In February, Ted Mills wrote about a new company–And Vinyly–which will press your ashes into a playable vinyl record when your time eventually runs out. The basic service runs $4,000, and it gets you 30 copies of a record containing your ashes. The rub is that you can’t “use copyright-protected music to fill up the 12 minutes per side, so no ‘Free Bird’ or ‘We Are the Champions,’ unfortunately.”
But it does raise the question, as I put on Twitter yesterday… If you could head into eternity pressed into a cherished album, which would you choose? This isn’t necessarily a what-record-would-you-take-to-a-deserted island scenario, taken to the nth degree. Meaning, it’s not necessarily a question of what record would you listen to endlessly, for eternity (although you could choose to make it that). Rather, the question might be: What album do you have a deep, abiding personal connection with? Which record captures your spirit? And, when thrown on the turntable, can keep you sonically in this world?
My pick, Abbey Road. “Come Together” has a bit of anti-establishment bite. “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” tap into something emotional and nostalgia-inducing for me. And, oh, that medley on Side 2! Just click play any time.
Your picks? Please add them to the comments below.
If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newsletter, please find it here.
If you would like to support the mission of Open Culture, consider making a donation to our site. It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. You can contribute through PayPal, Patreon, Venmo (@openculture) and Crypto. Thanks!
Abbey Road!
Without a doubt, “Kind of Blue”
Ella and Louis
Pink Floyd-Great Gig in the Sky
Hüsker Dü. Zen Arcade
U2’s “The Joshua Tree”
Pet Sounds.
The Joshua Tree
Music for 18 Musicians
Spirit Natures Way
Pet Sounds fur sure!
Play for Change version of
STAND BY ME
Electric Ladyland
“We’re All Going to Die” Dawes
The Beatles, ‘Abbey Road’, 1969
All Things Must Pass !!!
Portrait in Jazz…Bill Evans…1960…for ever…:)
Live/Dead by the Grateful Dead
The Doors, “Strange Days”
“Lullaby”, The Cure.
Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
Double Nickels On The Dime.
Without question Also sprach Zarathustra.
It would be a toss up for me between three albums that have effected me the most. Dixie Dregs “What If”, Phill Keaggy “Ph’lip Side”, and The Swell Season “Once Soundtrack.”
The Clown by Charles Mingus.
Same.
Same as in Electric Ladyland.
King Crimson “Red”
Spacemen 3 – Walking with Jesus
“I walked with Jesus and / he would say
Oh you poor child / you ain’t coming to me no way
You found heaven on earth / you’re gonna burn for your sins
Well, I think I’ll be good company / down there with all my friends…”
The Correct Use Of Soap without a doubt. The first line of Song From Under The Floorboards is me summed up.
Prince’s Purple Rain, of course.
The Replacements – Let it Be
Choices! ? !!!
King Sunny Ade — Juju Music
Jimi Hendrix — Axis: Bold As Love, I suppose, but it could just as well be Are You Experienced or Electric Ladyland
Captain Beefheart — Dropout Boogie aka Safe As Milk
The Beatles — Revolver (you know which track of that makes it obvious)
Mop Mop — Lunar Love
Rolling Stones — Beggar’s Banquet (the Devil will need some sympathy when I get there!)
United Future Organization — No Sound Is Too Taboo
Ondatropica — Baile Bucanero
Bob Marley — Exodus
The Last Internationale- Best Band and I can never stop listening what a fab idea
Abbey Road!
Easiest question I’ve ever answered!
Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Vulfpeck – ‘Sleepify’
Radiohead, “I Might Be Wrong Live Recordings”…
Led Zeppelin – Tangerine:
Measuring a summer’s day, I only finds it slips away to grey.
–
Not many lyrics, but are beautiful nonetheless.
My pick too!
“Comfortably Numb”—Pulse version by Pink Floyd,”I’m still alive” by Pearl Jam or “Here I go again” by Whitesnake
Wow
Before i clicked the link, I said to myself….”Abbey Road”
Fever Ray B-)
Or Ulver’s Kveldssanger
Willie Nelson Stardust!
Grease, original movie soundtrack. For real. Captures my spirit. Has pathos and catchy tunes, traces life’s unpredictability. Bonus: favorite childhood record
Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
Probably my own music.
And I’ll make sure the keeper of my ash record knows how to hold a record properly, and not like the person in this picture.
All Things Must Pass
George Harrison
BLUE ROOM BY THE ORB , THE FULL 40 MINUTE VERSION
1812 overture P.I. Tchikovsky
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
I’d be pressed into the golden disc that Carl Sagan helped develop for the Voyager space probes which are hurtling through the darkness of space as we speak. It was designed as a greeting and introduction to humankind for space faring extraterrestrials.
The cure – a hundred years
SMILE (CHAPLIN por BENNETT o DURANTE o king cole entre otros)