Nirvana was my gateway drug away from crappy pop music, no doubt. From that point on, I stopped listening to top 40 radio and despised it even.

Yep, even fitter happier fits perfectly into it. Sometimes when bands do stuff like that, it fails as a whole, but Radiohead an the Beatles did it (revolution #9) on their best albums.

I'll still pissed with how Coldplay used Computer Love the way they did in Talk. Totally cheesy to ask permission to borrow a melody, then not give kraftwerk any writing credits. I dunno how Krafwerk agreed to that. I guess they felt that the additional fans would be worth it. Not so.

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Black Sabbath - Masters of Reality
Boston - Boston
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Frank Sinatra - Sinatra at the Sands
Clutch - Clutch
Gov't Mule - Dose
Dissection - Storm of the lights bane
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Thumbs up for Sinatra at the Sands....

Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The Strokes - Is this it
311 - Music
Some of my favorites

thumbs up for Clutch!

Think of it this way, if you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be? Like every time you go to listen to music (radio, iPod, online, etc), it will be that album. That will decide what is the perfect album for you IMO.

That's why the choice of dark side of the moon is easy one for me.

I gonna now fly to a desert island.

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I've yet to hear the perfect album.

Did anyone mention Aerosmith - Pump? Clash - London Calling also a favorite.

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Nevermind was a landmark album, with great flow. Flow means A LOT to me. I despise iTunes for mixing up the order of songs on some albums ( especially rap). The artist and producer put them in sequence for many reasons, and it should be respected. So I dig where yer comin from OP.
But, in my opinion, In Utero was their top o the mountain masterpiece.

BEASTIE BOYS--Check Your Head
Mmmm,...it does go well with the chicken. Delicious again Peter.

Kraftwerk Computer world
Radiohead OK Computer

I see a formula here. Write album about technology and the effects is has on the modern world = great success!

On another note, another great album from front to back I haven't seen mentioned yet is Pixies - Surfer Rosa. The secret most the time is keep is under 40 minutes. Also The Shins Oh! Inverted World is pretty damn good.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
Beck - Sea Change, O'Delay (I like Mutations best, but a few songs miss the mark)
Nirvana - In Utero
George Harrison - All things must pass
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
NIN Downward Spirial
Strokes - Is this it
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Radiohead - The Bends
Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
The Clash - London Calling

Those are strickly ones I quickly thought of I can easily listen to straight through without being like "this one song seems out of place" and skip it.

Not only did The Clash make a perfect album (London Calling) with no clunkers, they made a perfect double album with perfect sequencing. 19 songs that are wonderful on their own but when you play the album, from London Calling through Train In Vain, the songs just fit together like pieces in a puzzle. Perfectly.

Two thumbs up, way up, for GAINSBOURG!!!

Also The Who ------Live At Leeds-----. Any variation from the original to the three CD reissue. A snapshot of the greatest live band ever just completely tearing it up and leaving nothing but scorched earth. Who's Next and Quadrophenia are flawless as well.

Some will probably argue otherwise, but I love Ween - White Pepper straight through.

I'm not even a fan of heavier stuff, but I love that album.

I can never choose between Rust in Peace, Reign in Blood, and Kill em All.
All 3 : front to back, start to finish, beginning to end ; amen.
But I'll take Reign in Blood for the win Pat.

Give me alchemy
Give me wizardry
Give me sorcery
Climantology
Electricity
Imagine if you please
Master all of these
Bring him to his knees
Thy master
Five Magics

Imagine a music fest with 3 stages. Each band performing their respective entire album simultaneously. I'd be at the Slayer stage!

Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
Live at Cook County Jail - B.B. King

To me, a "perfect album" is one with nothing but strong songs, no weak links, highly listenable, that takes the listener on a complete journey. Greatest Hits compilations don't count. There aren't many, in my opinion. Here are a few:

Hard Band Fe Dead - The Toasters
Lincoln - They Might Be Giants
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
American Idiot - Green Day

I love The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Jackson Browne and Queen, but there's something about each of their albums that keeps them short of "perfection."

Totally agree with this.

I think Abbey Road qualifies as a perfect album.

Some pretty awesome music taste in these forums..

Gotta give it up to Pantera, pretty much every album was perfect no filler (pre- CFH of course)
Mark Lanegan - The Winding Sheet
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey
Sublime - 40oz
Jane's Addiction - Nothing Shocking
Hole - Live Through This
Frenzal Rhomb - Meet the family

...And Justice for all

Obviously this is going to come down to personal taste. Not very often does an album get recorded that even comes close to being "perfect". There are a few that in my eyes, are pretty close. In no particular order.... Here goes....

1. Appetite For Destruction. Guns & Roses
2. Operation Mindcrime. Queensryche
3. Boston
4. Pyromania. Def Leppard
5. Master Of Puppets. Metallica
6. Back In Black. AC/DC

There are probably a few more that I'm forgetting about, but this list is pretty close.

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Suddenly a dark horse jumps in the race.

Indeed...it is Valerian steel.
I shall name her "Threadkiller".

King Curtis is the shiznit.

There are a lot of good albums from good bands, these are just my fav's. I'm a big 90's fan.
Offspring smash
Megadeth rust in peace
Metallica and justice for all
Foo fighters the colour and the shape
Sublime self title 1996

I agree with a lot of the picks so far. Let me add Tom Waits The Heart of Saturday Night to the discussion. I'm not fond of much of Tom Wait's more eclectic stuff but this album really hits it out of the park. Really great stories set to music.

Little Feat - The Last Record Album
Husker Du - Candy Apple Gray
Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink, The Player You get
Elton John - Empty Sky
Replacements - Let It Be
REM - Murmur + Reckoning
Pete Townsend - The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
X - Los Angeles
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

Talking Heads "Stop making sense" is another one i would add, but probably more linked to my surfie days. I had that TAPE<< yes tape, stolen so many times it wasn't bloody funny. I never had the chance to wear out any of them, LOL. My current CD that i play more than any other (and that's out of a 1000 or more) is Black Stone Cherry "Folklore and Superstition"

I like that people aren't posting Greatest Hits compilations. That's what I typically hear when people start talking about "best" albums. I always felt that people who do that really don't understand what an album is all about. Apparently, pinball people do. For me:

U2 - Achtung Baby
Rush - Signals
Peter Gabriel - Us
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On

That last one is totally out of character for me, but amazing nonetheless.

Good call. It's heresy to think US is better than Melt/Security/ or even SO, but I think it's true. When US was released, I dove into that album head first and couldn't leave it for a year or so. Then Secret World Live came out and it got even more intense.

I come back to it once in a while, but our relationship will never be as intense as it was in the mid 90's.

does anyone have Police - Synchronicity?

i also have hole - celebrity skin.
rem - automatic for the people and
u2 - unforgettable fire, joshua tree, and achtung baby
nirvana - nevermind
pink floyd - meddle, wish you were here, the wall
waters - radio chaos
depeche mode - violator

too many to list

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Just listened to this one straight thru in the car. Still looks like it is holding up the test of time.

A few of my favorite "nearly perfect" records:
Replacements - Let it Be
Teenage Fanclub - Songs from Northern Britain
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
Big Star - Radio City
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Ramones - Rocket to Russia

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Faith No More-----Angel Dust----- I remember buying this and being blown away at how different it was. Still am 20 years later.

The War On Drugs------Lost In The Deeam----This is a bit recent for me to declare perfect, but I've listened to it non-stop for a year. It's perfect.

Side Two of Abbey Road is absolute perfection - even punctuated by that little throwaway encore, "Her Majesty." But I personally find "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" overlong and a bit tedious. I always skip past it.

Any album by Springsteen!!

There are a lot of great albums, but I always think to Elton John's output from 1970-1975 as one of the best runs of any artist ever. From age 22 to 27, that man did in succession:

Elton John
Tumbleweed Connection
Madman Across the Water
Honky Chateau (my favorite)
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Carribou (weakest of the bunch)
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Canadian Bruce fan, you see something new every day. I live in NJ, I can't escape Bruce. I personally am not a fan of his music, but respect him and what he has done.

I am kind of all over the place.....no particular order.

Radiohead - Ok Computer/Kid A
He is Legend - I am Hollywood
The Bronx - The Bronx
Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
Sinatra - Live at the Sands
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
Def Leppard - Hysteria/Pyromania
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
The Juliana Theory - Deadbeat Sweetheart
Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
John Adams - The Chairman Dances
Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight