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Top 10 favorite complete albums

#1

Bowielee

Bowielee

I have been thinking about this lately. It's extremely rare that I love all the songs on an album. I decided it would be fun to see what complete albums people love. On all the albums listed, I could listen to any track on the album and be completely happy with it. I'm restricting myself to 1 album per artist, otherwise this would be a top ten list of my favorite David Bowie albums. I'm also excluding musicals (I make an exception for Tommy because it existed as a rock album before they were able to make a stage show a reality).


10) Mika- Life in Cartoon Motion

9) Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Blood Sugar Sex Magic

8) Alanis Morrisette- Jagged Little Pill

7) Supertramp- Breakfast in America

6) Weird Al- Dare to Be Stupid

5) They Might Be Giants- Apollo 18

4) Tori Amos- Under The Pink

3) Matthew Sweet- Girlfriend

2) The Who- Tommy

1) David Bowie- Hunky Dory

I REALLY wanted a Queen album and a Beatles album on here and while I love many of their songs, there are always at least 1 or 2 songs that I always bypass unless it's a greatest hits album.


#2

DarkAudit

DarkAudit

I don't have a top ten list (yet), but I have at least six of those in my collection. :)


#3

Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

This reminds me, Bowie, I owe you $30 for Amazon since you're the winner of that summer playlist request I made many moons ago. You won, yes, because you were the only genuine entrant, but also you won because you did real good. I feel bad for forgetting.

As for some albums I unequivocally love every song on, that's tough. I've given this some thought too.

Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Damn, ten is hard. I'll have to think about this.


#4

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

10 is a lot to come up with and it's like 2am, so for now I'll give you these:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Incubus - Make Yourself
Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose (really want to put Colour and the Shape here, it's a tough call)
The Protomen - Act I (The Protomen)
Ellie Goulding - Lights
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
Pearl Jam - Ten

Aaaaaaaaand that's all I can do off the top of my head. 7's not bad though.


#5

PatrThom

PatrThom

I am not at home right now and I rarely rememer album names.
This non-post brought to you by Gleemie, the toothpaste that whitens even as it fights tooth decay.
Gleemie, for teeth so clean and white they'll think you're a televangelist.

--Patrick



#7

Bowielee

Bowielee

Brofist for Tommy. I can't even put into words how much I love that album.


#8

General Specific

General Specific

I got to see Roger Daltrey perform it live in 2011. They offered recordings of the concert for a modest fee and an awesome lanyard, so I have that, too. :D


#9

Krisken

Krisken

Shit. Ok, lets do this, in no particular order (would be WAY too hard).

1. Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon

2. Failure- Fantastic Planet

3. Bad Religion- Against The Grain

4. Fireside- Uomini D'Onore

5. The Beta Band- Heroes to Zeroes

6. God Lives Underwater- Empty

7. Soul Coughing- Lust in Phase: The Best of Soul Coughing

8. Tool- Undertow

9. The Weakerthans- Reconstruction Site

10. Therapy- So Much For The 10 Year Plan

It's a very specialized list, all albums I listen to all the way through. I could probably pick a couple dozen more, honestly.


#10

Zappit

Zappit

Ten? They won't be in order. That's just asking far too much. This probably isn't even my honest-to-God favorite ten...

Dookie - Green Day
Babel - Mumford and Sons
Amaryllis - Shinedown
Ten - Pearl Jam
Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam (You might not know them, but this album is really enjoyable.)
Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf
Back in Black - AC/DC
Born to Run - Bruce Springstein
Americana - The Offspring
Piano Man - Billy Joel


#11

Bowielee

Bowielee

I think the fact that it is so hard to name just ten albums for most people speaks to the sheer volume of filler that is on most albums.


#12

Frank

Frank

I think the fact that it is so hard to name just ten albums for most people speaks to the sheer volume of filler that is on most albums.

This, I am at 3 albums right now that I can think of that I can listen to start to finish. I'm sure I can come up with more. Just need to think.

1. Pearl Jam - Ten
2. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
3. Alice in Chains - Dirt


#13

Krisken

Krisken

I could listen to those all the way through too.

You fuckers just need better music. :troll:


#14

Frank

Frank

I can listen to most albums all the way through too, but there's very few that I can say I like every song on. That's what I was trying to think of.


#15

Krisken

Krisken

At this point I can say "Top 10 artists I can listen to all the way through".


#16

Bowielee

Bowielee

To be fair, many of the people on my list have multiple albums that I can listen to front to back and enjoy the whole thing.

I'll add a few more in no particular order.

REM- Monster
Annie Lennox- Diva
Dada- Puzzle[DOUBLEPOST=1375072004][/DOUBLEPOST]
At this point I can say "Top 10 artists I can listen to all the way through".
There's also the fact that quite a few people nowadays don't even buy entire albums, so don't even know what hidden gems lie behind the singles released on an album.


#17

Krisken

Krisken

There's also the fact that quite a few people nowadays don't even buy entire albums, so don't even know what hidden gems lie behind the singles released on an album.
:eek:

So wrong it hurts. I remember listening to albums and being unimpressed with them, putting them away, only realizing they are genius long after they'd be considered 'in their prime'. Drivin N Cryin's Fly Me Courageous is a prime example of this.


#18

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

My problem is more narrowing it down to just ten, I could easily put multiple albums from Foo Fighters, Flogging Molly, Incubus, or RHCP on my list.


#19

Bowielee

Bowielee

My problem is more narrowing it down to just ten, I could easily put multiple albums from Foo Fighters, Flogging Molly, Incubus, or RHCP on my list.
No duplicate artists :p I could do a top ten of just David Bowie, as I said in my initial post.


#20

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

No duplicate artists :p I could do a top ten of just David Bowie, as I said in my initial post.
Yeah that's the hard part. Hell, I could have put both Ellie Goulding albums up too, they're both fantastic from start to finish.


#21

Tress

Tress

Here's my list, but I'm not restricting artists to one appearance. If an artist made 2 great albums, I'm gonna list them:
  1. Incubus - Light Grenades
  2. Metric - Fantasies
  3. Incubus - Make Yourself
  4. Fuel - Sunburn
  5. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
  6. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
  7. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
  8. 311 - Transistor
  9. Third Eye Blind - Blue
  10. Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Wow, that was hard to narrow down. I could have easily done a Top 20 list.


#22

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Incubus was a tough one for me since they tend to change their sound so much between albums. I've never really disliked any song of theirs, and was having a really hard time choosing between Make Yourself, Morning View and A Crow Left of the Murder.


#23

Espy

Espy

In no particular order because, yeah, that would be insane to try to do:

1. NIN-The Downward Spiral
2. U2-Actung Baby
3. M83-Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
4. Smashing Pumpkins-Pisces Iscariot
5. Joy Division-Unkown Pleasures
6. Nirvana-In Utero
7. Pedro the Lion-Control
8. Pink Floyd-The Wall
9. Radiohead-Kid A
10. Hum-You'd Prefer An Astronaut


#24

Krisken

Krisken

Love the inclusion of Hum, Espy.


#25

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Another one of those how can you pick your favorite child lists...

1. Pink Floyd The Wall
2. Talking Heads Remain in Light
3. Oingo Boingo Good For Your Soul
4. Devo Freedom of Choice
5. Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
6. Robert Cray Band Strong Persuader
7. Robert Earl Keen Walking Distance
8. John Prine John Prine
9. New Order Substance - I know a greatest hits album - but DAMN!
10. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show Sloppy Seconds


#26

Espy

Espy

Love the inclusion of Hum, Espy.
That album is just mind blowing man, I always come back to it.


#27

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

11. Madness One Step Beyond


#28

Krisken

Krisken

That album is just mind blowing man, I always come back to it.
Absolutely. Would have been next if I had gone to 11. ;)


#29

Dave

Dave

Goodness. Top 10? In no uncertain order, I think:

  1. Pink Floyd - The Wall. This should be on every list ever.
  2. Green Day - American Idiot. I like Dookie a lot, but this album is a modern masterpiece. A frickin' concept album! Nobody does these (or at least few artists) anymore!
  3. Poets of the Fall - Temple of Thought. I am SO THANKFUL to NR for posting about this group. I had never heard of them and now they are one of my favorite groups.
  4. Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a Friendly Card. Frankly, there are several APP albums I could have picked, but this one was one of my first. Also could have picked "On Air".
  5. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt. Chickity China the Chinese Chicken, you have a drumstick and your brain stops ticking...Classic!
  6. Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare. I know A7X fans like the older stuff, but Nightmare has real emotion as it was written during and after the death of their drummer, Rev.
  7. Alice Cooper - Welcome to my Nightmare. The old one, not the new one! A classic album showcasing the showmanship of Mr. Cooper.
  8. Dream Academy - The Dream Academy. A group most of you haven't heard of. Well, you've probably heard "Life in a Northern Town" but they never really achieved the fame I thought they should have.
  9. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell. Another classic album, this one was pretty much a rock opera in and of itself.
  10. Roger Waters - Radio K.A.O.S. I know it's almost cheating having Roger Waters and Pink Floyd, but Radio K.A.O.S. deserves a mention. The story makes the music as much as the music makes the story.
I could name a lot of other Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons & A7X, but I had to limit this to 10.
Honorable Mentions:
  • Live - Throwing Copper
  • Stephen Page - The Vanity Project
  • Styx - The Grand Illusion
  • Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
  • Supertramp - Breakfast in America.
Damn. Crash Test Dummies needs to be in my top 10, but I don't know which one to drop.


#30

drawn_inward

drawn_inward

Paul Simon - Graceland
Blues Traveler - Hook
R.E.M. - Green
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek
Brad Paisley - Part II
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Pearl Jam - Ten
Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb
Rancid - And Out Comes the Wolves
TMBG - Apollo 18
Everclear - So Much for the Afterglow


I want to put the RHCP and Tom Petty on here, but I don't have their full albums.


#31

Dave

Dave

Man, I dig that Nickel Creek album.


#32

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I thought you guys were talking about Nickel Back at first... I was all rage then I read past my dylsexia...


#33

Dave

Dave



So much better than Nickelback.


#34

drawn_inward

drawn_inward

Man, I dig that Nickel Creek album.
Chris Thile is a Mandolin God.


#35

Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

This is kind of an odd list because of the criteria of liking all songs on an album (along with no more than one album from an artist... or else my first four would have been Metallica).

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Apocalyptica - Reflections
Primal Fear - 16.6 (Before the Devil knows you're dead)
Amorphis - Skyforger
Dream Evil - The Book of Heavy Metal
Ioannis Anastassakis - Orbital Attempt
Nightwish - Wishmaster
The Offspring - Days go By
Sabaton - Carolus Rex
Trivium - In Waves


#36

GasBandit

GasBandit

Man, I haven't listened to an entire album since the 90s. Let's just say I got in on the MP3 thing way freakin' early.

Lesse.. hard to remember back then... uh... no particular order here... but I remember most listening to...

Tool - Aenima
Lords of Acid - Our Little Secret
I share Azurephoneix's conundrum with Metallica albums... but call me a poser, the Black Album is my favorite.
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Mack Daddy. I bought it only for "Baby Got Back" but I listened to the whole thing over and over.
Dave is right about The Wall.
Rammstein - Sehnsucht
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Ha ha ha... oh man... remember Korn? Damn I listened to a lot of Korn back then.
The Dead Milkmen - Beelzebubba

And if you ever find yourself on a long road trip and need some eclectic entertainment, I recommend Wammo - Faster Than the Speed of Suck.

Anyway, like I said... I haven't really bothered with an actual album since 1998 or so... just grabbing top hits as MP3s and making my own playlists.


#37

Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

I have a friend that encourages everyone to make top 25 albums of all time lists every year. Here's mine from 2009, I was randomly looking up the last one to get a baseline, and well, it's way different than what I'd have now!

1 Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
2 Vampire Weekend - vampire weekend
3 the thermals - the body the blood the machine
4 Edgar Winter Group - They only come out at night
5 Office - Q&A
6 Boston - Boston
7 The Cars - The Cars
8 Michael Jackson - Thriller
9 The Postal Service - Give Up
10 Metallica - Master of Puppets
11 Nas - Illmatic
12 Rush - Moving Pictures
13 T.I. - Paper Trail
14 Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
15 Panic at the disco - Pretty Odd
16 Pearl Jam - Ten
17 Phoenix - It's never been like that
18 The Who - Who's Next
19 Blues Brothers - Soundtrack
20 Lou Reed - Transformer
21 Lady Gaga - The Fame
22 Hold Steady - Stay Positive
23 Kanye West - Graduation
24 Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health
25 Franz Ferdinand - You could have it so much better


#38

Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

I share Azurephoneix's conundrum with Metallica albums... but call me a poser, the Black Album is my favorite.
The Black Album is still a solid album... nothing bad about that choice (now if you had put "Load" as your choice I would have had to say something horrible about it).

I have a friend that encourages everyone to make top 25 albums of all time lists every year. Here's mine from 2009, I was randomly looking up the last one to get a baseline, and well, it's way different than what I'd have now!

The fact that you have Master of Puppets on that list both surprises and impresses me. Good on you Charlie.


#39

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

GasBandit, I got into mp3's early too. I just ripped everyone's cd collections.


#40

Shakey

Shakey

My quick list. It was kinda hard sticking to one album by Neil Young.

Neil Young - Tonights the night
Alison Kraus and Union Station - Two Highways
Blue Mountain - Dog Days
Gillian Welch - Revival
Gram Parsons - GP
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Old Crow Medicine Show - Old Crow Medicine Show
Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
Wanted! The Outlawas


#41

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Bump for GP


#42

linglingface

linglingface

The first thing that came to mind was...
Chris Cornell - Scream

I know there are more that I love but ugh brain fart. :p


#43

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Oh, was also a hard choice to leave off Protest the Hero's Fortress. Scurrilous is a solid album, also.


#44

Shakey

Shakey

Bump for GP
I was hard to choose between GP and Grievous Angel.


#45

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I was hard to choose between GP and Grievous Angel.
My copy is on one disk.


#46

Shakey

Shakey

My copy is on one disk.
Same here, but since they're actually separate albums I figured I'd chose one or the other.


#47

drawn_inward

drawn_inward

The Cars and Boston
Both great albums; especially The Cars!

Also, Traveling Wilburys Vol I = greatest rock coalition evah!


#48

Shakey

Shakey

I'm gonna drop The Outlaws for Willie Nelson - Red Headed Staranger. Not sure how I forgot that.


#49

Fun Size

Fun Size

Mine seems to change constantly, but based on a spin through my current iPhone contents:

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra - Theatre is Evil
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Grim Fandango Soundtrack
Poe - Haunted
The Cure - Mixed Up
Tally Hall - Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Grandaddy - Sumday
Cake - Fashion Nugget


#50

Espy

Espy

Okay, I have to add some new full albums:

Baroness Green & Yellow
Palms Self Titled

Both of these bands are just jaw-droppingy amazing post-rock and both of these albums are freaking incredible. Palms is 3 guys from ISIS and Chino from the Deftones and Baroness has been around forever but this double album is a real change in direction for them and it's great.


#51

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I don't have 10 to list, I'm too lazy to sort through them all and figure out which I like the most, but one album that I come back to time and again to listen to start to finish is The Hazards of Love by the Decemberists. It's a concept album (and I love those) that tells the story of a shapeshifting forest being falling in love with a woman, and the hazards they go through, told in a sort of operatic telling based in a Shakespearean green world (with magic forest queens and the like).

It's hard to link a song, since any song out of context is going to sound weird without the previous to give the story, but just listen to the awesome vocals of Colin Meloy, playing William, the fawn that shapeshifts into a man at night, and Shara Worden, playing the voice of the magic Forest Queen and William's adoptive mother.



#52

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

I'd have to add Nekrogoblikon's Stench to the list. It's easily one of the best metal albums I've ever listened to.


#53

Bowielee

Bowielee

Man, I haven't listened to an entire album since the 90s. Let's just say I got in on the MP3 thing way freakin' early.

Lesse.. hard to remember back then... uh... no particular order here... but I remember most listening to...

Tool - Aenima
Lords of Acid - Our Little Secret
I share Azurephoneix's conundrum with Metallica albums... but call me a poser, the Black Album is my favorite.
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Mack Daddy. I bought it only for "Baby Got Back" but I listened to the whole thing over and over.
Dave is right about The Wall.
Rammstein - Sehnsucht
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Ha ha ha... oh man... remember Korn? Damn I listened to a lot of Korn back then.
The Dead Milkmen - Beelzebubba

And if you ever find yourself on a long road trip and need some eclectic entertainment, I recommend Wammo - Faster Than the Speed of Suck.

Anyway, like I said... I haven't really bothered with an actual album since 1998 or so... just grabbing top hits as MP3s and making my own playlists.
It's weird how much of that is my guilty pleasure music. Just replace Sir Mix-A-Lot with Digital Underground's Sex Packets and it would be the same.


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