What are your perfect 10 out of 10 albums!

[mountain bed]

It seems like the standards of people's answers here vary widely. Some seem to be replying with their lists of "perfect" albums (a ridiculously high standard) and others with "no songs I skip" (a ridiculously low one). I always have trouble with that perfect album idea...because almost invariably you have songs you like better than others, even on your favorite albums. So when you hit your least favorite song on the album...are you still thinking "ah, perfection!". Example....

 

I haven't seen The Band (The Band) mentioned. Probably here, but I haven't scoured every post. Incredible, rich album that continues to reward repeat listenings for me 40 years later. Is it perfect? I don't know...Cripple Creek is pretty twangy. A half dozen of my favorite songs are here, a few others that aren't so special. Quite possibly my favorite album, but perfect...?

 

Anyway, a few other contenders for me:

 

Katie Lied (Steely Dan)

Rain Dogs (Tom Waits)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco)

Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young)

Hot Tuna (Hot Tuna)

On the Beach (Neil Young)

Larks Tongues (King Crimson)

Red (King Crimson)

Trick of the Tail (Genesis)

Love Over Gold (Dire Straits)

That's a damn fine list right there.

[Shug]

It seems like the standards of people's answers here vary widely. Some seem to be replying with their lists of "perfect" albums (a ridiculously high standard) and others with "no songs I skip" (a ridiculously low one).

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon. OK, maybe, two with Zeppelin IV. In the long list of rock albums that I think are 10 out of 10, most of them have at least one less than perfect quality. But not Dark Side, not for me. I don't care how classic its considered or how well known it is. It is highly regarded because it deserves to be. Lots of "10" albums are that way, but I can't think of a single thing that you could do to make Dark Side a better album. And for that reason, to me it stands alone as a crowning achievement in rock music.

[bleedorange]

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon. OK, maybe, two with Zeppelin IV. In the long list of rock albums that I think are 10 out of 10, most of them have at least one less than perfect quality. But not Dark Side, not for me. I don't care how classic its considered or how well known it is. It is highly regarded because it deserves to be. Lots of "10" albums are that way, but I can't think of a single thing that you could do to make Dark Side a better album. And for that reason, to me it stands alone as a crowning achievement in rock music.

 

Yeah, this thread devolved into "albums I really, really like" pretty quickly.

[tinnitus photography]

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon. OK, maybe, two with Zeppelin IV. In the long list of rock albums that I think are 10 out of 10, most of them have at least one less than perfect quality. But not Dark Side, not for me. I don't care how classic its considered or how well known it is. It is highly regarded because it deserves to be. Lots of "10" albums are that way, but I can't think of a single thing that you could do to make Dark Side a better album. And for that reason, to me it stands alone as a crowning achievement in rock music.

 

 

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains

Silver Jews - American Water

Neil Young - On The Beach

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Om - Advaitic Songs

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will

Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes (ex-supermodel be damned)

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Sebadoh - Bakesale

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange

Boris - Boris At Last: Feedbacker

Blue Öyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation

Verlaines - Hallelujah All The Way Home

Circle Jerks - Group Sex

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

 

 

 

 

 

snark semi-intended

[mountain bed]

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon. OK, maybe, two with Zeppelin IV. In the long list of rock albums that I think are 10 out of 10, most of them have at least one less than perfect quality. But not Dark Side, not for me. I don't care how classic its considered or how well known it is. It is highly regarded because it deserves to be. Lots of "10" albums are that way, but I can't think of a single thing that you could do to make Dark Side a better album. And for that reason, to me it stands alone as a crowning achievement in rock music.

[remphish1]

Yeah, this thread devolved into "albums I really, really like" pretty quickly.

Well I did say what are "your" 10 out of 10.

[Moss]

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon. OK, maybe, two with Zeppelin IV. In the long list of rock albums that I think are 10 out of 10, most of them have at least one less than perfect quality. But not Dark Side, not for me. I don't care how classic its considered or how well known it is. It is highly regarded because it deserves to be. Lots of "10" albums are that way, but I can't think of a single thing that you could do to make Dark Side a better album. And for that reason, to me it stands alone as a crowning achievement in rock music.

 

Yeah, but mine are truly 10/10.

[worldrecordplayer]

Definitely some dicking around after Truckin', but all buildup for the majestic Dew that follows!

Absolutely!

[worldrecordplayer]

I've resolved the live album/ no live album debate in my mind and come down squarely on the side of yes to live album.

 

And so, added to my list, shooting straight to the top with bullets:

 

The Allman Brothers Band- Live at Fillmore East. The most perfect of albums to my ears, still all these many years later.

Grateful Dead- Europe '72

Lou Reed-Rock n Roll Animal

Little Feat-Waiting for Columbus

Jefferson Airplane-Bless Its Pointed Little Head

 

And in the studio category, I add

 

Hot Tuna- Burgers

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I guess I'm on the ridiculously high standard end of things, because if we are talking truly utterly flawless albums (which in my mind is different than 10 stars out of 10 stars possible), for me there is only one...Dark Side Of The Moon.

My answer to this was pretty much the same. I agreed with Highway 61 Revisited (more or less), and mentioned Dark Side of the Moon and One Size Fits All.

Once we started to include jazz, I added A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue.

[mountain bed]

I'd throw in Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus in there, Mr. H. 

[Sir Stewart]

How the bleep does anyone assume "he just really really likes that album, he doesn't think it's a 10/10" when reading others' lists?

[Winston Legthigh]

One Size Fits All.

 

yes.

[Atticus]

How the bleep does anyone assume "he just really really likes that album, he doesn't think it's a 10/10" when reading others' lists?

 

the way I would do it is I would start by thinking about what I think about the album in question and then I would assume that the other person should think about the album like I think about the album and then I would conclude that the person doesn't really think what they claim to think about the album.

[NoJ]

the way I would do it is I would start by thinking about what I think about the album in question and then I would assume that the other person should think about the album like I think about the album and then I would conclude that the person doesn't really think what they claim to think about the album.

 

He's right you know.

[Atticus]

Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses

Wilco - Summerteeth

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

U2 - Joshua Tree (this would be easier to post if the band had broken up after Zooropa)

[Lammycat]

Guns 'n Roses:  Appetite For Destruction

[tinnitus photography]

Guns 'n Roses:  Appetite For Destruction

 

"You're Crazy"

[TCP]

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
Radiohead - Kid A
Beck - Sea Change
Beulah - When Your Heart Strings Break

Magnolia Electric Co - Nashville Moon
Elliott Smith - XO
Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle

[i'm only sleeping]

Ry Cooder - Chicken Skin Music

[luminous]

A 'perfect' album to me  is one of those rare beauties I fall completely in love with and listen to repeatedly for months or years without getting sick of any of it.

It not only sounds amazing but is also full of gorgeous inspiring poetical lyrics.

 

I can't believe no-one else here appreciates

 

Jeff Buckley - Grace, in my book the most perfect album ever hands down.

 

 

 

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Damien Rice - 9

Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

The Swell Season - Once (yeah it's a soundtrack but a pretty perfect one)

Bright Eyes - I'm wide awake It's morning

Justin Townes Earle - Nothings ever gonna change the way you feel about me now

The Smiths - The world won't listen (compilation though but still my choice of Smiths)

I'd forgotten about this one...

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mighty Joe Moon

but it really is a beautiful album I listened to a lot, and then that reminded me of

REM - Automatic for the People

which I thought was perfect back in the day

[Sir Stewart]

I don't consider Grace to be perfect, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the hell out of it.

[Atticus]

"whiny"

[luminous]

I don't consider Grace to be perfect, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the hell out of it.

 

I'm just always surprised at how much Wilco fans here mention The Grateful Dead etc but I hardly ever see mention of Jeff Buckley, I read this whole thread expecting his masterpiece to have come up at least once.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Led Zeppelin --- ZOSO (Led Zeppelin IV)

the Beatles --- Revolver

Wilco --- YHF

U2 --- Achtung Baby

Radiohead --- The Bends

The Band --- The Band

Bob Dylan --- Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks

Bruce Springsteen --- Born to Run

Alejandro Escovedo --- 13 Years

Drive by Truckers --- Decoration Day

Rod Stewart --- Every Picture Tells a Story

 

And there is a difference in my mind between perfect (this has to do with structure, composition strength, performance, coherent theme) and favorite (exclusively revolving around enjoyment)