"Perfect" Albums. Albums you like every song on.

I have many but I give my top 10

1.Marvin Gaye - Super Hits is the crown jewel in Motowns cannon IMO

2.Rod Stewart EPTAS is a wonderful snapshot of what could have been & my fav album from 1970s

3.Beatles RS (US) is the most perfectly paced album in the Beatles catalogue

4.Stones Now is a sexual tour of the Deep South from beggining to end this is early Stones at their best

5.Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits is a comprehensive magnificently compiled 2 LP set of the cream of Peter Green era FM....

The original vinyl is one of the best sounding albums ever released

6.Pere Ubu is one of fav bands and I could have pick numerous albums but if I was going to turn a neophyte on to PU I would choose their 1994 effort Raygun Suitcase....

Avant-garage for the masses(somewhat) if you will

7.Mott The Hoople - Brain Capers was the bands farewell to Atlantic Records...

And its a all out blast of intelligent hard rock in your face punk bombast of a record...

Shamelessly overlooked masterpiece & my fav MTH since its 1972 release

8.Temptations Anthology is a triple album set of the Temps greatest sides...

The only other band to balance the business of sex & politics perfectly were the Stones at the heighth of their career...

They were unsurpassed over the long haul & this 1973 compilation proves why

9.Buddy Holly & the Chirpin Crickets is a Rubber Soul for the 1950s...

Its a relatively short LP but not a second is wasted on this essential piece of rocknroll history...

No comprehensive rocknroll collection is complete without this album.Period.

10.Never Mind The Bullocks Here's The Sex Pistols was the 1970s most thrilling album...

Not since Elvis Hound Dog was heard in the 50s had rocknroll been this abrasive...

Raw belligerent crudely produced in the best Louie Louie style...

Music would be changed forever after NMTBHTSP...

Boy did it sound good !

10.I know but its a tie for # 10 The Sun Sessions - Elvis Presley first sides compiled on a 1976 LP is pure rocknroll heaven

OK these are a few of my favorite complete great albums

 

Albums that have no bad songs is almost every album in my collection. Seriously. So perfect to me requires a lot more than that. It requires every song not just to be adequate but to also be of the highest standard. For me albums that do this are:

With the Beatles - The Beatles (Yes, really.)
The Beatles - The Beatles (Yes, really. There's not one song here I don't adore.)
Abbey Road - The Beatles (Yes, really. I love Maxwell's.)
Catch a Fire - The Wailers
Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon (If My Mummy's Dead wasn't as short as it is, it wouldn't count.)
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd (Yes, really.)
Strange Days - The Doors
Doggystyle - Snoop Doggy Dogg

The albums that get close are:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles: My favourite album of all time, but With a Little Help From My Friends is not one I love. I like it a lot, but don't love.
Rubber Soul - The Beatles: Also one of my all time favourites, but What Goes On is not one I love. I like it a lot, but not love.
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin: Not even my favourite Zeppelin album, but the most consistent. It's only let down by The Crunge.
Animals - Pink Floyd: The Pigs on the Wing tracks are totally inoffensive but aren't good songs.
The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd: I always lose interest by Brain Damage, no matter how into I am at the time.
Morrison Hotel - The Doors: No specific track lets it down, but it just doesn't quite seem 'perfect' worthy no matter how much I love it.
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys: Sloop John B.

 

Megadeth - Youthanasia, Cryptic Writings
Airbourne (any album)
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
Audioslave - Revelations
The Doors - The Doors
Metallica - Kill 'em All
Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles

 

There are many but two that I’ve been listing to back and forth to work this week spring to mind...

Joe Jackson-Look Sharp
Elvis Costello-This Year’s Model

 

Lock Thread!

 

All 5 of Buddy Johnson Orchestra 1950s LP...

1.RocknRoll w/ BJO (1956)
2.Walkin (1957
3.Wails (1957)
4.Swing Me (1958)
5.Go Ahead And Rock Rock Rock (1959)

Every song on these 5 LPs is marvelous...

BJO was the only Black Swing & Jump band from the 1940s to make the transition to 1950s RocknRoll...

These 5 LPs are the only ones in BJO catalogue , he retired in 1961...

But the LPs are proof that if good enough a large orchestra could rock with the best of the youngsters (oft times better)

 

Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On".
Once called the greatest album of all time by Tamla/Motown VP and label-mate: Smokey Robinson.

Motown pres. Berry Gordy on first hearing the song, "What's Going On", called the unconventional protest song (unconventional by Motown standards), the worst song he'd ever heard. The always controlling Gordy wanted that upbeat Motown sound.

Gaye demanded its release--either release the record "or I walk". After a four month deadlock, Gordy relented. It soared to No.1 on the R&B singles chart. Gaye went on to record his top selling, heartfelt and inspired concept album; what is now hailed as "one of the greatest albums of all time".

"What's Going On" went on to become Motown's best selling album, ever. Put it on.




What's Going On...full album play.

 

Freedy Johnston- Can You Fly
Love - Forever Changes
Television- Marquee Moon

 

tough one , most albums have one throw away . try these

Zep , Houses of the Holy although it took me years to appreciate the Crunge
Joe Bonamassa , Live at the Greek
Floyd , Animals
UFO , Strangers in the night { listening to right now }
Stones , Beggars Banquet
Tangerine Dream , Force Majeure
Fleetwood Mac , Rumours
Derek and the Dominoes , Live at the Fillmore
Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Monk , self titled
Peter Gabriel , 3rd album
Moby , Play and 18

Im sure there are more , Im not a fan of greatest hits albums

 

Darn almost forgot , add to post above
Lou Reed , Coney Island Baby

 

Subjective thread is subjective.
I dislike every track on some of these albums.

 

I know my list looks Metacriticy but issa my opinion so

Part 1.

 

Yep...

 

Part 2.

 

Godbluff - Van Der Graaf Generator

 

+1 for Coney Island Baby

 

Give me a let down every day

 

Burial - "Untrue"

Lacrimosa - "Echoes"

Depeche Mode - "Violator"

The Smiths - "The Queen is Dead"

 

Perfect album?
Ten very good songs (not necessarily great ones) perfectly sequenced
A perfect sequence is essential to me even if the songs are merely good

 

This was a great thread! I read every entry and am glad I did.
All I can add is that some artists are so great that I love vast swaths of their careers and, consequently, many of their albums entirely-which explains why my record collection is somewhat large.
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Mel Torme
Miles Davis
Duke Ellington
Louis Armstrong
John Coltrane
Albert Ayler
Elvis
Buddy Holly
Bo Diddley
Little Richard
Chuck Berry
James Brown
Curtis Mayfield
Marvin Gaye
Otis Redding
Aretha Franklin
Beatles
Bod Dylan
Kinks
Rolling Stones
.....and many, many more

 

Every Beatles album except the White Album (only because I don't like Wild Honey Pie).
Blue
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Highway 61 Revisited
Who's Next

Some of my other favorite artists were very singles-based (Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, a bunch of Motown groups).

 

The correct answer is, of course, Born to Run.

 

Crap you're right. That one should be on my list. Also, Southbound (Doc Watson)

 

Jackson Browne - Running On Empty.

 

Born to Run is my favorite album of all time, but some others that come to mind (and, considering the title of "like every song on", I won't just rattle off my favorite albums but will focus more specifically on ones that have the least I dislike, since of course a better overall album can still have a larger weak spot):

• Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel of Love. (1987) Every single song here contributes crucially to the narrative. It's my #3 Bruce album overall so not quite BTR level -- but I believe it may have a higher floor. I don't know. I don't see what song you can really take out at any rate, each one is so important to the whole. "Cautious Man" would be the weakest, but it's also the most concise and direct picture of what the album's really about, so that one's not. My least favorite probably ends up being "Walk Like A Man" but that one still has a very important place. I ultimately wouldn't really change anything here.
• Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle. (1973) My #4 Bruce album (in case you're wondering, my #2 is Darkness -- but I don't put it here because I think it has a lower floor than some of these albums; I don't care much for the album version of Prove It All Night) and, I mean, what do you even say here. 99% of people on the planet will agree the worst song here is "Wild Billy's Circus Story" but that one's probably not even my least favorite and I think it does some fun things. Literally everything else is an indispensable classic.
• Bruce Springsteen: Magic, my #5. (2007) While my least favorite songs off TOL, WIESS, and BTR are still great, I think Magic has the highest floor of any Springsteen album. I think the worst song here has to be "Your Own Worst Enemy", I guess? But that one's still a very solid, fitting Magic track with nothing wrong with it. It's definitely the best worst song on any Bruce album I can think of.
• David Bowie: ★. (2015) I'll admit that I don't really need "Sue" here and would ideally swap it out. But everything else is so ****ing next-level perfect and outstanding and necessary and distinct, and concise yet beautiful and artistic, that I mean this one is just an absolute masterpiece. This absolutely deserves to literally immediately be included in every single conversation about the best albums ever released, without exception, until the end of time. It's an absolute legend's swan song and transformation of his own impending death into work of art, a meditation on mortality from a guy whose hair was falling out while shooting videos and a parting gift to fans of one of the greatest icons on the history of pop culture. What more do you want?
• Deep Blue Something: Home. (1995) If I try to think of an album that obviously doesn't quite hit the heights of ★ or most Bruce albums, but where I just straight-up ****ing REALLY LIKE every single song without a single distinct low point, and that I can listen to (and have listened to) over and over and over again, it's this. This is the most listenable album for me time and time again.
• The Academy Is...: Santi. (2007) Bit of a deeper cut here but I ****ing love the album and it's got nothing I'd really change. It's maybe got a lower floor than Home ("Chop Chop") but that's still a solid song and everything else here is pretty clutch, it probably more readily hits its ceiling. This is a gem.
• Queen: A Night at the Opera. (1975) How ****ing original of me, right? Only real miss for me here is "Good Company" which is still totally fine and has a decent enough story with a good message. Obviously like everything else here is great.
• Bruce Springsteen: The Rising. (2002) The floor here is probably, like, "The Fuse" or "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)"? But "The Fuse" has only grown on me more as time goes on -- it's an interesting song -- and Let's Be Friends provides some necessary, heartfelt levity. It's fluffy, but the album needs that moment of fluff to really work and be well-rounded; it's basically doing in practice what the rest of the album preaches about and provides a nicer foil to "Worlds Apart". I do wish he'd found a place for "Down in the Hole" somewhere, though -- but I guess that one sounds too much like "Paradise" and covers too similar of subject matter to "Countin' on a Miracle", so.

PERFECT is a very strong word that I want to use conservatively, even less often than I'd like to use it. So some very, very near misses:

• Bruce Springsteen: Darkness on the Edge of Town. (1978) My 2nd favorite Bruce album, and from a songwriting perspective it's almost certainly his most impressive. As thematically unified as The Rising or TOL but in a much subtler way with fantastic links between the song that reward attentive listens, and obviously filled to the brim with all-time classics. If I were talking about BEST albums, this one makes it in easily, it's my second-favorite album of all time. (Sometimes third depending when you ask me, but.) But if I'm looking for "like every song", Prove It just doesn't do it for me here all that much. This is a terrible opinion you should totally disregard, but it is what it is.
• Better Than Ezra: Surprise. (1990) This is absolutely in the Home category of "does nothing wrong", but it just doesn't quite get diverse enough or hit enough highs for me to call it "perfect", either. Flawless, definitely, but perfect, not quite. So it falls short for kinda the opposite reason these others do -- too low a ceiling rather than too low a floor.
• Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska. (1982) I just don't like "Highway Patrolman". And "Used Cars" is clearly just okay. The other 8 are a perfect album without question, though!
• R.E.M.: Automatic for the People. (1992) "Monty Got A Raw Deal" and "New Orleans Instrumental No. 2" are totally fine, adequate songs, but could be better. The rest is a perfect album!
• Butch Walker: The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites! (2006) Hey, look, it's my avatar! I don't know, "Paid to Get Excited" and "Rich People Die Unhappy" could be better or cleaner or tighter or something. The rest is a perfect album, though!

Surely still forgetting some stuff.