it's my favorite album. It's not Molly's, so we end up listening to Houses of the Holy again...

Anyway, I'm supposed to be defending Dylan. He doesn't really need it, his music and songwriting speaks for itselft. I really don't think I can articulate it. You either love him or hate him or just know the greatest hits and don't have a deep appreciation for Dylan. I will admit that I don't really follow him too much anymore and I haven't bought one of his new albums or seen him in concert in 5 or 6 years.

His music has changed so much over the years and he always uses different musicians and producers and is changing around arrangements of songs.
I would have to have a whole separate Dylan section for my island. Essential albums:

• Highway 61 Revisited
• Bringing it all Back Home
• Blonde on Blonde
• John Wesley Harding
• The Basement Tapes
• Blood on the Tracks
• The entire Bootleg Series, volumes 1 - 7

MOLLY:
Dylan is a fantastic songwriter - his lyrics are thought provoking. His voice sucks. And stop dissing Zep for not putting anything new out. Their drummer died. And how did we get from debating 1 artist over the other to you having a whole entire section from 1 artist? I'm sending you to your own mini-island with your mellow Dylan albums and I'm staying on the big island to rock out with Zep and all those other essential artists you wanted to bring along. When you realize that non-stop Dylan is ingratiating you can paddle your way on over to party with me - if someone hasn't rescued me already. Because you know they would hear Robert Plant's voice over Bob's. But don't worry - I'll leave Houses of the Holy behind for you.

And so you can see why it is better for us to remember that deck of cards the next time we have nothing to do camping in the rain while sitting around listening to tunes. And if we forget again, I may just quiz Concert Boy on music trivia instead. Stomping off in disgust to a shared tent isn't that satisfying.