Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: rogerzilla on 04 April, 2009, 08:41:16 pm
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I'm thinking of the sort where there are no duff tracks and you can imagine pretty much any of them being released as a single. They're very rare - the only two I can think of, which by coincidence are both debut albums with eponymous titles, are The Stone Roses and The Doors.
Any others? No concept albums, however good, because the tracks aren't supposed to stand in isolation.
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Parallel Lines
6 out of 12 tracks were singles, the rest were PD good too.
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I don't think there are many. I was thinking of Light and Magic by Ladytron, but there's some filler in there.
Ah, wait - Among My Swan by Mazzy Star. Elegant and lovely the whole way through. In fact, I think I'll listen to it now :)
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Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks.
Consistently excellent, but imagining some as singles, hmm, don't know, but each song stands on its own merits.
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Pet Sounds except they ruined it with Sloop John B (even though it was a hit single).
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Richard and Linda T, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight"
Sheer perfection.
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Morcheeba - Big Calm, not a bad song on it.
My Chemical Romance - Black Parade
Soulfly - Soulfly (although that kinda falls down on the acid "release as singles" test.... :) )
At that is about all I can think of right now.
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Rumours - Fleetwood Mac. One of a very few albums where I can listen to all of the tracks.
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I agree with Stone Roses and Parallel Lines. Also:
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
Kirsty MacColl - Kite
The Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
Breeders - Last Splash
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
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Closer - Joy Division Hardly any singles, but all tracks stand up.
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Born to Run
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Rumours - Fleetwood Mac. One of a very few albums where I can listen to all of the tracks.
+1 :thumbsup:
Eliminator - ZZ Top
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Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
Sergeant Peppers... (of course)
Alla får påsar - Magnus Uggla (a rip-roaring pisstake of Swedis society)
Edit - I forgot Graceland - Paul Simon
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I don't think there are many. I was thinking of Light and Magic by Ladytron, but there's some filler in there.
Ah, wait - Among My Swan by Mazzy Star. Elegant and lovely the whole way through. In fact, I think I'll listen to it now :)
hmm, following that theme:
Automatic by the Jesus and Mary Chain - not all singles, but all very good tracks.
And Leonard Cohen - Songs Of?
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Joe Satriani has at least a couple; but I'll nominate Surfing with the Alien (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfing_with_the_Alien).
Liquid Tension Experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Tension_Experiment_(album)) eponymous album is just superb.
On the jazz scene, Wes Montgomery's Incredible Jazz Guitar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Jazz_Guitar_of_Wes_Montgomery) is a must have.
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Richard and Linda T, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight"
Sheer perfection.
Nah - Shoot Out the Lights be the one ;)
.alt country?
Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass is pretty fine all the way through.
I've lots of good albums - but one with not a single duff track is a rare thing*.
*- fine as a bee's wing, even ...
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Deguello by ZZ Top is about the only album I can bear to listen to on random. Every track a scorcher.
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac's already been mentioned.
Easter - Patti Smith. Well, er, I guess quite a lot of it would have left the singles charts completely untroubled, but it storms.
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Portishead - Dummy
Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
Butthole - Surfers Hairway to Steven
Nirivana - Bleach
Cerys Matthews - Cockahoop
Can - Soundtracks
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Massive Attack - Blue Lines
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Murmur ~ R.E.M.
Moon Safari ~ Air
Live at Massey Hall ~ Neil Young
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Sabotage ~ Black Sabbath
The 1999 Party ~ Hawkwind
Ooh CrikeyIt's... Lawnmower Deth ~ Lawnmower Deth
Songs For The Deaf ~ Queens Of The Stone Age. "Six Shooter" is a bit duff, but mercifully only lasts for 1:191.
Animals ~ Pink Floyd
Rum, Sodomy & The Lash ~ The Pogues
Lust For Life ~ Iggy Pop
New York ~ Lou Reed
Rattus Norvegicus ~ The Stranglers
White Light/White Heat ~ The Velvet Underground
I'm afraid Rumours is excluded on the grounds of "Oh Daddy" being unbearably wet.
1 - Fun House by the Stooges loses out here coz "LA Blues" is nearly five minutes long
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Simon & Garfunkel:
- Sounds of Silence
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
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One last one, I promise, every song a sing-a-long favourite (but only in the right company of course)
The Macc Lads - Live At Leeds, The Who????
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Rum, Sodomy & The Lash ~ The Pogues
Yup. That's pretty good all the way through
New York ~ Lou Reed
A bit curate's egg to my taste. I tend to skip quite a lot of tracks. I'd class it as an interesting complete work with some very good individual tracks.
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Marc Almond - Enchanted
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Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
(Their next album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (!) was completely the opposite - every other track was a duffer. Then they completely lost it.)
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Fantastic title though.
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Animals ~ Pink Floyd
Hey, no concept albums allowed! Or would you not call that a concept album?
It's probably the reason I like Battersea Power Station so much anyway.
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Live At The Apollo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_the_Apollo_(1963_album)) - James Brown & The Famous Flames, 1963. More a recording of the perfect gig really, but listening to it through you really get a sense of the excitement in the audience and sheer showmanship of Brown and the band. I wish I could have been there.
Testament to it's perfectness?: R&B disc jockeys often would play side 1 in its entirety, pausing (usually to insert commercials) only to return to play side 2 in full as well.
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Not to everyone's tastes, but:
Bat out of Hell
Appetite for Destruction
(+1s for ||el Lines, Rumours, Reckless and Graceland - all great albums)
Eurythmics - Revenge (perhaps 9.5/10 ...)
Michael Jackson - I think Thriller had more singles than Bad, and rightly so.
I have compilation albums from the Who and the Police - based on these, there MUST be a 'proper' album by both artists that belongs in this thread!
None of these are my 'favourite' album, but I'd happily listen to them end-to-end.
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Any of the first 4 Steely Dan albums - Katy Lied in particular.
Little Feat: Sailin' Shoes.
Showing my age a bit ;D
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Never a dull moment -Rod Stewart
Blue-Joni
Another vote for Rumours
After the Gold Rush Neil Young.
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Joni Mitchell - "For the Roses"
not one duff track on it IMHO.
BTW I don't think that a "perfect album" either ought to or can consist of releasable singles...they're divergent criteria doncha think?
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New Boots and Panties - Ian Dury.
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Any of the first 4 Steely Dan albums - Katy Lied in particular.
Little Feat: Sailin' Shoes.
Showing my age a bit ;D
+1 on both counts.
and for my six pen'orth..
"Street Survivors" - Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Ok so most of the tracks are a bit long for singles but Steve Gaines had added a new dimension to the band just before tragedy struck.
"461 Ocean Boulevard" - Eric Clapton.
This one did produce a hit in the shape of "I shot the sheriff" but I never understood why we didn't hear more from this album.
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Joni Mitchell - Blue
Most of her albums have a couple of tracks I'm not keen on but this one I could leave on repeat for days.
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Christina Aguileraleralera's Stripped.
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Joni's Blue is a sometimes perfect album. I have listened to it on repeat all day, but sometimes, it's just too screechy. Tapestry by Carole King is in the same category.
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Had they made Led Zepplin 2 without the drum solo track it would have been the absolute defination of the perfect album.
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New Boots and Panties - Ian Dury.
Oh yes :)
So glad I went to see him for one of his last gigs in Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Most of her albums have a couple of tracks I'm not keen on but this one I could leave on repeat for days.
Agreed.
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I think...
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
The Postal Service - Give Up
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
...don't have a bad track between them.
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Talking Heads.
Remain in light.
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American Beauty by The Grateful Dead.
I never tire of listening to this. Every track has something to say.
London Calling by The Clash.
Awesome album, as fresh today as the day it was released.
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Ah maybe more Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense.
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London Calling by The Clash.
Awesome album, as fresh today as the day it was released.
+1 I can remember listening to pre-release tracks from it on John Peel, not a bad track on it. Not one
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London Calling by The Clash.
Awesome album, as fresh today as the day it was released.
+1 I can remember listening to pre-release tracks from it on John Peel, not a bad track on it. Not one
Contrarily, I think Combat Rock is better ...
More genre stuff - trad folk:
Planxty - After the Break (song-set-song-set format: not a duff track, from The Good Ship Kangeroo to the bonkers 13/8 time set to finish)
Andy Irvine & Paul Brady - Andy Irvine & Paul Brady
Nic Jones - Penguin Eggs
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+1 for Eliminator (the Collector's Edition's fab even if you already had the original).
Mine, in no particular order of preference:
Goldfrapp 'Supernature' (I'm more a fan of their slinky electro stuff rather than the folky bits)
Jean-Michel Jarre 'Oxygene'
Kraftwerk 'Trans-Europe Express' (I'm not going to count 'The Mix' or 'Minimum-Maximum'- though both of those are 'all killer no filler', but compilations should be...)
Faith No More 'Angel Dust'
Skinny Puppy 'ViVIsectVI'
Ministry 'Psalm 69'
and last, but most definitely not least,
Metallica 'Master of Puppets' (particularly good heard live in the middle of 60k+ people, Download '06).
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I'm thinking of the sort where there are no duff tracks and you can imagine pretty much any of them being released as a single. They're very rare - the only two I can think of, which by coincidence are both debut albums with eponymous titles, are The Stone Roses and The Doors.
Any others? No concept albums, however good, because the tracks aren't supposed to stand in isolation.
I'm not sure that's my idea of a perfect "album" - surely the point of an album is that it's meant to be judged as a whole? And while I agree that Stone Roses is a perfect album, I wouldn't agree that every track on it could be released as a single - Elizabeth My Dear, for example? Same goes for several of the other records mentioned so far.
BTW I don't think that a "perfect album" either ought to or can consist of releasable singles...they're divergent criteria doncha think?
Exactly! And surely all the best albums are "concept" albums to some extent? Simply because they are conceived as a whole rather than as the sum of their parts.
The Beatles - Revolver is the only candidate I can think of for a perfect album on which every track could work as a single. Maybe Rubber Soul as well. Plus...
Richard and Linda T, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight"
Sheer perfection.
Funnily enough, I've been listening to that a fair bit recently, and I have to agree with your assessment.
Graceland - Paul Simon
Seconded.
London Calling by The Clash.
Awesome album, as fresh today as the day it was released.
Another good shout.
d.
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I'd agree with Beatles' Revolver, and maybe Rubber Soul, but I can't recall the tracklisting.
London Calling, for sure. On the money every time, though parts have dated worse than others.
Exodus by Bob Marley. Actually, Natural Mystic is more the thing, but it's a compilation.
I've just been reminded of Eden by Everything But The Girl. Just brilliant.
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I'd agree with Beatles' Revolver, and maybe Rubber Soul, but I can't recall the tracklisting.
Revolver
1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. I'm only sleeping
4. Love you to
5. Here there and everywhere
6. Yellow submarine
7. She said she said
8. Good day sunshine
9. And your bird can sing
10. For no one
11. Dr Robert
12. I want to tell you
13. Got to get you into my life
14. Tomorrow never knows
Rubber Soul
1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won't See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. Word
7. Michelle
8. What Goes On
9. Girl
10. I'm Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life
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Ah. Forgot Yellow Submarine. That's cringingly bad. :-\
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Ah. Forgot Yellow Submarine. That's cringingly bad. :-\
Fits the criteria of the discussion by virtue of the fact that it was a hit single, though. ;)
Tbh, I don't think it's such a bad song anyway - its skin-crawling effect is probably a case of over-familiarity breeding contempt.
d.
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Dark Side of the Moon ~ Pink Floyd
May fall into the cateory of a 'Concept Album' but surely still worth a vote.
Played in its entirety it still sounds great today.
The most radio played track Money is my least favourite !
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Metallica 'Master of Puppets'
That's pretty good. I'm glad I find another album I could have listed in the other posts! (I also read a mention of Led Zep' somewhere earlier)
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From the 2nd post onwards, this has just become a meaningless list of random people's favourite albums.
Mine is The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths.
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Nirvana Unplugged in New York
NIN Pretty Hate Machine
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I don't like the idea of a 'Perfect' album. In our I Pod age we have lowered our tolerance, Albums used to be listened to 'warts and all', even 'Plaistow Patricia' on 'New Boots and Panties'. now we just extract the 'good' tracks. So I'd argue that a 'Perfect' album should have at least two dud tracks. That's what distinguishes a fan, sticking with an artist through the dross.
Damon.
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From the 2nd post onwards, this has just become a meaningless list of random people's favourite albums.
Feh! Note how I excluded "Fun House" on the grounds that "LA Blues" is five minutes of Iggy Pop howling like a narwhal constipated leopard while the rest of the band make a noise akin to the aftermath of a pound of Semtex going off in Denmark Street. But if pushed to name my favourite album, it'd still be up there with the rude boys.
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From the 2nd post onwards, this has just become a meaningless list of random people's favourite albums.
Feh! Note how I excluded "Fun House" on the grounds that "LA Blues" is five minutes of Iggy Pop howling like a narwhal constipated leopard while the rest of the band make a noise akin to the aftermath of a pound of Semtex going off in Denmark Street. But if pushed to name my favourite album, it'd still be up there with the rude boys.
Hear hear, Mr L. I haven't picked many more of my favourite albums because of one or two duffers (or at least 'less favourite' tracks). I followed the original brief.
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Most of my favourite albums I've had to miss off because of one or two duffers.
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Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
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From the 2nd post onwards, this has just become a meaningless list of random people's favourite albums.
I think people have made efforts to pick albums with all-good tracks that could imaginably be released as singles. No one said anything about them having to be hit singles if they were actually released!
If we're supposed to be talking about (proper) albums absolutely full of potential hit singles, then of course they are very rare indeed. But who cares about hit singles anyway (stuff other people buy) - compared to perfect albums (music you love completely)?
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Nirvana's Nevermind probably qualifies but I much prefer In Utereo, which definitely doesn't. :)
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I agree with Stone Roses and Parallel Lines. Also:
The Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
+1 What a spiffing album that is.
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From the 2nd post onwards, this has just become a meaningless list of random people's favourite albums.
Well, I didn't mention one Half Man Half Biscuit album & they rate among my favourites - but they are an acquired taste. Graceland doesn't have a bad track on it; Little Earthquakes - aside from Man & a Gun - could be hits all through. Alla får påsar from '93 is a fantastic broadside at Swedish society and was heavily mined for singles over there. Can you imagine a mainstream pop act over here doing a song about Diana performing oral sex? That's what Uggla did about crown princess viktoria.
The Smiths, I'll agree, did some superb albums.
Did anyone mention Eliminator by ZZ Top?
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Don't like Eliminator as much as the earlier ZZ Top albums but it is a perfect pop album non the less.
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I'd agree on Pet Sounds, Penguin Eggs and Blue. Last Splash I love too.
But no one has mentioned by 'Forever Changes' by Love - the very definition of a perfect album!
Also:
'Kind of Blue' by Miles Davis.
'Getz/Gilberto' by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto.
'Elis and Tom' by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim. Never heard of it? You should have...
'Ege Bamyasi' by Can
'The Ideal Crash' by dEUS
'Is this it?' by The Strokes
'The Trials of Van Occupanther' by Midlake
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'So' - Peter Gabriel.
'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' - David Bowie.
Each track on these albums are great songs in my opinion. 2 Albums where you dont want to reach for the 'skip' buttun on the Ipod.
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Tapestry by Carole King.
Oh, and Live and Dangerous by Lizzy of course
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Live and Dangerous by Lizzy of course
Oh, yes, of course!
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Led Zep II
Nerry a single on it ;)
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Liar by The Jesus Lizard :o
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Live and Dangerous by Lizzy of course
Oh, yes, of course!
Forgot about that. "Still in love with you" has special meaning for me.
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Live and Dangerous by Lizzy of course
Oh, yes, of course!
Which was known as "Dead & Safe" when I was a small Mr Larrington...
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Live and Dangerous by Lizzy of course
Oh, yes, of course!
Forgot about that. "Still in love with you" has special meaning for me.
I enjoy Cow Boy Song...
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I've been enjoying listening to albums recently more than at any other time for some strange reason. Anyway, another vote for the previously mentioned 'Rumours' and I also play 'Tango in the Night' without hitting skip. Others always close to the top of my play list;
'Eat to the Beat' - Blondie
'Days in Europa' - The Skids
'Organisation' - OMD
'City to City' - Gerry Rafferty
and just recently 'Eye to the Telescope' & 'Drastic Fantastic' by KT Tunstall.