Nearly Perfect Albums

[drunk on kool aid]

I'd recently dug out a cassette copy of The Tube's "Remote Control" and was inspired to give this thread a shot of quick start and offer up some of my candidates.

Although core Tubes fans may have been let down by the "sell-out" of "Remote Control," if a group is going to sell out, what better devil to sign over your soul than Todd Rundgren? "Remote Control" is a masterful blend of pop irresistibility and Tubes' weirdness, all stuffed inside a concept album casing. There's an unmistakable new wave undercurrent but there's also the amazing funk of "Only the Strong Survive" and the staccato delivery of the hilariously cool lyrics of the punk rocky "Telecide." The album actually contained one hit, the ultra-catchy, "Prime Time," but, no lie, every single track shoulda, woulda, coulda been a hit. Possible exception might be the awesomely named "Getoverture," but only because it's an instrumental, albeit a very clever one that is a mash-up of all the other songs on the album--hey, the Tubes sample themselves! I don't know why this wasn't the opening track for the album instead of leading off side two. Bonus: the iconic front and back cover photos.

The following are albums that I can listen through from pressing play through autoreverse to the end of side two. They are not necessarily the artist's greatest but are just flat out listenable.

AC/DC "Back in Black"
Aerosmith "Rocks"
Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2"
Aube "Luminous"
Bathory S/T
Big Black "Atomizer"
Black Sabbath "Heaven and Hell"
Kate Bush "The Dreaming"
Cheap Trick S/T (1977)
The Clash "London Calling"
The Cure "Disintegration"
Miles Davis "******* Brew"
Eagles "Hotel California"
E-Z-O S/T
Fleetwood Mac "Tango in the Night"
Hall & Oates "H2O"
Hard Fi "Stars of CCTV"
The Jesus and Mary Chain "Automatic"
Judas Priest "Hellbent For Leather" aka "Killing Machine"
Kreator "Pleasure to Kill"
Doug Lazy "Doug Lazy Gettin' Crazy"
Lush "Gala"
Madonna S/T & "Like a Virgin"
Pat Metheny Group S/T & "Offramp"
Ministry "The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste"
Motley Crue "Shout at the Devil"
New Order "Technique"
OZ "Fire in the Brain"
Pink Floyd "Animals" (Dunno why this isn't considered *at least* the equal of Wish & Dark Side)
Player S/T (Ironically, the album closer, "Tryin' to Write a Hit Song," is the weakest track)
Pretenders S/T
Sade "Love Deluxe"
Six Finger Satellite "Law of Ruins"
Slayer "Reign in Blood"
Sonic Youth "Sister"
Steely Dan "Aja"
The Strokes "Is This It?"
Swervedriver "Raise" & "Mezcal Head"
Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs"
UFO "Strangers in the Night" (An absolute monster—I'd replace "This Kids" with "Electric Phase" from "Lights Out," resulting in hard rock perfection)
George Winston "Autumn" & "December"
Neil Young and Crazy Horse "Live Rust"

Since it seems that many people buy tracks instead of full albums, I suppose "perfect album" might soon become a quaint notion from a bygone era. In one sense this will be a return to the early days of recorded music, when people bought singles. This was followed by the ascendancy of the album, first as 40 minute sets of music on vinyl and then to 70 minute ones on CD. Nowadays, I suppose there's no reason to release a complete album unless it's a cohesive collection or it's an opportunity to make the release an event or appetizer for a tour. I think artists can selectively release tracks as they are finished or alternatively, every take, remix, etc. without the confines of an "album." Time will tell.

[2RUGGED4YOU]

Originally Posted by Linson

in this case, a nearly perfect album being one that someone who doesnt even listen to that particular genre can still say, well for [insert genre], this is pretty good. and, of course, for someone who is into the genre to realize that there is little to no filler on the album, i.e, nothing but good songs. these are some nearly perfect heavy metal albums to check out.



1. AFI - Sing The Sorrow
2. Danzig 4
3. Danzig II
4. Metallica - Master of Puppets
5. AC/DC - Back In Black

Nearly perfect? This one wins hands down above and beyond all the others. Almost everybody bought and listened to "Back In Black"! You had jocks, nerds, cheerleaders, Rugged guys lol..... ,Hell their parents bought it for crying out loud!LOL........ And guess what? All of them are still buying it!!!

[2RUGGED4YOU]

I bet all of you that you still remember the first time you heard this opening (first) song blasting out of your speakers? Oh, HELL YEAH!!! Click the bottom link to watch the video and hear it!

YouTube - AC/DC - Hell's Bells

[Kavalier]

There haven't been many for me. And 8vw listened to alot.

Pink Floyd - WYWH

Metalica. - AJFA

REM - AFTP

David Gray - Lost Songs

Bob Dylan - TOOM

NIN - The Fragile

David Gilmour - On an Island


Beatles - Sgt P

Prince - Rainbow Children