Ten by Pearl Jam
Decoration Day by the Drive By Truckers
Music For All Occasions by the Mavericks (how appropriate)
Mock Tudor by Richard Thompson
Black Holes and Revelations by Muse
U2 - Actung Baby, Joshua Tree
Crucified - Pillars of Humanity (obscure, I know)
77s - 77s (obscure)
Boston - Boston
The Who - Live at Leeds (even the double disc version. This is kind of cheating, as it’s not a studio album, but I feel the live performance cancels out the ability to pick the songs)
Daniel Amos - Horrendous Disc, Doppleganger (obscure)
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Extreme - III Sides
King’s X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
LSU - Waking Up the Dead (obscure)
Larry Norman - Only Visiting This Planet (a bit obscure)
Sass O’ Frass Tunic - As Blue as the State Allows (very obscure)
Weezer - Blue, Green, Maladroit
10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged
I have many, many that would fit this specification, but one that is perhaps on top of the list:
Soul Vaccination: Tower of Power Live
in addition:
Throw in all of the early Tom Waits collection
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Ry Cooder - Into the Purple Valley
Johnny Winter - Live
as already mentioned:
Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
Surrealistic Pillow - The Jefferson Airplane
Benefit - Jethro Tull
Living with Ghosts - Patty Griffin
Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, For the Roses and Court & Spark - Joni (in her can-do-no-wrong period) Mitchell
Liege & Lief - Fairport Convention
Tea for the Tillerman - Cat Stevens
Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter - The Incredible String Band
Is one requirement that it has to be possible to enjoy each track in isolation? Because I have many albums of the “three good tracks and no bad tracks” variety that function as a whole, but few where I could pull them apart and consider track-by-track.
I mean, “Speak to Me” from Dark Side of the Moon isn’t exactly A-side worthy, but it doesn’t need to be in its proper context.
I think the book/novel analogy is incredibly apt, but it only works if you’re a fan of the album format (which I am). If you view albums less as collections of tracks than as complete works, you’ll be drawn to artists with a similar POV who deliver albums rather than songs (such as Steven Wilson, as a modern example). OTOH, the artists who work track by track almost invariably get stuck in that singles+filler trap.
Wheelz and Ludovic have mentioned 2 of my artists but different albums. I respect their choices and compliment them on their taste in music. Here are my selections:
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (his first album)
**Van Morrison **- Tupelo Honey (and really, almost everything by Van Morrison)
**Graham Parker **- Howlin’ Wind (his first album)
Herbie Mann - Anything and everything by the late great jazz flutist/flautist
Mink DeVille - Cabretta (?) It was the first album. c.1978 Containes the coolest song ever…Cadillac Walk.
Guess I’m going back quite a way, but these stand out as timeless albums.
Pretty Hate Machine. Has nobody mentioned this yet? Why?
Seconding Liege & Lief and Tea for the Tillerman (though I could do without the long instrumental bit in Matty Groves)
I also buy whole-albums almost exclusively (and in CD format, too! Gasp!). Most of the time I find the secondary tracks growing on me with repeated listening of the entire album.
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
The Clash - The Clash (Amazingly, either the U.S. or UK version)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year’s Model and Get Happy!!
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
Prince - Sign O The Times
Revolver is close, but “Love You To” and “I Want To Tell You” bring it down for me; similarly with Abbey Road and “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and “Octopus’ Garden”.
The Beatles - Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road
The Who - Tommy, …By The Numbers, …Sings My Generation
the brilliant green - All of them. >> (My Tomoko Kawase obsession should be well known by now. >> So just assume that all of her Tommy <X>[sup]6[/sup] albums are on the list, too.)
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare, Lace and Whisky, From The Inside, Brutal Planet
Brian Setzer Orchestra - Dirty Boogie
The Who Sell Out
Beatles - Too many to mention
Dropkick Murphys - Do or Die
Dead Kennedy’s - Fresh Fruit from Rotting Vegetables
The Clash - London Calling
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust, Alladin Sane, Honky Dory
I’ll post again when I can think of a few.
Aimee Mann: Bachelor No. 2, Lost in Space
Morcheeba: Big Calm
Blackalicious: Blazing Arrow
Pixies: Bossanova, Come On Pilgrim, Doolittle, Surfer Rosa, Trompe le Monde
Pink Floyd: The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon
Butthole Surfers: Electric Larryland
White Stripes: Elephant
DJ Shadow: Endtroducing
Operation Ivy: Energy
Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Talking Heads: Fear of Music
Paul Burch: Fool for Love
Primus: Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Arcade Funeral: Funeral
Gorillaz: Gorillaz
Paul Simon: Graceland
Joe Strummer: Global A Go-Go, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style
Soundtracks: Grosse Point Blank, Pulp Fiction, The Wedding Singer
Mike Doughty: Haughty Melodic
The Pogues: If I Should Fall from Grace with God, Peace and Love, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, Waiting for Herb
Smog: Knock Knock
The Breeders: Last Splash, Pod
The Kinks: Low Budget
Iggy Pop: Lust for Life
Marcy Playground: Marcy Playground, Shapeshifter
Filthy Thieving Bastards: Our Fathers Sent Us
REM: Out of Time
Peter Gabriel: Passion
Lou Reed: Sally Can’t Dance
Lyrics Born: Same Shit, Different Day
Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream
Sixpence None the Richer: Sixpence None the Richer
Barenaked Ladies: Stunt
Pearl Jam: Vs.
Rufus Wainwright: Want One
Weezer: Weezer
Ben Folds Five: Whatever and Ever Amen
Amanda Palmer: Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Silly Wizard: Wild and Beautiful
Honorable Mentions
Rufus Wainwright’s Poses, which is a collection of absolutely incredible music, plus the tedious “In a Graveyard”.
Sgt. Pepper misses the list by three minutes and thirty five seconds, which is the length of “She’s Leaving Home.” A steaming pile of crap on an otherwise perfect album.
Conclusion: The Pixies was the perfect band.
Paul Simon - Graceland
The Who - Tommy
The Who - The Wall
Mahlathini & Mahotella Queens - Paris Soweto
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
Cincinnati Pops - Ein Straussfest
I gues there are many, justa couple that I recall, momentarily.
Mushroomhead- Savior Sorrow
Reggie and the Full Effect- Songs not to get married to
The Cult- Electric
Violent Femmes- Violent Femmes
Peaches- Fatherfucker
My Bloody Valentine- You Made Me Realise
Kings of Convenience- Riot on an Empty Street
Sparklehorse- It’s a Wonderful Life
Van Halen, 1978
Boston, 1976
Rocks, Aerosmith, 1976
From my iTunes library:
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller
Better Than Ezra - Deluxe; Closer
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Give It Back; Take It From The Man
Bright Eyes - Lifted; I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts; Hazards of Love
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy; The Stage Names
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God; Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
REM - Murmur; Life’s Rich Pageant
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
The Smithereens - Especially For You
The Smiths - The Smiths; The Queen Is Dead
They Might Be Giants - Flood
The Wrens - The Meadowlands
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Two more:
Queensryche - Operation:Mindcrime. The best metal concept album ever.
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five - Pop masterpiece.
Should this be Pink Floyd’s The Wall? 
For me it’s “Within You Without You.” I cannot understand how such a rotten song made it on an otherwise fun album.
Reading some other lists, I can’t believe I forgot “Funeral.” Some others that came to mind…
“Electric Version,” New Pornographers
“Tha Carter III,” Lil Wayne
“Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous,” Big L
“Razorlight,” Razorlight
“Reasonable Doubt,” Jay-Z
“Oracular Spectacular,” MGMT
“Stankonia,” Outkast
One of my favorite albums - “Cosmicandy” by The Orion Experience - just barely misses the mark because of a crappy final track that I always skip.
It was nailed in the OP with Carole King - Tapestry
There are a good handful of albums I could probably think of if I tried, but I feel like the spirit of the thread is to grab those few, immediately perfect albums. Not to cast doubt on those who posted long-ish lists. Maybe I’m just being picky. Anyway, I’m going to add:
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? (awfully impressive for such a huge album)
Yeah, that is what stopped me from adding Elvis Costello to my list, despite him being one of my favorite artists. This Year’s Model isn’t even my favorite album of his.
This album has been in my car CD player for at least 3 weeks now, I can’t not listen to it. Excellent, excellent rock album–intelligent lyrics, mind-blowing guitar work and kick a$$ hooks. I love it!!!
As for the OP:
REM - Automatic for the People
Better Than Ezra - Friction, Baby
Bob Marley - Tuff Gong