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Stranded! Vincent Price on BBC’s ‘Desert Island Discs,’ 1969
04.27.2017
09:01 am
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Vincent Price on the beach in 1966’s ‘Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs’

Who better to be stranded on a desert island with than Vincent Price? He could probably recite all kinds of poetry and dramatic dialogue from memory, and he could certainly cook. Then, when the tedium and awful island fever and scurvy and parasites got you down, I bet he would liven things up a bit by threatening to kill and eat you. “I’d love to have you for dinner,” that sort of thing.

In the summer of 1969, Price was a guest on the long-running BBC radio series Desert Island Discs. All the “castaways” who appear on the show are asked to name a favorite record; Price’s charming selection was his own reading of “America the Beautiful” from his 1961 LP of the same title.

But then, he was into language, Vincent Price. Only four of the eight records he chose for the show had any music etched on them: Debussy’s “L’isle Joyeuse,” Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben,” Beethoven’s “Zärtliche Liebe” and Nat King Cole singing “Nature Boy.” The other half consisted of spoken word records like “America the Beautiful,” in addition to which Price chose a speech on human rights by FDR, John Gielgud reading “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun” from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, and Alec Guinness in the first production of T.S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party. His book is Leaves of Grass, his luxury a double bed.

Below, in the only surviving fragment of the broadcast, Price doesn’t mention any of his selections, but he discusses his education, his early years on the stage, and his work with museums and art foundations:

That goes, really, back to my debt to the president—President Roosevelt—because I feel that the actor, if he is an important actor in the public’s mind, that part of his debt to himself, particularly, and to his public, is to be a public servant, and to do something good. The one thing I knew before I became an actor was the history of man through his art. And in America, we were a nation, quite honestly, of blind people. Actually, musically, we’re terribly aware, but we’re still just learning how to open our eyes and see. We aren’t concentrated, and it’s a big effort to go and see pictures. Television has flunked it. Radio gave us music at its very best. You know, the world is conscious of good music, of all kinds of music. But television has given us no pictures.

 
Listen after the jump…

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Posted by Oliver Hall
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04.27.2017
09:01 am
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Tracey Emin chooses her favorite ‘Desert Island Discs’

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The long-running BBC radio series, Desert Island Discs is well-known for the quality of its celebrity interviews, where a guest chooses 8 tracks that best described key moments in their life. Each guest also gets to pick a book, and one luxury item.

When Tracey Emin guested on the show in November 2004, her luxury item was a pen that would never run out. Her book was a copy of Spinoza’s Ethics. Tracey also gave a revealing interview to host, Sue Lawley, in which she discussed her difficult and traumatic childhood and youth, and her ambitions, the importance of art and her controversial career as an artist.

Tracey’s favorite discs were:

1. John Holt “Riding For a Fall”
2.  The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
3.  Donna Summer “I Feel Love”
4. The Clash “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
5.  Middle of the Road “Chirpie Chirpie Cheep Cheep”
6.  Elvis Presley “Burning Love”
7.  Third World “Now That I’ve Found Love”
8.  David Bowie “Young Americans”
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Tracey Emin: Sex, Success and Celebrity


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.03.2011
06:59 pm
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Alice Cooper picks his favorite records
07.31.2011
06:10 pm
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Alice Cooper guested on the classic BBC Radio show Desert Islands Discs in 2010, where he discussed the highs and lows of his long and successful career, and chose some of the records which best captured those moments from his past. Dear olde Auntie described Alice Cooper thus:

As a teenager he says it was British music that he tuned in to - listening to The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who. He realised that while rock music had many heroes, there were few villains - that was the territory he marked out for himself. He developed his trademark look - blackened eyes, straggly hair and glamorous clothes - and set about designing live shows that were gleefully gory and macabre.

While critics have described him as ‘the world’s most beloved heavy metal entertainer’, it took him a while to untangle himself from his creation. “For a long time I honestly didn’t know where I began and Alice ended. My friends at the time were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and I was trying to keep up with them. And I realised when they all died that you didn’t have to be your character off stage.”

Alice’s selection:

The Yardbirds - “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”
The Beach Boys - “I Get Around”
The Who - “I’m A Boy”
Laura Nyro - “Timer”
King Crimson - “21st Century Schizoid Man”
Jane’s Addiction - “Been Caught Stealing”
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - “Work Song”
Bob Dylan - “Ballad of a Thin Man”
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Alice Cooper: Black Juju, 1971


 

 
Special Bonus Clip - Alice Cooper live showcase 1971, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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07.31.2011
06:10 pm
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