Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Perfect Albums
The way things are going, threads like this will just be an homage to the dying art of the album. You can just sift through an album now on iTunes, and leave out what we think are the throw-aways. To go from those wonderful large album covers, on which one could clean seeds from Mexican dirt weed, to this cold downloading sans the art work and without respect for the artist's vision for the album as a whole, is a big change that I think the most creative artists among us will eventually embrace and figure out ways to give the listener a nice ride (that at the very least equals buying that album, going home and popping the vinyl on the turntable, and looking at the cover).
Some albums are perfect. There are no throw-away songs. They are complete, and I never wish THAT song wasn't on there, or THAT solo, etc. And over time, they hold up, and even seem to get better.
Here's a few that I think are perfect (no greatest hits records included):
The Cars (first record)
Blow By Blow (Jeff Beck)
Revolver, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, Please Please Me (Beatles)
The Doors (first)
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Bright Eyes)
Remain In Light, Speaking In Tongues (Talking Heads)
Songs in Red And Gray, Solitude Standing (Suzanne Vega)
Wild Planet, Cosmic Thing (B-52's)
The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
Blood On The Tracks, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Love And Theft, Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding (Bob Dylan)
Blue (Joni Mitchell)
The Great Recession Goodbye (Dan Gilbert)
There are more, but it's early, and I'm not thinking clearly yet.
Feel free to post your list!
--Jimmy
Jane's Addiction - Nothing Shocking
MUST be listened to in order from beginning to end for the full experience.
an amazing likeness
"Some albums are perfect. There are no throw-away songs. They are complete, and I never wish THAT song wasn't on there, or THAT solo, etc. And over time, they hold up, and even seem to get better."
Darkness on the Edge of Town -- Springsteen
Born to Run - Springsteen
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
DMB--Under the Table and Dreaming
Pink Floyd--Wish You Were Here
.....Give me more time to think.
AC DC - Back in Black
I don't disagree that it's a really nice compilation of Dave songs, and ends up working as an album - I guess I just remember waiting for it to come out, and we were all like "oh, I wonder what songs will be on it", and everyone guessing - because we already knew all the songs. I mean, they weren't written with an "album" in mind.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
Oops--I didn't realize there was a criteria, except for being an album we love to listen to, start to finish.
Unforgettable Fire -- U2
Grace -- Jeff Buckley
Kid A -- Radiohead
When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold -- Atmosphere
Quadrophenia -- The Who
My Aim is True -- Elvis Costello
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars -- David Bowie
Sea Change -- Beck
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Closing Time - Tom Waits
Menace to Sobriety
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
The Police: Regatta de Blanc
and another vote for The Cars: The Cars.
Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go f*** himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass the asparagus.
Not dead. Yet.
Paul Simon - Graceland
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
How can we know our limits if we don't test them?
Do movie scores count? If so:
Powaqqatsi - Philip Glass
I think you mean "Koyaanisqatsi"
MTA. Opps. Didn't know there was a sequel. My bad.
Some great choices !
No Pink Floyd ? I think I could put three of thier albums on that list. (mta: Sorry waytogo...missed that on the first run thru)
Led Zepplin 4
Santana Supernatural
I like all of Hermosaboy's picks
Revenge of the Nerd
One of these days is none of these days.
~ H.G. Bohn