Perfect Albums Thread

[King Possum]

Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory

Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory [Full Album/Lyrics]

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is the fifth studio album by American progressive band Dream Theater, released on October 26, 1999 through Elektra Rec...

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I'm genuinely surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[Gutter Twin]

I never would have named myself Gutter Twin if The Gutter Twins' one and only album Saturnalia was anything short of perfection. It is a masterpiece. Some of the songs might not resonate with you the first time around, but eventually they will.

Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum is also one of my most favorite albums ever. Fifteen songs and all of them are perfect. I'm pretty sure part of the reason why is because so many people helped him make this record: Josh Homme, PJ Harvey, Greg Dulli, Chris Goss, David Catching, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, and a whole bunch of other great musicians. I also think his Imitations album is perfect, but I am less inclined to make that one a feature of this post since it is just a bunch of covers.

Rust in Peace is not my personal favorite Megadeth album (that honor belongs to So Far, So Good... So What!), but I think it is objectively their best record.

Mothership Connection by Parliament is god tier. I miss the days when blacks made great music instead of the garbage mumble rap we get now.

Maybe this is nostalgia, but I could listen to Contra by Vampire Weekend anytime. I love me some chill indie music.

Finally, the first three Rainbow albums are some of the best albums ever. If I could only pick one as perfect, it's probably the first one. It's a tough call though.

I will also echo some earlier posters and say Van Halen, Appetite for Destruction, Dirt, and Holy Diver are perfect too.

Edit: grammar

 

[AnOminous]

Surprised nobody's mentioned Pink Moon by Nick Drake.

Warning, sounds deceptively mellow and low-key.

On repeated listening is the blackest of black pills.

Nick Drake narrowly managed to avoid joining the 27 Club by dying at 26.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

As close as it gets to a perfect metal album. All of Death's discography is impecable really, not a single dud.

 

[Retard of the Month]

Believe it or not, despite constituting a large portion of my PFP, I don't consider Undertow by TOOL to be a perfect album. 10,000 Days, however, most certainly is.

I'd also like to mention both acts of the Protomen (along with the three studio recordings we have so far from Act 3), Train of Thought by Dream Theater, and Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains. And while I prefer Broken, Fragile, and Teeth, Nine-Inch Nails's The Downward Spiral is certainly the best package of all of his releases.

 

[Fareal]

I want to endorse the “you never skip any tracks when you listen to it” metric discussed above. So many albums that I otherwise love have those three, four shite unlistenable tracks. But there’s a handful that go on at track one and just unfold to the end. Not many.

 

[keytar]

I want to endorse the “you never skip any tracks when you listen to it” metric discussed above. So many albums that I otherwise love have those three, four shite unlistenable tracks. But there’s a handful that go on at track one and just unfold to the end. Not many.

For me perfect/near-perfect albums have to go 2 ways: either every track is fantastic, or if a couple are mediocre they have to be essential to the flow of the album so I still don't ever skip em.

ETA thread tax, a lot of my faves are in here already but I didn't see this. Flawless album to me

 

[AnOminous]

People disagree but Dark Side of the Moon is definitely on my top perfect albums list.

I found myself always falling asleep every time I put it on when I got a CD player in the early '80s. I only figured it out later that I had fallen asleep to it every night when a child literally about the time it came out. My dad's friend at the time would always play that album.

The Downward Spiral is another perfect album. Definitely Trent's masterpiece.

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

Maybe it's just a time of your life album for me but it's just a mellow flow that took me through a positive change over a year.
Neil Young - Zuma

This is my running album to just tune out to and long easy pace. It helped me adjust a friends mind to love so I'll always be grateful for that. On a slow run I can run through it twice on an athletics club night, sometimes with the young un's wizzing past, sometimes on me tod.
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond mine

Opposite end of the pace spectrum. I always speed up within lung capacity past what I thought I could (2:20 warm up intro then RRRRRRAAAAAAAaaaaaah!) It's a bit cliche but so are the Rocky movies and they work.
The poison - Bullet for my valentine

 

[Alex Hogendorp]

I am surprised this 1977 masterpiece hasn't be mentioned. It's amazing in such a unique and interesting way.

Another masterpiece worth mentioning but I had a lot of fun listening to that album.

Also surprised very little mentions of Kraftwerk. They are one of the best pioneers of electronic music and TEE is one of the very best.

Although a Live album. This 1975 album is loved by so many people regarding it as one of the most beautiful sounding albums ever made.

 

[Mesh Gear Fox]

Queensryche's 1988 masterpiece Operation:Mindcrime. My favorite concept album of all time.

 

[Beany Man]

First three NIN albums go fucking hard + the broken EP.

Everyone knows Ziggy Stardust but I actually prefer some of Bowie's later work like Outside and Blackstar:

All time favorites go towards the first run of Smashing Pumpkins albums. Fell in love with the band when I was a kid and haven't stopped since. One of the best things about that band and that initial run of 6 albums is how much back catalogue there was to sift through, b sides, demos, alternate versions etc:

Listen to all that and prepare for the hardest whiplash you've ever felt after checking out the absolute dogshit they release now:

 

[Jones McCann]

Spoiler: in order

 

[AnOminous]

Joe Satriani, Surfing With the Alien

 

[AgendaPoster]

A lot of good music in this thread. Siamese Dream and The Downward Spiral surely qualify.
Just as with Dark Side of the Moon.
Likely to have been mentioned in the thread, but since I have Dave Gahan avatar, Violator was pretty perfect too. Personally, I think all albums from Some Great Reward to Ultra were perfect-ish, with minor hiccups. The rest, eh.

 

[Grin Machine]

Dark Side of the Moon is perfecto. Technically not albums, but I will shill Burial's trio of EPs in 2012-2013 until my dying breath. Embeds below are first tracks only, not the full EPs. Night-time listening only.

 

[Am I Very Wrong]

no such thing, but this gets pretty close

 

[.iota.]

i've given this some consideration, and i've come to the conclusion that the albums that i consider perfect are not my favorite albums. my favorite albums elicit a specific mood or memory, and they're not something that i can listen to whenever or wherever; they have their own time and place. however, if on any given day, i can put it on repeat and listen to it over and over, without skipping a song or getting sick of it, then i consider it to be a perfect album.

david bowie, low, 1977

joy division, unknown pleasures, 1979

portishead, dummy, 1994

nine inch nails, the downward spiral, 1994

radiohead, ok computer, 1997

nick cave & the bad seeds, the boatman's call, 1997

massive attack, mezzanine, 1998

radiohead, hail to the thief, 2003

bon iver, for emma, forever ago, 2007

lorde, pure heroine, 2013

 

[frozen_runner]

Failure - Fantastic Planet (1996) [alternative rock/post-grunge/space rock]



INO Hidefumi - New Morning (2013) [jazz/electronic]



Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider (1998 ) [indie rock/alternative country/experimental pop]



Carpenter Brut - Trilogy (2015) [darksynth]



Beck - Midnight Vultures (1999) [funk rock/R&B/alternative rock/hip hop/disco]

 

[Calandrino]

Off-hand I notice a lot of repeats from page 1. Some albums have really stood fast through the ages, for like four years at least. We're all still listening to Rust in Peace post-Covid.