In other news (apolitical thread)...

[847badgerfan]

Which brings up another topic for discussion-- what do you consider to be the best albums all time, side A and side B, from beginning to end, with no bad songs?  The kind you just want to sit down and listen to the whole thing, never wanting to hit that skip button or lift the tone arm to the next track.

I'll throw out The Cars The Cars as a starting point, I love that whole album.  There are many others.

There are a good number on my list. I'll start with Van Halen I and Boston. Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell has merit.

[utee94]

So obviously the album as an art form has been dead for a while.  I think Dave Matthews and Oasis did the best job among "modern" artists of keeping the album as an art form.

I think Abbey Road is the best constructed album.  But I don't think it necessarily has the best songs.  It just works together better than anything I've ever heard.

If we are just talking banger after banger, these are some of my favorites.  Not saying they are the best crafted album, just albums where I can listen start to finish, these are the ones that come to mind

• Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
• Tapestry - Carole King
• Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
• Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
• Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
• Who's Next - The Who
• Band on the Run - Paul McCartney & the Wings
• Thriller - Michael Jackson
• Joshua Tree - U2
• No Jacket Required - Phil Collins
• Master of Puppets - Metallica
• Appetite for Destruction - Guns n Roses
• Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morisette
• Kid A - Radiohead
• Chronic 2001 - Dr. Dre
• Stankonia - OutKast
• Black Album - Jay Z
• College Dropout - Kanye West
• FutureSexLoveSounds - Justin Timberlake
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
• White Trash With Money - Toby Keith
• 1989 - Taylor Swift
• 21 - Adele

You can define it however you like, it's an open ended question.  For me it doesn't need to be full of bangers, some of my favorite albums might only have 1 or 2 "hits" on them, the rest were merely album tracks.

But I will say that for me, my definition is-- it has to be an album with no weak songs, or no dislikable songs, no "immediate skips" or things like that. 

I'll illustrate, from one of the albums on your list.  I absolutely love U2 The Joshua Tree, it's one of my favorite albums of all time. But I also absolutely hate one song-- "Bullet The Blue Sky."  I find it pretentious, annoying, and also just a bad song.  It's an instant skip for me.  Which, for a vinyl LP record, means I have to stand up, walk over to the turntable, lift the tone arm, move it over manually, and drop it to the next track.  So that disqualifies that album for me.  In fact, when I dubbed that album to cassette tape, I just omitted that song, and then I never listened to the record or CD again, instead I always listed to the cassette tape.

[utee94]

There are a good number on my list. I'll start with Van Halen I and Boston. Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell has merit.

Absolutely agree.  Van Halen I, II, and 1984 are all full listens for me.  Same goes for all of the first three Boston albums.  And Heaven and Hell is good front to back as well.

Counting Crows August and Everything After is another one of mine.

[MikeDeTiger]

I think Abbey Road is the best constructed album.  But I don't think it necessarily has the best songs.  It just works together better than anything I've ever heard.

Back in high school, a buddy of mine shared an opinion with me that Pearl Jam's singles were progressively better from albums, one, two, and three, but that the albums got progressively worse.

I don't know that I still think that, specifically, but I know what you mean.  

[MikeDeTiger]

Not the same album, but ELA mentioning Phil Collins immediately made me think of But Seriously.  One of the rare albums where I want to skip nothing.  

[jgvol]

Smashing Pumpkins -- Siamese Dream.  unskippable.

Counting Crows August and Everything After -- a great call as well.

Nirvana -- Nevermind

Neil Diamond -- The Jazz Singer

"Singles" soundtrack

"Forrest Gump" soundtrack

Any Creedence album basically.

[utee94]

Back in high school, a buddy of mine shared an opinion with me that Pearl Jam's singles were progressively better from albums, one, two, and three, but that the albums got progressively worse.

I don't know that I still think that, specifically, but I know what you mean. 

Yeah I don't know if the singles got better, but the albums definitely got worse.  Ten is a full listen for me, but although I like several tracks off the next couple of albums, I always found myself skipping multiple songs on them.  And I'll still bust out Ten to this day, while I haven't broken out the next two in... decades I guess.

[847badgerfan]

Smashing Pumpkins -- Siamese Dream.  unskippable.

Counting Crows August and Everything After -- a great call as well.

Nirvana -- Nevermind

Neil Diamond -- The Jazz Singer

"Singles" soundtrack

"Forrest Gump" soundtrack

Any Creedence album basically.

Hell yes.

[utee94]

Single Soundtrack is fantastic.

Compilation albums are maybe a little bit of a cheat, but those songs were all specifically selected to go together for a movie soundtrack, so I think it fits.

Sort of along the same lines, Willie Nelson Stardust is a compilation album, but it's so, so good.  Absolutely a full listen for me, and a common one these days since I own the vinyl.  My daughter has gotten really into Willie Nelson lately, so I'm a proud papa.

And and for my own personal definition, I do omit Greatest Hits albums.  As fun as they are to listen to, they don't represent the spirit of what I'm going after.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah I don't know if the singles got better, but the albums definitely got worse.  Ten is a full listen for me, but although I like several tracks off the next couple of albums, I always found myself skipping multiple songs on them.  And I'll still bust out Ten to this day, while I haven't broken out the next two in... decades I guess.

Exactly. I feel like Ten is a masterpiece. Vs is a downgrade, but a pretty solid album. Just can't compete with Ten. Vitalogy is a middling album with a few good songs. Everything after that? Unlistenable. 

[847badgerfan]

Soundgarden Superunknown

Temple of the Dog

[847badgerfan]

Exactly. I feel like Ten is a masterpiece. Vs is a downgrade, but a pretty solid album. Just can't compete with Ten. Vitalogy is a middling album with a few good songs. Everything after that? Unlistenable.

Because it is a masterpiece.

[jgvol]

Alice in Chains -- Dirt

[utee94]

I know The Dude hates the effing Eagles, man-- but I don't.  And Hotel California is a great album, definitely a full listen.