Perfect Albums

[CJB3]

Highway to hell
But I am extremely biased

That’s a good one. I thought about that one earlier. A few of the tracks might keep it from being perfect, IMO.

This whole thread has gotten me thinking about some of my favorite albums, and many of them have a song or two that keep them from being perfect.

Tres Hombres by ZZ Top is a good example—an incredibly strong album but the last few songs are not quite as strong as the others, IMO.

 

[emwolf]

I remembered the tax evasion charges, but either did not know or forgot about the kids. She seems to have actually done prison time for tax evasion. It appears that she in on tour now or about to start in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Miseducation. Not for me to judge, I guess. But does seem tragic for her to more or less walk away after that kind of musical accomplishment. Easy for me to say given I have never had to deal with fame!


I do not think I can argue with any of those. I had suggested Leeds previously. Perhaps the greatest live band ever at its peak. Every cut on Yas is at least very good and it fairly captures a great live band at its peak. I like Lou and Steve Hunter, and the version of Sweet Jane on Animal is stellar. I am having trouble remembering the specific song versions that are the other cuts, but I will bite on this one.


I am surprised this one did not come up earlier.

There is a version of Heroin on Rock n Roll Animal that always makes me feel like a junkie by the end.

 

[The Knize]

some of my favorite albums, and many of them have a song or two that keep them from being perfect.

Absolutely! I think that is part of the fun of this thread. If I were an artist, I am not sure I would strive to make the perfect album. More important to have a number of great cuts than that everyone be good. The definition of perfect is hard. As far as I am concerned, the test is whether I would usually play the entire album through at this point without skipping a cut. That is influenced in some cases by how many times I have heard the album.

There is a version of Heroin on Rock n Roll Animal that always makes me feel like a junkie by the end.

I like that song and know exactly what you mean. I just do not remember the cut. I should re-listen to that album. Lou Reed deserves to have a perfect album. Steve Hunter, too.

Here's a nearly perfect album: Warren Zevon. Great cut after great cut, plus some throwaways! To me, anyway.

I wonder how one should think about production as to perfect albums, too. I do not think I have the skills to be able to say. I would say that the production on the unremastered version of Exile on Mainstreet was enough to take it it our of perfect. It was not perfect anyway. Should Sargent Peppers get additional points for production.

 

[The Knize]

Here's a live one to consider, Marvin Gaye Live. I am surprised they have not come up, but I would not consider Let's Get It On or What's Going On quite perfect.

 

[sternej]

Wonderful conversation. For me it's 'Needle (or CD) drop....'VG' to great song...next, same...all same....last song...Wow. And this of course changes over time as we age and our tastes, etc. change. I guess age has caught up with me to the point where I no longer find "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" Insuferable. In it's own odball way it's kind of cute......watched too many horror movies maybe.

 

[The Knize]

Wonderful conversation. For me it's 'Needle (or CD) drop....'VG' to great song...next, same...all same....last song...Wow. And this of course changes over time as we age and our tastes, etc. change. I guess age has caught up with me to the point where I no longer find "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" Insuferable. In it's own odball way it's kind of cute......watched too many horror movies maybe.

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" seems to be something that can be discussed at length by lots of folks. Apparently among the Beatles themselves, at least up until some walked away from it. I do not remember paying that much attention to it back in the day. The anvil sound is kind of cool. At this point, I guess it seems like a lot of what I do not like about Paul McCartney, whom I like a lot about, and definitely does not seem up to snuff for the rest of Abby Road, its subject matter aside, and find its subject matter kind of annoying. Although as I indicated, I do not love Come Together either. Or "Octopus's Garden" except that Ringo sings it. Actually, if skipping cuts in the test, I am not sure I want to here "Something" very many more times in my life, although it might be my pick as the best Beatles song ever, even if I agree with George Harrison that the bass is overly busy. I accept all personal criticism for liking "Her Majesty" well enough not to be inclined to skip it! Actually, "Her Majesty" seems very Paul McCartney to me to, such that I might not be inclined to like it at all, but it seems genuinely light, sweet, and amusing to me. Something Maxwell's, and, say, "Ob La Di, Ob La Da," does not.

 

[emwolf]

Absolutely! I think that is part of the fun of this thread. If I were an artist, I am not sure I would strive to make the perfect album. More important to have a number of great cuts than that everyone be good. The definition of perfect is hard. As far as I am concerned, the test is whether I would usually play the entire album through at this point without skipping a cut. That is influenced in some cases by how many times I have heard the album.


I like that song and know exactly what you mean. I just do not remember the cut. I should re-listen to that album. Lou Reed deserves to have a perfect album. Steve Hunter, too.

Here's a nearly perfect album: Warren Zevon. Great cut after great cut, plus some throwaways! To me, anyway.

I wonder how one should think about production as to perfect albums, too. I do not think I have the skills to be able to say. I would say that the production on the unremastered version of Exile on Mainstreet was enough to take it it our of perfect. It was not perfect anyway. Should Sargent Peppers get additional points for production.

For me (and Zevon) it has to be Excitable Boy. Even Night Time in the Switchin' Yard is still singable.

 

[razorboi]

Wonderful conversation. For me it's 'Needle (or CD) drop....'VG' to great song...next, same...all same....last song...Wow. And this of course changes over time as we age and our tastes, etc. change. I guess age has caught up with me to the point where I no longer find "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" Insuferable. In it's own odball way it's kind of cute......watched too many horror movies maybe.

Whether an album attains perfection is very much in the ear of the behearer, as Dewey Redman would say.
Familiarity often breeds affection that makes us deaf to the shortcomings of the music.

I have an intense and nostalgic fondness for Abbey Road as it evokes memories of my childhood life and school year in the autumn of 1969.
But I would be the first to acknowledge the numerous weaknesses of the album.

Far from being a great album, I see it it as a collection of half-baked musical ideas interspersed with a few strong numbers.

Harrison's contributions may be among the best, Here Comes the Sun, Something. He also co-wrote Octopus's Garden with Ringo, for what that's worth.

Lennon only had two great cuts, Come Together, I Want You. Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam are each just fragments, or unfinished songs. Mustard actually had a refrain that was terrible and was mercifully excised.
Sun King and Because are full-length songs yet still tread-bare musical ideas. Nice harmonies, but great songs?

Macca similarly only had a few fully realised songs, Oh! Darling, and Bathroom Window (which Joe Cocker made a hit), were arguably the better ones.
Golden Slumbers and Carry that Weight are two unfinished ideas sewn together, and the latter has a coda that sounds suspiciously like the refrain in Clapton/Harrison's Badge, recorded by The Cream earlier in the year. So who's plagiarising whom?
You Never Give Me Your Money at over four minutes is actually five unfinished musical ideas strewn together. A medley within the side-two medley, if you will, and the Carry That Weight/Badge riff makes yet another appearance. Still, it all works, giving Macca three great songs in total I reckon.
Her Majesty...another unfinished, cute ditty but not a great song.
And finally Maxwell. Hardly a favourite with those past puberty, and not at all original. It's all dressed up on the album, but strip away the production and it's obvious that it's simply a re-write of When I'm Sixty-Four. So, actually just another Music Hall number from Paul's Victorian alter-ego.
Some people love The End, and it's Ringo's only real drum solo, but it reminds me of Sgt. Pepper's Reprise, something created just to close the album, and not really a song at all...just a glorified riff.

So, in no world would I call Abbey Road a "perfect" album, as defined here, even though I have a sentimental love of the album and wouldn't hesitate to play it straight through any time.

 

[desertcat]

Whether an album attains perfection is very much in the ear of the behearer, as Dewey Redman would say.
Familiarity often breeds affection that makes us deaf to the shortcomings of the music.

I have an intense and nostalgic fondness for Abbey Road as it evokes memories of my childhood life and school year in the autumn of 1969.
But I would be the first to acknowledge the numerous weaknesses of the album.

Far from being a great album, I see it it as a collection of half-baked musical ideas interspersed with a few strong numbers.

Harrison's contributions may be among the best, Here Comes the Sun, Something. He also co-wrote Octopus's Garden with Ringo, for what that's worth.

Lennon only had two great cuts, Come Together, I Want You. Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam are each just fragments, or unfinished songs. Mustard actually had a refrain that was terrible and was mercifully excised.
Sun King and Because are full-length songs yet still tread-bare musical ideas. Nice harmonies, but great songs?

Macca similarly only had a few fully realised songs, Oh! Darling, and Bathroom Window (which Joe Cocker made a hit), were arguably the better ones.
Golden Slumbers and Carry that Weight are two unfinished ideas sewn together, and the latter has a coda that sounds suspiciously like the refrain in Clapton/Harrison's Badge, recorded by The Cream earlier in the year. So who's plagiarising whom?
You Never Give Me Your Money at over four minutes is actually five unfinished musical ideas strewn together. A medley within the side-two medley, if you will, and the Carry That Weight/Badge riff makes yet another appearance. Still, it all works, giving Macca three great songs in total I reckon.
Her Majesty...another unfinished, cute ditty but not a great song.
And finally Maxwell. Hardly a favourite with those past puberty, and not at all original. It's all dressed up on the album, but strip away the production and it's obvious that it's simply a re-write of When I'm Sixty-Four. So, actually just another Music Hall number from Paul's Victorian alter-ego.
Some people love The End, and it's Ringo's only real drum solo, but it reminds me of Sgt. Pepper's Reprise, something created just to close the album, and not really a song at all...just a glorified riff.

So, in no world would I call Abbey Road a "perfect" album, as defined here, even though I have a sentimental love of the album and wouldn't hesitate to play it straight through any time.

Abbey Road is not a perfect album, but the medley (from "you never give me your money") to the conclusion is perfect.

My perfect album from end-to-end:

No notes on this one. The final track "Always Been Your Love" has brought me to tears. It's the album I'd want played at my funeral.

Also:

Daft Punk's Discovery is perfect, but only if you start the album with track 3, listen straight through and conclude with track 1. Track 2 is the encore/epilogue track. It's also perfect without my reordering, but my order is better.

 

[The Knize]

There is a version of Heroin on Rock n Roll Animal that always makes me feel like a junkie by the end.

I did go back and listen to this cut. It is a strong version of a strong song. The original Velvets version is pretty horrifying itself!

Far from being a great album, I see it it as a collection of half-baked musical ideas interspersed with a few strong numbers.

Wow. Great post. A lot to think about in it. Your comments really emphasize just how much the Beatles, or at least John, Paul, and George, were each going their own ways by that time in the Beatles' career. Although I think a lot of critics would have said that "a collection of half-baked musical ideas interspersed with a few strong numbers" applied more to the White Album or to Let It Be than to AR.

I probably have gone back and forth a lot over the years as to which is the best Beatle album. In contention being Rubber Soul, Revolver, AR, and, I am sure at some points, Peppers. Listening with my much older 2023 ears, I would say that each of these is a great album. A truly great album. And, to me, AR is the best of them, despite some weaker cuts, and despite perhaps an excess of Paul and a shortage of John. But tastes vary. It is a worthy discussion.

 

[dmshaver]

Two Keith Jarrett albums:
Koln Concert
Facing You

 

[desertcat]

which is the best Beatle album

How did the White album not make your list?? I have it in the #1 spot, followed by AR and Rubber Soul.

 

[Manye]

Goat’s Head Soup. Not many in my circle share my view, however, I absolutely love this LP.

 

[Haebar]

Eddie Arnold's Cattle Call album is a classic if you're into this genre.

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

It will be understandable if this is the last entry.

View attachment 1728210

Forgive me for quoting my own entry here. Just last night I saw an interview with Butch Trucks who is on the far right in the picture, one of the two drummers. You can find it on YouTube. He was talking about why they are all laughing in this picture. The photographer had been with them all day and was a grumpy, borderline rude guy ordering them around, etc. None of the band liked him.

This was at the end of the day and they were about fed up with him. The were lined up as you see here and there were people behind the camera. Suddenly Duane (second from left) spotted the guy who supplied him his drugs. The rest of the guys saw him as well. Duane jumps up, runs to him, grabs a small plastic bag of cocaine and runs back to his seat. As he does so, he conceals it in his palm which is why he is sitting the way he is. The whole band is roaring they are laughing so hard.

"Click."

And that is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say...

 

[Tirvine]

View attachment 1735925
Goat’s Head Soup. Not many in my circle share my view, however, I absolutely love this LP.

A terrific and sadly overlooked album. Anybody heard the reissue?

 

[noodles hovar]

Sorry so obscure ...

 

[brucered]

Beck - Odelay (1996)

Some rap, some twang, some 60's sounds, some anthems, a bit of everything and one that caught my attention from when it was first released.

 

[Ad Astra]

AA

 

[The Knize]

How did the White album not make your list?? I have it in the #1 spot, followed by AR and Rubber Soul.

The White Album is up there on most lists
I think I have said on this forum that I would like it better cut down to a single rather than double album. There are songs that are as good as any Beatles songs, such as Guitar Gently Weeps. Maybe something like Julia. But it has lots of songs I don't like much. Ob La Di Ob La Da. Buffalo Bill. Rocky Racoon. Revolution No. 9. Wild Honey Pie. Birthday. Even Back in the USSR. I think Good Night has lost its appeal to me.