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Albums with no bad songs

capnamerca

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capnamerca

capnamerca 571

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I know this is a massively subjective subject. What are some good albums that are just full of good fucking songs? I don't want to talk about best "concept" albums (Hi Tommy), or best albums where certain songs "prop up" other songs (looking at you, the whole beatles anthology). I'm curious about albums you can throw on, sing most of the words, and just let it fly without having to track down the "next" button.

I'll start, with a few obvious ones.

Pearl Jam - Ten.

Adele - 21.

The Black Crowes - Shake your Moneymaker.

Metallica - Black (argument to be made that it's not "old" metallica ... that's not for here)

 

What else? What have I missed?

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Beantown Express 2.0

Beantown Express 2.0 6559

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Here are a few off the top of my head.

Boston’s first album.  I think every song made the Top 40 and are all classic rock staples.

Springsteen, Born to Run

The Beatles, Revolver

Pink Floyd, Animals

Bob Marley, Legend (not sure if this one counts as it is a greatest hits I guess)

Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique

Edited by Beantown Express 2.0
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Guest Lobo

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1 hour ago, mr. sunshine said:

image.jpeg.83d0858915422d56a5751252df48bf07.jpeg

You could spend a decade figuring out which Led Zeppelin album was as close to perfect as possible between this one, IV/Ruins/Untitled, and if you can cut out "The Crunge"...you could add 'Houses of the Holy' to that holy trinity as well.  As I get older, you also realize..and I acknowledge this is cheating in the context of the thread...but you could take half of 'Physical Graffiti' and make one of the Top 3 LZ albums/Top 10 rock records of all time.  If you just take these (and again, I know that's not in the spirit of whole albums):

Custard Pie, The Rover, In My Time of Dying, Houses of the Holy, Trampled Underfoot, Kashmir, In the Light, Ten Years Gone, Night Flight, The Wanton Song.  That's a 10-song straight LP, with no offense to the other solid tracks on that double album....that's one of the best classic rock records of all time with no skips right there as well.  It's a twisted metric, but in this way...Led Zeppelin puts out 9 studio albums (8 if you don't count "Coda"...a debate for another thread)...about half of them are among the best "no skip" albums of all time.  Hands down.  Full stop.  there's plenty of other examples of great no-bad-song records out there and I'll get to 'em...but you have to stop and acknowledge that no matter what you think of Physical Graffiti's format, there's at least 3...maybe even 5 (if you want to get into breaking out P.G. and counting the original debut album)...not-bad-song LPs.  That will never happen again in our lifetime.  Ever.  Not even close.  That those albums are as good today as they were back then.  

That's another metric to throw in there...some of those albums played beautifully from start to finish when we first heard them decades ago.  But they don't always hold up, not because of the genre...but only because the "weak tracks" are more and more exposed over time.  

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ztejas

ztejas 43414

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5 hours ago, Uncle Boobs said:

402c4243ad3b7456cc38a271486848cd.jpg11b23a509e0dd68e97bb470bda363127.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you left out his best album.

5 minutes ago, Lobo said:

But they don't always hold up, not because of the genre...but only because the "weak tracks" are more and more exposed over time.  

Some albums are the opposite I find. The tracks that people thought were overlooked or weak wind up aging beautifully. Appetite is a good example of this.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Yeah, you're right about that.  "Appetite for Destruction" aged much better than I would have thought.  I loved it from top to bottom for 15 years, played it on my radio show frequently.  Then forgot all about it, completely when digital purchasing went vast and large from early 2000's until it's 25th anniversary 2012.  Then forgot about it again until Gn'R came through ACL Music Festival last year and I lost my shit watching them.  It was as brilliant as it ever was, maybe more.  

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mr. sunshine

mr. sunshine 2824

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1 hour ago, Lobo said:

You could spend a decade figuring out which Led Zeppelin album was as close to perfect as possible between this one, IV/Ruins/Untitled, and if you can cut out "The Crunge"...you could add 'Houses of the Holy' to that holy trinity as well.  As I get older, you also realize..and I acknowledge this is cheating in the context of the thread...but you could take half of 'Physical Graffiti' and make one of the Top 3 LZ albums/Top 10 rock records of all time.  If you just take these (and again, I know that's not in the spirit of whole albums):

Custard Pie, The Rover, In My Time of Dying, Houses of the Holy, Trampled Underfoot, Kashmir, In the Light, Ten Years Gone, Night Flight, The Wanton Song.  That's a 10-song straight LP, with no offense to the other solid tracks on that double album....that's one of the best classic rock records of all time with no skips right there as well.  It's a twisted metric, but in this way...Led Zeppelin puts out 9 studio albums (8 if you don't count "Coda"...a debate for another thread)...about half of them are among the best "no skip" albums of all time.  Hands down.  Full stop.  there's plenty of other examples of great no-bad-song records out there and I'll get to 'em...but you have to stop and acknowledge that no matter what you think of Physical Graffiti's format, there's at least 3...maybe even 5 (if you want to get into breaking out P.G. and counting the original debut album)...not-bad-song LPs.  That will never happen again in our lifetime.  Ever.  Not even close.  That those albums are as good today as they were back then.  

That's another metric to throw in there...some of those albums played beautifully from start to finish when we first heard them decades ago.  But they don't always hold up, not because of the genre...but only because the "weak tracks" are more and more exposed over time.  

Okay okay I admittedly skip over ‘Thank You’ sometimes 

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Guest Lobo

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Debate for another time...but I'll live the rest of my musically astute life not understanding why that song doesn't get more love.  Yes, as a standalone track...and this is a debate for another thread...it's not that impressive.  But this song launches so much for Led Zeppelin, and thus "insists upon itself" as the last great addition (though nowhere near the strongest) of Led Zeppelin II.  this is where Plant proves he can provide melodious lyrics to rival the Beatles, where John Paul Jones can play organ to psychedelic up their blues tracks, and where they can shift from more traditional blues-E keys to D-Major, be ballad or heavy metal or otherwise.  It's admittedly weird on such a heavy record, but it sets the table for so much.  Led Zeppelin II is a listen-to-thru LP because of Thank You, not despite of it.  Alas, I digest...

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Guest Lobo

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Okay, I'm too old. I get it.  You pick "Achtung Baby" over "Joshua Tree"?  Achtung Baby still carried on a brilliant legacy and was the foundation for a gamechanging tour I got to see a few times.  But as an album, it has serious, serious holes.  The second half of that record is damn solid but it relies exclusively on "Mysterious Ways" and "trying to throw your arms around the world."  I still love both tracks, but it quickly falls to pieces beyond those to two songs, it's an overall "Above-Average" back-half of an album.  Helped only by over-production and great execution for those of us all that saw it performed live.  Overall, it's a brilliant record, that in some ways holds up as well as "Joshua Tree", but this is not "best overall albums"...this is "no bad songs-straight thru).  "Achtung Baby" has more than it's share of speed-bumps, but to be fair---perhaps they stick out of the ground because the great tracks are so damn fun.  

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Beantown Express 2.0

Beantown Express 2.0 6559

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7 hours ago, honolulu horn said:

Nirvana -- Bleach, Nevermind

Beatles -- Hard Day's Night, Abbey Road

Daft Punk - Homework, Alive 

Slayer - Reign in Blood

Goatwhore - Constricting Rage of the Merciless

Weezer - Blue Album

RATM - RATM

I was going to put Abbey Road on my list also but I am not a fan of “I Want You” and “Because”.  I skip over those two tracks every time but the rest of the album (minus those two songs) is probably my favorite Beatles album start to finish.

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18004

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This album may be one song too long but it's a worthy contender for the list.

EDIT:  Just realized that Spotify adds a 12th track that didn't appear on the actual release.  It is perfect since the 12th track, Turning of the Tide, would be the one I would drop. 

Bob_Mould_-_Black_Sheets_Of_Rain_(1990).

Edited by CooterBrown
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Guest Lobo

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Don't want to continue the growing trend here to vacillate between great all-time albums and then albums that have all good songs.  There's a fine line and most of you are walking in just fine.  "Back in Black" is an all-time great rock album.  But it is not a listen-to-all-the-way-thru record.  It has a few weak tracks and it's undeniable.  But overall it just kicks so much ass.  Likewise there are great start-to-finish albums, that just aren't superb all-time albums and that's fine too.  Just want to make sure we're talking about the same shit here.  

For instance, y'all may not agree but "Full Moon Fever" for me...that's a great start-to-finish album with no weak tracks anywhere in the mix.  However, it is not a Top 25 album for me personally, and probably not for rock fans of any stripe.  But there are no bad songs on the whole record.  It's an A- album, on very few people's desert island discs, but there is no track on there below a B.  

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12453

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1 hour ago, Lobo said:

Don't want to continue the growing trend here to vacillate between great all-time albums and then albums that have all good songs.  There's a fine line and most of you are walking in just fine.  "Back in Black" is an all-time great rock album.  But it is not a listen-to-all-the-way-thru record.  It has a few weak tracks and it's undeniable.  But overall it just kicks so much ass.  Likewise there are great start-to-finish albums, that just aren't superb all-time albums and that's fine too.  Just want to make sure we're talking about the same shit here.  

For instance, y'all may not agree but "Full Moon Fever" for me...that's a great start-to-finish album with no weak tracks anywhere in the mix.  However, it is not a Top 25 album for me personally, and probably not for rock fans of any stripe.  But there are no bad songs on the whole record.  It's an A- album, on very few people's desert island discs, but there is no track on there below a B.  

"Full Moon Fever" is an incredibly important album to me.  It was the first album I purchased with my own money.  I know every note on it.

But I still skip "Alright For Now" and "A Face in the Crowd".  "

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Guest Lobo

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3 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

"Full Moon Fever" is an incredibly important album to me.  It was the first album I purchased with my own money.  I know every note on it.

But I still skip "Alright For Now" and "A Face in the Crowd".  "

Funny you say that.  After I got my first CD player as a birthday present, I took my next paycheck and went out a bought a handful of CD's (blew my whole check and then some 'cause I'm smart like that).  One of them was "Full Moon Fever."  I don't get to listen to it as much as I'd like to, but when I do---I usually go all the way through and "A Face in the Crowd" is a damn good song, I'll fight you.  "Alright for Now" is probably the weakest track on the album, but I'd still give it a B/B- 

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12453

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12 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Funny you say that.  After I got my first CD player as a birthday present, I took my next paycheck and went out a bought a handful of CD's (blew my whole check and then some 'cause I'm smart like that).  One of them was "Full Moon Fever."  I don't get to listen to it as much as I'd like to, but when I do---I usually go all the way through and "A Face in the Crowd" is a damn good song, I'll fight you.  "Alright for Now" is probably the weakest track on the album, but I'd still give it a B/B- 

My favorite "album" tracks on that are definitely "Apartment Song", "Yer So Bad", and "Zombie Zoo".

I don't think "Face In the Crowd" is a bad song, I just don't have much interest in hearing it anymore.

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