Name one perfect record

[Gods' Die]

I'd rate Dylan's Blood on the Track's as perfect.

I'm almost there, but man, Idiot Wind.

You're saying you dislike Idiot Wind?

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Nirvana - In Utero

No bad songs, all good songs. Incredible performances and song writing rarely matched in the modern era.

Really? In my opinion, the songwriting on "In Utero" is sub-par. More than half of the songs were leftovers/throwaways from the "Nevermind" era and the new songs weren't much to write home about. I felt that way when I first heard it, and I still do. "Nevermind" is a far stronger album all-around.

[matt reeder]

Nirvana - In Utero

No bad songs, all good songs. Incredible performances and song writing rarely matched in the modern era.

Really? In my opinion, the songwriting on "In Utero" is sub-par. More than half of the songs were leftovers/throwaways from the "Nevermind" era and the new songs weren't much to write home about. I felt that way when I first heard it, and I still do. "Nevermind" is a far stronger album all-around.

I think with In Utero you're always going to have differences of opinion. It's always been my favorite Nirvana album even though I feel that individually some of the songs are subpar. They work really well as a whole, something I attribute to the production and the overall themes of the material.

[Oh, Jimmy]

Don't want to post everything on my zune, but here are the ones I agree with so far.

Siamese Dream
Quadrophenia
DSOTM
Wish You Were Here
The Wall
Yield
Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Abbey Road
Revolver
The Band
IV
Z
Sticky Fingers
Blood On the Tracks

[Norah]

I'd rate Dylan's Blood on the Track's as perfect.

I'm almost there, but man, Idiot Wind.

You're saying you dislike Idiot Wind?

I'm saying it's not perfect.

[i got bugs]

its tough to think of any..

pink floyd animals and nas illmatic are great pics

id add alice in chains jar of flies

led zep 3 and pj no code are close except for one track each (hats off to roy harper and makind)

physical graffiti comes damn close to being a perfect double disc

[Birds in Hell]

"Hey guys, here's a bunch of albums I like."

[Norah]

"Hey guys, here's a bunch of albums I like."

right?

[i got bugs]

i would say dark side but for some reason i dont think money fits in

as much as i love sticky fingers, theres a couple tracks i skip

[Gods' Die]

I'd rate Dylan's Blood on the Track's as perfect.

I'm almost there, but man, Idiot Wind.

You're saying you dislike Idiot Wind?

I'm saying it's not perfect.

I think its lyrics are pretty hilariously brilliant. But, again, none of these albums are perfect.

[McParadigm]

A few things.

1. This is a Pearl Jam board, so there's gonna be some real love for early nineties....stuff....but I don't think any of the bands remotely associated with the top 40 selling "alternative" scene made a perfect record...or even necessarily a great one...before 1994. Even fast forwarding to now, I really only feel like there are maybe 4 or 5 genuinely great records out of that entire crew.

I don't think it's exactly their fault, though...I'm not convinced that "rock," in terms of the marketed aspect of the genre, really survived the 70's as a creative force. Basically, there came a point where its equations reversed. Instead of innovation leading the economics and artistic repetition being seen as commercial death, the drive for sellability actually began to injure the freedom to innovate. By the 80's you had songwriter pop rock (as typified by Springsteen and the Brothers in Arms album), which was really pop first, songwriter second, and a little rock influence last, the "are you making fun of it?" rock that is now the most associated sound for that decade, and synth pop music (also with rock attitude, but little else)....along with the early beginnings of soul music's self-mutilation (in other words, rawk wasn't the only genre whose commercial face was being chewed up).

By the mid-70's there just wasn't any direction. After punk readopted Great Balls of Fire and hardcore started trying to blend the sexiest early metal primality with folk melodies, the whole guitar-driven punchkick went into tired repeat and safety net wire acts. That's when I knew you were pretending.

Basically (and I think this is as true of the "we saved rawk" alt crowd as anybody), what was embraced as marketable was whatever was least surprising while still allowing for that marketing quality of 'see how different your generation is and how stupid the others were' personality....which is why you ended up with such a powerhouse, surprisingly large selling just-under-the-radar crowd by the turn of the century. It was the only place allowed to grow. But it means that, while each new marketing gimmick produced a few great moments, a lot of well-meaning musicians got caught up in their own bullshit.

2. Choosing the carefully crafted, if beautifully melodied, Blood on the Tracks over the 'this is actually my most political record, but you don't know what it is, do you' Americana sneer of Highway 61 Revisited is pure foolishness. From the initial ejection that kicks off the album (although, if you're honest about it, the line "How does it feel to be without a home" feels a little too excitedly endorphined and promising for the rest of the song...almost like foolish youthful exuberance), through the surreal travel south across America's unending contradicting insanity and cruel compassion, to the final (now desperate) escape south of the border (only to find that, just like Bob's home in Minnesota, they're selling pictures of the hanging), that album is the aural equivalent of the tired "I fucking dare you" I-didn't-hear-no-bell stare that was slapped on the cover of all those great mid-60's Dylan records. It literally is his entire persona, from jump to Tempest, in one record. Hell, maybe in one snare crack kick drum no-more opening.

So, I mean, if you have to choose Bob...

3. Now, if I'm gonna vote.

I want to vote for American immigrant band-aid jazz. I vote to praise the wants-to-be-free experimentation that sought musical purity but that couldn't quite let go of the feel of soft kisses. I want to to vote for the timeless forgotten, who borrowed rhythm from trains and words from sad gypsies. The ones imprisoned by land and by love. Who lived in the place where country and blues were true brothers...where songwriters wore crowns but the song was still king. I want melody and rain. I want the real end.

So I vote Rain Dogs.

And yeah. I'm pretty fucking drunk.

[Gods' Die]

Much shorter response: there's an instrumental on Rain Dogs that I skip.

[McParadigm]

Much shorter response: there's an instrumental on Rain Dogs that I skip.

Reaction:

[William Bloke]

I'd rate Dylan's Blood on the Track's as perfect.

I'm almost there, but man, Idiot Wind.

You're saying you dislike Idiot Wind?

I'm saying it's not perfect.

I think its lyrics are pretty hilariously brilliant. But, again, none of these albums are perfect.

I am a fan of Idiot Wind, in particular for the lyrics. I do love the way he sings around corners to make his lines fit, regardless of the melody.

And yeah, Highway 61 Revisited is a fair choice here also (as far as Bob goes), great album, in particular great great openner, but I don't agree that an album being political or of "more serious" content against, say, a break-up album makes for a more valid case for perfection.

Another one that for me is certainly perfect: Hunters & Collectors - Human Frailty. Loved it in 1986, still love it now.

[harmless]

I'd rate Dylan's Blood on the Track's as perfect.

I'm almost there, but man, Idiot Wind.

You're saying you dislike Idiot Wind?

I'm saying it's not perfect.

I think its lyrics are pretty hilariously brilliant. But, again, none of these albums are perfect.

Speak for yourself. Mine was.

[KurtLeon]

The TVC album is pretty close to perfection for me.

[Jorge]

Them Vrooked Cultures

[KurtLeon]

Them Vrooked Cultures

They are awesome. As awesome as dyslexia.

[Oh, Jimmy]

"Hey guys, here's a bunch of albums I like."

I'm sure there's some of that, but there are albums that I like more than the albums that I put on my list of agreements. I think sometimes an albums imperfections can almost make it better in a way. That's why I wouldn't include something like Physical Graffiti or the White Album. All those weird tracks add alot of charm. I guess perfection or flaws are in the ear of the beholder.

I like Animals and Meddle more than I like any of Floyd albums mentioned, but I think they both have their flaws.

i would say dark side but for some reason i dont think money fits in

If that album's not perfect then the title of the thread should be "Closest to perfect albums"

[j's brain]

In Rainbows