Perfect Albums
I'm sure at some time over the years we've all been asked to list our favourite albums and we've duly reeled off all the usual suspects. However, it's surprising when you get down to thinking about it how many 'favourite' albums have 8 good tracks and 2 clunkers, those points at which we press the skip button on the CD player. An old mate of mine, Steve Daymond, came up with an interesting variant on the standard list, the idea of 'perfect albums,' total quality, no dodgy tracks making up the numbers. Naturally I couldn't resist this, I knocked off my initial list of 58 in my lunch hour in the office. It's still growing as I think of more. How does it compare to yours?
| John Martyn | Solid Air | |
| Can | Future Days | |
| Dire Straits | First Album | |
| Everything But The Girl | Eden | |
| Gentle Giant | Octopus | |
| Gentle Giant | Free Hand | |
| Gentle Giant | Power and the Glory | |
| Television | Marquee Moon | |
| Tom Waits | Swordfishtrombones | |
| Neil Young | After the Goldrush | |
| Pere Ubu | Modern Dance | |
| Pere Ubu | Dub Housing | |
| Santana | Caravanserai | |
| Rush | Farewell to Kings | |
| Jimi Hendrix Experience | Are You Experienced? | |
| King Crimson | Red | |
| King Crimson | Larks Tongues in Aspic | |
| Led Zeppelin | 1 | |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | |
| Hatfield and the North | The Rotters' Club | |
| Jeff Buckley | Grace | |
| Captain Beefheart | Trout Mask Replica | |
| Frank Zappa | Hots Rats | |
| Caravan | If I could do it all over again.. | |
| Caravan | Land of Grey and Pink | |
| Robin Trower | Bridge of Sighs | |
| Joy Division | Unknown Pleasures | |
| The Who | Who's Next | |
| XTC | Skylarking | |
| Mahavishnu Orchestra | Between Nothingness and Eternity | |
| Soft Machine | Volume 2 | |
| Soft Machine | Third | |
| National Health | Of Queues and Cures | |
| Yes | The Yes Album | |
| Yes | Close to the Edge | |
| Yes | Fragile | |
| Van Morrison | Moondance | |
| Beatles | Revolver | |
| Beatles | Sgt Pepper | |
| REM | Automatic for the People | |
| Steely Dan | Countdown to Ecstasy | |
| Steely Dan | Can't Buy a Thrill | |
| Steely Dan | Pretzel Logic | |
| Pink Floyd | Piper at the Gates of Dawn | |
| Pink Floyd | Dark Side of the Moon | |
| David Gray | White Ladder | |
| Radiohead | OK Computer | |
| Portishead | Dummy | |
| Joni Mitchell | Hissing of Summer Lawns | |
| Genesis | Selling England by the Pound | |
| Genesis | Foxtrot | |
| Genesis | Lamb Lies Down on Broadway | |
| Hue and Cry | Seduced and Abandoned | |
| Pretty Things | SF Sorrow | |
| Quiet Sun | Mainstream | |
| Spirit | First Album | |
| Spirit | 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus | |
| David Bowie | Hunky Dory | |
| David Bowie | Aladdin Sane | |
| Fairport Convention | Liege and Lief | |
| Anita Baker | Rapture | |
| Miles Davis | Kind of Blue | |
| Richard & Linda Thompson | I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight | |
| Little Feat | Feats Don't Fail Me Now |