Perfect Albums

As far as live music goes, Live At Leeds- The Who is about as good as it gets for me. It’s really hard for me pick anything that’s not The Who or Townshend

My first Lp was Machine Head-Deep Purple. That doesn’t have a bad song on it.
 
It's a well known fact that vids load more slowly than any other media.

I’m glad it’s not just my ancient iPad in that case!!

There’s definitely a place for them, as I post them myself, but video heavy pages can take forever to load and frequently get error messages.

That’s just saved me £500
 
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A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park

It came out at a challenging time for me, with the impending death of my mother in law when my marriage was on the rocks. I did frequent long distance road trips to her hospital and this was on my car playlist a lot. A variety of songs but they all hit a certain note at the time and for that reason they always will. Got to see them a few months afterwards (& since). Saw Chester’s penultimate gig in London so perhaps even more meaning.
 
Space Ritual Live (by Hawkwind) is a perfect album.

I first heard it as a teenager. My sisters boyfriend was five years older then me and lived in our house and he was really into music. He was more into heavy metal and I was more into punk but he got me into a lot of bands I had never heard of: The Stooges, The Dictators, Motörhead and Hawkwind.

After listening to this album high I was more than blown away. This was probably 1982/3.

It was recorded over several nights but the production makes it sound like it’s one continuous concert. Starting with spacey electronic sounds (earth calling) that are cool, the band launches into Born To Go, the first of several long stoner space metal jams. Down Thru The Night is a great song too.

Side 2 gets back into the stoner metal jam with Lord of Light which morphs into Spce is Deep… first a poetry reading then a spacey jam with the same lyrics. (Always made me chuckle a bit).

Side 3 is the best! It really kicks off with Orgine Accumulator which is a real bluesy rocker before disintegrating into psychedelia. Upside Down is a strong rock/metal number that I always liked… and then it fades into my fave: 10 Seconds of Forever… which had me laughing my ass off as a stoned teenager. Brainstorm is another longer psych metal jam.

The fourth side starts w the strongest song on the album, Seven By Seven, which is not about a drink and fizzles into Sonic Attack. Inwill never forget laughing my ass off listening to Lemmy yell “himself”. Time We Left This World Today and Master of the Universe are both good long and space jammy.

It’s like an orgasm as you fade into he bliss of a quieter Welcome to the Future and nod off completely…

The album is long. It’s relentless. Must be listened in a whole setting.

It’s a perfect live album.

There are some great videos of real live material and some animated stuff that people have made. Totally worth finding.
 
Kingdom Come by Sir Lord Baltimore is perfect and it’s amazing. Considered one of the first heavy metal albums ever made… It was recorded and released in 1970. In fact, its review in Creem magazine was the first documented use of the term “heavy metal.” (it actually wasn’t all that flattering use… but hey… it got the term!)

Black Sabbath may have been the first and best, but this album is simply a sonic attack. Sabbath was doom, slow and plodding. SLB was fast and cutting like a metallic saw.

The first three songs punch you in the face! Hard to think of three better opening tracks than Master Heartache, Hard Rain Fallin and the lightning fast Lady of Fire.

Even that one slower song, Lake Isle of Innersfree, is great. Who woulda thought medal band would use a harpsichord?

Pumped Up rounds out side, one with more metal speed freak, crunchiness, and speed.

Side two opens with the title track, a little bit slower with howling vocals from drummer, John Garner. I Got A Woman, Hell Hound, Helium Head and Ain’t Got Hung on You, all race to a metal metallic finish!

Groundbreaking!

And perfect.

I have two copies of the album, one scratched to shit, the other more of a working copy.

And maybe around 2010 I got the CD which had this album as well as their second concept album (which I previously got on cassette at the Chester flea market ages ago…)

Find it on YouTube… worth a listen for sure!
 
So much good music already in this thread! And even the bands/music that isn't the stuff I listen to, I recognize that there is talent and value to them.

I have a tough time picking a favorite in pretty much any category (music, movies, food, whatever).

Here are some albums that I think are incredible.

Depeche Mode - Song of Faith and Devotion
This album I think was a pivotal point for Depeche Mode, even though many would instead point to Violator, which came out three years prior. Violator was definitely a breakout for them, but SoFaD uprooted the almost formulaic sound the band had build for over a decade and made a left turn, brining in heavy elements of blues and rock. I absolutely love Depeche Mode (and it is one of the few things I can pick as a favorite). But I'm also an amateur musician that learned guitar from a blues guitarist. When I heard that blues groove in a Depeche song, I was in love all over again.

The Cult - Electric
This was released in 1987, while I was in my last year of high school. I wanted to go see them on tour so badly, but my parents wouldn't let me go to the show on a school night (it's okay, I saw them in 2013 on the Electric '13 tour where they played their 1987 set). This album is, for me, the quintessential rock album. When it comes to 3-chord, 12-bar, blues-based ROCK, this album brings it in abundance! Duffy's guitar is on point. And with Stewart and Warner bringing the bass/drums, it locked down that rock groove so perfectly, it was air tight! And who doesn't love Astbury's voice? A lot of people would guess that their album Love would be more up my alley, considering it definitely has more of their dark rock/goth roots. And I adore that album for sure. But Electric is where it is at. When I worked for an Engineering firm, driving out of the parking lot on a Friday you would often hear me blasting this album.

The Cure - Pornography
This album is the darkest, deepest goth album ever. Robert Smith said that at that point in his life, he either had so give in to his feelings and end his own life, or make an album out of it all. I'm glad he did the latter. And despite the dark, dismal palor of this album, it remains as my favorite by The Cure. I got into the Cure in 1986 and when I discovered this album, I absorbed it all and made it part of my identity. I had finally heard music that was as dark and depressing as thoughts in my brain. I wasn't a depressed kid in high school. But I looked around at all of the stupid teenage games that my classmates played and I hated it. I felt that's what the world was all about. Outside of my direct friend group (none of whom were goth kids), I just hated everyone. This album let me express that without actually going down that dark path. And the arrangement of tracks on the album is just perfection. It takes you by the hand, holds you close, walks you down the path at night, right up to the edge of the cliff, and it dares you to jump.

Anyway, those are my additions to Perfect Albums.
 
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