JP, both albums are so close and it's seems easy to give the nod to Bleed American with all the hit singles, but Clarity wins in the underdog role.

Ha ha, I was pretty sure Smashing Pumpkins would be among your contenders.

Back in Jr. College the professor of my creative writing class was friends with Ray Bradbury. If it wasn't for his intense fear and dislike of cars, according to her, he would've come to the class.

Okay, I know no one's asking, but here's my list if I got rescued and then ended up on a more classic desert island:

1) Beethoven Symphony #7 (I guess Andre Previn's version with the LSO) The second movement of this symphony has been my single favorite piece of music for 30 years now. It is sublime. It touches Universal Truth. It -- well, you get the idea.

2) Bach Brandenburg Concerto #3 (I don't care which version.) When Bach gets serious about the strings and throws out all the woodwinds, he discovers things that were essential even before there were ears to hear the sounds.

3) Bach Violin Concerto #1 in A minor. The Andante movement runs your soul through a wringer and leaves it clean and new. Probably a version by Neville Mariner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Field.

4) Barber Adagio. I don't know what it is about these slow string-only pieces, but the first time I heard this (which happened to be at a live performance) I came close to passing out. Seriously.

5) Handel's Messiah. The Phillips version on period instruments. The chorus in this one has to be heard to be believed. A tight and almost intimate performance with some idiosyncratic interpretations that truly surpass the more usual takes (starting the "Amen" pianissimo and then literally clobbering the finale comes to mind).

6) Brahms Requiem. Since I'm probably going to die on that island, I'd need this to ease my passage. Brahms' zenith of achievement.

7) Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra. To celebrate the sunrise each day.

8) Resphigi The Pines of Rome

9) Some Tchaikovsky, but what?... I guess Symphony #6

10) Mendelssohn String Symphonies. I don't know what it is about these all string pieces...

My, but I hope we end up on different islands.

Pay no attention to that cat man behind the curtain!

Whippersnapper, thanks for sharing. You and JohnK will bring an air of sophistication to Axiom Desert Temptation CageMatch Paradise Gilligan's Island.

Been whittling at this top ten list in my spare time. I just can't do it.

Damn It, I just want to be rescued and get back to my entire collection!!!!

I'm way too lazy to spend the time figuring this out. I'd probably just have iTunes pick for me.

Krise sakes, Andrew, it's not "Sophie's effen Choice!" Just pick 10, dog dammit!

Andrew is trying to figure out where to place his favorite album without looking like a fanboy.