Old Albums…
I second Led Zeppelin III, great great album…
Also, Deep Purple’s ‘Machine Head’
Aerosmith’s ‘Toys in the Attic’
The Dickies’ ‘Dawn of the Dickies’
Cheap Trick’s ‘In Color’
Bad Religion’s ‘Stranger than Fiction’
Rush’s ‘Exit, Stage Left’, or are live albums cheating?
New albums
The Reverend Horton Heat’s ‘Spend a night in the box’
The Red Elvises ‘I want to see you bellydance’
Some albums not mentioned yet. No particular order:
Phish, * A Picture of Nectar *. It’s easily their best album, from a band that does a surprisingly good job at making good albums. Every band member got a chance to mix in some of their own compositions with the standard Tom Marshall fare, there’s a Dizzy Gilespie cover, and even Mike Gordon’s songs (“Poor Heart”, “Catapult”) are well placed in the album. Just writing this review I had to throw the disc in.
Miles Davis, * Kind of Blue *. Few jazz albums have had as profound an influence on Rock music as this one. While Bitches Brew gets cited as being more innovative, it’s almost too experimental to be truly listenable. Kind of Blue is just a perfect album.
The Lemonheads It’s a Shame About Ray. This is a great album from beginning to end. It marks the pinacle in Evan Dando’s transition from angry, ironic punk rocker to catchy pop singer, and despite Juliana Hatfield’s presence, she doesn’t have the badly mixed backing vocals that marred Come on Feel…(not that I don’t like Juliana Hatfield, it’s just that she seemed out of place on Come on Feel…)
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. I can’t be teh first one to mention this one? Man. Parts of The Wall get old fast, but Dark Side is about a perfect album. Its cohesive, enjoyable, perfect. I can’t say personally that its “the best album” but many polls have listed it as just that.
The Sex Pistols * Never Mind The Bullocks, Here Comes…* A great punk album start to finish, not a clunker in the bunch, most likely because Sid Viscious joined the band after this album was mostly completed,
Jackson Browne * Running on Empty *. God, this is a great album. I can’t think of a better “live” album out there. Not only were all of the songs recorded “on the road” (including one on a moving bus), but the entire album has a cohesive theme, thus making it a rareity: A concept live album.
I’ll keep the list to 6 this time…
KISS - Alive!
I don’t think live albums are cheating. This one has a lot of songs that I don’t really care for in their studio versions, but they’re played here the way they were meant to be heard. This was before KISS turned into a cartoon, when they were still a rock band.
KISS - Creatures Of The Night
Iron Maiden - Killers
Rush - Moving Pictures
Jimi Hendrix - Axis:Bold As Love
ZZ Top - Eliminator
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch
The best and most underrated album of the Brian Johnson era.
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East
Black Sabbath - first album
Do bootlegs count? If so…
Metallica - No Life Til Leather
Consists of demos made before they had a record deal. Makes Kill 'em All sound sanitized.
Black Sabbath - Welcome To The Electric Funeral
Hammersmith Odeon, 1978
Rush - La Villa Strangiato
St. Louis, 1980
Van Halen - Civic Pride
Pasadena Civic Center, 1977. Anyone who’s even a casual fan of the Diamond Dave era MUST get this. The same recording has been bootlegged under about twenty different titles.
Yes! Absolutely!
I’ll try to think of some others not yet mentioned.
Here’s a few more great albums,
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous (a live album(duh))
Aimee Mann - Whatever
Television - Marquee Moon
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
Van Halen I
Jellyfish - Bellybutton
I would keep typing but it’s imperative that I listen to one of these albums, NOW!!!
“British Composers: VAUGHAN WILLIAMS” - conducted by Sir Adrian Bolt
“Howards End” soundtrack, original score composed by Richard Robbins
“The Russia House” soundtrack, original score composed by Jerry Goldsmith
“Jean Sibelius - The Origin of Fire, Op. 32 * Sandels, Op. 28” The Gothenbrurg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi cond.
“Sibelius - Scenes Historiques Suites 1 and 2, etc.” Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson cond.
I could go on for quite a while listing albums with all “good” music on them.
I have to say, it is really rare to find a Classical (or orchestral) album with only a few good “songs” (i.e. musical pieces) on them. Most, if not all, the stuff is good, at least in my opinion. I’d feel pretty ripped off if I bought an album and discovered only one or two pieces on there were worth the powder to blow 'em to Hell. But I guess I’m spoiled! 
This was a great idea for a thread! Lets see…
Boston- Boston. It’s easy to make great rock and roll when your band is a bunch of robots, like Boston. Having said that, I LOVE to hear those robots at work.
Ozzy Osbourne- Blizzard of Ozz. Probably his least well known album these days. It’s his first solo studio album (it came out in 1981) and its really raw compared to what he does now. That’s its appeal.
Def Leppard- Hysteria. I think really great groups, like the Eagles, Rush, Led Zepplin, etc. find their own sound and then perfect it. That’s what Leppard did with this album. Love them or hate them, they’ve never sounded better before or since than they did on this one. It’s their definitive record. It was also the highest selling hard rock/heavy metal album of the 80’s until the one below.
Guns 'N Roses- Appetite For Destruction. Some of the songs on this album have been so overplayed that it’s hard to see how refreshing the edgy ATTITUDE of this disc was in 1987.
Bob Seger- Stranger In Town. Not as as sentimental as Against The Wind, but a little more hard rockin’ than Night Moves. Seger at his best, if not most successful.
Plumb- Candycoatedwaterdrops. Has anyone heard of these guys besides me?
Greg X. Volz- The River is Rising. Anyone who’s heard of him is probably surprised I listen to him AND Ozzy. Hey, I’m versatile. Volz is a great singer, at least he was back when he made this album.
Jane Siberry - No Borders Here
Ones I haven’t seen here yet (and off the top of my head)…
Led Zeppelin “II”
Aerosmith “Toys in the Attic”
Queen “Classic Queen” (I feel like I’m cheating putting a “greatest hits” type of album here, but its a good one)
Rent soundtrack
Billy Joel “The Bridge”
U2 “War”
Genesis “Invisible Touch”
So many great albums out there that are excellent that have already been said… “Little Earthquakes”, “Master of Puppets”, “Blizzard of Ozz”, “Badmotorfinger”,
I could go on and on, but why repeat what has been said… so much good music.
By the way… Commander Cyclops-- How much would you charge for a copy of “No Life Till Leather?” 
Screeme
Put me down for:
The Clash’s London Calling
Rancid’s And Out Come The Wolves
NIN’s Pretty Hate Machine
Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit
Pop Will Eat Itself’s This is the Hour…
Ani Difranco’s Living In Clip
Public Enemy’s Takes a Nation Of Millions
Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking
Bob Geldof’s Vegetarian’s Of Love
To name but a few…
Oh, oh, oh…
Green Day’s Dookie
Cheap Trick’s Live at Buddakan
and Sinead O’Connors Snake and the Cobra
sorry, just could resist adding a few to my list
Just kidding!
Band on the run (Wings)
Get Lucky (Loverboy
Destroyer (Kiss)
Honeymoon suite (Honeymoon suite)
All 4 One (Motels)
All the Best Cowboys have chinese eyes(Pete Townshend)
Almost any K-tel album from the '70s. (20 top hits for $4.99. Not Bad!)
I’m glad for all the responses so far. Much of these have reminded me (or suggested) albums I’d like to own. After all, if some people like EVERY song, most if not all the songs should be likeable. There’s too few music stores nowadays that let you preview whole albums …
Anyway, thought I’d add one more that I can’t believe I forgot :
Dar Williams - End of the Summer
panama jack
What matters most is us
What matters most is now
What matters is this
-Hothouse Flowers
cblackhand – gotta echo “Operation MindCrime” that whole CD is very cool!
I have to admit that I sorta skimmed but my top pix:
Roxy Music – Avalon
Phil Collins – Face Value
And every album by Enigma.
Not that anyone besides me gives a rat’s ass but those are my top pix for what I will listen to.
There’s lots - here’s a sample:
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
The Velvet Underground - self titled and ‘banana’ album
The Ramones - The Ramones
Johnny Cash - Live at Folsom Prison
Simon Bonney - Everyman
Rowland Howard - Teenage Snuff Film
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
Gram Parsons - Sleepless Nights
HenrySpencer
A few off the top of my head, excluding greatest hits albums.
Led Zeppelin: I, II, Untitled, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here
Rush: Roll the Bones
Yes: The Yes Album, Fragile
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
Genesis: We Can’t Dance
311: 311
[ul][li]The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace with God[/li][li]The Replacements - Tim[/li][li]Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet[/li][li]James McMurtry - Too Long In The Wasteland[/li]Lyle Lovett - Road to Ensenada[/ul]
Yes!
Also,
Indigo Girls: “Rites of Passage”
Joe Jackson: “Night and Day”
Springsteen: “The River”
(I want to say “Born to Run” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” but they are off by one in “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” and “Adam Raised a Cain” respectively.)
Oh yeah, great album. I’d also like to add:
Police: Synchronicity
Lindsey Buckingham: Go Insane
Robert Plant: Now & Zen
Rush: 2112 and Roll the Bones
Indigo Girls: Indigo Girls and Rites of Passage
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes
Eddie From Ohio: Looking Out the Fishbowl
Dave Matthews: every damn album.