What are your "perfect" albums?

[TreySonagras]

Steely Dan - Aja
Pat Metheny Group - "White" album

 

[egroeg]

Scorpions- Animal Magnetism
Van Halen- Fair Warning
Thin Lizzy- Live and Dangerous
Aerosmith- Toys in the Attic
Led Zeppelin- Physical Grafitti
Montrose- Montrose
Iron Maiden- The Number of the Beast
Guns n Roses- Apetite for Destruction
AC/DC- For Those About to Rock
Metallica- Ride the Lightning
Def Leppard- Pyromania
Merciful Fate- Melissa
Black Sabbath- Master of Reality
Weezer- Weezer
Nirvana- Never mind

No particular order and I could go on, probably for a while.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Television - Marquee Moon
Elvis Costello - Armed Forces
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

 

[burgerdj]

A few immediately come to mind:

Blood Sugar Sex Magik - RHCP
Under the Table and Dreaming - DMB
13 Songs - Fugazi
Fantastic Planet - Failure
You'd prefer an astronaut and Inlet - Hum (both are amazing)
White Pony - Deftones

lemme dig through these CDs and get back to you…

 

[75Ric]

Donny Hathaway - Live!
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
The Beatles - Abbey Road, St Pepper
Steely Dan - Aja
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Pat Metheny Group - We Live Here

 

[Avigdor]

Jethro Tull: Too Old to Rock'n'Roll Too Young to Die
Yo-Yo Ma: Complete Cello Suites JS Bach
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon

Many great albums, but these three immediately sprang to my mind.

 

[ShawnG]

Ones that popped into my head that haven't been mentioned yet:
Dave Brubeck "Time Out"
Donald Fagan "The Nightfly"

 

[Tommy Sparks]

Zeppelin 2
Sabbath Master of Reality
Humble Pie at the Fillmore
Been listening to them 40+ years and still like em.
Zeppelin 2 is my all time favorite album.

 

[filmtex]

The Who- Who's Next
Bob Marley- Babylon By Bus
Talking Heads- Stop Making Sense
Van Halen- Van Halen

Off the top of my head...

 

[arepa_funk]

Sign 'o' the times - Prince
Funkentelechy vs the Placebo Syndrome - Parliament
(+1 @FilterFunk !)
Voodoo - D'Angelo
Bitches Brew & Complete Plugged Nickel - Miles Davis
Complete Village Vanguard - Bill Evans
Madvillainy - Madvillain
There's a Riot Going On - Sly
Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys
Aquemini - Outkast
Low End Theory - Tribe
Rejuvenation & Fire On The Bayou - The Meters
Archive LMA for Grateful Dead tapes

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

In no particular order…..

ZZ Top- Tres Hombres
Jeff Beck- Blow By Blow
Eric Johnson- Ah Via Musicom
Kansas- Song For America
Montrose- Montrose
Led Zeppelin- ZOSO/ Fourth Album
Joe Satriani- Surfing With The Alien
Aerosmith- Toys In The Attic
The Dregs- Unsung Hersoes

 

[bobba66]

Yes-Close to the edge
EJ- Madman across the water
Black Sabbath-Heaven and Hell

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Here are some of my favorites, not in any particular order.
Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd
Machine Head - Deep Purple
Red Album - Grand Funk
Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
Paranoid/Vol IV/Master of Reality - Black Sabbath
Led Zeppelin I/Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Tommy - The Who
Greatest Hits - Sly & Family Stone
McCartney - Paul McCartney
Rumors - Fleetwood Mac
Abba Gold - Abba
Greatest Hits - Jackson 5
Disraeli Gears - Cream
Greatest Hits - Three Dog Night
Big Bambu - Cheech & Chong

 

[RichardW]

I'm glad someone finally said Aja, but I would expand that to Royal Scam as well.

Also:
Skylarking by XTC
XO by Eliot Smith
The Yes Album by Yes

 

[lfmn16]

Get Your Ya Yas Out - Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin I

I still listen to both regularly.

 

[VitoMB]

I would say that the perfect album is Moving Pictures by Rush. No doubt.

 

[BoogieZK]

Dir En Grey - Uroboros
King Buffalo - Dead star
Planet of Zeus - Loyal to the pack
Loviatar - Lightless

 

[Bob_Ross]

I'm not gonna pretend I understand the difference between this "perfect album" thread and all the What Are Your Favorite Albums? or What Are Your Desert Island Discs? threads, but fwiw:

Power Tools - Strange Meeting
Tim Berne - Fulton Street Maul
Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society - Eye On You
Boulez Conducts Stravinsky (on the Erato RCA Red Seal label)
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


btw, glad to see several folks mentioned Frank Zappa's One Size Fits All and Television's Marquee Moon, 'cuz if the list could be longer than five those albums would definitely be on mine too.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

"Perfect"?? Here are 10 that do it for me every time:

miles Davis — Kind of Blue
Marvin Gaye — What's Going On
Derek & the Dominos — Layla
George Harrison — All Things Must Pass
The Cure — Disintegration
Bach — Brandenburg Concertos (conducted by Benjamin Britten)
Jack Bruce — Songs for a Tailor
Dave Holland — Ones All
Weather Report — Heavy Weather
Bill Evans — The Tokyo Concert

 

[Cutter8]

Graceland

 

[buldog5151bass]

As much as I love the Beatles, every album has a clunker, or a lesser song given to satisfy the ego of a member.

Probably either Dark Side or The Wall. I'm not nearly as big a Pink Floyd fan, but each song in each album contributes to the concept, and within the sound of the band, still sound strong decades later.