Perfect Albums
posted by Deven Desai
Album, the word may evoke a creaky, leather-vinyl, cardboard tome with faded Polaroids, instamatics, and school portraits. It may remind one of a black gold-based vinyl disc spinning at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. It does not always remind one of a smaller, shiny disc full of digits unleashed by a laser. But all are albums; they are collections which is what the word means. So even a playlist is an album. For me music is a vital part of the word album. As many know the music industry continues to die a slow death. The single has returned with a vengeance. Pushing eight or more songs in conjunction with the one or two songs a consumer wanted is harder to do. Some might argue that most of those songs were crap anyway, and they are often correct. Still, there are albums, concept albums, that defied this model. Those albums were works of art. The musicians took you somewhere as they told a story. The Beatles and Pink Floyd leap to mind as strong examples of this approach across several albums. In jazz Miles Davis did quite well. More recently, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is quite good.
So here is my question: who else has created a true concept album? Put differently who else has created a perfect album which means you rarely, if ever, skip a song when listening to the album? I am sure there are recent examples and I have missed them. In addition, I am sure that there are older ones I have missed.
Here are some of mine; please share yours:
Abbey Road, The Beatles
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
Hounds of Love, Kate Bush
So, Peter Gabriel
Aja, Steel Dan
Nighthawks at the Diner, Tom Waits
Hotel California, The Eagles
Sea Change, Beck (another close call that I may revise)
The Flat Earth, Thomas Dolby (odd one, requires several listens to see how the less known songs make sense)
October 13, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Posted in: Culture, Intellectual Property
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Responses (34)
owl - October 13, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Abbey Road? The one with those two terrible Ringo songs? Nighthawks and Aja are good choices. Kind of Blue is a gimme.
Ziggy Stardust would be one of mine. Blood on the Tracks would probably be another. Radio City by Big Star, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams. Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel is revered among people following current stuff.
Doc Doc - October 13, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Tapestry - Carole King
Breakfast in America, Supertramp
Harbor Lights - Bruce Hornsby
And I have your Beck and Kate Bush on my list. Let me think some more
Patrick S. O'Donnell - October 13, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I’m not so sure about a “concept album,” but when it comes to “who else has created a perfect album which means you rarely, if ever, skip a song when listening to the album?”–well…:
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey
Big Brother & The Holding Company (Janis Joplin): Cheap Thrills
Janis Joplin: Pearl
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
Cream: Disraeli Gears, and Fresh Cream
Allman Brothers: At Fillmore East
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Déjà Vu
Carole King: Tapestry
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses
Patsy Cline: The Patsy Cline Story
Mose Allison: I Don’t Worry About a Thing
Art Tatum & Ben Webster: Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet (with Fred Callender and Bill Douglass)
Jim Hendrix: Are Your Experienced and Band of Gypsys
Kinks: Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
Neil Young: Harvest, Tonight’s the Night
Waylon Jennings: Dreaming My Dreams
Derek & the Dominos: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Linda Ronstadt: Canciones De Mi Padre
Al Green: I’m Still In Love With You
David Bowie: Pinups
Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On
Well, that’s for starters!
Howard Wasserman - October 13, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Sting, “Dream of the Blue Turtles”
Genesis, “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”
fogey - October 13, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks”
sai - October 13, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Here’s my quick short list of concept albums:
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Paul Simon - Graceland
Sigur Ros - ()
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
A fair amount of hip hop might also qualify.
owl - October 13, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Oh yes, you can’t forget Illmatic by Nas, widely considered THE best hip hop album ever made.
mme george - October 13, 2008 at 3:13 pm
How about Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks?
Dave - October 13, 2008 at 3:47 pm
There are many albums where I do not skip a song. But these three are, as albums, pure genius… while they contain excellent songs, as albums their sum is significantly greater than their parts:
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Joshua Tree - U2
Appetite for Destruction - Gun and Roses
Deven - October 13, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Great stuff and many thanks. I am glad to see older and recent suggestions. Many of these are also on my list; many are not…yet.
Keep ‘em coming and honestly thanks again to all. I look forward to expanding my musical horizons and collection.
sai - October 13, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Oh, and how could I forget The Flaming Lips with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots!
Samir Chopra - October 13, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Two genre changing albums:
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Hauk - October 13, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Good to see that Manu Chao made someone’s list. I’d put all of his solo albums on mine.
Zak Kramer - October 13, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Radiohead - Ok Computer
Red House Painters - Songs for a Blue Guitar
Weezer - Weezer
Pearl Jam - Ten
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Agreed about Blood on the Tracks
Sai, I think the Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin is much better than Yoshimi.
Miriam Cherry - October 13, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The Killers, Hot Fuss & Sam’s Town.
Adam - October 13, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Even more so than ( ), Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós.
the Rising Jurist - October 13, 2008 at 5:49 pm
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Radiohead - The Bends
Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
Maryland Conservatarian - October 13, 2008 at 6:10 pm
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
bill - October 13, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Joni Mitchell, Blue
The Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
Cocteau Twins, Blue Bell Knoll
Billy Bragg, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
MAW - October 13, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Many of these albums are great albums, but they are not really concept albums-along the lines of
Tommy
Pet Sounds
Sgt. Pepper
John Armstrong - October 13, 2008 at 8:43 pm
MAW: Deven changed the question. He asked, “who else has created a perfect album which means you rarely, if ever, skip a song when listening to the album?”, and that’s the question that I’ll answer. But you make a good point, so I’ll mark what I consider to be “concept” albums with a star.
I love the album format, and I listen to a lot of electronic music, so I’ve probably got more than most people my age. Here are the ones nobody’s mentioned on this page yet. Oh, and I’ve removed the DJ mixes, since those don’t really count so much.
*Art of Noise - The Seduction of Claude Debussy
Blondie - Autoamerican
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk
The Crystal Method - Vegas
The Cure - Disintegration
Electronic - Twisted Tenderness
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition
Fatboy Slim - Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars
Fatboy Slim - Palookaville
Fischerspooner - Odyssey
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Groove Armada - Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)
Groove Armada - Lovebox
Hybrid - Wide Angle
Infected Mushroom - Converting Vegetarians
Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey
Kopyright Liberation Front - Waiting For the Rights of Mu
Lemon Jelly - ‘64-’95
Timo Maas - Loud
New Order - Regret
New Order - Waiting For the Sirens’ Call
*Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Parliament - Mothership Connection
Parliament - Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
*Parliament - Motor-Booty Affair
The Postal Service - Give Up
Prince - Dirty Mind
*Prince - Purple Rain
Prince - Come
*Prince - The Gold Experience
Röyksopp - The Understanding
Santana - Abraxas
*William Shatner - Has Been
*Space - Space
They Might Be Giants - Flood
U2 - Zooropa
Tom Waits - Small Change
Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats
*Ween - The Mollusk
*Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans
ППК - Русский Транс: Формирование (PPK - Russian Trance: Formation)
anon - October 13, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Ike Reilly: Salemen and Racists.
anon - October 13, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Ike Reilly: Salesmen and Racists.
Mel B - October 14, 2008 at 6:57 am
Wow, dude. You’re old. Here are some concept albums:
-Van Morrison — astral weeks (this is gospel)
-Outkast — Atliens
-Weezer — Blue album
-Angels and airwaves — can’t think of name of album.
-Miles Davis — Tribute to Jack Johnson (so says my friend)
-Michael Jackson — thriller
-Sublime — Sublime
-Peter Gabriel — last temptation of christ soundtrack
-Did I mention Van Morrison — Astral Weeks
Why can’t I think of more? I know I’m leaving off several albums that are perfect for this list
A.J. Sutter - October 14, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Bronze:
@Khaled — Ya-Rayi
@Kari Bremnes — Gåte ved gåte and Erindring
@Maria Bethania — Ambar, and many others
@Étienne Daho — Singles [not properly an album, but plays like one]
@Supercar — Futurama
@Chara — Madrigal [may be an acquired taste]
@Biagio Antonacci — Tra le mie canzoni [I have Austrian pressing on Koch, slightly different selection]
@Rachid Taha — Diwan
@Zizi Possi — Sobre todas as coisas
Silver:
@Jorge Ben — A Tábua de Esmeralda
@Fernanda Abreu — Da lata
Gold:
@Thelonius Monk — Straight, No Chaser and Underground
Meta-platinum:
@Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina — Elis e Tom .
Patrick S. O'Donnell - October 14, 2008 at 12:53 pm
FWIW, I’ll second A.J.’s Gold and Meta-platinum choices.
Paul Horwitz - October 14, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Deven, props for recognizing The Flat Earth. But I think you’ve taken too little heat for this whole “concept album” thing. A “true concept album” is *not* an album none of whose songs one skips; it’s, well, an album substantially organized around a concept. By that measure, most of your own list doesn’t meet the definition, as much as I enjoy many of those albums. Folks in the comments have just gone ahead and talked about albums they like. Fine with me, I guess; but I would have been curious to see a discussion about, well, concept albums.
A.J. Sutter - October 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Actually, Deven’s solicitation was phrased in the alternative, “So here is my question: who else has created a true concept album? Put differently who else has created a perfect album which means you rarely, if ever, skip a song when listening to the album?” I think many of us were responding to the latter question, about “perfect” albums, as so defined. Though I personally have excluded from that category mediocre albums to which one has been subjected to hearing over and over again in their entirety as a relatively captive audience and as a result has become fond of and even subsequently bought, embarassing as it might be to admit same, purely for nostalgic reasons, such as Chéng băo (a/k/a Castle) by Tsai Jolin, which I heard several times a week over the course of about 15 months in a particular bubble tea shop in Mountain View, CA.
sai - October 14, 2008 at 11:26 pm
@Paul
Based on the trusty wikipedia definition, I stand by my choices–with the exception of Modest Mouse–as concept albums and would be thrilled to talk about them as such. Also FWIW, I find it especially hard to skip songs on thematic or storytelling albums because the obvious dedication to details (transitions from song to song, changes in key, repeating elements) is a big part of what makes the albums so compelling and special.
Miriam Cherry - October 15, 2008 at 5:30 am
Aimee Mann, The Forgotten Arm
Marc Blitz - October 16, 2008 at 1:14 am
Concept albums:
Ed Kuepper, Hang Jean Lee
Sufjan Stevens, Come on Feel the Illinoise
Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dandelion Gum
Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
Husker Du, Zen Arcade
Jethro Tull, Storm Watch
Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick
Michael Penn, Mr. Hollywood, Jr., 1947
Olivia Tremor Control, Dusk at Cubist Castle
Sonic Youth, Sister
every album from Pink Floyd between 1972 & 1982
A few other every-song-is-good albums:
Elliott Smith, Either/Or & X/O
Robyn Hitchcock, I Often Dream of Trains
Game Theory, Big Shot Chronicles & Lolita Nation
Super Furry Animals, Radiator, Fuzzy Logic, Phantom Power & Lovekraft
Morphine, Cure for Pain
Nick Drake, Pink Moon
Nirvana, Nevermind
13th Floor Elevators, Easter Everywhere
Michael Penn, March
Marc Blitz - October 16, 2008 at 1:16 am
Concept albums:
Ed Kuepper, Hang Jean Lee
Sufjan Stevens, Come on Feel the Illinoise
Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dandelion Gum
Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
Husker Du, Zen Arcade
Jethro Tull, Storm Watch
Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick
Michael Penn, Mr. Hollywood, Jr., 1947
Olivia Tremor Control, Dusk at Cubist Castle
Sonic Youth, Sister
every album from Pink Floyd between 1972 & 1982
A few other every-song-is-good albums:
Elliott Smith, Either/Or & X/O
Robyn Hitchcock, I Often Dream of Trains
Game Theory, Big Shot Chronicles & Lolita Nation
Super Furry Animals, Radiator, Fuzzy Logic, Phantom Power & Lovekraft
Morphine, Cure for Pain
Nick Drake, Pink Moon
Nirvana, Nevermind
13th Floor Elevators, Easter Everywhere
Michael Penn, March
Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood
Marc Blitz - October 16, 2008 at 1:34 am
And a few more that weave a story around a single character:
Harry Nilsson, The Point
The Who, Tommy
Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Adrian Jones - October 17, 2008 at 11:43 am
After reading each entry (all interesting) I - aged 54 - immediately turn to wondering about how old was the particular poster. In this context, age is such a taste-establishing thing, isn’t it? Also country, for most, I suppose – I’m from the UK.
James Taylor’s One Man Band (recording of a 2007 performance, plus DVD);
Randy Newman’s latest, Harps and Angels;
2 by The Holmes Brothers (State of Grace and Simple Truths);
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis’s CD (their only one, so far);
Laurie Anderson’s Big Science (25th Anniversary ed.);
David Ackles – American Gothic (1972);
Leonard Cohen’s Field Commander Cohen- Tour of 1979;
All of Iris DeMent’s CDs;
Pretty much all of Blonde Redhead’s output;
Carole King’s Tapestry, from 1971 (of course).
When one looks at it, it is surprising how very few albums can be tolerated in their entirety.
It’s a great thing – the modern facility to mix one’s own CD/playlist for oneself —- the result being that most people I know consume their music in that way (rarely in units of discrete originally-published albums, thank goodness).
Concept albums are few and far between; and that’s just as well because imposition of the connecting theme tends to do terminal violence to sometimes substantial minority of the so constrained tracks. Nearly all concept albums are a conceit on the part of the ‘artiste’ anyway, aren’t they! (I now run away, and hide……)
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