Your perfect albums

[dinorider]

What's yours? By perfect album I mean those albums that are almost to good to be true. Where there isn't one song or moment that breaks the greatness. Albums that years from now could be classified as legendary (or already are). As for me:

OK Computer by Radiohead
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes
The Shepherd's Dog my Iron & Wine
Maestro by Kaizer's Orchestra
In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

 

[Charlie]

Whatever People say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

Just because there's no song on there that I don't care for or would skip if listening to the full album. Perhaps 'perfect' is a bit strong but...

Hot Fuss - The Killers

I enjoy this album even more, and I think people will be listening to this for years to come.

Berlin - Lou Reed

Just sensational. Not a bad song on there, and plenty of great ones. I have to restrain myself from listening to it too much, lest I have too much of a good thing.

Transformer - Lou Reed

Yeah, another Reed. Probably not as good as Berlin, but it's one of the first albums I ever listened to that I truly loved.

The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Just gets better every time I listen to it.

White Light/White Head - The Velvet Underground

Only six songs (if 'The Gift' can be called a song), but I love this album.

 

[Nam Repaid]

Sticky Fingers - The Stones

 

[Lil Snap]

The first 2 that pop in my mind as "perfect" but not really

Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
Foo Fighters- Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

I just don't think there is a bad song on the FF disc.

 

[Asher]

1- The Beatles = probably one of the best compilations ever
Countdown to Ecstasy - Steely Dan = just a great well rounded album
Discovery - Daft Punk = one of the best electro-house albums ever

My gosh, there are so many, I can't name them all...

And PadDaBrat, I agree with you on Sheperd's Dog, and I love The Creek Drank the Cradle as well. : )

 

[Fire2box]

Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes

You forgot to mention Fevers and Mirrors by Bright Eyes too.
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Now playing: Bright Eyes - Hit The Switch
via FoxyTunes

 

[dinorider]

And PadDaBrat, I agree with you on Sheperd's Dog, and I love The Creek Drank the Cradle as well. : )

Sam Bean is the only man in my book who can pull of a beard like that entirely based on his music. Also, I vote the album cover of Shepherd's Dog the best in my collection. It's just ****** beautiful in a slightly disturbing way. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about:

You forgot to mention Fevers and Mirrors by Bright Eyes too.

While I love those as well, but my favorite will probably always be Digital Ash. I just don't feel that they have the same continuous feel to them. Each song is great, and many are better than some of the ones on Digital Ash, but they play better on their own than as a whole album. Just my .5 Swedish Crowns.

 

[avery]

In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

definitely one of the most truly perfect albums of all time.

i'd also have at least one radiohead album on there, though it might be "the bends" rather than OK computer, which has a couple of tracks that i tend to skip.

i might also include:
moon safari by air
either/or by elliott smith
things we lost in the fire by low
disintegration by the cure
to the teeth by ani difranco
nothing's shocking by jane's addiction
various beatles albums, especially sgt pepper's
various stones albums

...probably some others as well. there are too many perfect albums to list just a few. these are albums that have changed my life in one way or another.

bright eyes would not make my list of perfect albums, but i have to weigh in and say that i agree with fire2box: fevers and mirrors is a much better album than digital ash, even though it IS more whiny and emo. digital ash has only one truly great song on it, while fevers and mirrors has quite a number of them, even if it also has that annoying sunrise sunset song on it that i always skip.

 

[Thallis]

Who's Next - The Who
Rust in Peace - Megadeth
The Fall of Ideals - All that Remains
Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
As Daylight Dies - Killswitch Engage
Train of Thought - Dream Theater
atoxicity - System of a Down

 

[Alex888]

After Forever by After Forever
Scattered Ashes: A Decade of Emperial Wrath by Emperor
The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance (It really is fantastic; give it a chance)
Once by Nightwish
Dark Passion Play by Nightwish
Century Child by Nightwish
200 km/h in the Wrong Lane by tATu (yes, really)
The Silent Force by Within Temptation

I also really love Blackout by Britney Spears >o>

 

[Lowie]

Hmm. The only one I can think of is

Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys.

 

[T00L]

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence - Glassjaw
Is This Thing Loaded? - Northstar
Undertow - TOOL
Tell All Your Friends - Taking Back Sunday

 

[dogboy]

The Beatles' "Abby Road", which I think is one of the most brilliant rock albums, though now dated. If you're old like me, you bought the record when it came out. The first side had songs that all used different melodies. The second side used many of those melodies and intricately wove them all together. Incredible for its time.

 

[m8mamiya]

hmmm i liked the Boys like Girls self titled album...and Paramores Riot

 

[secretdl26]

Bon Iver- Bon Iver
Beck- Guero, Modern Guilt
Modest Mouse- Good News for People Who Love Bad News

I'm sure I have others, just can't think of them right now.

 

[satyrical]

"Chroma" by Cartel

It explores human emotion and longing for meaning, and it's really catchy.

"Jesus Freak" by dc talk

It's a Christian Rock album... actually it's the Christian Rock album. It's dark, it's uplifting, it's sad, it's happy, and it really, really rocks.

"Access:d- Live Worship in the Key of D" by Delirious?

Another Christian album (it's my sort of music), this is a flawless live album. I hated live recordings until I downloaded this. So high-energy, pretty much every song is a pump-up song.

"Ten" by Pearl Jam

It took Cobain's grunge and perfected it. Then cranked out a handful of songs that showed it.

 

[Dawes]

Charlie, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are awesome! What a great choice of an album!

For me, Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days is one of the best albums of all time. It's a shame that it was not received so well, and that its follow-up was one of the most disappointing musical attempts anyone could ever make.

William Shatner's Has Been is one of the most emotionally charged albums I've ever listened to. Believe it or not, this collaboration with Ben Folds is one of my favorite collections of music of all time.

Billy Joel's 52nd Street. Classic, underrated, forgotten. Perfect.

 

[Chaoswolf]

Ænima - Tool
Songs:

Stinkfist
Eulogy
H.
Useful Idiot
Forty Six & 2
Message To Harry Manback
Hooker With A Penis
Intermission
Jimmy
Die Eier Von Satan
Pushit
Cesaro Summability
Aenema
(-) Ions
Third Eye

I know some of the song titles seem very offsetting but believe me the songs are awesome. Think of Tool like a new age Pink Floyd thats a lot heavier.

 

[spacemanBEN]

There have been several perfect albums that I have come across in my years of music listening. Perfection is hard to come by (though some bands seem to teeter near the brink of it album after album like post-Pablo Honey-Radiohead), but it sure is beautiful. Instead of making a list, I will simply name the most recent perfect album that I've heard.

Oceans Will Rise - The Stills

 

[mizzycub]

These are all albums I love just listening too all the way through. I don't have so much music on my computer, MP3 player and so on, and only started listening too it recently, so I don't know so much.

Kid A - Radiohead
My insticts were to say OK Computer, but there are one or two tracks on there I am not so keen on, whereas Kid A I love just to drift off into. OK Computer was probably more innovative, but for me Kid A is perfect. Also, an album written with the intention of being completely different so they didn't sound like all the people copying there previous album. You can't beat that!


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles
True innovation can be hard to hear when it was truely innovative over 40 years ago, but for me this album is perfect. It just ... works. Everything fits together. First time I listened too it I was amazed. It was produced with the intention of doing stuff differently, and even though it is no longer different after 42 years of copying, but it still sounds... great. It is like suspense in movies and Alfred Hitchcock - you have seen it all before in loads of movies done since, but you see it there and it is the first time ever.


The Wall OR Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
This one is difficult for me. I think Dark Side of the Moon is the better album, but something in me just doesn't want to call it perfect. It is like the story and feel of The Wall covers over its weaknesses to create an object which while it has more faults than Dark Side of the Moon, forms a better thing as a whole. However, I don't feel that they can both be perfect. I'd rather listen to the Wall. I'd rather play Dark Side of the Moon.

Ta-dah - Scissor Sisters
It came as a surprise to me when I wrote this down, but I realised it is one of the few albums I truly love to listen two. I will sing or hum along all the way through, I will get incredibly bouncy off it, it is music that just gets into my whole body. In terms of musical quality it might not be as good as the others on this list, in my opinion at any rate, but I love it and it deserves to be here.

Different Class - Pulp
This is as much poetry to notes as music with lyrics. From the start of Common People to the end of Bar Italia this album will catch my attention and drag me along with it. Some albums I find myself missing songs as I focus on whatever I am doing with music in the background. It wants to be heard, and I don't mind hearing it. Again, and again, and again.