Granite Island Discs: Olly Raggatt
The Note’s head honcho goes into detail about his five favourite records, why Lou Reed’s Transformer is the perfect album and his experience seeing The Darkness as a young whippersnapper.
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What five records would you take to a desert island?
1. John Prine – John Prine
From ‘Illegal Smile’, a song about smoking pot, to ‘Sam Stone’ about a drug addicted veteran with the most crushing lyrics, “There’s a hole in Daddy’s Arm, where all the money goes”. It’s got variety, which is what you need on a desert island.
2. Lou Reed – Transformer
Velvet Underground were great, better than a solo Lou Reed, but there is nothing as strong as this album start to finish. ‘Perfect Day’, ‘Walk On the Wildside’ – yes. Good. But ‘Make up’, ‘New York Telephone Conversation’… actually, every track is so unique and worth listening to.
3. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street
Tossing up between this and Let It Bleed, but this is The Stones in their most bluesy, weirdly Southern-American sounding self. I was in the top .5% of Stones listeners two years ago and it was only 69-73 Stones (if you know you know).
4. Neil Young – On The Beach
The hardest thing was to narrow it down to which Neil Young album I would take to Granite Island. On The Beach stood out to me, while not only being a fantastic album, it was also stuck in the CD player of my first car, a Kingswood wagon, for nearly a year. When I hear the opening riff, it takes me straight back.
5. Various Artists – Morning Of The Earth
This one was tough, but another nostalgia pick for some solid reasons. Back when I thought I could surf, I used to watch this movie on my computer every night before sleeping. It shows the first Aussies surfing Uluwatu and living life off-grid. Each artist was given a portion of the film to create and essentially narrate the scenes with incredible results, even a #1 hit from G. Wayne Thomas.
If you could only pick one, what would it be?
Transformer. Just give it a listen. It’s wild. Every song has its own personality, and every song deserves to be a hit. ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and ‘Perfect Day’ did. ‘Satellite of Love’ did – maybe not to the same extent (even with Bowie’s backing vocals). Dig deep into this record if you don’t know it. Listen from start to finish and you’ll understand.
What’s your favourite song by an SA artist or band?
‘Hoping For’ – Bad//Dreems. One of their earlier tracks from their debut EP, Badlands. It’s actually 11 years old believe it or not. While their follow-up album Dogs At Bay catapulted the band into stardom, I personally feel ‘Hoping For’ captures the Australiana Pub Rock, down ‘n’ out feeling perfectly.
Either that, or ‘How To Make Gravy’ by Paul Kelly if we’re still allowed to claim him. It’s the perfect song for Christmas Time when you’ve heard Mariah Carey on repeat all day. That and ‘Fairytale of New York’, but The Pogues are far from South Australian.
Favourite music related memory?
Ooft, there are so many – many of them related to The Note. Releasing Issue 1 (when the nerves went away), the first Notestock, meeting Beck who I’ve idolised for years, or even the community of new people I’ve met (it’s not the magazine, but the friends you make along the way…)
In saying that, it’s got to be my first gig without parental supervision. ‘Darkness’ at Thebby Theatre. I went with three mates and we snuck in some flasks of Gin or Vodka, stolen from our parents (and replaced with water because they could never tell!) It was just the most insane experience, moshing to ‘Black Shuck’ and ‘Growing on Me’. Justin Hawkins getting carried through the crowd while doing the solo for ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’, I can remember saying for weeks after, “I touched Justin Hawkins’ sweaty back”. Weird? Yes. But passion and music make people do weird things.
