Perfect Albums

[RockChalk]

Harvest- Neil Young
Blunderbuss- Jack White- new, but it is SICK.

[Ski to Be]

Peter Frampton comes alive is a great live album. Probably will get hazed for this and rarely listen to it but Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees was perfect for its genre. Eno Byrne - My life in the Bush of Ghosts is perfect for its genre.

[Ripzalot]

sugarcubes - life's too good
juno reactor - bible of dreams

[nateski]

kanye west- my beautiful dark twisted fantasy
wilco- yankee hotel foxtrot
flaming lips- soft bulletin
weezer- blue album

[toast2266]

Nine Inch Nails: Downward Spiral.

I think this is the only album in this thread that I might agree with. Lots of excellent albums posted with lots of good music, but I don't think many (any?) of them are perfect.

[Ted Striker]

Heh, even the young guys are old Guess it's because nobody makes albums anymore.

My aim is True Elvis Costello

Yeah, absolutely. Even though The Attractions are a better backing band than Clover, that album was so great (with or without Watching the Detectives). I'd add This Year's Model.

Then there's Pleased To Meet Me by the Replacements.

I'd agree with that, but I like Tim better.

Add Tim to the great placemats album list
Nothing shocking -Jane's Addiction
Candy Apple Grey and Warehouse Songs and Stories by Husker Du
Reckoning by R.E.M.
B-52s by of course the B52s
Never Mind the Bullocks by The Sex Pistols. The album that changed my life
Trace by Son Volt
Live from Folsom prison - Johnny Cash
Blue Train by Coltrane
Back in Black by AC/DC
Milo Goes to College by The Descendents.

And not a huge fan but I have to list pretty much any Pink Floyd album, they knew how to put together an album.

I like all those albums, but don't don't really think some of them fit iceman's theme. I love Husker Du but don't think any of their albums are masterpieces. Even though I like Reckoning better, Fables of the Reconstruction is the better album. Highway to Hell > Back in Black. I'd add ALL to MGTC. It's way over-produced, but it's a tight album.

Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend every few years, mostly because Robert Quine plays such badass guitar on it.

Me too.

Double Nickles on the Dime - Minutemen

(Yeah, I listen to all 45 songs on road trips)

You sir, are my hero.

- synchronicity -

So are their others but this is maybe most complete?

That probably is their best album, but I liked Outlandos d'Amour best, and each subsequent record less, until I fucking hated those guys.

Aside from RS being the spewpiece of the recording industry, the question is entirely different. The perfect album has little to do with the Greatest Album. The "greatest" album can be a best seller, have a few of the most awesome riffs or whatever. A perfect album is a piece of conceptual continuity, a work of integrity and art. Big diff in my minicrania.

Yes.

Newer, pretty good from start to finish.
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape

Dave Grohl: the Paul McCartney of my generation. That said, I agree, TCATS is a great album.

Radiohead In Rainbows

Fleetwood Mac Rumours

Beach Boys Endless Summer

U2 Joshua Tree

Love or hate the bands, those are great albums.

Harvest- Neil Young

ditto

wilco- yankee hotel foxtrot
flaming lips- soft bulletin
weezer- blue album

ditto

[iceman]

I think this is the only album in this thread that I might agree with. Lots of excellent albums posted with lots of good music, but I don't think many (any?) of them are perfect.

Look a lot of them aren't perfect but certainly way more than one is, c'mon.

Tell me what's not perfect about Kind of Blue, Blood on the Tracks or Never Mind the Bollocks? (just to take 3 off the top of my head that I didn't cite) How could they be better?

[Meadow Skipper]

I'm trying to make time to listen to Trout Mask Replica (Capt. Beefheart) all the way through to make a decision on it's perfection or lack thereof. It's been a while.

And it certainly isn't newish. Over 40 yo.

[toast2266]

Look a lot of them aren't perfect but certainly way more than one is, c'mon.

Tell me what's not perfect about Kind of Blue, Blood on the Tracks or Never Mind the Bollocks? (just to take 3 off the top of my head that I didn't cite) How could they be better?

For an album to be perfect, I think it not only has to have a perfect collection of songs without any notably weak tracks, but the tracks need to fit together well and the album as a whole needs to present as a cohesive unit. I also think that, to really attain "perfect" status, the album should be remarkable in some way (i.e. noteworthy from a technical standpoint, or progressive in some particular way). Out of the listed albums that I'm fairly familiar with, I don't see many that are really perfect. To be sure, lots of my favorite albums are listed here, but just because I like them a lot doesn't mean they're perfect. Otherwise this just turns into a list of favorite albums.

Out of those three you listed, while I know those albums, I don't know them well enough to say whether they're perfect or not. And I hate Dylan, so there's that.

[Hugh Conway]

Look a lot of them aren't perfect but certainly way more than one is, c'mon.

He chose angry pounding music as the one perfect album, let the skinny little emo boy run away and cry.

there are lots of decent but not perfect albums listed here though.

[Buster Highmen]

I don't think I'd categorize TMR as perfect. In fact I'd rank lots of other ones like "Clear Spot" or "Spotlight Kid" as better.

This illustrates the distinction between Greatest (or best well known) and perfect.

I still think of Beefheart as the best white blues singer.

[The Suit]

I just went through my whole collection looking for albums I could classify as "perfect."

I can't really see choosing something new that hasn't yet stood the test of time. Maybe "El Camino" by the Black Keys. Maybe "XX" by the XX.

I still like Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet." It's just angry. Perfectly angry.

For near perfects, I like "Doolittle" by the Pixies, "The Clash" by the Clash, Outlandos d'Amour by the Police, "Boy" by U2, and "Under the Big Black Sun" by X.

The most perfectest album I found in my collection is one that I like a lot, but wouldn't necessarily call a favorite. I doubt many here have heard it or heard of it. It's "Wrap it" by Doug and the Slugs. Listen to it a dozen times and see what you think.

[Ted Striker]

"Under the Big Black Sun" by X.

That's one I forgot about, but yeah, great album.

A lot of votes for the Clash's first record. Like I said about The Police above, loved that album, liked each subsequent release less, until I fucking hated those guys. (same goes for REM more or less)

I still think of Beefheart as the best white blue singer.

I think of Phil Lynott as the best black white singer.

[Ted Striker]

In the schtick/shlock category Meatloaf Bat out of Hell.

[bagtagley]

Good call on Pharcyde. Maybe not everybody's taste, but I can still listen to the whole album.

Both Gnarls Barkley albums.

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head.

[Danno]

For an album to be perfect, I think it not only has to have a perfect collection of songs without any notably weak tracks, but the tracks need to fit together well and the album as a whole needs to present as a cohesive unit. I also think that, to really attain "perfect" status, the album should be remarkable in some way (i.e. noteworthy from a technical standpoint, or progressive in some particular way). Out of the listed albums that I'm fairly familiar with, I don't see many that are really perfect. To be sure, lots of my favorite albums are listed here, but just because I like them a lot doesn't mean they're perfect. Otherwise this just turns into a list of favorite albums.

Out of those three you listed, while I know those albums, I don't know them well enough to say whether they're perfect or not. And I hate Dylan, so there's that.

Kind of Blue absolutely fits your criteria.

And the original choice, Look Sharp, also absolutely fits.

But I agree that there are lots of very good albums listed here that are not "perfect".

[iceman]

...loved that album, liked each subsequent release less, until I fucking hated those guys. (same goes for REM more or less)...

All downhill after the Chronic Town EP (slowly at first and then faster and faster) imo, but man that thing rocked my house. Still love it.

[Eldo]

The most perfectest album I found in my collection is one that I like a lot, but wouldn't necessarily call a favorite. I doubt many here have heard it or heard of it. It's "Wrap it" by Doug and the Slugs. Listen to it a dozen times and see what you think.

Everyone in Canada past a certain age knows the Slugs. They just never really broke out in the U.S., same with Teenage Head.

Yet around the same time Americans couldn't get enough of Anne Murray. Weird.

[Ted Striker]

The Cars The Cars

Q:Are We Not Men? A:We Are Devo! Devo

White Blood Cells White Stripes (great album, shitty band - because they weren't)

Inflammable Material Stiff Little Fingers (a perfect first gen punk album)

The Alternative to Love Brendan Benson

Low-Fi At Society High The Figgs.

[Ted Striker]

For an album to be perfect, I think it not only has to have a perfect collection of songs without any notably weak tracks, but the tracks need to fit together well and the album as a whole needs to present as a cohesive unit. I also think that, to really attain "perfect" status, the album should be remarkable in some way (i.e. noteworthy from a technical standpoint, or progressive in some particular way). Out of the listed albums that I'm fairly familiar with, I don't see many that are really perfect. To be sure, lots of my favorite albums are listed here, but just because I like them a lot doesn't mean they're perfect. Otherwise this just turns into a list of favorite albums.

Out of those three you listed, while I know those albums, I don't know them well enough to say whether they're perfect or not. And I hate Dylan, so there's that.

Kind of Blue absolutely fits your criteria.

And the original choice, Look Sharp, also absolutely fits.

But I agree that there are lots of very good albums listed here that are not "perfect".

Never Mind the Bollocks fits too. It could be the definition of what toast is saying.

FWIW I agree with you toast, but it's tough to be objective when it comes to music, and one person's god-like is another's god-awful.

[toast2266]

I was thinking about this a bit more. I think the problem I have with finding the perfect album is that some of the strongest albums out there are pretty similar to other works from the band, and therefore aren't perfect in the sense that the album is remarkably unique. If the album isn't overly special in the band's own catalog, can it be perfect?

A good example of this from this thread is Black Keys / El Camino. That's an awesome album, from start to finish. No weak tracks, and overall I think it flows pretty well. But it's not particularly different from any of the other band's albums. They didn't go in a remarkable new direction; they didn't really change anything up. It might be the best work of a very good band, but I'm not sure that, in and of itself, makes it perfect.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Marquee Moon- Television
Stoner Witch- Melvins
Sack Full of Silver- Thin White Rope
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road- Lucinda Williams
Dig Me Out- Sleater-Kinney
Euphoria- Leftover Salmon

[skiballs]

Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Maybe the most influential in Rock-n-roll

[nickwm21]

Alive - Daft Punk

sent from the future using my mind powers

[Ski to Be]

Marquee Moon is a good one. I was probably a bit liberal with my list. What frustrates me is groups like the Flaming Lips that will have 4 or 5 incredible songs mixed in with 3 of the worst songs you have ever heard. You know they are capable of it yet it is like they purposefully put in something that makes you want to jump out of a window like Alex in Clockwork Orange. T Rex Electric Warrior is an album that fits the bill of being a standout from the rest of their catalog and it has no weak tracks.