That’s why Mer de Noms is on my list. It’s got such an amazing flow to it–like most Tool albums. You can play it in order and it sounds great. You can put it on random and it still sounds good. The songs all work together.
London Calling–The Clash.
Blood on the Tracks–Bob Dylan
If I Should Fall From Grace With God–The Pogues
Bruce Dickinson- The Chemical Wedding
It is simply one of the finest heavy metal albums ever.
Days of Future Past - Moody Blues
Quadrophenia - The Who
Miles of Aisles - Joni Mitchell
Moondance - Van Morrison
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
Scarecrow - John Mellencamp
Mock Tudor - Richard Thompson
Sister Sweetly - Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Various Positions - Leonard Cohen
Well, since I just got through raving about it in this thread, let me put in another plug for A Salty Dog by Procol Harum. I said it there, and I’ll say it here: I think it’s one of the ten best albums ever made.
And in the extraordinarily obscure department, I’ll put in a plug for Hollywood Dream by Thunderclap Newman.
If all you know about Procol Harum is “Whiter Shade of Pale” and all you know about Thuderclap Newman is “Something in the Air,” you’re in for a treat when you hear these albums!
In fact, I have a tape with “A Salty Dog” on one side and “Hollywood Dream” on the other that pretty much permanently stays in the cassette player of my car.
Also, Must’ve Been High by the Supersuckers never fails to entertain.
Hollywood Town Hall by The Jayhawks. Blue Earth, too.
The Yes Album by, well duh! Yes!
The Steve Howe Album by (do I really have to say it?) Steve Howe.
Thats enough for now.
The Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams
And since no one has mentioned it yet and it should be on any best record list Meatloaf Bat Out of Hell
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (as a million other people have already said) along with Dark Side, The Wall, The Final Cut, as well as Roger Waters’ two solo albums Amused to Death and Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (if you haven’t heard that last one, you’ve led a pathetic existence… go rectify that!)
George Acosta’s Awake, but then, I’m a big techno freak.
Anything - and I do mean ANYTHING - by Yello.
Beyond that, there’s not much that impresses me consistently.
Patty Griffin’s Living With Ghosts still gives me chills
The Stone Roses’ The Stone Roses so many years ago I bought the cassette as a “No Risk Disc” at an old store called Title Wave.
Carole King’s Tapestry only has perfect songs that stand alone or together.
Bran Van 3000’s Discosis shows the propensity of music’s ability to ignore genre boundries and play like a free-range chicken.
Big Audio Dynomite - The Globe
The Cure - Mixed Up
Neil Young - Harvest and Harvest Moon
Beastie Boys - Liscence to Ill
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Me too, stpauler!
also
N’issi N’issi - Khaled
The Lady and the Unicorn - John Renbourn
Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter - The Incredible String Band
Exile on Main Street – the Stones
Exile in Guyville – Liz Phair
Poetic Champions Compose – Van Morrison
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Live at the Fillmore – The Allman Brothers
My list has some newer stuff on it, but these are the things I consistently enjoy, or know based on past experience that I will continue to enjoy. If I somehow lost my CD collection (around 800 discs I think), this is where I would start rebuilding.
Kiko - Los Lobos
Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon
Haunted - Poe
Lost in Space - Aimee Mann
In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo
Relish - Joan Osborne
Various Artists - Largo
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett
Short Sharp Shocked - Michelle Shocked
Diesel and Dust - Midnight Oil
Nil Lara - Nil Lara
Security - Peter Gabriel
Murmur - R.E.M.
Guilty - Randy Newman (yeah, it’s a best of, but a great way to be introduced to his non-Short People music)
Martinis and Bikinis - Sam Phillips
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
And a strong second for Living With Ghosts, Hollywood Town Hall, Graceland, Joshua Tree, and anything by Richard Thompson.
I recently got back out some old CDs and started listening to them again. Of those, the one that surprised me for how well it has stood up as a complete album with its own unique sound is Portishead’s “Dummy” - there really is nothing quite like it.
Emmit Swimming - Arlington to Boston (This is the greatest album you’ve never heard of)
Comboy Mouth - Are You With Me?
Rush - Roll the Bones
John Denver - Back Home Again
The first CD of the Police : Message In A Box (Those early Police songs were thundering)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
LC
Baby Fish Mouth beat me to it, but The Pogues If I Should Fall from Grace with God: Human beings have no business making music this good.
I’ll throw in Aimee Man’s Bachelor #2, as well.
I’m going to go for a couple from the last 10-15 years:
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Operation:Mindcrime by Queensyrche. To the uninitiated, this is the perfect way to become acquainted with this band, and Geoff Tate’s vocal abilities. This album was released in the late 80’s, and never gets old.
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August and Everything After by Counting Crows. One of the finest debut albums I’ve ever come across.
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Naked Baby Photos by Ben Folds Five. This album just sums up BFF perfectly.
oo, oo, oo, I cannot believe I forgot that one!! Thanks, Superdude. My hero.