perfect/near perfect albums
perfect/near perfect albums
I often think about stellar albums. The ones where they're really isn't a skip-able track. Off the top of my head, these come to mind: The Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Collective Soul Collective Soul (blue album), Bush 16 Stone, and Green Day Dookie. What are some of your perfect albums?
Discovery by Daft Punk is a no skip for me. Also food and liquor by lupe fiasco.
- Good News For People Who Love Bad News, Modest Mouse
- Sgt Pepper, The Beatles
- The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
- Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John
- Folie a Deux, Fall Out Boy
Going by music genre:
Hip Hop: To Pimp A Butterfly (by Kendrick Lamar), The Forever Story (JID), Madvillainy (MF DOOM), Hell on Earth (Mobb Deep)
Electronic: Selected Ambient Works (Aphex Twin), Exai (Autechre), Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique (μ-Ziq)
Black Metal: Filosofem (Burzum), Panzerfaust (Darkthrone), Pure Holocaust (Immortal), Exuvia (The Ruins of Beverast)
Death Metal: Scream Bloody Gore (Death), Realm of Chaos (Bolt Thrower), Under the Sign of the Black Mark (Bathory)
Country: Southbound (Doc Watson), Poor David's Almanack (David Rawlings)
I'm just breaking into country and jazz. If anyone has some classic must-listen albums, I'd be all ears.
Revolver by the Beatles
- Dream Theater: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
- Pink Floyd: The Final Cut
- Tool: Lateralus
- The Prodigy: The Fat of the Land
I know I am alone on this but,
my chemical romance - three cheers for sweet revenge
Ok, now that more people have posted long lists, I don’t feel so bad about mine ;)
- Arcade Fire – Funeral
- Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
- At The Drive-In – Relationship of Command (also their EPs Vaya and In/Casino/Out)
- Kae Tempest – Let Them Eat Chaos
- Mercury Rev – Deserter's Songs
- My Morning Jacket – Z
- Public Service Broadcasting – Every Valley
- Radiohead – OK Computer
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- The Decemberists – Picaresque
- The Diggs – Commute
- The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I
- The Libertines – s/t
- The Mars Volta – Deloused in the Comatorium
- The Notwist – Shrink
- Tokyo Police Club – A Lesson in Crime (just a fantastic debut; barely an album though)
German:
- Deichkind – Niveau Weshalb Warum
Some may be an acquired taste (PSB?, also I know that The Libertines’ is not everyone’s favorite – but it’s mine :). The Arcade Fire, even though I don’t listen to them these days that much, is decade-defining for me, as is Radiohead’s OK Computer (together with Nevermind, although for some reason it didn’t make this list).
Blackwater Park - Opeth
"Gorillaz - Demon Days" It is like a story unfolding, where they really have fun with the music, and effortlessly meld through different genres.
Daft Punk's Discovery does not miss.
This will be a wild mix of genres:
- Portishead - Dummy
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Les concerts en Chine 1981
- The black Keys - El Camino
- ZZ Top - Eliminator
- Console - Herself
- The glitch mob - Drink in the sea
and some albums I already saw here.
Bonus:
- Peter Fox - Stadtaffe => this is impressive because it is one of the very few german speaking artists I like and it is a genre that I usually dislike
Nirvana - Nevermind
- Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
- Ammonia Avenue - The Alan Parsons Project
- A Trick of the Tail - Genesis
- The Kick Inside - Kate Bush
Probably showing my age!
Paramore Paramore
Here we go, brace yourselves
Against The Current - Past Lives
Can't Swim - This Too Won't Pass
Chief State - Tough Love [EP]
Before I Turn - Lovelorn
Bearings - Hello, It's You
Dorothy - Gifts From The Holy Ghost
Four Year Strong - Brain Pain
Greta Van Fleet - The Battle At Garden's Gate
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Intervals - The Shape Of Colours [instrumental, heavenly]
I Prevail - TRUE POWER
Knuckle Puck - While I Stay Secluded [EP]
Knuckle Puck - 20_20
Mayday Parade - Sunnyland
Micheal Jackson - Thriller
Movements - Feel Something
Neck Deep - All Distortions Are Intentional
Neck Deep - The Peace And The Panic
Neck Deep - Life's Not Out To Get You
Nothing But Thieves - Moral Panic
Palaye Royale - Fever Dream
Paramore - Brand New Eyes
Paramore - Paramore
Paramore - After Laughter
Seaway - Big Vibe
Seaway - Vacation
Sleeping With Sirens - How It Feels To Be Lost
Sleeping With Sirens - Madness
State Champs - Kings Of The New Age
The Story So Far - The Story So Far
The Story So Far - What You Don't See
The Structs - YOUNG&DANGEROUS
Tiny Moving Parts - Pleasant Living
Yonaka - Don't Wait Till Tomorrow
Yonaka - Sieze The Power
Yours Truly - Self Care
Yours Truly - Afterglow [EP]Thats about it, those are some of my favourite/[near-]perfect albums/EPs.
- Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf
- Appetite for Destruction - Guns N Roses
- Good Kid, MAAD CIty - Kendrick Lamar
- When the Kite String Pops - Acid Bath
- Crimes of Passion - Pat Benatar
- Metropolis Part II - Dream Theater
- Master of Puppets - Metallica
- Rust in Peace - Megadeth
- A Boat on the Sea - Moron Police
- Painted from Memory - Evlis Costello & Burt Bacharach
- Operation Mindcrime - Queensrÿche
- American Idiot - Green Day
- Ten - Pearl Jam
The first album that I ever bought back in the day from my pocket money was Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park.
Only later I found out that this feeling of listening to every song of an album multiple times without getting bored or just not liking some or most of them is not the norm.
I enjoyed the album right away. But only after being disappointed in all other albums that I bought over the next months I started to realize what an incredible gem Hybrid Theory is.
I had the same magical feeling with Meteora. Sadly, the following albums could not keep it up for me.
I still love HT and M to this day and listen to it monthly. Amazing albums by an amazing band.
My favorite album is The Stranger by Billy Joel, love all tracks there! Close seconds are Glass Houses by Billy Joel, Rubber Soul and Revolver by The Beatles.
But I think those are pretty popular already, so gonna throw out some other ones in case you wanna check out new things :)
- Man Up by The Blue Van
- Costello Music by The Fratellis
And if you wanna try some Brazilian music:
- Frejat Ao Vivo No Rock In Rio by Frejat
- O Baile do Nego Véio Ao Vivo Em Jurerê Internacional by Alexandre Pires
- Ao Vivo No Olimpo by Grupo Revelação
- Monobloco Ao Vivo by Monobloco
- The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There
- Fugazi - The Argument
- Slint - Spiderland
- American Football - LP1
- toe - The Book About My Idle Plot On A Vague Anxiety
- The Cure - Disintegration
- TTNG - Animals
- Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On
- At The Drive-in - Relationship of Command
- Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
The first two that came to mind:
- Bob Mould - Workbook
- The Stone Roses - self-titled debut
in rap, since i haven't seen that genre come up much in this thread yet: Run the Jewels is a rare band which i think has an essentially perfect discography. when their "worst" album is a joke-y remix album that's still pretty good, you know you have something special going on
Styx's most recent album Crash of the Crown (2021) is a masterpiece and easily one of their best 3; I'd also include their 2017 album The Mission in their top 3 as well. So so good.
Kansas' Point of Know Return (1977) is iconic for a lot of reasons ("Dust in the Wind", that gorgeous cover) but is phenomenal and peak Kansas (though Masque (1975) just beats it out as my personal favorite).
Brothers in Arms (1985) by Dire Straits is a magnificent one to just put on and get lost in.
I love the Eagles, but I can't say they ever put out a perfect album. Desperado (1973) is the closest I'd pick. It may be sacrilegious, but I really don't care for Hotel California (1976); the title track is spectacular, but I don't really vibe with anything else on there.
And as @_ed@sopuli.xyz mentioned, Boston (1976) is a perfect ride start to finish.
Talking Heads- Remain in Light
Others have already listed some of my favourites, but top of my list would have to be Kate Bush - Hounds of Love. Not only is every track perfect, but there are so many layers and nuance and mystery to the tracks that you can (I have!) listen to it regularly for nearly 38 years, and still never tire of it.
There's even a still more perfect album within that album: The Ninth Wave.
Social Distortion - Mommy's Little Monster
Bad Religion - Into The Unknown
Agent Orange - Living In Darkness
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique is and always will be an absolute masterpiece to me. It was awesome 20 years ago and still goes hard to this day.
Both Bostons debut album and Rage Against The Machines self titled are stellar.
Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise
BTBAM - Colors
A few that I don't see mentioned ...
- Carol King - Tapestry
- Pearl Jam - Yield
- Van Morrison - Moondance
- Fountains of Wayne - self titled
- Sunken Condos - Donald Fagen
- Letter from home - Pat Metheny
- Industrial Silence - Madrugada
Love Collective Soul and Rage Against the Machine. I’ve got a few:
- Big Data - 3.0. Great story exploring AI ethics before it was hype.
- Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. I wish I got the alternate timeline where the band continued this direction rather than going for pop. So much chaotic good energy.
- The Donnas - Spend the Night. This one is just plain fun.
- The Beatles - Let it Be. Two of Us is my favorite on this one, but every song can stand up on its own.
Jeff Rosenstock's WORRY. is a 10/10 masterpiece that hits just as hard every time I put it on
- Michael Jackson - Off the wall
- She Wants Revenge - self titled
- Metric - Synthetica
- Prick - self titled
- The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You
- ISIS - Oceanica
- Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
- Pixies - Doolittle
- Massive Attack - Blue Lines
- Sigur Ros - Takk...
- Cake - Fashion Nugget
- Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor
David Bowie's Low and Talking Heads' Remain In Light are the platonic ideal of what an album should be
Sufjan Stevens' Illinois is a masterpiece.
Oasis - Definitely Maybe.
It's a no-skipper and has been for as long as I've been into music.
"Tales of Mystery and Imagination," by the Alan Parsons Project, is a near-perfect concept album in my mind. It's cross-genre while still feeling being interconnected.
I also love John Mellencamp's "Mr. Happy Go Lucky." To my frustration, though, the version of it on the streaming services I know of is missing the interstitial tracks on the CD. I think that actually takes a lot away from it as they had provided transitions that made it feel more like a complete work.
"Glaciers," Blue Sky Black Death, follows the annoying trend of titling tracks with roman numerals but feels like an hour-long DJ set that flows very naturally. A very different album with a similar trait in my mind is F#A#Infinity, Godspeed(!) You(!) Black Emperor(!).
A more ambient choice, Jon Hopkins "Immunity." "Psychic" from Darkside (Nicolaas Jaar with Dave Harrington) also comes to mind.
I'm having trouble thinking of really new examples right now... I kind of feel like the album has faded out as an art form and a lot more releases today seem more like just grab-bags of tracks, probably because of the streaming delivery model. There's definitely some counterexamples out there, though.
Deer - The Beautiful Undead. Does anyone have suggestions for similar music? Can't find anything like it
A few of my favorite classics:
- Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
- Opeth - Blackwater Park
- Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
- Yes - Close To The Edge
- Supertramp - Crime of the Century
- Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky
- Genesis - Duke
- Nektar - Remember The Future
- Camel - Moonmadness
And for newer stuff, I'd go with Anno Domini High Definition by Riverside and English Electric by Big Big Train
Mew - Frengers Architecure in Helsinki - In Case We Die of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Tally Hall - Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum The Strokes - Is This It? The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Nightmare of You - Nightmare of You The Fiery Furnaces - EP The Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder Memory Tapes - See Magic
EPs Voxtrot - Raised by Wolves Locale A.M. - The Characters Miami Horror - Bravado
Rumours, Ziggy Stardust
This will probably get buried in the comments, but Lohio by Ass Ponys is a really solid album. Just banger after banger.
Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie - Jazz At Massey Hall
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue, In A Silent Way
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Lady Land
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Talking Heads - Remain In Light, Speaking In Tongues
Aretha Franklin - Live At Fillmore West
Deodato - Prelude
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Wave
Earth Wind & Fire - Head To The Sky
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Fishbone - Truth And Soul, The Reality Of My Surroundings
Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D-Evolution
Nina Simone - Black Gold
The Roots - Things Fall Apart
Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Paul Simon - Graceland
Funkadelic - Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
Chick Corea - Light As A Feather
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu Tang
That's probably enough for now...
Makoto Matsushita - First Light
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong - Psychology, Presto
Dogs in a Pile - Bloom, Not Your Average Beagle
Nautilus - Refrain
Teako Onuki - Mignonne, Sunshower
Grateful Dead - Cornell 5/8/77, American Beauty
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Bad Religion - No Control, The Empire Strikes First
Led Zeppelin - II, IV
Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien
War Bringer - Woe to the Vanquished
Havok - Conformicide
Loudness - Thunder in the East
Thank You Scientist - Maps of Non-Existent Places
Rainbow - Difficult to Cure, Straight Between the Eyes
Casiopea - CASIOPEA, Asian Dreamer, Material
Phish - Farmhouse, Hoist
Gloryhammer - Tales from the Kingdom of Fife
Might've went a bit overboard lol
A few I can think of right now:
AC/DC - If You Want Blood (maybe cheating a bit because it's a compilation of songs from different albums, but it's the best live album of all time to me and AC/DC at their rockingest.)
All Them Witches - Dying Surfer Meets His Maker or Nothing A The Ideal (both albums warrant a full playthrough almost always.)
Elephant Tree - Elephant Tree (my favorite album of the last decade)
Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (although Elder keep getting better and better, and are ever more amazing live, this album has a special place in my heart)
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (masterpiece from beginning to end.)
I'm late to the party but couldn't miss putting Daily Bread's album Invisible Cinema in the thread
- The Foo Fighters - The Foo Fighters
- The Foo Fighters - The Color & The Shape
- 65daysofstatic - Wild Light
- Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
- The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
There isn't a note I'd change on any of those albums.
AC/DC's 3 Mutt Lange albums spring to mind (Highway to Hell, Back In Black, For Those About to Rock). Metamodern Sounds in Country Music and Sound 'n' Fury by Sturgill Simpson as well.
I have loads of albums, and it depends on my mood as to what I think is perfect at a certain time. Some of mine are, and in no particular order;
Sparks - Kimono In My House
Bowie - Blackstar
Bowie - Earthling
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish
Pixies - Doolittle
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Divine Comedy - Casanova
The Rezillos - I Can't Stand The Rezillos
Madness - Keep Moving
The Beloved - X
Adam and The Ants - Prince Charming
The Who - Who Are You
Lush - Lovelife
Sleeper - Smart
Echobelly - Everyone's Got One
Pulp - His n' HersOh, I will stop, I could go on for ages.
Kayah i Bregović. This album is amazing from the beginning to the end: the composition, her voice, the lyrics (I don't speak Polish so I follow them through translations), everything.
Someone else already mentioned David Bowie, but not this album: "Heroes". Yeah, the titular song is great, but so are the others - and the album as a whole is fun, diverse, trippy.
A New World Record by ELO.
Weird suggestion, but I really like Montero by Lil Nas X
One record I will regularly play from start to finish is Alt-J - An Awesome Wave.
I tend to listen to music by the album, so after getting used to one any not-so-great songs will start to shine in their own way?
That said, a bit of genre whiplash here:
- Runes by Bury Tomorrow
- My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men And as mentioned by DathKnight, El Camino by The Black Keys
The Great War by Sabaton. Every song is a banger.
Splendor and Misery by Clipping is phenomenal. A sci-fi hip-hop album that tells the story of an escaped slave who takes over the ship and forms a bond with the ship's AI. I love concept albums that tell a complete story and this is one of the best in my opinion
"Warrior" by Anilah is one of my favorites, not sure if it's technically an album or an EP. I don't even know what genre to call it. The closest things I know are neoclassical groups like Dargaard, but I don't think it fits under that label. It's definitely not metal either, maybe folk music or electronic?
A Pleasant Shade of Gray - Fates Warning
The Orb - Orbvs Terrarvm
Some of my picks would be: Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd, Wish you were Here - Pink Floyd, Random Access Memories - Daft Punk, Blue - Joni Mitchell, Betty Davis - Self titled, Mothership Connection - Parliament, Buena Vist Social Club - Self titled, Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden - Beyond the Missouri Sky, The Cat Empire - Self titled, Eryka Badu - Baduizm, Meshell Ndegeocello - Peace Beyond Passion, Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth, John Martyn - One World, Korn - Self titled, Pearl Jam - Ten, Rage Against the Machine - Self titled, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
- KMFDM - Nihil
- Tool - Lateralus
- Dog Fashion Disco - Adultery
I agree with a lot of what people have already mentioned, so I'll add a few I haven't seen yet
- Turnstile - Step 2 Rhythm
- Signs of the Swarm - The Disfigurement of Existence
- Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
- Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
- Meshuggah - Obzen
- Panic at the Disco - Pretty Odd
- Fall Out Boy - Take This to Your Grave
- Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated
- Oso Oso - Sore Thumb
- Polyphia - New Levels New Devils
Ys by Joanna Newsom, gives me goosebumps almost every time I listen to it. Very much about real life, but presented like a fairytale. And the vocals are incomparable to anything else I've heard. If anyone has suggestions about similar albums, please let me know
i listen to a lot of songs from albums that have a lot of filler on them, but the one i always listen to straight through is born to run. thunder road is how every album should start, every side flip should be rewarded with born to run, and every album should end with jungleland.
throw-in: the sound of three fans clapping to welcome thunder road was also the perfect way to start the live set.