Eric Johnson should stop singing

Eric Johnson is a great guitarist. Possibly one of the greatest rock guitarists ever. But he is a very weak singer. I never quite got it when primarily instrument-focused artists suddenly decide to start singing. In most cases, they sound very awkward or out of place--and Eric is one of those guys. His singing is just not that great. 

And if you ask for my honest opinion, I would say its downright bad. He just stop singing. After his first album, he kind of stopped singing many songs--but he never gave up. But I don't think people will remember him for his singing. Or in other words, people just don't go to his concerts to hear him sing; they go there to see him play hits like Cliffs of Dover, Zap, Manhattan, etc. 

Thanks to Spotify in May 2025, I have started listening to his first album titled "Tones". After two nice instrumentals, I had to endure two annoying songs titled "Emerald Eyes" and "Off My Mind". While the former was somewhat tolerable, the latter sounded like early Bieber crap. Just hell annoying voice he got. Just stop singing, buddy. Keep playing the guitar, and that's precisely what he is doing in the 5th track; namely, "Desert Song", which is so far the best track in the album.

It has four more songs in it, and "Zap" is one of them. 

Hopefully there's no more songs in this album. 

The albums that I'd like to take with me If I Were Stranded On a Desert Island With a Six CD Changer

Via Quora

In no particular order, these are the albums that I'd like to take with me if I were stranded on a desert island with a six CD changer.

I tried not to pick more than one album per artist/band:





1. Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Although I'd love to take along the entire catalog of Beatles songs, but if it has to come down to one album, this is the one I'd love to take. The songs have enough variety and versatility to serve the purpose at hand.



2. Dire Straits - Dire Straits
It is often true that the signs of a great band is most prevalent in their first album, and Dire Straits proves this point the most. Though most of the songs int he album don't belong to a "best of" collection, I still love them.



3. Legend - Bob Marley 
Perhaps the most definitive collection of the best songs Bob Marley has ever sang. 

4. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
One of the most adventurous journey a music fan can take. 



5. L A Woman - The Doors
Jim Morrison was very, very talented, but he was also very, very crazy. His last album with doors still leaves a heavy impact. 




6. The Best of Sixpence None The Richer - Sixpence None The Richer
I can't imagine living a life without hearing the sweet voice of Leigh Nash and pacifying strums from Matt Slocum

Dire Straits - Dire Straits

They say that the first album of a band is the most important one. Well, I guess that is very much true for Dire Straits. Look at the track list of their self titled first album:

1. Down To The Waterline
2. Water Of Love
3. Settin' Me Up
4. Six Blade Knife
5. Southbound Again
6. Sultans Of Swing
7. In The Gallery
8. Wild West End
9. Lions

The album takes you from an emotional journey down to the waterline, and soon you feel a water of love. Then you set yourself up with a six blade knife, and before you realize, you are southbound again. There you meet the Sultans of Swing, who takes you in to the gallery in the wild west end. Finally you find Lions chasing you and you go down to the waterline.

Well, the paragraph above was kind of silly, but what I meant to say is that you can listen to this album over and over, without feeling bored. The first track starts off with an excitedly jubilant, and yet emotional tune. Then things get a bit slow with water of love, and the same pattern persists throughout the album. All the tracks are heavily influenced by different styles of guitar play by none other than Mark Knopfler. He is called a guitar virtuoso for good reasons, and this album nods to it perfectly well.

If you listen to the tracks using a two channel speaker, you will miss out many background sounds. However, the experience totally changes when you use a 5 channel speaker setup.

Sultans of Swing is obviously the chart topping hit, but the other songs are great as well. A must listen for any fan of music. I'd give it 10 out of 5. 5 for excellence, and an additional 5 for timelessness. This album came out 30 years ago, and yet it sounds fresh as new.