Jason Kuznicki suggests that I might “outdo” him in terms of—well, I’m not sure, obscurity? indie cred?—in the quest for the “perfect album,” which he describes as:
the rare compilation where every track is outstanding, and where all of them fit well together, such that you never want to skip a single song.
But as he says, “it’s not about one-upsmanship,” so I hope I can chime in without looking like I took that as a challenge, because I find the “perfect album” idea pretty interesting. The first thing that struck me was that my list of “perfect” albums would be very different from a list of my favorite albums. To pick an extreme case, 69 Love Songs is easily in my top-5. At least, say, 15 of them are serious clunkers, which is a disqualifier for “perfect” status, even though out of 69 that leaves a pretty impressive number in the “very good” to “scrumtrilescent” range. There’s a standard-length “perfect album” hiding in those three disks that could probably persuade God to abdicate in favor of Stephin Merritt, but that’s not what The Magnetic Fields released. Or there’s the improbably concentrated Loaded: Every song on the first half is better than my favorite song from most other albums I like. But I rarely bother with the second half, except for “Lonesome Cowboy Bill.”
The perfect/best disconnect comes out most clearly for me in the cases of Built to Spill and Death Cab for Cutie. Each band has a pretty strong contender for “perfect album” status: Ancient Melodies of the Future for the former, and Transatlanticism for the latter. But neither is the band’s best, or even second best album: Perfect from Now On and Keep it Like a Secret are both far superior BtS albums on net, and (by a smaller margin), I’d take either Something About Airplanes or We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes over Transatlanticism.
That said, some picks. I’m not willing to agonize over which five I think are the most very-perfect, having already blown two of my slots for the example above. But here are the first ones that come to mind, in no particular order:
- Dismemberment Plan — Emergency and I
- Simon & Garfunkel — Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Metric — Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
- Tori Amos — Under the Pink
- Postal Service — Give Up (though this one got so ubiquitous I can’t really listen to it anymore…)
- Weezer — Blue Album (how the mighty have fallen!)
- Soul Coughing — Ruby Vroom
- Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing) — Skittish, if you ignore that it’s now bundled with the lesser Rockity Roll
- The Pixies — Doolittle
- New Pornographers — The Electric Version
- Silver Jews — American Water
- Spoon — Kill the Moonlight
There’s a fairly obvious bias toward the present here, not because there aren’t plenty of older contenders, but because if an album has some forgettable songs on it… you tend to forget about them. So I’m picking albums I’ve listened to in the recent past, which is a pool disproportionately composed of albums released in the recent past. Maybe over Christmas I’ll run back through my old classic rock albums from high school and see what makes the cut from those. In the meantime, what I really want to know is which records would make the cut for my roommate Dave Weigel, whose knowledge of pop music is encyclopedic, nay, Klostermaniacal in scope.
Addendum: Huh, apparently despite what I wrote above, my memory failed a bit for a couple of these. As Steve reminds me in the comments, Bridge Over Troubled Water includes the very weak “Why Won’t You Write Me” and “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright,” though I will defend “Keeping the Customer Satisfied.” And I had just absolutely blacked out “Small Stakes,” the first track on Kill the Moonlight, which is so craptastic that I inevitably start the album with “The Way We Get By.”
15 responses so far ↓
1 diakron // Dec 9, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Revolver. UK (proper) edition. I don’t think anything else comes particularly close. I don’t understand how Mr. Kuznicki can grump about “She’s Leaving Home” and not even mention Revolver.
London Calling is pretty damn good, too.
2 Steven Maloney // Dec 9, 2006 at 8:43 pm
I have pretty lousy tastes when it comes to contemporary music (and my classical tastes are likely also lousy, but there are fewer people to confirm it), but I do know my Simon and Garfunkel, which leads me to ask: BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER?
Perhaps you got some sort of special copy that doesn’t contain “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright,” “Why Don’t You Right Me,” and “Keep the Customer Satisfied.” Easily three of their WORST songs.
Let me help you out, you meant to write, “Bookends.”
Also, I hate to be so obvious, but I think “OK Computer” belongs in the Pantheon (as opposed to the Parthenon, of which there is a life size replica down the street).
3 Christopher M // Dec 9, 2006 at 10:53 pm
To be almost as obvious as Steven Maloney — but no less correct: Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
4 Christopher M // Dec 9, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Here are some more that I’d put on my list. This is pretty different from my “favorite albums” list. But these are all really excellent albums, and the common characteristic is that I almost always listen to the whole album rather than to individual songs.
Radiohead, Kid A
Beatles, Abbey Road
Dresden Dolls – Yes Virginia
Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
Jedi Mind Tricks – The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological, and Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground and Nico
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Sigur RÃ?³s – Ã?ÂgÃ?¦tis Byrjun
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
Add N to (X) – Avant Hard
Tom Waits – Blood Money
Weezer – Pinkerton
White Stripes – De Stijl
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5 Christopher M // Dec 9, 2006 at 11:14 pm
(Jeez, sorry for the double spacing. It didn’t show up like that in the preview.)
6 Travis // Dec 10, 2006 at 12:53 am
Rancid – “Out come the Wolves” and “Lets Go!”
Minus the Bear – “Highly Refined Pirates”
Cannibal Ox – “Cold Vein”
Underworld, – “Second Toughest in the Infants”
Richie Hawtin – “Decks, EFX and a 909”
It might be violating the rules to put a dj mix on there, but its a really good dj mix. If you’re into that sort of thing.
7 Greg Newburn // Dec 10, 2006 at 11:53 am
I never skip any of the songs on these records:
Fugazi: Repeater
GZA: Liquid Swords
Guns ‘N Roses: Lies
Chamberlain: The Moon, My Saddle
Braid: Frame and Canvas
Hot Water Music: Forever & Counting
Quicksand: Manic Compression and Slip
Sunny Day Real Estate: Diary
Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
Operation Ivy: Energy
Tool: Undertow
Rage Against the Machine: Self-Titled
8 Greg Newburn // Dec 10, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Two More:
1) At the Drive-In: Vaya
2) Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique
9 thia // Dec 10, 2006 at 11:11 pm
perfect vs favorite album is graspable but so slippery. Perfect when? From age 13-19 or at 26 or both? My old walkman wore out tapes of: Clash’s London Calling(80), Police’s Synchronicity(83), U2’s Unforgettable Fire(84), Prince’s Purple Rain(84), Joni Mitchell’s Blue(71), Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet (90), Marvin Gaye’s Whats Going On(71), Tracy Chapman’s Tracy Chapman(88), Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking(88), Sade’s Promise (85). With no desire to pick up U2 in 15 years, does that disqualify it?
An artist’s earlier works sometimes feels more “perfect” possibly because early stuff explodes my expectations. Hence my lean towards Tori’s Little Earthquakes(92) vs Under The Pink(94)? The noninterruptable nonsongskippable rule just barely keeps Tricky’s Maxinquaye (94), Kinnie Starr’s Tidy (96) and Bjork’s Telegram (96) off the list — is their fault im fickle about some songs?
I find perfect albums crack musical and sociopolitical genres, are gutgrabbing (anger and joy, ache and soothe) and deeply transformative. There’s no better company on a long solo drive. (except maybe a mix of favorite/best songs?) So:
*Patty Griffin’s Living With Ghosts (96)
*Sleater Kinney’s Call The Doctor (95)
*Me’shell NdegeOcello’s Plantation Lullabies (96)
*Ani Difranco’s Imperfectly (92) – title clinched this choice over other ani
*Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville (93)
*PJ Harvey’s 4-Track Demos (93)
*Michael Franti & Spearhead’s Stay Human (01)
*Baaba Maal’s Nomad Soul (97)
Perfect Compilations: Bob Marley Chant Down Babylon (99 tribute to), Red Hot & Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove(98), and Red Hot & Riot: The Music & Spirit of Fela Kuti(02)
10 thia // Dec 10, 2006 at 11:44 pm
*van morrison’s astral weeks(68)
11 steveintheknow // Dec 11, 2006 at 9:05 am
In no order:
Magnetic Fields – Get Lost
Modest Mouse – Long Drive With Nothing to Think About
Neutral Milk Hotel – Aeroplane Over the Sea
Steely Dan – Aja
Pixies – Any Album before Tromp…
The Police – first two
Paula Abdul – Forever YOur Girl
For Those Who Know – For Those Who Know (of course)
Hey Julian, if you really like Dismemberment Plan, you should check out Snowden.
12 steveintheknow // Dec 11, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Oh yeah I forgets…
Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
The Walkmen – Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
Pulp- Different Class
13 laurex // Dec 12, 2006 at 12:37 am
I don’t share your concept of perfection, I don’t think, and I’m probably too much of a semanticist to really go for Perfect Albums, but some that I think are remakably cohesive (i’m sticking to the contemporary pop genre for the sake of your argument):
The 6ths- Wasps Nests
Alog- Red Shift Swing
The Raincoats- s/t
Spoon- A Series of Sneaks
Roy Harper- Valentine
Kiss Me…Kiss Me…Kiss Me…-The Cure
My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
Boselmaschine- s/t
Love- s/t
14 laurex // Dec 12, 2006 at 12:38 am
oops, that’s Broselmaschine.
15 laurex // Dec 12, 2006 at 1:00 am
Ooops, again, I rescind Roy Harper (not even the right genre) but add Soft Boys- Underwater Moonlight and Latin Playboys- s/t. Cheers.