Perfect Albums

[gfish]

I'm not the biggest music person in the world. I got into it rather late, due to my sheltered, nerdly childhood -- and when I did, the first several albums I bought were Genesis and Moody Blues. I still explore new groups and genres quite slowly, though I'm maybe somewhat pointlessly proud that I've continued at more or less the same rate at least into my mid-30s. (Oh, yeah, Feb 4 marked my official entry into the middle-third of this decade. Weird.) But while there is a lot of new music I'm quite into, like everyone else I keep coming back to the music I was listening to in high school. I've come to accept that no matter how much I like new music, the chances are that I'll get tired of it sooner or later and move on, leaving just another laying of songs on my ipod that I may or may not skip when they come up. It's kind of sad that the window for finding Perfect Albums has closed. It makes me wish I had listened to more music back then! That hallowed honor only goes to a handful of albums: Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine, Depeche Mode's Violator, and The Violent Femmes' Why Do Birds Sing. With maybe Nirvana's Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic also placing. That's it. Those are the few and the proud which I just can't fault. I can listen to them in their entirety regularly and not get bored, and probably will for the rest of my life.

At the risk of being transparently comment-trolling, what are your Perfect Albums?

Comments

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album); I don't even really like alternative anymore, but every. single. track. on this one is solid. EVERY SONG! Nothing is out of place. No Weezer album since has been as overall good, although Pinkerton is excellent in it's own right.

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours; Excellent, excellent electro-pop from Australia. Catchier and more song-oriented than their breakout album "Bright Like Neon Love", but without losing the synth-based dance edge.

Prodigy - Experience; Back when the Prodigy were a bunch of peace-and-love hippies, they made happy hardcore when happy hardcore hadn't even been named. Never gets old.

KMFDM - XTORT; Their overall best album, IMHO. Crunchy, aggressive, makes you wanna stomp around in some heavy boots. "Son of a Gun" is 4:24 of pure ass-kicking.

Honorable mention -
Propellerheads - Deckanddrumandrockandroll; The soundtrack to every single action movie from the mid-nineties to about 2003. He's got a nice body. He's wearing velvet pants.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Oh, and-
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots; Hard to describe why this one is great. The first half is the titular story of robot-fighting Yoshimi, and is immensely charming. The second half is what really does it for me, serving as an emotional come-down from the intensity of the first. The sheer genuineness of feeling in "Do You Realize" manages to overcome all the product tie-ins and shameless plugs the song's been used in to make me start tearing up every time.

The Protomen - The Protomen; A concept album about the video game "Megaman". But it's not just that. It's a howling, crashing metal opera about freedom, death, regret, revenge, duty, and betrayal. Every word, every screaming phrase is soaked with meaning and emotion. The production is pitch-perfect. Epic.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

And not epic in the internet sense. Not epic like lewt, or epic like a youtube video of a kitten in a bowl, or epic like a skillful headshot in Halo. Epic like a steam-powered locomotive. Epic like a battering ram splintering the gates to a fortified castle. Epic like a full broadside to a marauding ironclad being shrugged off like so many spitwads.
Epic.

[solarbird]

I love the Protomen concept. I do very much.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

...but not the music?

[solarbird]

...not really. I've seen them live; I'd go to a show if there were other people I wanted to see, and wouldn't leave during their set. But the music itself just doesn't really click with me.

But I love the idea.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Sad ionan is sad.

[solarbird]

But I respect them! That counts, doesn't it?

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Yes. It means you are capable of recognizing greatness. :D

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I second In Ghost Colors! You turned me onto it, as I recall.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Yup! Zonoscope came out recently, and is also worth acquiring.