Tuesday · August 30 2005
What is The Perfect Album, in your opinion?
An album in which every track is great, each one worthy of being a hit. An album with not a single song I would skip past and nothing mediocre or even average.
I can think of 4 that would be/have been perfect albums for me:
- Perfect From Now On - Built to Spill
- It Happened One Night (live) - John Wesley Harding
- Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
- Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses (close to perfect — “My Michelle” was always sort of weak — even though I haven't listened to it in a long, long time)
Ugh. That's tough. The "not even one mediocre song" requirement knocks a lot of terrific albums off the list. Some possibly perfect records that come to mind:
* Copper Blue - Sugar
* Pink Moon - Nick Drake
* Fakebook - Yo La Tengo
* Nine Objects of Desire - Suzanne Vega
* Fountains of Wayne - Fountains of Wayne (Their other records have higher highs, but lower lows, so this record wins by default)
* Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model
Read Michelle Campbell's review of Fakebook (a 1994 release) circa last month:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000048CX
This Year's Model is a good pick.
You know, Diesel and Dust is probably lower on my favorites list. I love a lot of the songs on there, but I actually usually skip over Beds Are Burning at this point!! I love almost all of 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...
Another predictable answer from me: I can listen to One Beat by Sleater-Kinney over and over.
I don't agree with that definition, because I'd place cohesion and flow over hit after hit. With my criteria I'd put The Real Ramona by Throwing Muses on the list and probably more (Loveless by My Bloody Valentine), but I can only think of that because I listened to it the other day.
Going by their definition I'd second or third This Year's Model and add:
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams
London Calling by The Clash
Any of the Talking Heads first four albums
Wow. I've got all their stuff and was really, really, really into them from roughly 1988 until about 2002 soon before they broke up. I only got to see them live once, on one of their very last tours.
10, 9, 8... and Earth and Sun and Moon are close runners-up for me, I think, but I can't really remember which songs are on which albums anymore.
Other candidates:
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
Postal Service - Give Up
Rancid - Life Won't Wait