Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There?
Janis Ian - Night Rains
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
Cowboy Junkies - Best Of
… and the Donnie Darko OST
The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Beatles - Revolver
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Step
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings
Aerosmith - Rocks
Bob Dylan - Bringin’ It All Back Home
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
The Band - Music From Big Pink
Allman Brothers Band - Live at the Fillmore East
Cry of Love - Brother
John Martyn - Solid Air
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Joni Mitchell - Song to a Seagull; Clouds
I don’t get this thread. Do people seriously buy albums only to not listen to half the tracks?
On every album that I buy, I listen to everything. Secret tracks, skits, everything. If I didn’t like a band enough to listen to all their stuff, I wouldn’t buy their album.
And as a result, I find that eventually I’ll discover songs that once meant nothing to me. Take the Get Up Kids Four Minute Mile. There was a time when I didn’t particularly care for “The Last Place You Look” or “Fall Semester,” but eventually there came a time when these were my favourite songs on the album. If I’d just ignored these tracks after the first few listens, I would never have discovered their true value.
I simply do not understand how one can listen to a cd and actually skip tracks. They’re albums. They work as a whole. It’s like skipping chapters in a book.
I totally agree with gex gex.
They’re albums, people. You take the good with the bad. I’m of the opinion that the records I buy are put together as a cohesive statement by the band - not a collection of context-free singles. They recorded the songs and worked on sequencing them in the way that made the most sense to them, and I’m going to come along and second guess them?
There are so many great albums that have to be heard as a whole, not in little chunks. Maybe you don’t like a song as much as another one, but the band put it there for a reason and I’m going to trust them.
I’m not saying that there aren’t great single songs that I would never buy on an album - there are lots of those, but I’m content to hear most of those once in a while on a mix CD or something. I only buy albums, not a song or two at a time. And I have close to a thousand of them. I never skip tracks when I’m listening.
“UMass” by the Pixies is SUPPOSED to come right after “Head On”. Every Song on “London Calling” must be heard, and in that order. Hearing them any other way is just wrong.
Holy moly, I can’t believe someone owns this CD besides me! I love these guys, although nobody else I know has ever heard of 'em.
My list:
Marcy Playground - Marcy Playground
Barenaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle
Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
BoDeans - Joe Dirt Car
Ben Folds - Ben Folds Live
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Live On
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Trouble Is…
Kane Roberts - Saints and Sinners
I have that one too! It’s great!
Pertaining to Brother …
My dad is crazy over them! He saw them once at Celticfest (or something) in Betlehem, PA, and he bought up all their CDs.
I agree with gex gex and chorizo. I almost always listen to CDs all the way through without skipping songs, with the exception of alternative version bonus tracks that sometimes get tacked onto the ends of CDs. To their reasoning I would add that you never know when a song is gonna grow on you, and I came of age musically during the cassette era, so I’m not used to convenient skipping.
I prefer “real” albums to “just a collection of songs.” I find that greatest hits compilations, movie soundtracks, and other repackaged collections tend to be less satisfying to listen to.
But in defense of this thread, I’ll say that y’all have been naming some great albums—some I already love and some I may have to check out. (Kudos to Skammer for mentioning an obscure masterpiece!)
Robyn Hithchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains
XTC - Skylarking
XTC - English Settlement
XTC - Apple Venus Vol. 1
Sumack - Now Hear This
Clash - London Calling
Belle and Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
Housemartins - People Who Grinned Themselves To Death
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Morphine - Cure For Pain
Travis - The Invisible Band
Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & Lash
Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Poi Dog Pondering - Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering - Wishing Like A Mountain And Thinking Like The Sea
Space - Spiders
Sugarplastic - Radio Jejune
gex gex, chorizo, and Thudlow Boink: I could be wrong, but I don’t think the point of this thread is simply about CDs you merely listen to all the way through; but rather CDs you LOVE all the way through. I’m guessing even if you do listen to every CD you own all the way through from start to finish, there are songs on most of those CDs you don’t like as much as others, even if you don’t skip over them. I believe the point of this thread is to list ‘perfect CDs’; CDs that remain consistantly great from start to finish. Of course, threadstarter Biggril can correct me if I’m assuming incorrectly. 
Or, Biggirl, as the case may be. I’m not sure who Biggril is.
Hey, howja know I have a big grill?
Now people, of course I listen to my CDs all the way through-- how would I know whether I liked all the songs on them or not? Once I’ve established that I really, really cannot stand I Belong to You on Toni Braxton’s first album (the only reason that CD didn’t make my list) I see no reason to listen to it if my CD walkman’s skip button is less than an inch away from my finger.
I have a question for you guys who love every single song on every single album you own-- how do you do that? Do you guys know every single song on every single album you buy before you buy them? Personally, I have to know and like at least 3 songs before I buy the CD and will consider myself lucky if there are 3 other songs I love on it.
And if you don’t like a song, why do you sit listen to it? Just because it’s on the CD? Life’s too short to listen to music that you don’t like. I love the skip button.
For whatever reason, the albums that fit the OP usual end up in my car. There’s nothing better than an album you don’t have to skip through when taking a long drive.
Marah- Let’s Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later
Marah- Kids in Philly
Nine Inch Nails- Pretty Hate Machine
Peter Gabriel-So
The Pogues- Hell’s Ditch
The Smiths- The Queen is Dead
The Smiths- Hatfull of Hollow
Morrissey- Bona Drag
Jay Farrar- Sebastepol
Bright Eyes- Lifted, or Keep Your Ears to the Ground the Story is in the Soil (though I usually just suffer through the first bit of the first song…with all the background noise and whatnot)
Lucinda Williams- Carwheels on a Gravel Road
and interesting hodge-podge of groups…but not a bad egg in the bunch IMHO
I’m going to offer some 2-disc live sets:
Ani DiFranco–Living In Clip
Roger Waters–In The Flesh Live
Pink Floyd–Pulse
Eric Clapton–24 Nights
and possibly the greatest live album ever recorded (not a 2-disc, unfortunately…)
Bob Marley–Babylon By Bus
A few that have gone unmentioned:
Cheri Knight
Jayhawks, specifically Hollywood Town Hall
Jeff Buckly needs repeating
The album Deadicated (Dead covers)
Most all Cowboy Junkies albums
Hey Gex Gex! Gotta ask you again: Where do you keep it?
She said I was terribly handsome. Was I insulted?
I mentioned The Jayhawks - Smile.
Speaking of the Jayhawks - I’m listening to the new album, and it’s great. Rainy Day Music - highly recommended.
Smiths- Queen is dead
Smiths-self titled
Morrissey-Vauxhall & I
Wilco- Summerteeth
R.E.M.-New adventures in hi-fi
Jesus & Mary Chain- psychocandy
My Life Story- Mornington crescent
Rialto-self titled
I usually give every cd I buy several spins thru each song before I start skipping over certain tracks. A lot of songs I love now, didn’t hit me the first time I heard them, either because I wasn’t listening under the right circumstances, or in a bad mood.
I love those three albums. Especially Emmet Swimming (no one seems to have heard of them, but they rock).
Add to that:
Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (both CDs, in order).
Any Counting Crows CD
Red Hot Chili Peppers: One Hot Minute
Nada Surf: High Low
Any Collective Soul CD but the first one (Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid)
Green Day: Warning
I love the Jayhawks too, but there always seems to be one or two songs (“Pretty Thing” on the otherwise exquisite Smile comes to mind) that completely turn me off.
But I will add Kathleen Edwards’ stunning Failer and Counting Crows’ Hard Candy to my previous selections.