Entertainment For Lively Minds
A 'perfect' album
There are lots of albums I really love. But if I was honest I would have to admit that a lot of 'great' albums have the occasional weak spot on them. For example: Abbey Road has Octopus' Garden. I actually like the song, but it just sticks out like a sore thumb and ruins Side One.
Some albums, though, are 'perfect' albums. Maybe not every track is a masterpiece, but something in the overall flow and cohesion of the tracks, from the overall concept to the cover to the sleevenotes, combine to make it 'perfect'.
These are few and far between.
Five that spring to mind to join the canon are:
1 - The Beatles - Revolver
2 - Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
3 - The Blue Nile - Hats
4 - Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
5 - DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
The above five, I posit, all demonstrate a special quality that makes them so deliciously 'perfect' you wouldn't want to change a thing. I wouldn't even take Dead Flowers off Sticky Fingers, it just works so well in the context of the rest of the tracks.
To demonstrate the high standards required, I would say David Bowie has never made a 'perfect' album. It's not good enough just to have a collection of great songs (which Mr Bowie is more than capable of): it has to have (excuse me) a certain 'x factor' making it special.
Any more for the canon?
- More from Stephen Merrick.
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I love Revolver
but Yellow Submarine ruins it far more than OG ruins Abbey Road for me.
I love Revolver...
...but it's Love You To that ruins it for me. Well, no. It doesn't ruin it. But it makes it less than perfect.
?? I'm surprised
I think George's curiosity and heart are core to the Beatles brilliance and for sheer shock value thats a key song - though I also think it is beautiful and exciting.
Don't like YS that much, not least because it delays the arrival of She Said She Said
Hmmm
Not sure I see how George had any more curiosity and heart than John or Paul. It's just their curiosity and heart manifested itself in different ways.
At any rate, you're both wrong. The only weak track is Doctor Robert. :)
But then I don't believe there is any such thing as a perfect album. Every "perfect" album has at least one weak to mediocre track; we just cut it extra slack if the rest of the album rises above toward perfection.
I used to really like George.
Then I got interested in the Beatles and found out a bit more about him. He's only pipped to my "least favourite Beatle" post by John, mostly because he had good taste in guitars and was actually just mardy, bitter and cynical rather than an out-and-out bastard. But both of them leave a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest: spouting on about Eastern this and peace that while actually not being terribly - y'know - nice to people.
Love You To is a tuneless tourist dirge. So there. *makes raspberry noise*
(Oh, and Lott - I used to really hate Dr Robert, but it's grown on me a bit of late. Not sure why.)
Not sure about George either
Just the other day I read an old interview from Playboy 1965 that featured all 4 Beatles. (I won't bore you with why but I was settling a bet with a friend on a Beatles question). Anyway, it's a great read. Fascinating to hear them all talk at the height of Beatlemania to an American publication about how they are "agnostic," "don't believe in God," and think America has too many religious nuts -- and Paul and Ringo are just as outspoken on all this as John and George. Anyway, the journalist wrote this quick description of all four. It's surprising how much his perception of George differs from how George is portrayed in the media today (as the Beatle least able to deal with fame, the most "humble" yada yada). Here's the Playboy 1965 passage:
Of the four, George Harrison seems to be the one most amused and least unsettled by it all. The truest swinger among them, he is also the most sarcastic, and unquestionably the most egotistical; he fingers his hair a lot, and has a marked tendency to pause meaningfully and frequently before mirrors. Even so, he's a very likeable chap - if he happens to like you. John Lennon, on the other hand, is a rather cool customer, and far less hip than he's made out to be. He does radiate a kind of on-the-top-of-it kind of confidence, however, and is the unacknowledged leader of the group. Equally poised, but far more articulate and outgoing, Paul McCartney (sometimes known as 'the cute Beatle') reminded me of Ned, the fun-loving Rover Boy: He's bright, open-faced and friendly - the friendliest of the lot; but unlike Ned, he also has a keen eye for a well-turned figure, and he worries a lot about the future. Ringo, the smallest Beatle - even smaller in person than he appears to be on the screen - is a curious contrast with the others. Taciturn, even a bit sullen, he spends a good deal of his time sitting in corners staring moodily at the Venetian blinds. Perhaps because he wasn't their original drummer, he seems slightly apart from the rest, a loner. Still, he has a way of growing on you - if he doesn't grow away from you.
It often seems to me
That as liberals we are quick to forgive the failings of people who were disadvantaged in life - we look at unstable backgrounds and acknowledge that they can produce aberrant behaviour. Given John Lennon's troubled family life - the tug of war between his mother and father over who should have him, the appearance during his formative years that neither cared about him, the death of first his father figure Uncle George who instilled in him his mischievous wit and then secondly his mother during his teenage years - was it any wonder that he might have had a couple of issues?
Complete bastard is probably stretching it. He certainly behaved appallngly towards Cynthia and his son, but given the history, his relationship with women and children was perhaps always likely to be tested.
He didn't kill anyone. He strove to be a better person all his life, perhaps succeeding in his last few years. We all have flaws, and many of us don't overcome them.
Anyway, I like the fact that he was a conflicted character. It adds lemon to the sugar of McCartney. His venomous wit was a vitally important factor in making those songs what they were. It added to his rebellious character - reflected in his angry protest songs and his troubled relationship with his adopted homeland, the US.
The contradictions in his life make him a uniquely fascinating character and the same demons that could make him a nightmare to live with also drove him to produce brilliant art. I never had to meet him, so I don't really care what he was like, but I'd much rather read 'In His Own Write' or listen to 'I Am The Walrus' and be fascinated by the art of a conflicted genius than to think 'ahhh what a nice man'.
This isn't a dig, I just don't think a) he was that much of a bastard and b) that it matters.
Weeeellll.....
There's that rumour about how Stu Sutcliffe sustained the head injury which eventually did for him...
Yeah
But we've all had fights, haven't we? I had a ruck with a lad once... And... Well let's just say there but for the grace of god...
You're probably right.
It doesn't affect how I feel about John's music which could be amazing. I guess my antipathy towards him is partly a rebound reaction from all the stupid canonisation - hell, deification - that's been heaped on him for saying not a great deal about some pretty hokey hippie stuff.
Also, even though Paul is by no means a saint (or without his disingenuous side), I tend to feel a bit defensive of him, and that colours my reaction to John. John's death meant that Macca - who for my money is the closest Beatle to being able to claim genius status - got sidelined and his enormous contribution minimised for a really, really long time. That's less the case now, but it was for ages. He got pegged as the trite one, with his "granny music", the square one, the Ernie to John's Eric. It's really unfair and even though it's not John's fault, it makes me go slightly the other way and point out that maybe John's not quite the "genius" he's made out to be, let alone a guru or saint.
John was definitely a man of contrasts, and could clearly be brilliant company, and did his best to change in later life. Not a complete bastard, probably. I still don't think I'd like him much, but maybe that shouldn't be an issue.
People who keep slagging John
off should be banned from ever listening to The Beatles. Problem solved.
Huh?
Agree
You beat me to it. Not sure the Beatles made a perfect album. Taxman is poor too - whinging millionaires should STFU.
Taxman...
...is musically amazing, but the lyric really grates. Although the tax rate at the time was absolutely MENTAL.
Agreed that they didn't make a perfect album. AHDN is as close as they got, for me, but while it's really great and really consistent, it isn't scaling the heights that they did later. IMO, obvs. OOAA.
Completely agree
Musically it is stonking. Not surprised Weller ripped it off! But boo hoo, the Beatles had to pay tax. No sympathy I'm afraid. One less house bought which they never visited probably. AHDN is great I agree, though it's not officially an album of course, it's a soundtrack.
Time!
Nope, you're all wrong. Revolver is perfect.
I have just been appointed as the Massive's Beatles guru (see 'Claim your artist' thread) and what I say goes.
End of.
Pleased to meet you
I am resident Emperor's New Clothes Inspector. Yellow Sub is rubbish.
:-)
Not familiar with
the Laffer Curve then Twangothan? There's debate of course about where the 'sweet spot' for maximising revenue is but let's just say it's neither 0% nor 100%.
Or could it be that the desire to squeeze the rich is less about raising public funds (Hong Kong has a lower and simpler tax rate than the UK but a higher tax take) than about being seen to do the 'progressive' thing?
Anyway. Taxman is an absolute belter of a song. Fact!
Er...
...is it? Side one is songs used in the film, but Side 2 isn't....and can't a Soundtrack be an album? Whilst here, Revolver has wonderful, brilliant songs (yes, even YS and LYT), but Sgt. Pepper is their perfect album....(ducks flying objects)...
Yes
I was lazily winding Bob up, which is an obligation on all of us. I think it's their best actually. No Ringo, no brass bands. Revolver has some brilliant ones but some clangers too therefore not perfect. FWIW I'm not looking for perfection, I don't mind the odd cockup in search of something fab. YS is unforgivable though, sorry.
isn't 'Taxman'
...just a rip off of Start by The Jam? Oh, hang on...
Of course, if you were paying a 95% tax rate
...how much would you have to earn to actually *keep* a million?
Would it be
Would it be £20 million ?
The Beatles generally put a
The Beatles generally put a Ringo song on each album because they could. Many of their albums are perfect as they achieved what they set out to do and generally contained more absolute classics than most bands managed across their entire career.
The Stone Roses
Yes, even the 'backward' track Don't Stop. It fits with the album as a whole. Perfect album for me from start to finish.
As for the Dame, I'd say Hunky Dory comes pretty close.
It's all subjective, but...
David Bowie - Station to Station.
Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now, Veedon Fleece.
ELP - Pictures at an Exhibition, maybe Trilogy.
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son.
Teardrop Explodes - Wilder.
Television - Marquee Moon.
Agree on Bruce
DOTEOT is somebody right at the end of their tether, its far more personal than most of his others - which can sometimes sound like somebody consciously trying very hard to imagine themselves into somebody else.
Stone Roses though - further up - sorry but good grief... it might sum up a moment but that's a lazy lazy lazy drug-addicted bunch of fuckers with one chord and unbelievable (and delusional) ego problems
By the time the album
came out they'd been going for a long while in a manner that suggests they weren't lazy at all. As for one chord - that's just facile nonsense. Ego problems - how unique for a successful band. Drug-addicted - well yes, and? Do you only listen to Christian Rock?
On top of all that, if you hate the band as much as it sounds like, then you're hardly in a position to judge whether their first album was 'perfect' or not.
My problems with them
Orchestrated music industry / music press adulation after about three gigs - OK fine, they have got some great songs but that isn't usually a good sign. I was following the industry at the time in the fading light of my trendiness and they were huge very quickly. I don't hear much variation across that first album at all but what the fuck they were 18/19. A good start.
Here my problem
Disappearing up own drug-addled fundament for five sodding years (which is nearly the entire length of the Beatles career and certainly their 'imperial years'). Only to emerge with something that sounds like 'In Through The Out Door'.
I mean - for Christs sake. I love several songs (I mean that) but that's not a canon that's an EP.
I think you're ignoring some of the points Mr Fade makes
They didn't get signed after their first two or three gigs, they'd been going for five or six years before they released the album. The reason they were huge very quiickly is that they built their fanbase almost entirely in the North West while the London centric industry was looking in the wrong direction. Their support grew from word of mouth until they were too big to ignore and started playing massive shows. They were in their mid twenties when they became big.
With respect, the value of their canon is not determined by the number of songs that you like. It's determined by their significance to the music world as a whole and this is an album that routinely comes in the top ten whenever such lists are compiled, which reached out to a wider audience than music fans, inspiring people who wouldn't listen to guitar music or an indie band to take it to their hearts - forming the soundtrack to an entire generation.
There is so much love for that band, and that kind of warmth doesn't come from a handful of good songs. It comes from an era defining album.
Anyway, the thread's about albums, so I would be very interested which tracks on the first album you think are the duff ones.
Can I chip in here?
I hate this album. I really tried to love it as I was the right age for it at the time and a few of my friends were going doolally about it, but I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
But I did spend a lot of time listening to it and TRYING to like it, so I feel as if I know it well enough to criticise it:
- The vocals are flat and weedy
- The guitar is a lazy wash of noodly notes
- The drums are floppy and lack energy (every song is about 5bpm too slow)
Are there really great tunes on this album? They all sound half-formed to me: cringeworthy lyrics and shopworn chord changes. I admit "Waterfall" is a nice riff, and the backwards idea was nice, but that's about it.
In the last few minutes of the album, there is a sudden attack of energy and movement as "I Am The Resurrection" kicks into its second half. But apart from being too late to make a difference, it doesn't go anywhere and the tempo gradually wanes again as the band get bored of the relentless riffing. Sounds about as funky as plate of porridge: James Brown it ain't.
And apart from all that, "Elizabeth My Dear" is on a par with Cream's "Mother's Lament" for unlistenable self-indulgent nonsense.
I quite like the cover though. Really distinctive, and a nice font.
All
On another thread I was saying how when things get stroppy somebody usually blows the whistle.
I think its been blown on me by Fade and by Chimney Singing. Reading back - quite right too
My antipathy towards SR is because they were a very exciting moment - not to my mind a flawless album - that was the future which then didn't happen. I think they profoundly short changed their fans and that colours my appreciation of the album. But that isn't what this thread was started off to discuss.
I won't get in the trenches about which songs I like and which I dont because I think I've already pissed on enough strawberries. Will now belt up...
Another angle
The eponymous album is certainly not a perfect one - though it is rather marvellous. As an undergrad at the time of its release I didn't really see what all the fuss was about, but I gave it a proper listen about 2-3 years later and changed my mind.
However, the charge of "short-changed" is just a bit harsh. Over the five years before Second Coming finally arrived, the music press built the album up to such a ridiculous extent that, when it did see the light of day, it was never, ever going to live up to the vast balloon of hype that had inflated. How much pressure did it put on them? Who can tell, but I think it had something to do with the subsequent, rather sad arc that things took.
The supreme irony is, when you look back with an objective eye, Second Coming is also not perfect, but is too is a very good album indeed. It just didn't sound like the baggy band the NME expected after all that time. Squire had been listening to lots of Zeppelin; it showed in songs like Driving South or Love Spreads. Add Breaking Into Heaven and Ten Storey Love Song to those and you start to see a very strong piece of work indeed. For me, Begging You is one of the best things on the album: the mix of all that guitar-hero stuff Squire was at, mixed with the shambling lollop of the rhythm section. The Dakota Remix on the 12" single is even better.
I saw them at Bridlington in November 1994, right at the beginning of the tour. And they were an awesome noise. And I really do mean awespome in its proper sense. They were just an amazing juggernaut of a band that night: they were loud alright, but to borrow a cliché, they were tight but loose: funky, fluid and pounding. And Brown's voice sounded pretty good. It remains one of the best gigs I've ever seen.
OK I said I would belt up
But I gave accidental (honestly) offence before so I will just clarify - the 'short changed' jibe is the 5 year gap. I think its indefensible. I can't see past it. Given what they could have been after a good debut they blew it completely. But as you are probably saying, that's nothing to do with the music in isolation, or what this thread was started to talk about
it's funny
Because most big acts these days have a 3-4 year gap between albums, but back then it really was extraordinary.
You're right - they blew it. They could have been one of the biggest bands in the world. Label and management problems were a big contributing factor, but it can't be denied that the band weren't focused enough to make the next step.
I love Second Coming, I think it's brilliant, but it could never be everything that it needed to be.
S'alright
I wasn't having a pop :)
I just thought that "short changed" had a ring of dishonesty on their part attached to it when what it really boils down to them losing their way and disappearing up their own arses a bit. I think we're discussing semantics when it looks like we both think along roughly similar lines.
As said below, back then 5 years was an unusual gap, now less so, especially for bigger acts who end up seemingly spend upto about three years touring an album every time one gets released.
I am unlikely to change your mind
As we are coming from polar opposite positions here.
With the 'flat and weedy' vocals and the floppy drums, I find that it lends an air of insouciance to the whole affair, which is a vital component of the album's charm for several reasons. Firstly, it disguises the angry, sometimes violent lyrics and lends them even more casual malice. The band were fiercely principled and the indolent vibe gives those sentiments more power than if they played at 100mph with barked or shouted lyrics.
Secondly, it gives the music a sense of cockiness and unhurriedness, in contrast to the rather apologetic nature of most alternative music at the time. It's unafraid to show itself, it doesn't bustle along trying not to be noticed.
Thirdly, and crucially, it gives the songs space to breathe, so while the tempo may be slow overall it gives room for lots of little fills and explosions within the spaces (final chorus of Made of Stone, end of Waterfall etc.). You notice it all the more because of the space that surrounds it.
You're the first person I've ever heard say that the lyrics are cringeworthy. i think they're magnificent. Not a lot more I can say about that, happy to quote loads of examples but can't see the point. There's only one lyric I don't adore on the album and that's 'isn't it funny when you shine'. That's a pretty good return as far as I'm concerned.
As for the guitar being a lazy wash, I would say that it's the only album that me and all of my friends, not to mention thousands of other people, where we could all sing the guitar lines of the entire album.
Last off - Elizabeth my Dear is not comparable to Mother's Lament. It's not a dreadful mockney pastiche and attempt to be humorous. It's a very pretty 30 second folk song about assassinating the queen.
Good words
well written.
And I agree
I had long since left England when the album was released and I think it was largely ignored abroad (at least where I live) so I got into it rather late and without any of the hype. From the opening words I was hooked immediately. The drums sounded sloppy (in a good way) and the bass all funky and I just loved the guitar playing from the get go. Still do. I can't think of a single album where I love the guitar as much as I do on that album. It always makes me think of a spider, spinning a web of sound all over the gorgeous rhythm. The only concession to criticism I conceed is that, yes, the vocals are rather weak. But that's not enough to spoil it for me. A perfect album.
Whilst the lead vocals might be a bit thin
(though I never thought that at the time) the backing vocals are sublime. When I saw them around the time She Bangs The Drums came out they were all extremely impressive but Reni was out of this world drumming and BVing at the same time.
I'll second that one
Don't know why but the backward tracks give it an extra something.
Absolutely
Add in the artwork,the inner sleeve, the pictures and the "sense of place" mean, to me, The Stone Roses is perfectly sealed piece of art.
For the Dame - Ziggy, for very similar reasons as I've outlined above.
The Nightfly
Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" does it for me; instant psychotherapy and still fabulous 30 years on.
Seconded
thirded, fourthed to infinity and beyond.
I wouldn't change a thing about...
Surfer Rosa or Doolittle by Pixies.
Talking Book, Innervisions or Songs In The Key Of Life.
Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady.
Queen of Denmark by John Grant.
There are probably loads more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Pixies...
Tony's Theme & La La Love You spoil those magnificent albums for me.
But only a tiny bit.
Surfer Rosa and Doolittle
Are 99%ers but I think only Come On Pilgrim is perfect.
Agree with John Grant. I've just realised the reason it dominated my 2010 was that it is the perfect record.
Other perfect albums?
Well Ver Floyd knocked out two in a row in the mid-70s. Has anyone ever equalled that?
I thought about Floyd
They are the archetypal 70s album band I think. But I think their albums tend to be more fascinating flawed masterpieces than actual perfection.
Probably I would say the strongest contender would be Wish You Were Here: minimal, cohesive, all the tracks hang together well (with a couple of stone cold classics) and great packaging.
Personally I prefer The Wall or The Final Cut, but I can see their flaws.
Good point
I don't actually mind the odd clanger in the search for something exciting. Meddle, for example, had the odd duffer but most is fantastic. I'd say Dark Side is perfect. And Aqualung by the Tull for that matter.
I agree
The clangers sometimes make an album more interesting! And that's the albums I think bear repeated listening sometimes, yer White Album and yer Orphans and yer Tommy. Sprawling genius creations that go from the sublime to the trite.
Dark Side Of The Moon: it's a great album with some standout moments. I just find it a bit adolescent in its outlook. Maybe it just reminds me too much of when I was sixteen.
Dark Side Of The Moon
I think has aged incredibly well. On release it seemed 'state of the art, cutting edge avant garde' modern; now, paradoxically, it sounds fashionably analogue. Wonderfully so. Its overall 'sound' reminds me somewhat of Kind Of Blue.
Did the Clangers
live on the Dark Side of the Moon
Yeah, I know, coat etc
Seriously?
NOBODY else upped this? Gag of the week for me. I wish I had Ivan's applauding crowd to show my true appreciation..
The only answer is
Carole Kings Tapestry. Every song a solid gold classic.
Smackwater Jack?
Smackwater Jack seems like filler to me.
Tapestry!!
The album that Joe Queenan opined made him realise the baby boomer generation was just as 'lame' as its predecessor.
Aural Mogadon.
Who is
Joe Queenan?
Very funny writer.
A critic (mostly movies), pieces appear in the Grauniad (there's an archive of his reviews and think pieces which is worth a look see).
Wrote the great "If You're Talking to Me Your Career Must Be In Trouble" and the amazing "America: Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon", a descent into the worst of popular culture (books, movies, music, food etc), centerpiece of which was "who was worst, Billy Joel or Phil Collins", with a considered appreciation of both.
Balsamic Dreams
is the book that comment about 'Tapestry' comes from. A very entertaining evisceration of the baby-boomer generation.
It might well be an entertaining read
but Carole King is one of the greatest songwriters in pop, which anyone with any basic knowledge of pop history would know, and deserves credit for that achievement. There is no reason why a perfect album should not come from a so-called 'middle of the road', mass market appeal source as from any other origins. It might not be your cup of tea but it's not 'aural mogadon'.
I am well aware
of her prowess as a songwriter. "Tapestry' is a deadly dull album, comprised mainly of dirges. Very popular with bedsit residents and impressionable young women. 'Lame' is the mot juste.
But surely if you acknowledge that prowess
then the album cannot be considered a dud since it comprises a number of those stone classic songs beautifully sung. Yes it has a mellow, easy listening style (nothing wrong with that) but these are some of the finest tunes around: It's Too Late, I Feel The Earth Move, You've Got A Friend, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman etc.
Queenan's point,
which I agree with, is that a cracking song like 'Will you still love me tomorrow' is slowed down to the extent that it becomes dirge-like.
Not a great fan of her voice either, but I am aware that my, probable, over-reaction to 'Tapestry' stems from having been driven demented by it being interminably played by all the soppy students in my Hall of Residence. I ended up hiding it, 'Tubular Bells' and the execrable 'Tales from Topographic Oceans' to get some respite.
Agree that all the songs you list are excellent examples of the songwriter's craft.
Fair enough
I can understand that
I'm sort of with Ian here.
I don't hate "Tapestry", but if you want those songs, it's not the album you get, is it? Nobody's ever bettered the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Nobody could better Aretha's "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman", not in a lifetime of trying. CK's own versions are like bland photocopies. Not unpleasant, but all the guts and heart removed.
She's a really good example of why being a writer/performer isn't always the best thing, and a great counter-argument to the Beatles-centric view that if someone writes their own songs they must be OK, and if they use songwriters they must be suspect.
Depends
It's a classic of its genre, and if you want a poppy version of WYSTLT you might get the Shirelles but if you want a wistful quiet interpretation you'd get Carole's. Similarly Areatha's version. If you like that shrieky soul thang, that's where you go. Great songs you see. Can be done many ways. I along with millions of others think it is a lovely album and Carole's singing is gorgeous. Clearly the use of absolutes by you and Ian means we will have to disagree on this one though.
Implied IMO, as always.
If I may
Tapestry is, Smackwater Jack included, full of perfect songwriting. I can't call it a perfect album because, like others have said, the voice doesn't do it for me. I don't mind the loungecore at it's heart. She wrote the bloody things after all, sup to her.
It's just that I find her voice slightly too nasal and while it doesn't grate, I listen to this album very often, it stops it from being 'perfect' in my books.
As far as the cover versions go, yes, for the most part they are better, far better, but part of the beauty and the wonder as I listen to this album is the Wow factor. She wrote them all. Astonishing.
Can't resist this thread
Glad to see gee bee brought up the sadly neglected Veedon Fleece by VM - yes that would be in my list along with:
Bryter Layter - Nick Drake (John Wood says its the one album he worked on where he wouldn't change a thing)
Whats Going On - Marvin Gaye
Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira - Joni Mitchell
Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock - Talk Talk (its just one big glorious loop)
In more recent times:
Aerial - Kate Bush
Ma Fleur - Cinematic Orchestra
Nashville - Josh Rouse
Chateau Revenge - Silver Seas
Theres more but Im working and not enough time to sit back and ponder !
Nashville
That popped up on my MP3 player as a random ALbum Of The Day choice and I couldn't understand why I'd neglected it. Absolutely superb.
An up
for What's Going On and Ma Fleur. Spirit of Eden - a recent buy prompted by Guy Garvey hype-pedalling - lives up to the reverence lauded on it by many, I'm pleased to say. Good shouts.
Another up for Ma Fleur
Arrived out of nowhere, perfectly formed.
Hejira would be better
if Jaco was on every track.
Aerial
I'm a big Kate Bush fan and really like Aerial, but I think that song about Joan of Arc is poor. The second disk has some filler on it too.
Looking at her other stuff, I don't think there's a weak track on The Dreaming, which I think is aging better than her other albums from that time and is probably now my favourite.
My suggestions...
Scott 4 by Scott Walker - It's atmospheric, flows beautifully and does not have a duff track on it.
Computer World by Kraftwerk - I find this album achingly melancholic and lovely, when it goes on I fail to notice time passing.
Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys - I even like Sloop John B. Anyone who dislikes God Only Knows is lacking in humanity. I don't care if people think I'm being obvious here.
Reign In Blood by Slayer - a time capsule which transports me to being 14 and reminds me that not everything I liked at that age was rubbish.
Closer by Joy Division- To these ears this sounds a lot like the Kraftwerk album. At least in tone and atmosphere.
ABBA Gold - Nary a duffer to be heard. Perfect Pop craft which flows, even if it's not an "album album" (I suppose I mean released while the band was a going concern).
Stand - Sly and the Family Stone - dancing, politics and hot sweaty sex. This album has it all. It's better than Riot by a country mile. Maybe Somebody's Watching You is a minor dip in quality, but it's not rubbish and it does serve to put the sheer astonishing quality of everything else into perspective.
Not Scott 3?
I'm not so sure about Scott 4 as the perfect album for old Noel. Certainly there are no duff tracks, but all that semi-scatting on the last few tracks grates a little, no?
For me it would be Scott 3. A perfect balance of Scott's own stuff and the Brel magnificence.
I put Scott 4 on at work
I put Scott 4 on at work last night, at about 4.30am. I'd forgotten how beguiling it is. I was shimmying next to the pallet shrinkwrapper like a good 'un to Hero of the War.
Scott 4
absolute genius, as is Scott 3
OK, my 2 bob's worth
Prefab Sprout - Jordan The Comeback
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Nice one Gary!
Delighted to see 'Jordan' getting its props: IMVVVVHO 'Mercy,' is one of the greatest songs ever written.
I'd also add an up to The Stone Roses, which, let's not forget, boasts the best photo of a band on an inner sleeve ever (the b/w performance one).
And returning to Tyneside's Steven Sondheim, I'd also add I Trawl the Megahertz: For the last week, it's been soundtracking my daily swim ( Using aSpeedo Aquabeat underwater MP3 player folks: product of the century for me!)
The near-tragic genesis of the album adds to its charm, mystery and loveliness...
As ever, my answer is :
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue. It fits any mood, and I have listened to it hundreds of times yet I often find something there that I haven't heard before.
That is the right answer,
That is the right answer, the 'classic' album I listen to the most.
Yep, that's the one for me
Yep, that's the one for me too.
A perfect album is clearly in th lug'oles of the beholder (behearer?) but if you can put it on and just listen for the duration (i.e not read the paper etc.) then it must be pretty close for you.
Ther are loads
Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
Everything But The Girl - Eden
Van - Astral Weeks and Beautiful Vision
Floyd - Dark Side, WYWH
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Bruce - DOTEOT and Nebraska
JAMC - Darklands and Automatic
Peter Gabriel - 3 and 4
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Tom Petty - Damn The Torpedoes
Marley - Exodus
Paul Simon - Graceland
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Portishead - Dummy
Lambchop - Is A Woman
I could go on. Not a flaw on any of them as far as I'm concerned.
However I'd also add The Game's Up by Sniff 'N' The Tears. Which I bet no-one else would.
Is a woman
I played this a couple of weeks ago after not listening to it for a number of years and it sounded amazing. I didnt consider it to be Lambchops best but after experiencing it again it just might be. Anyway my perfect albums are:-
Steely Dan - Cant buy a thrill, countdown to ecstasy and pretzel logic.
Paul Simon - Still crazy
Richard and Linda Thompson - Bright lights
Elvis Costello - King of America
Bobby Charles - Last Train to Memphis
Leonard Cohen - Songs of
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Ron Sexsmith - Ron Sexsmith (the one with Secret heart on it)
King of America...
You just have to skip Eisenhower Blues. Brutal Youth is perfect to me.
Eisenhower is a piece of shite
He should have put 'King Of Confidence' on there instead
20% Amnesia
surely lets down Brutal Youth. A dreadful mistake in my view.
King of Confdence or Shoes Without Heels are both better songs and performances than Eisenhower Blues.
That's why Get Happy!! is his best record for me - 20 coherent and tight songs played wonderfully.
Dr J
I promise I didn't put him up to that!
Benny I said EXACTLY the same thing to Dr J on Twitter when I read his BY view.
He'd also knock out 'Still Too Soon To Know', wheras I would ditch 'My Science Fiction Twin' in preference to a couple of the Wendy James songs - Basement Kiss \ London's Brilliant\ Earthbound
We're (not) going to have to take this outside...
I've been re-thinking the OP here and as much as I love BY, it isn't perfect. I do like 20% and SFT, however, would it still be a good and cohesive album if, as I suggested to DFB on the Twitter, 20% & STSTK were removed? Yes, I guess so. So I've cut the legs of my argument.
I can understand why people don't like 20% however SFT is aces, it has an amusing pop swagger and hits upon a great topic: how we tend to imagine better alternative versions of ourselves. What's not to love?
Get Happy!! is an amazing run of 20 songs - there's a cohesive whole, you can't imagine a track missing. In your mind, if you hear one song ending you expect the next to begin. Plus the cover is perfect.
"The worst virtue is refusing to change your mind"
Double
Post
I would love to agree with you on High Land, Hard Rain, except..
... surely the only duff thing on it is the production?
That's one album I'd love to hear re- I don't know - rerecorded? remastered? I just know that I adore the songs but HATE the tinny eighties production.
I don't have a problem with it
Tbh I never even thought about at all til it was recently mentioned on a thread here. It just sounds great to me.
The one I always wanted to hear without the eighties production sheen was Steve McQueen. Then when I heard some of the acoustic versions they released a few years ago I found I preferred them in their original versions.
Ditto
Boat to Bolivia. (Kitchenware again)
Mine are:
Pet Sounds
Rings Around the World (Super Furry Animals)
Fear of a Black Planet (Public Enemy)
Park Life (Blur)
Definitely Maybe (Oasis)
Different Class (Pulp)
Wrath of the Math (Jeru the Damaja)
Liquid Swords (Genius/ GZA)
Fun House (The Stooges)
Definitely
Definitely maybe and Different class. Not sure about Parklife - not listened to that in full recently, got overplayed at the time. I think i prefer their eponymous album. I was about to add "what's the story" but then I remembered "roll with it" damn!
Different Class is excellent
from soup to nuts.
Parklife I love, but always lose interest a bit from "Trouble in the Message Centre" to "Magic America".
Parklife
I went back to Parklife last weekend and listened to it from start to finish probably for the first time for about 10 years. Maybe I listen differently now ( actually there is no maybe about it) but it is far better than I remembered. Perfect - no such thing as a perfect album. If there was we would all have one we agree on. It is certainly a damn good album and I base that on the fact it sounds less dated than I expected and also has more variety too. And I'd forgotten about the instrumentals. So thanks for the prompt mr chimney singer
I've been wondering
if there is indeed "one we all agree on"? I've never heard anyone slag Kind Of Blue.
Can I jump in
and slag it off? Tootling and parping noises from the most overrated artist in history, playing one of the most annoying instruments extant. IMHO, of course.
...and it's misspelt...
Obviously it should have been "Kind of Blew", for a trumpet player.
Most of my candidates have already been mentioned, but...
...I've got to nominate Big Star's Radio City. Even the one throwaway track (Morpha Too) is essential as a palate cleanser after the astonishing run of perfect songs on the second side. Been listening to this album pretty regularly for 25 years and it's still electrifying start to finish.
Seconded
Totally with you. In fact, the two closing tracks(I always think of them as more fragments than songs) on Radio City - Morpha Too and I'm In Love With A Girl - are essential to its flow and lend it a large part of its magic. I'm In Love... in particular is the perfect closer, lovely, poignant stuff.
Ups
for both of you. Yes, "I'm in love..." is a killer tune.
And what about "#1 Record"? One of the most brilliant debuts of all time, shurely?
Agreed re #1 Record
Also the way it effectively seemed to break down into an electric and and an acoustic half shows how the track order is vital to any "perfect" album (Well, apart from "When My Baby's Beside Me" at the start of the old Side 2, but you know what I mean...).
I recall getting both albums as a double vinyl rerelease 1976, around the same time as I bought a similar vinyl repackage of Flamingo and Teenage Head by the Flamin Groovies. Truly, a wonderful time to be alive as a spotty teenager, catching upon on pre-punk treasures
Agree with both.
But I'd like to put a word in for Third/Sister Lovers too. It's not as weird as some say - though partly that's because it was years ahead of its time. It also contains one of the most beautiful songs ever written Blue Moon. Dream Lover and For You are superb too. I wouldn't like to be in the place they were when they made it but I love listening to it. It's perfect in its own way. And Nature Boy brings me close to tears.
Many of the above
I'd add "Blue" by joni and "Dixie Chicken" by Little Feat.
I absolutely love every note and word
of 'The Queen Is Dead' by the Smiths. Wouldn't change a second of it.
Mind you, 'Meat Is Murder' and 'Strangeways...' are damn good too. Did they make three perfect albums?
They might have done, you know.
Yes.
They did.
QID is first among equals for me, though.
Me & my brother have many
Me & my brother have many arguments about MIM & QID - I prefer the latter & he the former! I personally think there a few weak tracks on both, but if you picked just 12 songs from the two of them you would have THE best album ever made! Here is what it would be;
1 I Want The One I Can't Have
2 Bigmouth Strikes Again
3 Nowhere Fast
4 Rusholme Ruffians
5 Vicar In A Tutu
6 What She Said
7 Frankly Mr Shankly
8 Cemetary Gates
9 The Is A Light That Never Goes Out
10 The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
11 The Headmaster Ritual
12 Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Drop "The Boy..." (a single,
Drop "The Boy..." (a single, rather than an album track, in my mind) and open with the QID title track instead, and I'd agree
What He Said
.
What's wrong
with the first one? And for value for money you can't beat Hatful Of Hollow.
Some 80s
ABC - Lexicon Of Love
Human League - Dare
Dexys Midnight Runners - Young Soul Rebels AND Don't Stand Me Down (even the gaps and pauses on Don't Stand Me Down are perfect)
The The - Infected
But my most perfect album is the Pulp compilation of 3 singles Intro. It has some fantastic pop on the A-sides and some more deep and dark moments from the b-sides. The whole thing just hangs together really well, great cover photo too, I really don't think that any of their proper albums match it. And at 40 minutes long it doesn't outstay it's welcome for a moment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intro_(Pulp_album)
Seconded on both Dare &
Seconded on both Dare & Searching For The Young Soul Rebels! How did I forget them?!? Both excellent albums!
Have an up
for a first class selection.
In keeping with the 80's theme may I also suggest "Upsdtairs at Erics" by Yazoo?
Upstairs at Erics
Perfect? Really? With a fully paid-up stinker like "I Before E except after C"? Respectfully, I think not, Mr 0510, sir.
I before E is one of my favourites!
I also loved Happy People off the follow up. A hypnoptic beat that I can bob up and down to and I'm as happy as a pig in poo.
my two penneth worth
The only albums (not counting the odd best of) that I don't skip a song on
~ The National - Alligator
~ Bob Dylan - Freewheelin'
~ Adem - Homesongs
~ Happy Mondays - Thrills Pills & Bellyaches
~ The Walkmen - Lisbon
~ Daft Punk - Alive 2007
I'll second...
Jordan: The Comeback by Prefab Sprout and The Lexicon of Love by ABC
And I'll add:
The Man Machine by Kraftwerk
Moon Safari by Air
Rainy Day Music by The Jayhawks
Paradise Circus by The Lilac Time
I bought Moon Safari recently
after hearing/ reading about it so much, friends saying I'd love it, Amazon reviews being so positive... I was so dissappointed. It's not bad, by any means. A decent enough, four star album. But a five star masterpiece? No way.
Moon Safari
I love that album, I love the way it flows, there's a rhythm to it that isn't easily apparent at first.
I do however have nostalgic reasons too, as it was one of the albums that soundtracked the period of my life when I met my wife and got engaged.
Jayhawks
A big up for Rainy Day Music. Nothing but great songs!
How about...
...The Alternative to Love by Brendan Benson. Pretty much overlooked when it came out, every song a power-pop gem.
Well said
And available in the incredible 3 for a fiver section of 'That's Entertainment' high street emporium.
I preferred Lapalco
personally
Random few in my lunch hour:
- REM "Murmur": every track a killer, and everything oozes a consistent atmosphere
- Teardrop Explodes "Kilimanjaro": perfect weird pop, again a consistent "sound"
- XTC "Black Sea": Steve Lillywhite's production (guitars and drums up to 11), great songs all the way, and the energy never lets up.
- Husker Du "Warehouse (Songs and Stories)": a brilliant set of songs from two writers almost competing to outdo each other. A production perfectly balanced between rawness and polish. No fat and no filler
- The Go Betweens "Before Hollywood": again, a wonderfully consistent sound, and two great writers. It also seems to balance their early experiment and later pop polish better than their other albums
All this and I haven't mentioned any psychedelia yet... How about:
The Byrds "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". As above, brilliant songs from start to finish (even the sci-fi weirdness of "Space Odyssey" at the end), and a production/sound that somehow manages to vary on every track and still seem coherent.
Right, I have a sandwich to finish...
Notorious Byrd Brothers
Wholeheartedly agree. Other albums have better individual songs, but this record has a special quality which makes it probably my most played album, and one which still sounds fresh some 44 years after it was released. Oh, and, like most Byrds albums, it's under half an hour long which makes it ideal to sit down and listen to all the way through
Not one single bad track ?
Off the top of my head I'd nominate:
Saint Julian - Julian Cope
Remain In Light - Talking Heads
A Hard Days Night - the Beatles
and I'm sure Dylan has one as well, but he's made so many near perfect albums that I'm unsure which album it is that has absolutely no flaws without checking (unable to do that right now).
Good point..
Well I'd nominate
Bringing It All Back Home (older stuff) and
Time Out of Mind (newer stuff).
Furthermore:
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats, One Size Fits All
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced (US issue)
The Yes Album
Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Santana - Abraxas
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Led Zeppelin 3
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first album
To me it's faultless, end to end.
More recently, ie last summer, I found The Grip Weeds and their 1998 album 'The Sound Is In You'. I was so enamoured with it I burned copies of it to give away at the June Mingle. I could not and still can not see a weak spot on it.
Less recently is 'Communique' by Dire Straits. *awaits the slings and arrows* Maligned, or at least found very disappointing by the crits in 1979, it dropped off the radar pretty quickly. But I think it's a marvellous piece of work. The sparse arrangements and that liquid guitar. You can see why Becker and Fagen wanted him to play for them.
Thirst for Romance by Cherry Ghost
if you don't count the 20 minutes of silence before the hidden track comes on. That's annoying but otherwise the songs are great.
Mr Sinatra
Songs for Swinging Lovers - is the perfect album, great songwriting, wonderful arrangements and top notch singing.
Other votes would go for;
Get Happy!! - Mr Costello
Luxury Liner - Emmylou
At My Age - Nick Lowe
Grevious Angel - Gram
Missing You - Baaba Maal
Blood on the Tracks - Dylan
You Don't Know me (The Songs of Cindy Walker) - Willie Nelson
Step Inside This House - Lyle Lovett
The Missing Years and Souvenirs - John Prine
I'd actually go for Only The Lonely
I absolutely love that album.
Others:
Cupid & Psyche 85 - Scritti Politti (despite the plasticky production, I love the tunes)
The La's - The La's
Scott 4 - Scott Walker
Hats - The Blue Nile
Music In A Foreign Language - Lloyd Cole
Coles Corner - Richard Hawley
Weightlifting - Trashcan Sinatras
Only The Lonely
Yes, absolutely, a flawless work. And its one of the times all the different good/bad aspects of FS as a person combine in my appreciation of the songs. The pain is real
EDIT - and in line with the OP - a strikingly effective cover and the only pierrot (including Bowie's efforts) that doesn't make me a bit queasy
Songs For Swingin' Lovers
Amazing album, but I find the arrangement on "Makin' Whoopee" a bit trite. "Only The Lonely" is amazing.
My two perfect albums are "Songs For Distingué Lovers" (I wonder where Norman Granz got the title from?) by Billie Holiday - take your pick from the original, US 6-track album or the expanded UK version which filled the selection up with other recordings from the same sessions; and "Such A Night Live In London" by Dr. John.
Ryan Adams new one Ashes and
Ryan Adams new one Ashes and Fire- Incredible album from start to finish
Well chosen
It's a brilliant album. I also think Easy Tiger works from start to finish, although the UK Cd has an unfortunate duff exclusive track stuck on the end
Three from Mercury Rev
Deserter's Songs (1998)
All Is Dream (2001)
Secret Migration (2004)
Not a duff track on any of the above works of genius. The much-lauded Deserter's Songs isn't even their best album in my humble opinion.
I love Deserter's Songs
and I love Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp, but it does not belong on that album, ruins the mood and feel they built up on the faultless other tracks.
I nominate three
slices of perfection
Sugar - Copper Blue
Gravediggaz - Niggamortis
Wire - Chairs Missing
I would also add Supergrass - In It For The Money, depends if you think the last song lets it down or not. I don't.
Oooh
I like you. YOu're welcome round mine any time. Gravediggaz is a great shout. I might have gone for 'Beaster' though, if you could translpant the Act We Act.
I Am The Fly was my anthem when I was 19 - it was very apt
Copper Blue
Yesyesyesyesyes
1st draft!
Moondance - Van Morrison
Solid Air - John Martyn
Here Comes The Snakes - Green On Red
Maria McKee - Maria McKee
Apple Venus - XTC
Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams
Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy / ...Sell Out - The Who
A Walk Across The Rooftops - The Blue Nile
Pink Moon - Nick Drake
Mule Variations - Tom Waits
Lifes Rich Pageant - REM
Going in to bat for heavy rock...
I love the following - each note, song, and moment perfectly crafted:
1. Soundgarden - Superunknown
2. NIN - The Downard Spiral
3. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
4. Foo Fighters - Colour and the Shape
5. Cinderella - Long Cold Winter
6. Dan Reed Network - The Heat
7. The Wildhearts - PHUQ
8. Zep II
9. Queen - A Night at the Opera
10. Zep III
Outside of the hard rock genre:
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - The Bends
Radiohead - Kid A
Mansun - Six
XTC - Skylarking
OK Computer
How could I forget?!!!
As much as I love Radiohead
As much as I love Radiohead & think OK Computer is fantastic there is one track that I think is so bad it taints the whole album. Two words. Fitter. Happier. (I'd be happier without it thanks Thom!)
Interesting
I think F/H is the perfect spooky buffer between side 1 and side 2, as it were. "Electioneering" bollockses the atmosphere up for me.
I'm inclined to agree with that
Fitter Happier is great - it crystallises the sense of dislocation that runs through the record.
Although it's probably the worst track on the record, I still love 'Electioneering', if only because hearing Johnny Greenwood really let rip is a wonderful thing
In Rainbows..
..is my perfect Radiohead record. Not a foot put wrong.
Same here - not one duff
Same here - not one duff track on it & one of the best closing tracks ever with Videotape
Agreed.
It's my perfect late-Radiohead record, anyway. Knocks everything else they've done since OKC into a cocked hat.
I reckon you could gather the best of Kid A, Amnesiac and HTTT and make maybe two great albums with it, at the outside. Maybe an album and a mini-album.
Album 1, in no particular order:
Everything In Its Right Place
The National Anthem
How To Disappear Completely
Idioteque
Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
Knives Out
Morning Bell/Amnesiac
Like Spinning Plates (but the live version)
Life In A Glasshouse
Album 2, in no particular order:
2+2=5
I Might Be Wrong
Pyramid Song
Sail To The Moon
There There
You And Whose Army
True Love Waits
I really would get rid of most of the more experimental stuff. I sort of commend them for trying it, but they're just not terribly good at it, and should've left it to people who are.
OOAA.
OAO
I agree with the general idea but would include Where I End And You Begin, Go To Sleep and Punch-up At A Wedding. Personally not so bothered about some of the slow ballads or Life In A Glasshouse. But hey, the good thing is you can make your own.
Climbing Up The Walls...
...is the only track on OKC that rings a bit funny to me these days. It just seems a bit contrived, somehow, a bit "Ooooh, SPOOOOKY". But that's just nitpickery borne of nearly 15 years of loving that record and knowing its every note.
I used to have some qualms about Electioneering, but not any more. Like Chimney says, it's so great to hear Jonny in full flow, just rocking out (sideways) as only he can. Pretty much the last time he did that on record, really.
I do wish they'd rediscover the pure joy of those three great guitar players making a huge wall of rock noise again. Every time they've rocked in latter years it's been rock of the Kraut- variety, which is great too, but damn: they didn't half sound good on Just, and The Bends, and Paranoid Android, and Maquiladora and and and....
I'd get rid of them both
Both Electioneering and Climbing Up The Walls. Chop 'em out, and go from Fitter Happier straight to No Surprises. Then you'd have a perfect record.
But I completely agree with all the praise here for In Rainbows. Definitely their best. It has the sounds from throughout their career; but most importantly it has the *songs* to carry it all off - which is where the good-but-not-great King of Limbs falls down. And it's made all the better by the fact that the release novelty was backed up by a simply cracking record.
Have an up for Kid A & The Downward Spiral.
Flawless, both.
thank you
glad you concur...
Mine
Scott 3
Hats (has someone already said this?)
Forever Changes
Blue
Coles Corner
Untrue
The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
No Other
Bookends
The Band
... and "The Best of the Beatles"
Coles corner
Is a tremendous album
Post-punk all of them, I'm afraid
Organisation - OMD
Night & Day - Joe Jackson
The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys
London 0, Hull 4 - Thge Housemartins
Reamin in Light - Talking Heads
Life's Rich Pageant - REM
Scary Monsters - David Bowie
Spirit of Eden - Talk Talk
Idewild - Everything But the Girl
Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits
Aerial Boundaries - Michael Hedges
Discipline - King Crimson
New York - Lou Reed
Electric Landlady - Kirsty MacColl
and the pinnacle (IMHO)?
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Ooh OMD
I've been listening to, and blown away by it's overall style and completeness, OMD's Dazzleships, which is an incredible album. Obviously in debt to Kraftwerk, but a Kraftwerk who jumped on samplers. And some of the use of found sound makes it sound surprisingly current. The whole thing has an 'album' identity which is what I think makes an album 'perfect' rather than every song being brilliant.
I'd also like to put forward The Jam's All Mod Cons. Unashamedly Mod, unashamedly poetic, if a little clumsily so, and full of fire and drive. It is the sound of a songwriter finding his identity and running far and long with it.
Dazzle Ships
Is extraordinary and rarely gets much attention.
I went to see OMD a couple of years ago and was so happy when they opened with 'Dazzle Ships' then 'Stanlow'. I thought that was quite brave for a greatest hits-ish set!
There is a peculiar sort of snobbery that stops them getting the acclaim that they shoud, in my humble opinion.
Mine
Sugar - Copper Blue (someone has said this already)
Faithless - Sunday 8pm (a brilliant and much underrated album)
Mike Oldfield - Songs From Distant Earth
I always say that Equinoxe by J-M Jarre is my favourite album of all time, but I do actually detest the beginning of the last track so much that I always skip it. The above albums don't have a duff track between them.
Variations on a theme
Pick and mix from the above, with a few variations on an artist's best
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
XTC - Apple Venus. Who mentioned that? Have multiple 'ups'.
Kate Bush - The Dreaming. Adorable bonkers.
Julian Cope - Fried. Interested that Julian's had a good showing above, but for wildly differing albums.
Dark Side and Wish You Were Here
King Crimson - Discipline. They did better albums, but they were patchier.
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden. The penny finally dropped a couple of months ago, but boy did it drop.
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
and just for the Breton Folk chapel of The Massive
Sonerien Du - Gwerz Penmarc'h
No Smiths because of Vicar in a Tutu or the track Meat is Murder. (see above debate)
No Zep because of Going to California
EDIT: Aaaaargh. Forgot 'In it for the Money'. Supergrass' finest.
Also Kirsty MacColl - Tropical Brainstorm
Tom Waits
It is Small Change for me. The album I'd take to the desert island. Every song a winner.
I also agree with the folks who listed Remain In Light by the Talking Heads above.
Without thinking too hard...
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Let England Shake - PJ Harvey
Either/Or - Elliott Smith
Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
Ladies Of The Canyon - Joni Mitchell
New York - Lou Reed
Forever Changes - Love
Other Songs - Ron Sexsmith
Desire - Bob Dylan
Dummy - Portishead
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Not the best 11 albums in the world, but I think they comply with the spirit of the original post - all showing total cohesion and none striking any bum notes. They sound like "albums" rather than "collections of songs", if you see what I mean.
Shack - HMS Fable
Of course.
Great Great Album
But it would be a perfect album if it was only Comedy. I love Shack, and I loved the Pale Fountains too, but Comedy is the best bit of Head going (sorry!!) and is one of those songs that lifts up the others by it's very presence. Easily one of the best songs by anybody over the last few decades.
I'd add:
Michael Head and The Strands.
The last great rock album of the 20th century
and quite staggeringly wonderful it is too.
And the best album ever to mention "trainees" (as in items of scally footwear)
And...
...as recently-self-appointed Hold Steady guru I am happy to agree with Bob that Separation Sunday is perfect.
But BAGIA is more perfect.
New Order-Technique
New Order-Technique
Paul Weller-Wild Wood
The Go-Betweens-16 Lovers Lane
The Smiths-Strangeways...
Morrissey-Vauxhall & I
Midlake-Trials of Van Occupanther
David Bowie-Station To Station
And HMS Fable and The Stone Roses, as others have quite rightly pointed out
Technique
I loved that record but I think it has aged appallingly. Very much of it's time. Balaeric sequencers 303's and 808's all over the shop.
Now go back to PC&L more than any other New Order record.
Can I add some more to my earlier list?
Thanks.
Roxy Music - Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones
Lyle Lovett - Pontiac
Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
The Roches - The Roches, complete with Robert Fripp.
Wouldn't change a note of any of them (including the joyous fumblings that litter YCHYLF!).
And more votes for Tom Waits - Small Change and Paul Simon - Graceland.
I'll second...
...both Roxies and the Rickie.
Mine
Aja - Steely Dan - sublime from start to finish
Late For the Sky - Jackson Browne
St Dominic's Preview - Van Morrison
Tomorrow The Green Grass - Jayhawks
Talking Book - Stevie Wonder
One Year - Colin Blunstone
Ben Folds Five
Utopia Parkway - Fountains Of Wayne
Live At The Fillmore East - Allman Brothers Band
Joan Armatrading
Together Alone - Crowded House
Oh yes
Late For The Sky. Perfect. Beyond perfect.
off the top of my head
Automatic for the People - REM
Days to Come - Bonobo
Keep It Unreal - Mr Scruff
City Delerious - Lionrock
Leaders of the Free World - Elbow
Troubadour - JJ Cale
From RT'sCanon
I'm more likely to pick 'Pour Down like Silver' than 'Bright Lights' - but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. Jet Plane in a Rocking chair is a bit weak - but not unpleasantly so.
'
Some of the numbers on Bright Lights' (When I Get To The Border, We Sing Hallelujah, Withered And Died etc.) are too mannered for me. The version of 'Together Again' (live) on the extended version is embarrassing! Linda Thompson is not a Country singer.
'Pour Down' is far darker. 'Streets of Paradise' is a really atmospheric opener and so it continues all the way through to the luminous 'Dargai'
You pays your money...........
The first two Leonard Cohen albums
and the first side of Songs of Love and Hate, flip it over and the execrable "Love Calls You By It's Name" is like nails down a blackboard.
If you can leave out that track I'd say the first 4 studio records he released were just about as perfect as it's possible to get.
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Well, I dare say I could list quite a few albums in the 'perfect' category, but just for the moment I'm going to mention the very first record that entered my head when I read the thread title, and it is this:
A mesmerising, profoundly spiritual work, and perfect in every second.
Yeah
That's on my list as well, but I just wanted to whittle it down to five.
There's a lot of great jazz albums, but they all tend to be 'just' a collection of great recordings put together in album form. A Love Supreme was conceived as a whole performance from beginning to end.
And a great cover photo. You can stare at that inscrutable portrait for hours and wonder what he is thinking about.
(Probably wondering what to make for dinner that night or something)
Albums aren't always great because
they're consistently good, but because they're intermittently brilliant. Perfection sometimes resides in the moments that count.
And while we're at it, George Harrison was absolutely right to lambast a man who'd taxed the living daylights out of the very people who were making Britain a place worth visiting again.
He couldn't even manage the economy after he'd been handed one of the biggest cultural windfalls in the country's history.
Many of mine
have gone. Some more:
Propaganda - A Secret Wish
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain
The Cure - Head On The Door
Eno/Budd - The Plateaux of Mirror
Global Communication - Pentamerous Metamorphosis
The Police - Regatta de Blanc
Scritti Politti - White Bread, Black Beer
Bjork - Debut
Grand Drive - The Lights In This Town Are Too Many To Count
Shuggie Otis - Freedom Flight
Issac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
It's Immaterial - Life's Hard And Then You Die
Orbital - In Sides
The Lilac Time - Astronauts
Elvis Costello - King of America
Ah Orbital
What an album..
A Secret Wish and Head On The Door
Throw in Meat Is Murder and Psychocandy and that was my 1985. (Plus the Cocteaus EPs of course)!
You may know this, but when Zane Lowe covered the Radio 1 breakfast show a couple of weeks ago, he played Push! Bizarrely, I think it was selected by the bloke out of Blink 182. I just put on the radio and it was on, I thought I had entered a parallel universe!
Haff Einer Up For
Secret Wish.
In the minority, I know
In My Tribe: 10000 Maniacs
This Is The Sea: The Waterboys
Different Class: Pulp
Great shout Dave
Forgot about 10000 maniacs In my Tribe which might be the most played album in my collection from mid 80's to mid 90's.
Also another shout for Green on Reds Here come the snakes which is astounding and better than all of their other albums combined.
An addition to my list would also be the Edgar Broughton Band 'Meat" album. Every track just right.
Fishermans Blues is the Waterboys album I would select.
Talking of 10000 Maniacs
Natalie Merchant's solo 'Ophelia' is pretty Wonderful.
Also (back on thread)
'Til Tuesday's 'Welcome Home' is a contender (only 'David Denies' drags a bit), as is
'Odessey and Oracle' - The Zombies
also
'Liege & Lief' - Fairport Convention - anyone?
Have an Up for Welcome Home
I adore that album - and David Denies is one of my favourite songs on it. Side One is just perfect.
In...
... Rainbows, Rain Dogs, Kind of Blue and Station To Station.
We need some reggae in here so...
Gregory Isaacs - Extra Classic
The Congos - Heart Of The Congos
Joe Higgs - Life Of Contradiction
Skatalites - Ska-Boo-Da-Bah
U Roy - Version Galore
Burning Spear - Hail H.I.M.
Big Youth - Screaming Target
Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston
Culture - Two Sevens Clash
Lee Perry - Super Ape
Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come
Mighty Diamonds - Right Time
Bob Andy - Song Book
Dennis Brown - Wolf & Leopards
Keith Hudson - Pick A Dub
Bob Marley - Catch A Fire
Bunny Wailer - Blackheart Man
Doctor Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town
Augustus Pablo - East Of The River Nile
Tenor Saw - Fever
Buju Banton - Til Shiloh
Rhythm & Sound - With The Artists
Too many, I know...
Great call on Hail H.I.M. -
what a mighty, mighty album that is.
Possibly Perfect
The Who - Quadrophenia
The Jam - All Mod Cons
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Big Country - The Crossing
Do compilations count?
If yes, I nominate the Rolling Stones - Rolled Gold
I surprise myself
I've given this a fair bit of thought and the album I have settled upon is Troubadour by JJ Cale. Not my favourite artist and far from the most listened to record in my collection but I think it fits the bill in some respects. My theory is that a perfect album is one with a flow and a unity which makes it a complete piece of work. A piece of work that can only be listened to in its entirety, from start to finish, in a certain mood and to fit a time or activity so seamlessly that you couldnt imagine one note more or less being anything other than a compromise. I have never, would never, think to skip or miss a track on Troubadour. It is a casual listen; not demanding, not challenging, never pushing the slender boundaries of JJ's laid back, idiosyncratic sound. But my god it works. It becomes a part of the environment that it is placed into; enhancing and blending in so beautifully that the enjoyment is sensory in every way. A collection of cracking songs well sequenced can't always do that to me, no matter how much I love them.
Sunny garden, cold beer, barbecue, Troubadour. Perfection.
So that is what I've gone for. Not Blood on the Tracks, not On The Beach, not Coles Corner or Nixon. Just a funny little album with no great fuss to it by a man I wouldn't name in my top ten artists. Funny how these things work sometimes.
Veedon Fleece ran it bloody close, mind you...
I'm with you
And it does contain one of the most perfect steel guitar solos ever. Can't remember the name of the track and I can't be arsed to look. But it does. Played by Buddy Emmons IIRC.
EDIT Spookily, as I typed this, listening to FIP (officially the worlds greatest radio station), JJ came on!
Veedon Fleece! Brilliant!
The bridge between Astral Weeks and everything else Van had done up to then. And it's just sublime.
spot on
What a great description.
No one will agree with me.......
But I don't care because to the ears of this beholder they are perfect;
Undertones - Undertones
Counting Crows - August & Everything After
Can't speak for the Undertones...
...but you're not wrong about that Counting Crows album. It's gorgeous.
Taking the idea of the OP very literally
Then I cant agree on A&EA. This was an album I played to death and loved and still play certain tracks (Sullivan street is still beautiful) however for me there is a skipper, Perfect Blue Buildings just never resonated with me in any way.
How weird!
Perfect Blue Buildings is, with Anna Begins, my favourite song on the album!
Some more? How about...
Odelay - Beck
Ritual De Lo Habitual - Janes' Addiction
In It For The Money - Supergrass
Let Love In - NC & TBS
Whatever People Say I Am... - Arctic Monkeys
Ritual...
Side One (in old money) - fairly lame generic early 90s rock
Side Two - one of the most incredible half hours of music ever recorded...go figure
Side one's funky as heck IMHO.
It really creates the perfect atmosphere for the heavenly comedown on side two. The yin & yang, if that doesn't sound too tossy.
Let Love In
would be one of my choices too.
I've seen a
couple of nominations for Mezzanine, but the glaring omission here so far has to be Blue Lines. It's perfect from start to finish. I wouldn't change a single note. Which is why (HYPERBOLE ALERT! HYPERBOLE ALERT!) it's the best British album ever made. OOAABVOW.
Totally agree
with you maggieloveshopey. I don't really like Mezzanine much. But Blue Lines is flawless perfection. A definite contender for Best British Album ever. (I have no idea what OOAABVOW means. But I'll agree with that too.)
OOAABVOW
Other Opinions Are Available, But Very Obviously Wrong
Only problem with Blue Lines is..
it "samples" heavily the mighty Stratus from Billy Cobham's Spectrum for its opening gambit and best track.
Rather spoiled it for me, but having said that, great band, Massive Attack.
and the track
Daydreaming is essentially them talking over a Wally Badarou number...
I had some sort of half arsed epic reply about sampling and the recycling aesthetic worked out, but it's easier to say that, for me at least, it just doesn't matter. They've made great art out of previously used elements, and I'm not sure how different that is from, say, Eric Clapton playing music based on old blues records.
I wouldn't call them
a great band though. Blue Lines I found perfect. Protection had three tracks I adored (Protection, Better Things and Spying Glass) and nothing they've done since has appealed to me at all. Much like The Feeling, The Stone Roses, Dire Straits, UB40 and (dare I say it?) Simply Red, they peaked first time out and never lived up the promise of that initial release, I reckons.
And Tricky's solo debut is a monster of a record
(though not perfect) which he's never come close to matching
I found..
100th Window and Heligoland both of a high standard, not to mention that cracking Best Of from a while back. Take me to places previously only accessible through Prog! And they've got a mellotron!
Come on Captain!
Starfish by The Church.
Seamless.
Sorry!
Deserted my post for a minute there. What he said.
Orchestra Baobab
Pirates Choice.
Not a single note out of place.
Dave and Kev
Bowies Station to Station for me.. and Dexys third album.
Room for a few more?
Here are a few albums which I can honestly say, I never get bored with and could listen right through over and over again:
Brian Eno: Another Green World
Steely Dan: Can't Buy A Thrill
Tom Waits: Raindogs
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Eels: Electro Shock Blues
Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise
Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children
Bob Dylan Bringing It all Back Home
Nick Drake: 5 Leaves Left
All killer no filler
Anita Baker - The Songstress
Bobby Womack - The Poet
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
Sinopoli
Well, this may be the wrong place to mention it, but the Sinopoli/Philharmonia recording of Schubert's 8th/Mendelssohn's 4th would be the one I'd drag from a burning building. An extraordinary, other-worldly intepretation of the Schubert, which is both beautifully pretty, and achingly sad.
Meanwhile, I'm not sure anyone's mentioned:
Come Fly With Me: Frank Sinatra - brilliant concept album, from Rudyard Kipling to pizza and slippers in New York
Sell Out - The Who: oh dear, another concept. And, conceptually, it could be tighter, but the songs are ace, every one; mods as hippies, mods as cultural commentators, mods as madmen
Help! - The Beatles: it isn't their "best" album, and some deem it quite slight, or will take exception to eg Act Naturally. It isn't as strong as AHDN (which is also perfect), but it has a lightness of touch, and a changing understanding of the world it speaks to
Beggars Banquet - The Rolling Stones: surely someone's mentioned this already? C'mon now.
Hmm, Sinatra, Beatles, Who, Stones. That's a bit bleedin' obvious. Better lob in the Distractions' Nobody's Perfect, which is imperfect, but infinitely desirable...
Have been reading 'Life' - Keef's book
and thinking back - Beggars IS superb. As he says, basically every track is blues-based or imbued with the Blues (and a little Country).
Side 1
1. "Sympathy for the Devil"
2. "No Expectations"
3. "Dear Doctor"
4. "Parachute Woman"
5. "Jig-Saw Puzzle"
Side 2
6. "Street Fighting Man"
7. "Prodigal Son"
8. "Stray Cat Blues"
9. "Factory Girl"
10. "Salt of the Earth"
That is a heck of a selection of quality tracks.
Sloppy yet tight at the same time(it's all about Charlie Watts' drums), they are starting to really hit their stride - tracks like 'Stray Cat Blues' have the classic Stones strut/swagger.
The older blues influences and techniques are balanced by contemporary subject matter (student and anti-war unrest etc.).
Great production - has that 'first take' feel, so the production is invisible. Miller understands the form, but reins in the band - there's nothing self-indulgent here.
Question is, is 'Let It Bleed' better or just as good?
Future Days by Can
Now there's a masterpiece.
Indeed it is, Mr Garlic, sir
An excellent choice. And I might even bung in Holger Czukay's "Movies" for good measure.
Hats was my instant thought on seeing the thread title.
also Lexicon of Love.
From an earlier era, I absolutely concur with the earlier recommendation of Francis Albert Sinatra's ...Sings for Only the Lonely and Songs for Swingin' Lovers. Wonderful.
You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
Obviously. And I prefer the original to the Glasgow School. The Glasgow School is a little too perfect. I know Edwyn doesn't agree but I think you need to have another listen, Edwyn. With the greatest respect.
Air
Moon Safari.
It would have to be the following,
The Pogues - If I should fall from grace with god.
Kirsty Macoll - Kite.
The Soundtrack of our lives - Behind the music.
The Who - Who's Next (could do without My Wife though).
It would have to be the following,
The Pogues - If I should fall from grace with god.
Kirsty Macoll - Kite.
The Soundtrack of our lives - Behind the music.
The Who - Who's Next (could do without My Wife though).
Well,
I thought I would struggle, but then again....just based on "all killer, no filler"
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
B52s - Cosmic Thing
Chris Whitley - Living With The Law
Peter Gabriel - So
Tonic - Lemon Parade
David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories
Del Amitri - Twisted / Change Everything
Toad The Wet Sprocket - In Light Syrup (a collection of B sides fer gawdsake)
Grant Lee Buffalo - Jubilee
XTC - Wasp Star / Apple Venus
Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
The The - Soul Mining
Sugar - Copper Blue
John Butler - Sunrise Over Sea
Lloyd Cole - Mainstream
Odds - Neopolitan / Good Wierd Feeling / Nest
Having thought this through, I would nominate:
The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Cocteau Twins with Harold Budd - The Moon and the Melodies
Levy - Glorious
The Wannadies - Bagsy Me
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Propaganda - A Secret Wish
The Isles - Perfumed Lands
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Rattlesnakes
The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
Royksopp - Junior
Vincent
"Gene Vincent Rocks and the Blue Caps Roll".. Pure grist rock n roll.. Amazing energy and musicianship.. Miles ahead of most albums of the time.
Marvin Gaye's Whats Goin' On
Miles Davis Kind of Blue
Just a few qualify...
As someone who always plays CDs on random, sometimes three on shuffle at a time, there are few albums that don't have me reaching for the remote. Of those listed above, I'd second Remain in Light, Rattlesnakes and the most consistent of all High Land, Hard Rain. But, this classic highlights a particularly modern phenomenon - additional bonus tracks taking the shine off classic albums. I appreciate the addition of Orchid Girl and Mattress of Wire to the CD version but that one about the Queen's Tattoos is a clanger that just doesn't sit well with the rest.
I found there were a number of albums that were just one track short of perfect - Boat to Bolivia - The Daintees (Candle in the Middle), Don't Get Weird on Me Babe by Lloyd Cole (Butterfly - What was he thinking?), Songs to Remember - Scritti Politti (Gettin', Havin' and Holdin), Real Life - Joan as police Woman (Whatever the one is with Antony of the Johnsons).
Having stewed on this since yesterday, the one album I can wholeheartedly recommend is the greatly under-appreciated Hope and Despair by Edwyn Collins. I love this album.
Lloyd Cole Butterfly
I love that, one of my favourite Cole tracks ever.
Double thumbs up for Hope And Despair
Absolutely agree. Particularly the one-two punch of the gorgeous melancholy of Coffee Table Song immediately followed by the ecstatic Tamla riffs on 50 Shades Of Blue as opening tracks. Rivalled by Ghost Of A Chance and the title track as the closers, perfect bookends.
Thanks Russell...
For me it's "Let Me Put My Arms Around You", that's my favourite. I think the bit in the middle where it changes key as Edwyn sings "Beeeefoooorrrre!", is my favourite Edwyn moment swiftly followed by one of my favourite Roddy Frame solos. Classic stuff but almost unknown to the world.
Let's have a H&D love fest!
So much to enjoy on that album, and as you say seemingly lost to the world. The lyrics on the title track - about the wandering minstrel "in a badly cut suit, resplendent with afro and electric lute" followed by the wonky guitar line - crack me up every time.
It's the entire package...songs, art, themes, time and place etc
I think a "perfect" album CAN carry one duffer. Revolver and Abbey Road don't lose any lustre due to the presence of Octopus's Garden and Yellow Submarine - they just add to the overall album rather than detract from it. Highlighting the toppermost songs even better.
No doubt referenced elsewhere and blindingly obvious, mine would be...
The Stone Roses (details listed above)
The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow (an album made up entirely of Radio sessions, alternate versions and B sides) captured a band bursting with musical talent and creativity, independent from the world around them. Not a duff track and perfect artwork
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced - Southern Rock's crowning glory. Free Bird, Tuesday's Gone, I Ain't The One. On the cover they looked like the coolest southern outlaws this side of Hounslow Central station. A bunch of talented musicians who had the attitude, the looks and the chops.
Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks - Time/Place/Art/Songs/Attitude. Bang.
ABC - The Lexicon of Love - First time I heard orchestral strings in a pop song. Wonderful songs, wonderfully produced.
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run - yes, even "Meeting Across the River". Perfect.
Deeply unfashionable...
....but I'd contend that Simple Minds put together one of the great flawless runs of all time from Empires & Dance to New Gold Dream.
If only they'd split in late '82 they'd be revered as gods. Possibly.
I'll back you up on New Gold
I'll back you up on New Gold Dream, I think its flawless.
One from last year - Smother by The Wild Beasts.
I'd also probably add Steely Dan and Gaucho
Sister Feelings Call
What a great band they were up until 1984.
I'd love to see a Word piece on early Minds and contemporary interview with Kerr and Burchill. Be nice to get instead his head to get an insight on his thinking for that enormous step change in sound and direction that happened at some point midway in recording Sparkle in the Rain. Just chasing the U2 dream and commercial success? No shame in that at all but would be a fascinating piece.
My View on Where it Went Wrong...
I remember forming this theory between Sparkle in the Rain and whatever monstrosity followed it, in the way that an obsessive teenager can devote time and effort to such a task, that there were three key factors...
1) Replacing Derek Forbes. Let's face it, everything that was good about those early albums depended on his bass-playing.
2) The keyboard player suddenly started to use piano sounds rather than more abstract synthesised sounds.
3) The sinister influence of American producers especially Keith Forsey - see also Psychedelic Furs although I think it worked better for them.
More or less nailed it, I would say.
Plus, for all the mutual admiration prevalent between them and U2 around that period, it seemed odd that ver Minds seemed to jettison all notion of texture whereas U2 added it to their palette with The Unforgettable Fire. Having lost this crucial aspect, they might as well have been Huey Lewis and the News.
Interestingly, Simple Minds are playing a short tour next month featuring only songs from the first 5 albums. Of course it's going to be awful isn't it, but I'm still going just in case.
First five albums?
Fascinating. Seriously. Will there be Twist/Run/Repulsion? Film Theme? This Fear of Gods (brilliant song, n'est pas)?
If only Roxy would do this...
Going to the Barrowlands gig....
- not sure what to expect. It will be strange hearing these songs played by paunchy middle aged men - although to be fair the audience is likely to be of a similar dynamic (yours truly included)
And....Mel Gaynor
The 80's version of Robbie Maddix replacing Reni. No light and shade, no feel or funk. Just BANG, BANG, BANG!
I listened to Once Upon A Time last week. It really is shit. It's like a stereotype of how you'd describe an 80's AOR album to an alien. Bob Clearmountain's production coated everything in a sickly sugary mess; gated snares; synth piano; trite lyrics.
But still, still underneath that mess, you can still hear the genesis of half decent ideas buried deep in the slop. Ghostdancing in particular.
I think they lucked out in getting "Don't You Forget About Me" to #1 with someone's elses song and then just tried a facsimile with "Alive & Kicking".
I honestly have no idea, or even dream of assuming, wtf they were thinking during the "Street Fighting Years" era. The band who wrote Chelsea Girl, Love Song and The American are surely a different band to the ones who churned out Belfast Child, Biko and This Is Your Land. The most peculiar critical and creative demise tied in with mass commercial acceptance. Can only really compare with Ultravox! with Foxx and Ultravox with Ure. Different beasts.
It's a strange tale.
Brian McGee was ace
I especially liked his eccentric habit of leaving his snare off (see Wonderful in Young Life, Fear of Gods, Thirty Frames a Second, In Trance As Mission).
Still at least Homer Simpson was a fan...
"I had a fake I.D.,
My name was Brian McGee,
When I was seventeen".
Some more...
Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk
Black Saint & the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
The Cole Porter Songbook - Ella Fitzgerald
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Future Days - Can
Wilco
Ooh, I forgot about Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Spot on Formbyman!
Excellent call on
the Mingus album
True, but I would go for
True, but I would go for Mingus Ah Um
Excellent call for Future days:
as it just flows all of a piece from start to finish. In a different way, I'd say the same of "Love and Dancing" by the League Unlimited Orchestra (OK - it is a remix album ) - or even the Ramones debut.
And more recently...
For no particular reason, I'm looking at albums from the last 3 or 4 years which have no weak moments, nothing that detracts from the flow.
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (even the children's choir)
The Mummers - Tale To Tell (I love every song)
John Grant - Queen of Denmark (some songs not quite as good as others, but all good at the very least)
The Duckworth Lewis Method (far better than it had any right to be)
Julia Johnson - I Am Not The Night (10 great songs - an amazing achievement)
Shelby Lynne - Revelation Road (a perfect one-woman show)
Yes. Yes. Yes.
To your first three. Seeing Hazards live a couple of years ago was unforgettable.
Because all music's subjective...
My 'perfect' albums are the ones I listen to the whole way through, A to Z, without even the temptation of skipping. That doesn't make them 'perfect' to everyone's tastes, and I'm well aware that some of the choices are very much down to personal taste and - like the poster earlier who mentioned the atmosphere that surrounds the first Stone Roses record - sometimes related to time and place, but do I care? Not a jot.
The Band - The Band
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
The Jimmy Cake - Spectre & Crown
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Radiohead - Kid A
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Richmond Fontaine - The Fitzgerald
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Strokes - Is This It
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You
U2 - The Joshua Tree
U2 - Acthung Baby
This will destroy you
My son introduced my to this band last year and that Kevin is a very good album indeed.
Sticky Fingers vs Teenage Head?
Totally with you on this. And how about Teenage Head by The Flamin Groovies as the perfect, mirror version of Sticky Fingers - it has the same combination of storming rockers (High Flying Baby, the perfect title track), blues (Doctor Boogie, 32-20) and soulful introspection (City Lights and Yesterday's Numbers). And - very arguably - more energetic all round?
I'd nominate Exile on Main
I'd nominate Exile on Main Street, despite its length.
I think the so-called throwaway stuff like 'Turd On The Run' and 'I Just Want To See His Face' are just as great as the more well known tracks. And don't believe anyone when they tell you its all atmosphere and there are no tunes on it. Bollox. What about 'Rocks Off', 'Tumbling Dice', All Down The Line', 'Happy', 'Loving Cup'.
It's the outstanding consistency across 18 songs that make it the greatest album ever made, IMO.
And I'd second the Undertones debut, even the expanded CD.
A close second
to Sticky Fingers, in my opinion. They are both close, but Sticky Fingers just edges it. Whenever I listen to Exile I usually give up during the last third or so. It's just a bit too sprawling.
Forgot
Neil Young - After the Goldrush.
Perfection. No arguments.
Mine are rather obvious choices...
But to my cloth ears, the following are perfection...
Sergeant Pepper
Abbey Road
Ziggy Stardust
The man who sold the world
Dare
Lexicon of love
London calling
Leftism
Every picture tells a story
(Rod Stewarts finest moment? - Mandolin Wind)
Wish you were here
Animals
Captain fantastic & the brown dirt cowboy
Slade alive
The Specials
All Mod Cons
Liberty of Norton Folgate
Billion Dollar Babies
As I say, all very obvious, but, no apologies, I love every note of these albums.
Good shout
for Animals.
It was the album that got me into Pink Floyd.
Many years ago I had a two-fer cassette
tape of Joan Armatrading albums. I can't remember which albums they were but both were perfection. Any suggestions nas to identity?
Maybe the Eponymous 2nd Album 'Joan Armatrading'
and
'Show Some Emotion'?
Here's one I am slightly ashamed of
but I would defend to the hilt:
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Here's one I am slightly ashamed of
but I would defend to the hilt:
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Obviously
not that ashamed
From Autobahn to Computer World
Kraftwerk did five perfect albums in a row. I wouldn't change a note on any of them.
And they conform to the OP stipulation about the perfection of the entire package. I've waxed lyrical on another thread about Trans Europe Express - the original UK LP of which may well be the most beautiful object in the known universe (except for Mrs Moose's knees, of course). It would deserve to be on this thread even if it was an album of silence.
Thankfully it is not.
Yeah totally agree with you
No album, however perfect, can compare to Mrs Moose's knees. *sigh*
[Narrows eyes] Have a care, sir
... those knees are my dominion, and I'll not countenance them being sighed at, in this life or the next...
Sigh at this all you like though:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=179235
Fortunately
I have ready access to Mrs Garlic's knees, which I am more than happy with.
So you have "ready access" and I have "dominion"
... between us do you think things have gone downhill since people were able to write their own wedding vows?
Yep. That's what disappointed me about the recent
"Catalogue" re-masters. The new minimalist covers just about worked for "Autobahn" and "Radio-Activity" but T.E.E. was 'orrible compared with the gorgeous original
I can't believe...
...I didn't mention every R.E.M. album from Murmur to Up. I wouldn't change a note. Not one note. And hell, I'll throw in Chronic Town, even though it's not an album. And even Dead Letter Office is perfect in its chaotic daft jumble.
Flaming Lips
Soft Bulletin.
But lose the pointless remixes at the end.
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Gotta have this one...
Norma Waterson
This Album is just about perfect..incredible musicianship..songs sung with life and soul as they were meant to sung.
These'll do
Highway 61 Revisited
Ziggy Stardust
After The Goldrush
Imperial Bedroom
A Hard Day's Night
The Sound Of Lies
Moondance
John Prine
Blue
Rain Dogs
Some recent and not so recent
"Now Here is Nowhere" - Secret Machines
"De-loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" - Wilco
"The Colour of Spring" - Talk Talk
"War Babies" - Daryl Hall and John Oates
New Boots And Panties
by Ian Dury And The Blockheads.
If it had contained the non album singles Hit Me..., What A Waste, Reasons To Be Cheerful and B side Ain't "Alf Been Some Clever Bastards as well, it would have transcended perfection.
I still love this album, note for note since 1978.
The CD does have them
And yes you're right...
Aqualung
Yes, by Jethro Tull. I am listening to the 40th Anniversary re-master as I type and it is *marvellous*.
It's an album that I'm very familiar with but this is the first time I've actually owned my own copy. The extra disc of goodies was just too tempting to resist. But I'm very glad I went for it.
Aside from the obvious set-pieces - Aqualung, Locomotive Breath,Cross-eyed Mary - that have been live styles for years, there all the little songs that seem fresh as a daisy in this version - Up to me, Mother Goose etc. Steven Wilson has done a superb job on the remaster.
The bonus disc is top notch too.
My only qualm, in fact, is the mis-print in the title. It should be the 20th Anniversay, not the 40th, obviously. Er, shouldn't it?
Agree
It is both perfect and the 40th anniv version sounds fantastic.
It is how
I once imagined that all CDs would sound.
OK, brickbats might be heading my way here, but...
others have mentioned Pink Floyd's Animals - fine.
I'd also like to add the following two:
1. Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe. A wonderful swirling baroque dream pushed through a bunch of oscillators. Wistful, bouncy and plangent all at once, and what about that freaky watching audience cover, huh? (I use that one as an iPhone lock screen wallpaper. It looks great)
2. ELO - A New World Record. How about this for a tracklist? Nine tracks and eight of them could have gone top ten in UK and US: several of them did. Perfect pacing and whacking great smack you round the head hooks. Tightrope is one of my favourite songs ever, with its opening fanfare and swirling, soaring strings.
Tightrope
Telephone Line
Rockaria!
Mission (A World Record)
So Fine
Livin' Thing
Above the Clouds
Do Ya
Shangri-La
Even the fleeting Above the Clouds is a beautiful, aching little gem. The real sound of 1976.
Importantly, both would fit comfortably on one side of a C90. So they don't overstay their welcome.
Yup on ELO
A record I never heard until about 6 weeks ago. It a perfect gem. As you say, 9 tracks, all killer, no filler and after five not-bad-at-all records it all came together perfectly on ANWR. I'm listening to it RIGHT NOW!
Out of the Blue
i would say was when Jeff Lynne hit songwriting perfection. Sure, World Record is great (and agree about Above The Clouds) but OOTB - a double album - does not have a duffer on it.
I very nearly added OOTB
but didn't, purely because I'm not a fan of Starlight. That aside, OOTB is a monster album. It's full of really odd but wonderful stuff like The Whale or Jungle in addition to the dizzying roster of JL earworms. And you have to admire the chutzpah to try Concerto for a Rainy Day (and for it to succeed). And I like the production: of a time, but I love that lush, layered sound.
On my iPhone I have a nice ELO playlist with about 40 or so songs in it, plus three complete albums: ANWR, OOTB and Time (also not quite perfect but pretty close).
I've been listening to Time (The Revelator)
by Gillian Welch & David Rawlings a hell of a lot recently and I can find no defects.
Absolutely!
Spot on - it is an excellent
Spot on - it is an excellent album.
Even the 14 minute I Dream A Highway doesnt get skipped. I think Soul Journey is just as good of an album too
still listen to ..
Simon & Garfunkels 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'
40 years on, and it still sounds great...
Cough, Cough, 'Bookends'
rivals and maybe exceeds it.
Ones that haven't been mentioned
Burial - Untrue
Soul Coughing - Irresistible Bliss
Meshell Ndegeocello - Peace Beyond Passion
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (there seems to be me & one other Massive who likes this but it really is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts)
But the biggest crime of all is the omission of Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom.
How could you, it's wondrous?
I mentioned Untrue
And Rock Bottom seconded. It's got Ivor on it!
Spotted it
I think I was looking for Burial rather than Untrue. Sorry. Have an up!
small handful that come to mind
OK Computer
Glen Gould 2nd recording of The Goldberg Variations
Electric Music for the Mind and Body, Country Joe and the Fish
Dark Side of the Moon
Leonard Bernstein recording for string orchestra of a late Beethoven quartet -- can't remember which Opus number it is, but I played it to death 20 years ago, on vinyl. Not on CD now, and my record deck is in the loft.
The first two albums of All Things Must Pass
Going for the One
The Koln Concert, Keith Jarrett
The Vienna Concert, Keith Jarrett
will that do for the moment
David Ackles - American Gothic
I can think of plenty of 'perfect' jazz albums, but not so many in other genres.
But this, I think, is virtually the perfect 1970s singer-songwriter album.
It's a serious record, and one on which the lyrics count. Every word counts. Intelligent, deeply melancholy, and endlessly rewarding, even 40 years after its release. Listen again.