Albums that must be listened to front to back in their entirety

[Goredho 17408]

With the itunes and spotify model for music consumption, most people are not listening albums from front to back anymore.  But there are some albums that are greater than the sum of their songs.  Probably anything you could classify as a "concept album" would qualify, but there may be some less obvious ones.  I'll take two off the board.

[NWBuck 8571]

Whole playlist here.

I'd also add this one:

 

[Jerry Callo 8704]

Red Headed Stranger was the first one to come to mind.

[jimmyjazz 45978]

Pink Floyd "The Wall" was my first thought, although DSOTM works, too.

[4th&Five 41558]

for me it flows perfectly from one song to the next.

[sidis 9832]

 

[South Austin 52519]

[VABuckeye 2472]

[Deej 76831]

[Guest Lobo]

Well I can tell by the submission of fucking "Achtung Baby", that we're not talking about concept/thematic albums that are also enjoyable to listen to front to back, but rather just albums that we prefer to listen to for awhile.  Big difference IMO.  It was a good record, but you can shuffle those tracks up any way you want and it's doesn't matter.  To be fair, you also mentioned "What's Going On", probably the greatest concept album in its genre of all time.  

I'd, just off the cuff, have to add "The Band" (self-titled), "Smile" (not my cup of tea, but a very strong concept album), and "Wish you were here" 

[Goredho 17408]

I appreciate the contributions.  There are a few here I haven't listened to front to back, so I'll have to change that!

One that I am not sure anyone else will mention is Led Zeppelin III.  For decades I was mostly just aware of "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Immigrant Song".  I had heard most of the others on various meta Zep playlists, but didn't make much note of them. After going through a Zep kick recently, I listened to the album front to back and have a whole new appreciation for all the songs -- especially those on the 2nd side.

[South Austin 52519]

5 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Well I can tell by the submission of fucking "Achtung Baby", that we're not talking about concept/thematic albums that are also enjoyable to listen to front to back, but rather just albums that we prefer to listen to for awhile. 

[Bojack 2081]

 

[4th&Five 41558]

[CooterBrown 18015]

I’ll argue every album.

[jimmyjazz 45978]

Well, there IS a difference between an album that essentially a collection of singles and something with more of a story arc.  Rush tended towards the latter, with several obvious examples, but in this particular case I think the track order is required:

 

[TwiceHorn 31497]

Y'all slackin.

And to a lesser extent

Maybe two disc sets called operas don't count.

[VABuckeye 2472]

Listen to Bloodshot and tell me I’m slacking. 
raw, bluesy bar music you can’t live without.  That is unless you’ve never heard it.  People have no idea how good early J Geils Band was. 
 

fuck. Start All Over Again is worth is all by itself. 

Edited May 23, 2020 by VABuckeye

[TexasBeta 1265]

Love every song on this album. Last with Bon.

 

 

[Goredho 17408]

Well, all the concept and prog albums probably belong in this thread.  Surprised no one has posted:

[Shaddie 1651]

An old here but damn if I don’t still love to listen to Tres Hombres. 
 

For you young’s that is ZZ Top before eliminator and they still did grungy blues. 

[Dennis Taylor 18830]

1 hour ago, TexasBeta said:

Love every song on this album. Last with Bon.

 

 

Now try Powerage. HtH is indeed awesome but Mutt Lange cleaned up too many rough edges. Bon's vocals and lyrics on Powerage are amazing and run the gamut of emotions. And Malcolm and Angus are on fire. Kicked in the Teeth has my favorite solo and Down Payment Blues has the coolest riff ever conceived 

[Steel Shank 9428]

2nd on Red Headed Stranger.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9332]

[TwiceHorn 31497]

You raise an interesting issue though.  No one buys albums anymore.  Or do people download/stream entire albums?

Whether an album was worthy of a front-to-back listen is one thing, but I almost always found that I liked one or two songs from the album better than the ones that got airplay.

And I guess airplay is a thing of the past.  Substitute youtube hits?

Being a retrogrouch, I still love my radio.

[BrickHorn 18237]

[Goredho 17408]

To me the criteria for this thread is what are the albums where you are missing something if you just listen to the hits that came from the album.   What that “something” is is subjective.

[South Austin 52519]

14 minutes ago, Goredho said:

To me the criteria for this thread is what are the albums where you are missing something if you just listen to the hits that came from the album.   What that “something” is is subjective.

That’s how I took it — what are the great albums that lack any real dead weight.

In defense of the point about Actung Baby, while not necessarily a “concept album,” I do think it was wisely arranged from the first track, Zoo Station, all the way to the last, Love is Blindness, with some great ebb and flow in between.

Same with Darkness on the Edge of Town. I love how it kicks off with Badlands and ends on a somber but promising note with the title track (which incidentally is one of the songs I listened to repeatedly during my divorce).

And finishing What’s Going On with Inner City Blues was just flat out fucking genius.

So I also chose my albums because I think they sound great listening in the order of the track listings.

[TwiceHorn 31497]

Continuing on the woolgathering/scattershooting.  Although I almost completely lack artistic talent of any kind, I have always understood that most albums are more than simply a collection of artist output.  The selection of works, the play order on the medium, the art and liner notes aggregate to form an integral work.

Not sure it was always this way, though.  Prior to the 60s, I'm thinking most records were, in fact, merely collections of artist output over a period of time, maybe loosely categorized.  Perhaps I am wrong, but I don't think I am too far off.  I am speaking of the time when most record sales I think were 45 rpm singles.

So we have entered a time in which most listens are the equivalent of 45s. I'm not even sure anything can be considered a purchase anymore. Is there a market for albums anymore?  Will artists continue to produce them?

[GhostOfTomJoad 9332]

TwiceHorn brings up a good point. Sheryl Crow has announced she will no longer release albums--only singles--and I suspect many pop acts will follow. But most record company contracts are based on the artists releasing x-number of albums over a defined period. Perhaps that model has been thrown out the window as well. 

[Guest Lobo]

43 minutes ago, South Austin said:

That’s how I took it — what are the great albums that lack any real dead weight.

In defense of the point about Actung Baby, while not necessarily a “concept album,” I do think it was wisely arranged from the first track, Zoo Station, all the way to the last, Love is Blindness, with some great ebb and flow in between.

Same with Darkness on the Edge of Town. I love how it kicks off with Badlands and ends on a somber but promising note with the title track (which incidentally is one of the songs I listened to repeatedly during my divorce).

And finishing What’s Going On with Inner City Blues was just flat out fucking genius.

So I also chose my albums because I think they sound great listening in the order of the track listings.

Totally agree man, was just busting chops because I just thought we all outgrew U2 years ago.  Just projecting my old man/get off my lawn-ness.  But let's be fair, if you're gonna name a top-to-bottom great album by U2, it's cliche to mention, but it's certainly Joshua Tree.  That album is a journey in the greatest sense of the word.  And yes, there are top-to-bottom records with few weak spots, if any...that play well start to finish because of the content and the ordering, like "Full Moon Fever."  Then there is the other school of thought we've discussed on here, the concept album which really is a story within a story.  

[South Austin 52519]

Agree on Joshua Tree. I caught a show during the band’s 2017 tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the album. They played all songs from the album in order and had some pretty great videos on the big screen with desert imagery.

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

With Dark Side and The Wall already mentioned I think this too needs to be listened to as a whole.



Some may disagree but I think this is one of Dylan’s masterpieces and the album flows from start to finish giving you a taste of different kinds of country music.


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[Bogeywon 2519]

Nirvana never mind 

nirvana unplugged

alice in chains unplugged

[Paul Wesley 3278]

On 5/22/2020 at 6:02 PM, CooterBrown said:

I’ll argue every album.

I like how you think.  

[washparkhorn 9939]

Kid A - Radiohead. Almost abstract when released but contemporary and timeless at the present. Up there with Pink Floyd and The Who for start to finish listening. Amnesiac (recorded at the same time) could be included as well. 

 

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Correct answer as said already, is every album.

Most jazz is that way. A few specific examples though (you don’t really get a choice with these):








Others:






Most live shows, really, but:

[noharleyyet 2838]

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

Most of the ones worth listening to.

The obvious exception is John Lennon's Double Fantasy. I burned a disc with all the Yoko songs removed. That makes it a really good, short album. 

[South Austin 52519]

7 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

The obvious exception is John Lennon's Double Fantasy. I burned a disc with all the Yoko songs removed. That makes it a really good, short album. 

Holy shit that's a great idea, and easier to do now with Spotify. 

[Cajun 11714]

On 5/22/2020 at 12:01 PM, Goredho said:

With the itunes and spotify model for music consumption, most people are not listening albums from front to back anymore.  But there are some albums that are greater than the sum of their songs.  Probably anything you could classify as a "concept album" would qualify, but there may be some less obvious ones.  I'll take two off the board.



 

The beginning and end of this discussion imho.

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

Just because it's a favorite of mine and I like to pimp this album whenever I can. I think it's a psychedelic masterpiece that ranks right up there with Sgt. Pepper's and Dark Side. 

[Davis Lane 5587]

[Al_4_ISU 12469]

On 5/22/2020 at 9:45 PM, Dennis Taylor said:

Now try Powerage. HtH is indeed awesome but Mutt Lange cleaned up too many rough edges. Bon's vocals and lyrics on Powerage are amazing and run the gamut of emotions. And Malcolm and Angus are on fire. Kicked in the Teeth has my favorite solo and Down Payment Blues has the coolest riff ever conceived 

Riff Raff.  Good fucking God.

[Dbeasy 15068]

Don’t forget...











Psych!

[Mdhorn 5972]

So many good albums already on here.  Would include:

[Nole-4-Life 804]

[ztejas 43477]

On 5/23/2020 at 5:25 PM, Bogeywon said:

Nirvana never mind 

nirvana unplugged

alice in chains unplugged

Nevermind is the complete opposite of this qualification to me. I don't see why you would need to listen to it in order or even listen to a few of the tracks at all. It's basically an album full of singles. Between Polly and On a Plain there's not anything notable. 

Then again, I think Nirvana is a little overrated.

Some others for consideration -

 

[davidg 4038]

Edited June 10, 2020 by davidg

[South Austin 52519]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 11:34 AM, ztejas said:

 

As big of a Springsteen fan as I am (avatar checks out), classic rock stations made the song Born to Run unlistenable to me, even years after tuning out traditional and satellite radio. 

But this is still a fantastic front-to-back album.  And the vastly underrated and quietly understated Meeting Across the River followed by the epic of Jungleland, which has the best saxophone solos in the history of rock-and-roll (say otherwise and I will cut you), is one of the better album endings of all time, in my very humble opinion.