Top Ten "Perfect" Albums!

[Charger]

Been waiting for Vyn to post so haven't done mine yet either... But I'll do one tomorrow as well then.

[Zzzptm]

I was traveling all day today, but I'm in the hotel room and it's time for me to reckon with another album that gives me chills, thrills, and/or dolla bills.

David Gilmour - David Gilmour



This is how I start my autumns... when the air temperature drops and the sky turns steely with the first proper cold front of October, I have this album on hand to go with that chill feeling in the atmosphere. It's by no means a widely-hailed album by critics, but to me it's a clever gem that I'll always have a fondness for in the cold wet months of October and November.

[Vyn]

Here's two since I tripped and missed a day:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid. Perfect album, songs perfectly sequenced, perfectly packaged (I always thought the goofy-ass sword-dude looked paranoid) and the inner picture is just pure 1970.

I won't bother with a picture, because I'm guessing you all know what it looks like. I won't post a YouTube, because I'm guessing you all have heard it as well haha.

These aren't in any order, either. I just happened to be listening to Paranoid so it came first.

[Vyn]

Number two:

Something a but more esoteric, and a bit more current (relative to Paranoid, anyway):

Groovy Uncle - One Vowel Away from the Truth

About ten years old now, it is just a fantastic set of wonky British sensibility with a late 1960's feel. Nothing too serious, all in good fun, but with some traps that will bite you if you aren't paying attention

They mix it up with vocals by Suzi and Glenn and some instrument stuff. I actually got turned on to Suzi via Dark Chunk, and then followed her over to Groovy Uncle. Dark Chunk would get a nod in this list if they had anything approaching a full album of tunes. A lot of fun, but I guess "runk" music just didn't have enough depth lol

Here's the opener, "I Know Where the Sun Shines" This YouTube version sucks, but it gets the point across.

Here's the closing song, "Human Scaffold"

[Zzzptm]

I recently played the first David Bowie album, the 1967 one, and these tracks remind me of that. Cool stuff!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Choice number 2

There's 2 Rush albums I think are perfect. But neither is my favourite Rush album but I think they're both in my Top 5. My favourite (Moving Pictures) has the song Witch Hunt on it which I don't really like, and Camera Eye is a little too long... but the rest is just perfection but as a whole it didn;t qualify for this list.

This one has no bad tracks, maybe overall nopthing quite matches the best on Moving Pictures but that's how it goes...

Rush - Test For Echoes (1996)



1.   "Test for Echo"
2.   "Driven"
3.   "Half the World"
4.   "The Color of Right"
5.   "Time and Motion"
6.   "Totem"
7.   "Dog Years"
8.   "Virtuality"   
9.   "Resist"
10.   "Limbo"
11.   "Carve Away the Stone"

I did have to check that Half the World was ok, and it's at least a 7½/10.

Overall it's less synth-y than recent albums, more guitars and the songs are quite light-hearted.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I need to catch up with what others have posted, but it's nearly mid-night, so I'll do that in the morning.

[Charger]

My second one is going to be a new one!

SAXON - HELL, FIRE & DAMNATION!





What's extra special about this is that this was also the album that introduced me to Saxon. One of those bands that somehow just slipped through the cracks for me but once again thanks youtube for letting me know that something this EXCELLENT exists!

Not only is this album a high contender for the album of the year title it's also one of those perfect album without a single weak track. I think Super Charger is my least favourite and even that song is brilliant!
Biff's vocals are absolutely brilliant through out and some of his lyrics are just incredible...mainly in Madame Guillotine.

"Just let me introduce you
To Madame Guillotine
She’ll be pleased to meet you
But please don’t lose your head
For Madame Guillotine"

Come on if that's not pure brilliance I don't know what is!!

It's incredibly hard to find any faults in this album...in fact I can't find any!

[Zzzptm]

^ I find no faults, as well.


With that release and =1 from Deep Purple, we are in clover this year for hard rock and metal releases.

I'm going to put out there that Rainbow Rising, Machine Head, Made in Japan, Sabotage - those are all albums that give me the thrills, but we know them very well. T**** as a B**** is another one that I truly do consider a great experience, but I don't want to be banned, so... yeah... 

For this top ten list, I want to keep digging deeper for albums I've not talked about much around here that I think deserve a turn in 2024. With that, my next entry is...

Superstition by Spacegoat. Really wish they'd been able to get another album out, but this one will have to stand as their current last, best work. And it's a great album, end-to-end. Riffs obviously influenced by Iommi, coupled with strong female vocals and a solid rhythm section make this a real treasure in my collection.

[Vyn]

Agree about Spacegoat. I was talking to Gina Rios a while back, demanding more music, or at least a tour that stopped by KC. She was enthusiastic but indicated that unless I was willing to finance them, I'd just have to be happy with what I've got.

[Charger]

Damn....that Spacegoat is something I was meant to check out a while ago and had forgotten about it! Need to do it now!

And go ahead Vyn they sound good enough to finance!

[Vyn]

And, today's perfect album from the heartland of America:

Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest

This was the first record I heard by them, not too long after it came out. It was so different from anything "hard rock" at the time that I was blown away and have listened to it regularly ever since. The tone, atmosphere, lyrics, subject matter, Rob's vocal range, the cover, the GUITARS...it sounded like "serious, pissed-off, grown-up music".

In the context of today, I think it is easy to dismiss it as an interesting, if slightly odd-ball effort by JP on their way to their true sound. I think of it more like The Who: I Can See for Miles is not Athena anymore than The Ripper is No Surrender. But no less impactful!

YouTube delivers the goods - here's the whole album, in HD:

[Vyn]

And go ahead Vyn they sound good enough to finance!

If I rolled in that financial league, I'd probably do it!

[Charger]

I've never fully gotten into that album personally part from the obivous two tracks...and addition of Deceiver... Genocide has it's moments but never liked Rob's vocal melody on that one...

[Vyn]

I've found it is such a tough record to gauge how anyone is going to feel about it. Some folks are all over it, others dislike it entirely, then others are in between.

I went out and bought it the first chance I got, and I remember inviting a friend of mine over to listen to it. I was stoked, and after a few songs he was like, "this is horseshit" lol