Impossible for me to pick just one, but I’ll add another classic album that hasn’t been mentioned yet and qualifies as “all killer & no filler:”
AC/DC, Back in Black.
Every. Damn. Song.
Hard to see past Blood On The Tracks.
Nobody’s mentioned Hunky Dory yet, so I’ll toss that one in the ring for consideration as well.
j
Just seen this - another cracking suggestion - not a hint of a clunker on it.
I guess I would say Albert Hall too. But we should point out, for any who may be unaware, it was actually the Manchester Free Trade Hall.
j
KISS ‘Alive’. What they sounded like when they were still playing to eat. Great straight-ahead hard rock.
Hey you there in the back: Stop laughing.
All right ya old fogeys. I gotta break up this 60s-70s-80s nostalgia fest and drop some real hard rock.
Audioslave “Cochise”
Fucking amazing, classic, timeless rock.
Graham Parker - Howlin’ Wind.
ISIS. Panopticon. Influential melodic metal. Damn i wish they were still a band. Each song is an epic fucking journey. Makes the little hairs on my arms stand up.
Upon reading the thread title, my mind immediately made a distinction between rock albums and other genres such as pop or blues, etc. So I am choosing only from what I consider rock! albums. And I hate to be the guy who can’t give a single answer to questions like this, but today, I simply cannot choose between these two:
[ul]
[li]Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan[/li][li]Exile On Main Street - Stones[/li][/ul]
Yep. I just tried again. Can’t decide…
I’m going with Highway 61 Revisited over Blood on the Tracks based on the fact that “Desolation Row” >> “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts”.
I could make a case for Bringing It All Back Home over Highway 61 Revisited, although it’s great against great.
Who’s Next for me, followed closely by Highway 61 Revisited and Zappa’s Hot Rats. One of my fondest memories is my younger son, then 10, coming to the basement and asking “want to listen to Who’s Next with me?”
For me, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan’, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks are Dylan’s five masterpieces. They’re all flawless works of awesomeness and deserve to be mentioned in a thread like this.
ETA: ok, I see, Freewheelin’ would be disqualified because it’s not really a rock album, though all the others are. But I leave it in for completeness.
As several others have said, the answer may vary from day to day…so I’ll add another one that hasn’t been mentioned yet: Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac. Their collective misery made for an absolutely fabulous group of songs.
At the moment: Supernatural by Santana
Awesome guitar playing with a range of styles: straight rock, funk, rap, world, etc.
If we are adding Zappa (genera “Bizarre music”) into the mix I add Joe’s Garage…Acts 1, 2 and 3
Don’t get no jizzm on my sofa, sofa…
That’s a very good album, R.E.M. had several great ones (Document, Murmur, Out Of Time, New Adventures In Hifi), but my choice would be Automatic For The People, IMHO the greatest album of the 90s. The first four and last three songs are all absolute gems, and the five songs inbetween are just a tad less beautiful than the rest.
This was my immediate, without-even-thinking-about-it choice. After giving it some time, ruminating on it for a while, considering other candidates… it remains my choice.
With The Pogues’ If I Should Fall From Grace With God coming in a close second, though.
Personal preference: Yes’s Tales from Topographic Oceans.. YMMV, and probably does.
For today, at least, I’m gonna go with Steely Dan’s second effort, Countdown to Ecstasy. That one never gets old for me.
Dark Side of the Moon was the first one that came to mind for me.