Inspired by the “Desert Island Discs” series on BBC Radio4, and the fact that I turned 60 yesterday, I decided to make my own list to celebrate my transition to this new phase of my life.
In my life I put the passion for music first ever. On the top of everything.
So, selecting only ten records is not easy, let’s say: “almost impossible”.
But with the vein of the game, I put myself involved and here are my Ten records and my three books for my “Desert Island”.
Disc One: Remain in Light – Talking Heads
The record that encloses everything that had been in rock music before and everything that came next. The perfect record. Released 40 years ago, it remains the record I most listen to every year and I already know that no other record will surpass this masterpiece.
My track from this album, “House in Motion“
I’m walking a line I’m thinking about empty motion I’m walking a line Just barely enough to be living
Talking Heads
Disc TWO: Kid A – Radiohead
Like the “talking heads”, Radiohead wanted to try to close and open an era with this record come out in 2000. With the release of Kid A, the new millennium officially opened, and everybody follow them.
My track from the album: “How to disappear Completely“
I walk through walls I float down the Liffey I’m not here This isn’t happening
Radiohead
Disc Three: Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan
Maybe I’d take at least three more records secretly to my Desert Island, but if the controls were strict at the border, I’d probably choose this record. The main motivation is two songs: “Simple Twist of Fate” and “If you see her, say hello”.
My track from the album: “Simple Twist of Fate“
A saxophone someplace far off played as she was walkin’ by the arcade As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin’ up She dropped a coin into the cup of the blind man at the gate And forgot about a simple twist of fate
Bob Dylan
Disc Four: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
As with Dylan, but also for others, I would try to sneak other Bowie albums to my Desert Island as well, but I choose this because’ it is a masterpiece and because ‘I always associate it with a dear friend of mine who many years ago failed to move forward and decided to leave the stage of life and he loves so much Bowie and this record.
My track from this album : “It Ain’t easy“
When you climb to the top of the mountain Look out over the sea Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be Then you jump back down to the rooftops Look out over the town Think about all of the strange things circulating ’round
David Bowie
Disc Five: An American Prayer – Jim Morrison & The Doors
The record that opened my mind to consider music only not just as sound but also as Poetry. From this record forward my attention to listening to the music took another turn and never went back.
My track from this Album: “The Ghost Song“
Choose the day, and choose the sign of your day, The day’s divinity, first thing you see.
Jim Morrison
Disc Six: The Unforgettable Fire – U2
U2’s most serious and mature record. For me, U2 ends up with Zooropa, what came next, including concerts, are from a different band, almost impossible that they are the same ones who in the 80s had bewitched millions of young people like me and hung from Bono’s words like a new God who you never said “no”.
My track from this Album: “The Unforgettable Fire – Live -“
Stay this time, stay tonight in a lie. Ever after is a long time. And if you save your love, save it all, save it all Don’t push me too far, don’t push me too far. Tonight, tonight.
U2
Disc Seven: The Nighfly – Donald fagen
The perfect night record. It reminds me that I used to talk on the radio and I particularly loved doing it at night. Eight small masterpieces, connecting jazz and rock like no other record before and no one else after. From the cover to every single song, create a unique atmosphere. everything is perfect on this record.
My track from this album : “Maxine”
While the world is slepping We meet at Lincoln Mall Talk about life the meaning of it all Try to make sense of the suburban sprawl Try to hang on Maxine
Donald Fagen
Disc Eight: Sandinista – The Clash
A triple album is not only a cunning to have more music with myself in isolation, but this record has so many reasons to be with me that expressing them all would take away all the space available to me. I will just say: represent very well my twenties.
My track from this album: “something About England”
They say immigrants steal the hubcaps Of the respected gentlemen They say it would be wine an’ roses If England were for Englishmen again
The Clash
Disc Nine: Revolver – The Beatles
This record is here because ‘it always makes me imagine what the 60s were like. I was born in 1960 but obviously I have a childhood memory of that period and for me Revolver is the easiest and fastest way to capture its moods and atmospheres that I didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy completely.
My track from this album: “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Love is all and love is everyone It is knowing, it is knowing And ignorance and hate mourn the dead
The Beatles
Disc Ten: Closing Time – Tom Waits
I like the personal story of Tom Waits story. His difficulties in being an artist trying in the best of “American ways” and Closing Time represents the smoke, the heavily alcoholic drinks and the lights of the bars in an obscure America.
I thought that being on a Desert Island pollution is non-existent and then this record may be the right way to get me back at that places that for sure I will miss it.
My track from this album: “Virginia Avenue”
There’s got to be some place That’s better than this This life i’m leading’s driving me insane And let me tell you i’m dreaming…
Tom Waits
For the books I have to choose Four and then, let’s see…
Book One: Jitterbug Perfume – Tom Robbins
I’m all fascinated by Tom Robbins, but this dark story of the pursuit of immortality is one of the books I most recommend to everyone I know. He is the artist of my life. No doubt.
Book Three: The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri
The classic book That I hated at school, that I filmed and loved later in my life and that I now never find time to reread as an adult. On Desert Island, I’m probably going to have a long time to reread and understand a classic of world literature differently.
Book Two: Il Barone Rampante (The Baron in the Tree) – Italo Calvino
Memories of a great book, memories of my time at High School. Last year, a few days before the Pandemic disrupted our lives, I gave the English version to my daughter, in a restaurant in Waterloo Station in London, at a breakfast meeting just before she returned to Sydney and I to Warsaw.
High Fidelity – Nick Horby
Do you know that he is responsible, with this book, for the fact that at 60 I continue to do the charts for my desert island?
By Massimo Usai “To rejoice, to feel pleasure for the harm of others, for the bad luck suffered by others”. This is the meaning of the German word “schadenfreude“. A sort of subtle but extremely pregnant redemption of the malevolent – very malevolent – envy that a “normal” human being who does not know how […]
By Massimo Usai QUANDO LA PANDEMIA ha colpito di sorpresa il Pianeta all’inizio dello scorso anno, la conseguente quarantena ha costretto la maggior parte delle aziende pubbliche e private, a mandare a casa i propri dipendenti. Le misure avrebbero dovuto essere temporanee. Così chiunque pensava che fossero. “Qualche settimana, forse un mese, non più di due.” […]
By Massimo Usai Lao Tzu, il Padre del taoismo, è uno dei filosofi più quotati nel Mondo dei Social media. Specie da parte di coloro che vogliono darsi un tono diverso dalla massa popolare. Ebbene, non ricordo se su Instagram o su Twitter o su Facebook, qualcuno dei miei amici virtuali ha riportato, alcuni giorni […]
By Massimo Usai Arsenal has been for twenty-five years, a team to be taken as an example in the international football world. Arsenal has been for so many years a mix of class, innovation, beautiful play and style. With all these ingredients, if you were a young footballer of good hopes in Europe, you had […]
By Massimo Usai When the first lockdown kicks out last March in Italy, I had a kind of feeling, was it ready to come to Warsaw, where I was living at the time. So, I went to the supermarket, and I bought so many ingredients that I didn’t have clear idea on how to use […]
By Massimo Usai Senza troppe sorprese da parte di chi lo diceva da quattro anni, I pescatori scozzesi non possono vendere il frutto delle loro pescate in Europa a causa dei ritardi amministrativi associati alle nuove norme sul commercio tra il Regno Unito e l’UE. Il problema è che i ritardi significano che quando il […]
By Massimo Usai È di ieri la notizia che all’aeroporto di Heathrow, nel 2020, il business è sceso del 78%, se pensate che per tre mesi la situazione era normale, potete ben capire che questo numero. Già di per sé, spaventoso, è ancora più drammatico. Ora, con la distribuzione dei vaccini, se tutto va come […]
By Massimo Usai Five years after that day, I was awakened by the terrible news of the White Duke’s departure. It was a surprise, for me as well as for the whole world. No one knew anything about his illness and his album just released two days earlier, it was too fresh to read between […]
By Massimo Usai I fear that the Institutions and Doctors’ noble idea of convincing No Vax to get vaccinated through scientific arguments are in vain. The No Vax have no scientific opinions to oppose, being graduates of the university “of the street”, masters of themselves, the last of the rebels, informed through social networks videos. […]
By Massimo Usai Non affrettate le cose. Potrebbe essere il mio motto. Per questo ho ripreso fortemente a rileggere libri e a navigare meno sui social networks. Libri e giornali su carta stampata. Li prendo in mano, sfoglio, odoro la carta, guardo le foto a dimensione maggiore che sul mio Mac Book, che ha assunto, […]
ITALIAN VERSION FELICE ANNO NUOVO – E’ STATO UN ANNO MOVIMENTATO, COME STARE IN UN OTTO VOLANTE Chi di noi, a volte, non ha voluto fermare il viaggio sull’otto volante? Se solo avessimo potuto, ne saremmo scesi senza pensarci due volte. Oppure premere in avanti il tasto del nastro della video cassetta che racchiudeva lo […]
by Massimo Usai This morning, right after the shower, I was trying to reflect on what 2020 was. My attention immediately shifted to the shaving cream I was supposed to use it. Just a year ago, I was going to celebrate New Year’s Eve, down in Sardinia. In the morning I had gone for some […]
by Massimo Usai Yes, it was a beastly year. A year that runs through history in an impetuous and different way from many critical years for some peoples rather than others is the year of mass suffering globalization. Everyone in every corner of the hemisphere had (and continue to have) the exact same problem: the […]
By Massimo Usai Caro Gesù, Forse ti può sembrare strano ricevere una lettera dal sottoscritto, ma vedo che tutti lo fanno, cosi voglio provare a vedere cosa si prova e che vantaggi possa portarmi, se lo faccio pure io, in questa giornata di festa. Lo so bene che tutti ti scrivono o ti pregano perché’ […]
November/December brought to my mind the connections with memories connected at this time of the year. One rainy day some years ago, I visited a countryside home. As I approached the front steps, I saw a “welcome mat”. Wasn’t well protected and was wet and not really welcoming. I suddenly found myself holding back tears. […]
Like everyone else, I’ve found the pandemic difficult and fascinating at the same time. Both situations clash inside me, and I still carry on with my emotional day by day. From my camera perspective, I want to show you what mean for a town like London be completely empty. It’s still magic, but it’s scary […]
By Massimo Usai Nel mestiere del fotografo e comunque dell’artista in genere anche in altri settori, una delle cose più difficili per adattarsi e quando si passa dal mezzo hobby alla svolta “professionale”. In pratica quando la priorità si sposta dalla creazione di immagini per il puro amore alla creazione di immagini per il denaro:. La […]
Twenty years of my life have been spent in Putney, in South West London. Where I had a business (A restaurant) and where I was living with my family. My daughter grew there, and I still have so many friends in Putney. I have thousands of pictures from Putney, from people to building, from events […]
By Massimo Usai So, okay. 2020 hasn’t been the year many of us expected. To be clear, it was anything remotely like we could ever have possibly imagined in our wildest dreams. Either after a night out based with decadent drink and loud techno music. The pandemic has changed lives in so many ways already, […]
Brussels – Belgium After a night of wind howling through the window and the back door, I wake to silent dawn. The rain that drummed on my window all night turned to ice when a cold front moved in early in the morning. A thick, freezing fog has settled outside, and I’m preparing my coffee […]
Brussels, Belgio 07.12.2020 La notizia dell’Euro Deputato Ungherese József Szájer, che dieci giorni fa è stato scovato dalla polizia in un locale privato che partecipava ad una festa con temi sessuali con altre 25 persone, ha fatto scalpore, sorridere, riflettere e causato la caduta della sua immagine politica nel suo Paese. Una notizia partita in […]
.Bruxelles 06.December.2020 La mattina e’ nuvolosa. No, decisamente e’ solo grigia. Come puo’ essere nei cieli dell’Europa centrale quando Dicembre non ha ancora deciso cosa fare. Freddo non e’. Ma neppure tiepida e’ l’aria. Non piove. Non nevica. Non ci sono nuvole che puoi distinguere, ma solo un manto grigio che sembra fermo sulla tua […]
C’è una piccola via a Cagliari che da sempre amo percorrere. Si chiama Via dei Mille e ricorda uno dei momenti storici della storia d’Italia. Ma non è questo il motivo per cui sono affezionato a quella via, ma perché c’è un locale che si chiama “La Cantina” e ci sono mille ricordi personali in […]
Yes, it’s December, and it’s time to think about Christmas presents. If you want to make an original gift, I can advise you to select one of the photos from my online shop, one like this fantastic sunset in Sardinia, and give yourself or your loved one an original gift and help a small business […]
“Non affrettare le cose”. È il mio motto. Non da sempre, solo da qualche anno a questa parte. Così ho detto a Basilio, durante una delle nostre chilometriche telefonate degli ultimi venti anni. Come i miei più vicini conoscenti sanno, Basilio è diventato uno dei miei amici preferiti durante le nostre battaglie, ovviamente sempre perdenti, […]
I want to see this series
http://www.sudarshanpaliwal.com