"5 Perfect Albums"

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
David Crosby - If I Only Could Remember My Name
Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Bobbie Gentry - The Delta Sweete
Chris Eckman - Last Side Of The Mountain

Is that six? I was never good at maths.

 

Exactly. I have always loved Maxwell.

 

Camel - A Nod And A Wink
Camel - Rajaz
Kate Bush - Aerial
Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous
Supertramp - Paris
UK - Night After Night

 

The Cardigans 'Long Gone Before Daylight'
The Streets 'A Grand Don't Come For Free'
Manic Street Preachers 'The Holy Bible'
The Cure 'Faith'
David Bowie 'Station To Station'

 

Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Alan Parsons Project - The Turn Of A Friendly Card
Queens Of The Stoneage - Songs For The Deaf
Sixteen Horsepower - Secret South
Stavesacre - Absolutes

 

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Television - Marquee Moon
The Doors - L.A. Woman
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come

Five More (because only 5 is impossible) :

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Van Morrison - Moondance
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
John Coltrane - Coltrane

 

Getz/Gilberto – Stan Getz & Joaõ Gilberto
Kind of blue – Miles Davis
Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd
Fairytales – Radka Toneff & Steve Dobrogosz

I’m struggeling to find the fifth at the moment, but these could have been there if it wasn’t for what I’ve mentioned:

Ok Computer – Radiohead (Electioneering)
Chàvez Ravine – Ry Cooder (too long)
Memorial Beach – A-ha (song 2 & 9 + mixing)
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd (a bit too much of screaming synth)
Sgt. Peppers – The Beatles (hard to point out)
Abbey Road – The Beatles (side 1 slightly too messy)

A perfect album for me has to sound 100% whole and strong from start to finish without getting too clean and safe. That is quite hard to do.

 

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Doors - The Doors
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Cream - Disraeli Gears
Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer

 

Here's 5 that I wouldn't change a thing about.

Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk (US mono & French / German stereo re-issues pictured)
Fairport Convention - What We Did On Our Holidays (UK Island & US A&M pictured)
Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview (UK pictured, though US green WB is an excellent pressing)
Procol Harum - A Salty Dog (UK Regal Zonophone, the only way to hear it , IMO)
Pretty Things - SF Sorrow ( US stereo & UK mono pictured)

 

Rock
The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Cat Stevens "Tea for the Tillerman"
Donovan "Hully Gurdy Man"
Beatles "Revolver
Jazz
Miles Davis "kind of Blue"
"Ben Webster and Associates "
Basie Decca Sessions
Getz Gilberto
Gerry Mulligan Songbook vol 1

 

All Things Must Pass-George Harrison
Dream of the Blue Turtles-Sting
A Hard Days Night-Side 1-Beatles
Innervisions-Stevie Wonder
Rumours-Fleetwood Mac
Sea Change-Beck

 

5 from the post punk 70's / early 80's that hit the spot for me.

The Only Ones - Even Serpents Shine
Replacements - All Shook Down (+ Don't Sell Or Buy, It's Crap promo sampler w/ non LP tracks)
Gun Club - Fire Of Love
Anthony More - Flying Doesn't Help (An LP John Cale might wish he'd recorded)
Dream Syndicate - Days Of Wine & Roses (+ Down There pre-LP 12" & French LP sleeve)

The Dream Syndicate & Replacements 12"'s really completes the LP's , hence their inclusion. The Anthony More in the center is the German issue, this is one of the great undiscovered LP's of the era, sort of the mid eighties equivalent of a Bill Fay, Meic Stevens or Simon Finn LP. The original UK sleeve (on Quango) must rate as one of the great sale killers of all time, right down there with Richard Earle's "Egg Store" sleeve.

 

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Pearl Jam - Ten
Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
The Harder They Come (soundtrack)
Rage Against The Machine (self-titled)

 

Here's 10...

10cc - Sheet Music
Millennium - Millennium
Dillards - Wheatstraw Suite
Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord
NRBQ - At Yankee Stadium
Pousette-Dart Band - Pousette-Dart Band
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
Mothers Of Invention - Absolutely Free

 

The Beatles - Revolver
Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
Melissa Etheridge - Your Little Secret
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Supertramp - Breakfast in America

(honorable mention):

Alanis Morrisette -Jagged Little Pill
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

 

Sunflower - The Beach Boys
Rock and Roll Over - KISS
Peace of Mind - Iron Maiden
On the Border - The Eagles
Straigh Up - Badfinger

 

Hendrix....Band of Gypsies
Stones....Exile on Main St
Santana..Abraxas
Steppenwolf....7
Dylan....Blood on the Tracks

 

The first 5 I could think of ... there are more but these 5 fit the criteria

The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift for You
The Beatles - Revolver

 

Kiss - Destroyer
Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick (1977)
Aerosmith - Toys In the Attic
AC/DC - Back In Black
Iron Maiden - Killers

 

The Cars - 'S/T'

The Cars - 'Candy-O'

Cheap Trick - 'Heaven Tonight'

Dan Fogelberg - 'Phoenix'

Billy Joel - 'The Stranger'

 

John Lennon - Imagine
George Harrison - 33 and a third
The Beatles - Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band
Ringo Starr - Ringo
Paul McCartney - Tug Of War

 

Beggars Banquet
Let it Bleed
Get Yer Ya Ya's Out
Sticky Fingers
Exile on Main Street

 

• BOB DYLAN Blood On The Tracks
• NICK DRAKE Five Leaves Left
• JONI MITCHELL Blue
• NEIL YOUNG After The Goldrush
• VAN MORRISON Moondance

 

Yeah, it's 10, so what?

• Bad Brains - Bad Brains
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory
• Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
• John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
• Can - Tago Mago
• At The Drive-In - Relationship Of Command
• Fugazi - In On The Kill Taker
• Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild
• Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
• Beck - Sea Change

 

Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen
David Bowie - The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Pink Floyd - Animals
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?