Top 10! - Perfect Albums
Perfection is impossible, really, for just about everything created by humans. So what constitutes a perfect album…well, no skippers. An album that is great from start to finish, with no need to hit fast forward on any song. Songs you know and love despite not getting radio airplay aor a single release. No greatest hits albums either, just the original debut of new songs. These albums are few and far between, but here is my Top 5 list:
10. This Year’s Model - Elvis Costello (1978) This is such a good album and a brilliant follow up to an album I’d happliy put in a Top 5 debut album of all time. This hits, (I Don’t Wan’t to go to) Chelsea and Pump it Up, are really strong and get a lot of radio play. The rest is not filler from the quickly painful Little Triggers to the wierdly upbeat Hand in Hand.
9. Back in Black - AC/DC (1980) - Every song could have been released as a single and would be a hit. The 80’s started with a touchstone album of hard rock for that decade. Balls to the wall and defined the Brain Johnson version of AC/DC for years to come.
8. Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet (1991) Here’s an interesting one. A hip alternative non-grunge early 90’s record that is great from start to finish. Put it on and listen all the way through. I’m pretty sure you’ll listen to it again and again.
7. The Cars - The Cars (1978) Is this a debut album or a greatest hits entry. Hard to tell, but know I’ve worn out many copies of this disc/tap/record.
6. Ten - Pearl Jam (1991) What a way to start out a HOF career with this debut. Songs are absolutely solid from start to finish, alternative with a classic rock feel, perfect for the time.
5. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1975) With his record company threatening to pull the plug on his deal, mid-20’s Springsteen wrote a perfectionists album consisting of huge hits with power pop and R&B overtones. Try not to sing along to every song, I dare you.
4. Moondance - Van Morrison (1970) Another album you can put on and listen start to finish, flip it back to side A and start over again. Perfect mood music and a beautiful mood it is.
3. Some Girls - Rolling Stones (1978) The second to last great Stones’ album. Possibly, but despite its controversies this album closed out the 70’s for the them in a big way. Every song is listenable throughout, looking at you Far Away Eyes, yes, even you! Let it be known I could (almost) have just as easily slid in 1974’s It’s Only Rock & Roll.
2. Who’s Next - The Who (1971) Only reason it is not #1 on my list (sorry Ox) is Entwistle’s My Wife, which is still not complete crap.
1. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (1973) Of course it’s #1. How could it not be? Visionary. Masterpiece. Staple. Perfection. An album that confirmed what it meant to be in the album era.
Man, top eleven would have included either Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On where the “filler” feels right or Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions. Where do you honestly drop with these? Have your own perfect album with no fillers or throw aways? Comment below!
