Every album I’ve ever encountered seems to have a mixture of bangers and one or more meh or outright flops. It’s easier than ever to skip over the tracks now, but as the question asks: what’s is, in your opinion, the perfect album, or does one/can one even exist?
I feel like the perfect album can exist for anyone. Sometimes an album hits just right at a specific time in your life. It becomes the background soundtrack for your day to day life. For me, it is The Postal Service’s Give Up. There are so many reasons I love that album and to me there are no throwaway songs. It feels altogether ephemeral for me.
So yeah, it’s highly subjective, but I think it’s possible for all of us to experience music on this level. I hope you one day experience it, OP.
Heh. For me, in college in the early 90s, nirvana, green day, Soundgarden, etc. But yeah, there’s always one that doesn’t quite seem to fit. Lol
No, but there can be perfect albums for an individual.
For me, there’s a decent number. I tend to have broad taste in music, so I have the advantage of genre access in this kind of thing.
Master of Puppets, Metallica, was the first perfect album I ran across. Not a single track I wanted to skip, and it’s still pretty much impossible for me to make a playlist that includes Metallica that doesn’t have the entire album on it. For years, I would play it to go to sleep to, my tape deck could auto flip, so I would just dub a few from the vinyl (showing my age here lol) and use them for that.
Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time is another.
Adele, 21 is brilliant from front to back.
Tracy Chapman, New Beginning is a fucking masterpiece.
Springsteen’s Born in the USA is perfect.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the album by that name is a great one.
Depeche Mode, Violator. There’s not a stinker on it.
Guns & Roses, Appetite for Destruction was and is a perfect album for sure.
John Lennon did it with Imagine, though barely; there are a couple of tracks that aren’t as good as the rest, but they’re still amazing overall.
Linkin Park could have two; One More Light is definitely perfect in my ears, and hybrid theory is right there with it, though I don’t mind skipping a couple of tracks off of HT sometimes.
Nappy Roots managed a perfect hip-hop album (which isn’t actually easy with me) in Watermelon, Chicken and Grits. Sublimely perfect southern rap. Every track a winner.
Biggie did Ready to Die, and I’d argue it’s the second best hip-hop album of all time.
The greatest is Run-DMC with Raising Hell. How can you top that album as a whole? Every track a banger, every rhyme a killer.
The list could go on. Obviously, I tend to lean into rock, metal, and hip-hop as my most listened genres, but there’s at least one album for me in almost any genre. I’m sure if I delved deeper in some, I would find more.
I’ve gone though a few of these lol. We must be the same age. Ish.
Queen - A kind of Magic
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill is the first album that comes to mind for this question, but if I’m honest I’d skip the track “Perfect”.
Perfect is in the eyes (or ears, in this case) of the beholder. A song can sound like the best thing you’ve ever heard, and you could make an entire album out of it, but the pursuit of perfection is futile.
Ask any artist if they’ve ever released a perfect album, there will not be a “yes”. Every artist is keenly aware of their own faults/shortcomings and end up thinking about what tracks they would have done better. You could have someone make music for a thousand years and they’d still think of something else they could have done the next day. And even then, what sounds better to an artist may not sound better to their listeners, so perfection is simply not worth wasting brain space over.
Good point. Let me ask then: which is your perfect album?
Surprised nobody mentioned Rumors by Fleetwood Mac.
It’s a great album but there is one song on it that is pretty mid, Oh Daddy. I don’t think it can be called the perfect album
I disagree. I know that one’s not as typical/upbeat as much of their other stuff, but I think it carries just as much weight and is a powerful song that helps complete the album.
Giving it a listen! Thanks for the recommendation.
of course!
F♯ A♯ ∞ by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Paul Simon - Graceland is utterly unique and every track is a masterpiece
The same can be said for Pink Floyd - The Wall
Tool – 10,000 Days
Name the genre and I’ll give you one.
Edit: not like make the album, I’ll just tell you about one
Acid jazz
I think TBNH by The Brand New Heavies may only have a less than optimal track but other than that it’s absolutely fire
20 Jazz Funk Greats
Uhh… Are we thinking of same album?
I mean, I just googled it to double check and only one thing came up
Throbbing Gristle isn’t the first name that comes to my mind when someone says acid jazz. I like the idea of this person putting it on expecting Brand New Heavies and getting atonal noise.
P. Orridge is rolling in their grave… but like happy rolling
Alternative/ grunge.
Or movie OST.
Nirvana unplugged in new York
Eh… the best stuff on their unplugged set was the covers. Bowie and Meat Puppets tracks. Hard to give an album a “best of its kind” designation when the best tracks are covers
That’s a weird qualifier. The album is perfect. The question wasn’t “is it perfect if you omit cover songs?”
Alt rock is broad, but if we’re going with grunge, I’d say Nevermind, although purists will say that’s not totally grunge. You run into similar issues with Ten. Both albums are insanely good start to finish though.
In terms of movies, Bernard Hermann or Ennio Moriconne. Both had some bombs and also some bomb ass stuff. When they were on point they were amazing.
Lord of the Rings OST by Howard Shore
movie OST
I find Arrival’s soundtrack by Johann Johannsson pretty much what you would consider a perfect album. All tracks are great. Obviously it’s a matter of taste at the end of the day.
Yeah. Very atmospheric iirc. Never thought to pick it up - will give it a listen.
In Extremo - Raue Spree (live)
Pink Floyd: the dark side of the moon
Let It Be by The Replacements
Beastie boys - Paul’s Boutique Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow Against Me! - Reinventing Axle Rose Justice - Justice The Rapture - Pieces of the people we love
French album for those who speak French : Les Étoiles Vagabondes - Nekfeu
Makes me go through all emotions, excellent writer. It is just the best album to me.
Haven’t heard it, but I’ll look it up. There’s Italian. Japanese, Malay, etc in my collection. I don’t really understand much, but some of the music is brilliant. Thanks!
Stoner witch by the Melvins
You spelled Houdini wrong
