Before you poo-poo it as being done countless times before, I have some variations here which made for some great discussion with some friends the other night, hear me out Of course it's all a bit of fun too, no one can tell you what you do or do not like Obviously this question is discussed frequently in pubs, on forums, at work, wherever and it always comes down to 'oh there's so many i really couldn't choose' etc. The other night however we found ourselves thinking along the lines of there being criteria to be met in order to make it a bit easier. The results of which were rather surprising for some of us. The criteria we came up with were fairly simple: 1 - It must be an 'album' as it was originally written to be. No compilations, greatest hits, soundtracks (that one caused a lot of debate) or best of's. Sorry Bon Jovi fans, Crossroads aint allowed! 2 - You must like, I mean really like, every single track on any given album. Any 1 track which you don't like means you don't like the piece as a whole, thus detracting from the album itself. That's it. Seems fairly straightforward right? Wrong! Some of the albums I had to discount were a shock. Led Zeppelin IV? Nope, Battle For Evermore drives me nuts. London Calling? Nope, I absolutely hate Rudie Can't Fail. Plus some others which I had previously held as considerations for favourite album. Even Nevermind got the boot because of Something In The Way. Ones which I did end up with were: Portishead - Dummy System Of A Down - Toxicity Muse - Black Holes And Revelations Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life Metallica - Master Of Puppets Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving That's the lot, only 6. The fact that there's also a nice blend of styles surprised me too, I'd expected it to be full of metal lol What do you come up with? And If I (or anyone else) picks something which doesn't qualify for some reason I (or they) have missed, please point it out
There are only two albums where I can listen to every single track and absolutely adore everyone of them. Muse - Origin of Symmetry Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf That's it.
Any album by Ben Frost Any album by Burial Any Machinefabriek collaboration Can listen to all that, all day. SOAD's toxicity would be up there but there are a couple of tracks that grate a bit.
Being a huge Muse fan that would have been in there but Screenager really gets on my nerves for some reason, a shame really since Citizen Erased is their finest moment to date
I remember listening to Assassin (Debase Mason's Grog at the time) before they completely destroyed it on the album (As they did with most of those songs to be honest) when they played it live before BHAR. I thought at the time that it definitely had the potential to be better that Citizen Erased, but yes, CE is the song I'd pick if I could only listen to one song ever again.
My music choices have changed drastically over the years, I listen to mainly Metal now, preference being groove and 'djent.' I absolutely love Tool, they are a very solid band and have never released a bad album, taking 5-6 years out after each album and the members doing side projects really helps I think. Top few Devin Townsend- Addicted or Strapping Young Lad- Alien Gojira- The Art of Dying/ From Mars to Sirius Tool- Lateralus
very few albums i can listen to and before i know it im back to track one. Funeral for a Friend - Hours Gun - Gallus Bullet for my Valentine - Fever would be up there as well if it wasn't for the track Bittersweet Memories, seriously it ruins the whole album.
There are quite a few "albums" that I listen to (on repeat) for hours on end and no single song makes me want to fast forward to the next... Problem is most of them are either greatest hits compilations or live recordings. The ones that meet the required criteria Pink Floyd -> The dark side of the moon. Fleetwood Mac -> Rumours U2 -> The Joshua Tree Sabaton - Primo Victoria My all time favorite albums regardless of criteria... Queen -> Live at Wembley '86 Queen -> Greatest Hits II Silvio Rodriguez & Pablo Milanes -> Live in Buenos Aires '84 Mercedes Sosa -> 30 años
The criteria don't specify anything about albums that are INSANE when listened to end-to-end but not all that outstanding song-by song. So I'll list one album like that right off the bat: Slayer - Reign in Blood When listened to in one sitting, this album blows most others straight out of the water in every regard (save melody ). Song-By song, it drops into Slayer-same-old drone. Then to some other where I like EVERY song: Sixx A.M. - The Heroin Diaries (Not sure if it qualifies, though - It's the OST to Nikki Sixx's Autobiography of the same name, with a band founded to write music to accompany his books.) Mastodon - Crack the Skye Mastodon - Leviathan Bon Jovi - New Jersey (hate all you want) Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine (COF diehards probably want to crucify me now) Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia Of all of those (and more), I'd have to chose Mastodon's Crack the Skye as an all time favourite. No other album has ever had me fixated on it for over a year solidly. The missus can't stand that album anymore, and whenever I listen to it nowadays, I spend another 3 days listening to nothing but that. On that note... *headphones in, CTS on, Volume up*
Can't put A Night At the Opera because of The Prophet's Song System of a Down - Toxicity Freezepop - Fancy Ultra Fresh Frank Zappa - Jazz From Hell Mindless Self Indulgence - You'll Rebel to Anything Spoon - Girls Can Tell Moloko - Statues Tool - Aenima St. Vincent - Actor EDIT forgot one Le Tigre - Le Tigre
Pink Floyd - Wish You were Here. Pink Floyd - DSoTM Ok Go - Oh No Muse - Origin of Symmetry Black Keys - El Camino A few of Tupac's albums are great in it's entirety, and oddly terrible in individual songs. Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare and WPSIAIAN.
Interesting idea! The first few that spring to mind are: Metallica - Ride The Lightning Metallica - ...And Justice for All Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care EitS - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die EitS - How Strange, Innocence Catching a theme? Heh. I love EitS, and the only way to listen is a whole album at a time - they're magnificent. The others of theirs I can listen to, but have a track that I don't totally enjoy, so knock themselves out of the running.
Took me a few minutes to go through albums in my head. This is the result: Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse and Book of Secrets Neil Diamond - Hot August Night The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells III
