Desert Island Special

Darby Saxbe's top picks

Forget food and shelter--everyone knows that no desert island is complete without a CD player. After that, of course, it just becomes a matter of which discs to grab before the rickety ship goes down. Trapped inside your own monologue, you need records that can remind you there are other consciousnesses in the world. Not to mention a catchy beat that you can crack coconuts to...

* The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night: This one's for dancing around your grass hut after the boar hunt has gone particularly well, singing along in your best Liverpudlian accent, bopping to those Mersey beats.

* Pavement, Wowee Zowee: I mention this album in particular because it has a picture of a caveman on the cover, in keeping with the desert island/pre-civilization theme. But any Pavement record would be a worthy pick. With only fish and exotic bugs for company, you need something to think about, and you could spend hours puzzling over Steve Malkmus's lyrics.

* Magnetic Fields, Charm of the Highway Strip: After a few years of bamboo fishing rods, you can get nostalgic for technology. This record throngs with the clicks, buzzes, and beeps of the computer generation, and has catchy tunes and lovely lyrics to boot.

* Joni Mitchell, Blue: When your pet porpoise swims away and your message in a bottle comes back stamped "Return to Sender," you might just need to soak in a warm musical bath such as this one.

* Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand: Spend too much time on your island, and you start to miss Ohio's cornfields. Guided by Voices are from Dayton, and they understand.

* Lou Reed, New York: When you're isolated from civilization, you might as well gloat about the things you're missing. Enter Lou Reed, urban cynic, to rage about modern ills like AIDS and harpooning.

* Havin' Fun with Bert and Ernie: As the title promises, this kindergarten staple really is fun. It's thoroughly interactive, and there's even an infectious Clean-Up Song at the end. Plus, you can mull over the sexual orientation of your hosts until your ship comes in.

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