Perfect Albums

[schenkadere]

List some albums you feel are perfect from beginning to end...regardless of genre...and not just favorite albums...as close to perfect as possible.

Here's mine:

Operation Mindcrime - Queensryche
Rust In Peace - Megadeth
V The New Mythology Suite - Symphony X
In Search of Truth - Evergrey
No Parole From Rock n Roll - Alcatrazz
Nightfall in Middle Earth - Blind Guardian
Scenes from a Memory - Dream Theater
Night of the Storm Rider - Iced Earth
Blackwater Park - Opeth
Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan
White Ladder- David Gray

 

[ABQShredHead]

I don't know that I would classify them as "perfect" as much as "CDs I really like to listen to all the way through without skipping over any content"...

Dream Theater - Images & Words and Scenes From A Memory
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Pink Floyd - Darkside of the Moon
Vai - Sex & Religion
Symphony X - V
Ark - Burn the Sun
Bloodline - Bloodline
Blue Murder - Blue Murder
Boston - Boston
David Lee Roth - Eat 'em & Smile
Dokken - Under Lock & Key
Extreme - Pornograffitti
Gary Moore - Blues Alive
Howe II - High Gear
Ian Moore - Ian Moore
Impellitteri - Stand In Line
Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind
The Jeff Healey Band - See The Light
Lita Ford - Dancin' On The Edge
Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary Of A Madman, Tribute
Prince - Purple Rain
Robben Ford - Discovering The Blues
Robert Cray - Strong Persuader
Santana - Inner Secrets
Savatage - Streets - A Rock Opera
Vinnie Moore - Time Odyssey
Scorpions - Love At First Sting
Zebra - Zebra
Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force

 

[noble savage]

Planet X - All studio/live album. That's why they're my favorite band!
Anglagard - Hybris
Cynic - Both albums
On the Virg - Serious Young Insects
Anekdoten - A Time of Day
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Uncle Moe's Space Ranch - S/T
The Tangent - The World That We Drive Through
SX - V (Although, I don't like Evolution that much)
Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers
Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream and Deadwing
Panzerballett - Starck Stucke (Expect Zickenterror. Fuck that song!uke
IQ - Dark Matter
Flower Kings - Space Revolver and Unfold the Future
DT - Live SFaM and 6 deg
Derek Sherinian - Mythology and Planet X

I listen to these albums in almost constant rotation. Most probably aren't perfect, but close!

 

[noble savage]

Vai - Sex & Religion

Interesting choice! That was always my least favorite, although there are some good parts on it.

 

[ToastedOveries]

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath, Volume 4. Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules
Deep Purple - Machine head, In Rock
Pink Floyd - Animals
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Rainbow - RB's Rainbow, Rising, Long live Rock and roll
Dio - Holy Diver
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak, Black Rose
Whitesnake - Slide it in
Alcatraz - No Parole from Rock and roll, Live Sentence
SX - The Odyssey
Queen - Shear Heart Attack
The Prodigy - Fat of the land
Mercyfull Fate - Melissa
Nightfall in Middle Earth - Blind Guardian

 

[razoredge]

My list would probably be mostly the same as influence list

LZ II, III, Houses of the Holy, PG
Uriah Heep Look at Yourself, D&W
Grand Funk - Were An American Band... excluding the overplayed title track for that reason only
James Gang - Bang
Rush - Caress of Steel
PF- Dark Side of the Moon
Jethro Tull - Aqualung, Thick as a brick
Crack the Sky - self titled
VH - 5150, 0U812
Megadeth - Countdown
Queensryche - Warning, Mindcrime, Empire
Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry & beyond, I still dont have FWX though
DT - I&W and beyond
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King and beyond
SX - Divine Wings and beyond
Kamelot - Epica & Black Halo
Iced Earth - The Dark Saga
Threshold - Subsurface & Dead Reckoning (so far)

so as you can see I except most concept albums or progressive albums in their entirety, I'm easy to please. There are many others, I listen to most of my music in full, some is just more perfect than others.

 

[ABQShredHead]

Interesting choice! That was always my least favorite, although there are some good parts on it.

It goes more to what was going on in my life at the time, probably.

 

[schenkadere]

wow...that's a lot of perfect albums! I forgot two...just edited.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Boston - Boston
Rush - Hemispheres
Freak Kitchen - Dead Soul Men
Zappa - Sheik Yerbuti
SRV - In Step
The Dregs - Unsung Heroes

Probably a few more...

 

[razoredge]

I thought of a few more non metal/hardrock today

Steely Dan - Royal Scam
The Dregs - Freefall

then Kansas - Masque, Leftoverature
Tulls - Songs from the Wood

glad to see a few picks on "Boston" that was great, seems "The Cars" had an album around that time that met the mark as well, something new, different and fun, havent heard it in years to know if its perfect or not. Bostons "Foreplay" is still one of the most epic pieces of music to my ears, so much tension, power and buildup. Symphony X just did a great job with "Oculus ex Inferni" in this department as well.

 

[Meedleyx10]

good call on the steely dan record...though I'd go with "Aja" instead.

 

[Proghead3]

Good thread idea. For me, there is only one masterwork in progressive metal, Dream Theater's "Awake". Awake has perfect production, great flow, great hooks, enough complexity for repeat listens, and, most importantly, no filler.

Outside the progressive metal genre, I feel the aforementioned "Aja" by Steely Dan likely qualifies. I'd also like to add Soundgarden's dark masterpiece, "Superunknown".

 

[Lucius Octavion]

That's a lot of good stuff in there

Here's some of my "perfects"

Symphony X - V
Hoity Toity - Sauff Aus
Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon Three
Blotted Science - The Machinations of Dementia
Spiral Architect - A Skeptic's Universe
Ayreon - Universal Migrator
Peter Maunu - Warm Sound in a Gray Field
Buckethead- Colma & Electric Tears
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Stephen Stubbs - Teatro Lirico
Summoning - Oath Bound
Various - A Winter's Solstice I & II

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Pink Floyd - Animals

Nice choice. No one ever seems to like this album that much, but if you ask me, Dogs and Pigs are masterpieces. My favorite PF album by far (I always thought Dark Side was a bit overrated).

 

[noble savage]

Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon Three

I just started hunting for that album and can't find it. I heard a song off it last week and thought it was amazing!

 

[The Stormbringer]

Panzerballett - Starck Stucke (Expect Zickenterror. Fuck that song!uke

Whoa! Didn't expect them to be known outside of Germany. I recently saw them live in front of like 30 people. (The album title is "Starke Stücke" by the way, which means something like "Strong Pieces", but is also a figure of speech in German.)

 

[Swabs]

Considering the definition of the word "perfect" I can hardly think of one album that I would say is perfect, let alone come up with a list of 20-30 like some of you have.

For now I'll just say Wintersun's self-titled.

 

[Meedleyx10]

^agreed...that said, I think it would help in some of these cases to specify what is meant by "perfect" in relation to people's choices. Here's a few I would consider "perfect".

Steely Dan- Aja: This is one of the cleanest, most polished recordings I've ever heard. To the guys behind this, the acts of playing and recording the music were just as much of an artform as the music itself. The songs are all great, musicianship is all great, etc. Even with all the technological advantages of music nowadays, not many recordings can rival Aja in terms of production quality. The level of care taken in this recording is just killer...Jay Graydon spent SIX hours trying to play the "right" (according to Fagan and Becker's ears) guitar solo on "Peg"...and he was hired to do it only after 5 other guys who haven't ever been officially named (though, Larry Carlton and Lee Rittenour, amongst others, were also involved in these sessions and most likely tried their hand at it) couldn't give them what they wanted.

Shit...gotta get to class, more to follow...

 

[Burnout]

Agalloch - The Mantle, Ashes Against the Grain
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Augury - Concealed
Cynic - Focus and Traced in Air
Damien Jurado - Rehearsals for Departure, On My Way to Absence
Death - Symbolic
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor
Edge of Sanity - Crimson, Unorthodox
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# Infinite
Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
Gorguts - The Erosion of Sanity, From Wisdom to Hate, Obscura
Humanoid - Remembering Universe
Immolation - Close to a World Below, Unholy Cult, Failures for Gods
Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire
The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute
Martyr - Feeding the Abscess, Warp Zone
Neuraxis - Trilateral Progression
Obliveon - Nemesis, From this Day Forward
Quo Vadis - Forever...
Spawn of Possession - Noctambulant
Sufjan Stevens - Come on, Feel the Illinoise!
Voivod - Nothingface, Dimension Hatross

 

[razoredge]

good call on the steely dan record...though I'd go with "Aja" instead.

Aja was great too but something about Royal Scam, more funky maybe, more upbeat. Kati Lied was pretty good as well. Royal Scam was first and heard first by me, it turned me on to a whole new kind of music.

Same with Dark side of the Moon, not having heard anything like that prior, it had an overwhelming effect.