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Bronco70

Bronco70

world's worst
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My boss and I were having a discussion about how digital music has changed the music industry, and it sidetracked into an inventory of our favorite albums. But I don't want to know what your favorite albums are.

I am curious about the albums that you consider the most complete; albums you never skip any track while listening to. I thought I had a bunch, but I can really come up with just five that grab me with each and every track. There are many that I frequently listen to start to finish, but not always.

There are many that are perfect, save for one track (Appetite for Destruction - Sweet child o mine, and Led Zeppelin IV - Stairway, for example).

My five are:
Led Zeppelin I & II
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The Cult - Love
The Donnas - Spend the Night*

*The qualifier on the Donnas is this: I listen to it while I snowboard, but rarely aside from that. But when I'm riding, each track is pure bliss.

What are your perfect/complete albums?
 
Probably not everybody's cup of tea but the most complete album I've ever heard is:

Metallica-Master Of Puppets

IMO this was the peak of their career and each song is crafted without flaw. It's the perfect mash-up of speed metal (Battery, Master Of Puppets, Damage Inc.) as well as haunting, melodic epics (Sanatarium, Orion, The Thing That Should Not Be).

Usually listen to it when working out or walking. I can't bring myself to ever skip a song. I just feel like I'd be missing too much, even though I've listened to it thousands of times.
 
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade

Huh, that's the only 2 I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Beatles - Revolver
Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The Doors - Strange Days
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Pink Floyd - Animals
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
REM - Green
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Radiohead - OK Computer

Perfect albums are very hard to think of.
 
I have a lot of perfect.

Sheer Heart Attack- Queen
Ten- Pearl Jam
Nevermind- Nirvana
Back to Bedlam- James Blunt (ya I know... thats gay)
The Black Parade- My Chemical Romance
Appeal to Reason- Rise Against
Furr- Blitzen Trapper
Warning- Green Day (probably the least famous Green Day album, but its my favorite and I like every track)

I wanted to include:
Destroyer of the Void- Blitzen Trapper (its perfect, but its only been out for a few days... so it would be wrong to classify
Films About Ghosts- Counting Crows (I HATE ANNA BEGINS!!!)-- also a greatest hits album
A Night at the Opera- Queen (Sweet Lady is terrible) my favorite album overall though
Graduation- Kanye West (my favorite rap album, but there are a couple trash songs like Barry Bonds... and Kanye is a douche)
 
Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
(though all I have is the actual 33 RPM album, so I haven't actually listened to it in over 15 years when my last turntable burned out, I have a few individual tracks on my ipod)
Playlist:
"Mrs. Robinson" – 3:51
"For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" (live) – 2:25
"The Boxer" – 5:08
"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (live) – 1:50
"The Sounds of Silence" – 3:07
"I Am a Rock" – 2:52
"Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel) – 3:09
[edit]Side two
"Homeward Bound" (live) – 2:42
"Bridge over Troubled Water" – 4:51
"America" – 3:33
"Kathy's Song" (live) – 3:22
"El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (Paul Simon, Jorge Milchberg, Daniel A. Robles) – 3:07
"Bookends" – 1:19
"Cecilia" – 2:53

Parallel Lines - Blondie
Eat a Peach - Allman Brothers

Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Side one
"What's Your Name?" (Rossington, Van Zant) – 3:30
"That Smell" (Collins, Van Zant) – 5:47
"One More Time" (Rossington, Van Zant) – 5:03
"I Know A Little" (Gaines) – 3:26
Side two
"You Got That Right" (Gaines, Van Zant) – 3:44
"I Never Dreamed" (Gaines, Van Zant)– 5:21
"Honky Tonk Night Time Man" (Haggard) – 3:59
"Ain't No Good Life" (Gaines) – 4:36


it's true, though, I don't listen to complete albums much at all.
 
My kind of topic.

Bob Dylan - "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blood on the Tracks"
The Beatles - "Rubber Soul"
The Rolling Stones - "Let It Bleed"
The Who - "Who's Next"
Van Morrison - "Astral Weeks"
Willie Nelson - "Red Headed Stranger"
Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells a Story"
Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town"
AC/DC - "Highway to Hell"
Paul Simon - "Graceland"
U2 - "The Joshua Tree"
The Clash - "The Clash" (UK version)
Prince - "Purple Rain"

A lot of others came to mind but then I remembered a song or two that I skip. These albums get played start to finish. Some of my favorite artists/albums get the axe because of one song on an album.
 
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Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love these threads.

Here's my list, the order being of no importance:

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper
Nirvana: Nevermind
The Clash: Combat Rock
Green Day: Dookie
Rancid: ...And Out Come The Wolves
NOFX: Punk In Drublic
Flogging Molly: Swagger
The Police: Synchronicity
Misfits: Static Age
Against Me!: ...As the Eternal Cowboy
No Doubt: Tragic Kingdom
Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique
Wu Tang Clan: 36 Chambers of Death
Snoop Dogg: Doggystyle
The Strokes: Is This It
Green Day: American Idiot
Weezer: The Blue Album
That is all... for now
 
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YB85 said:
I don't count "Greatest Hits".
Click to expand...

yeah, I wasn't sure I should count it and felt sort of guitly for including it on the list, but even with most "Greatest Hits" albums, there'd still be a track or two that I wouldn't want to listen to - - except in the days of turntables, it wasn't so easy to skip a song - that darn needle was awfully tough to reposition.

Plus, I think it included songs that hadn't been on any previous albums but had only been released as singles, but I could be wrong there.
 
Q-Tip - "The Reinassance"
RATM - "RATM"
Mobb Deep - "Hell on Earth"
Michael Jackson - "Thriller"
Dre - "Chronic", "Chronic 2001"
 
If I were to put an R.E.M. album on this list it would be Reckoning. That is incredible from beginning to end.
 
The closest R.E.M. album for me is "Life's Rich Pageant" but that has a couple of songs that rarely get played, but I make up for it by replaying "Fall on Me" a few times. 20+ years later and I still love that song.
 
YB85 said:
I don't count "Greatest Hits".
Click to expand...

Bronco70 said:
I actually meant to bring that up originally. I don't either.
Click to expand...

generally I'd agree, but for stuff that came out in the 60's & 70's when a lot of music first came out on "singles" it's sort of a different situation. Part of the decisions of what might go on the album was based on what had been the hit singles.

Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story - I've got to agree, that's another favorite of mine
Buffalo Springfield - their first album, I think it's just called "Buffalo Springfield"
Cream - their first album, Fresh Cream - haven't listened to it in about 20 years probably :-(


and I'll omit their "Greatest Hits" but add "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to my list - - except that I really couldn't stand the title song. Other than that, it was perfect.
 
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