So do you honestly think ALL songs on a CD are great??

[Caleb]

For me it is rare that I like every single song of an artist. I give them permission to disappoint me on occasion. They are human afterall.

I have all 3 of Machinations CDs and they come close to every song being a winner (for me).

I think on Esteem there is one song that I'm not quite as impressed with - but I can still enjoy it.

On Big Music I like all the songs.

On Uptown there is one song that I find a bit tedious but I enjoy the rest.

I love Tori Amos and have every one of her albums but I don't always like every single song. I don't think I hate any of the songs though.

There's quite a few classics that I love. Several of Pink Floyd's albums come to mind. I think Dark Side of the Moon is possibly the one closest to 100% of songs great.

I really enjoyed Neil Diamond's Jazz Singer actually. Can't remember a bad song on that. Can I count that?

I think it might depend alot upon what kind of music listener you are. My brother has probably over 1000 CDs and there would be a large percentage that he would say he loved every song, but I've also noticed that he listens to music in a very different way to how I listen to it. He's very analytical and his love of songs quite often comes from his automatic dissection and appreciation. He loves Tool due to their musical and rythmic cleverness. I don't mind them but they come across a little too much like noise to me.

Caleb

[suburban grilla]

Sly and Robbie - A Dub Experience

Every track gives me goosebumps,any time I listen, but its probably the only cd in my collection that does this to me.

THere's other albums I love{ some already mentioned here) but my enjoyment of them depends on my frame of mind, level of intoxication etc..

[mn]

I mostly wanted to "me too " some suggestions other people made but I'll just throw out a few albums of many I think are solid all the way through so you can shoot them down . My collection sits at about 1800-2000 CDs and I'm willing to bet that at least 200 of them are strong start to finish IMO. But again, it's all subjective and like any art it's unlikely you'll like eveything.

Adam and the Ants - Dirk Wears White Sox
Freur - Doot Doot (this should appeal to a lot of KVRians who like synth music)
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City
Iron Maiden - Killers
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim/Surfer Rosa
Toad the Wet Sprocket - pale
ELO - Out of the Blue

@bluedad: Beatles Abbey Road

@Bonteburg: Beatles - Revolver

@Sleek Month: most of yours really (we have similar taste apparently) , but specifically:
..Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic, Rocks, Aerosmith
..Sweet-Desolation Boulevard
..ACDC-Pretty much everything up to and including Back In Black
..Judas Priest-British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance
..Ozzy-Diary of a Madman, Blizzard of Ozz (RR is one of my idols)
..Motley Crue-Too Fast For Love (:love: this one , other Crue... meh)

@BONES: New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation (I'd add Small Town England)

@ammoniad: The Cure - Disintegration

@Lunch Money (and others): Pink Floyd - DSOTM (I'm not a huge PF fan, but I agree with this)

@Caleb - Tori Amos (I like some TA too, I'd say Little Earthquakes, maybe). I think I'm a bit like your brother. I can appreciate the process independent of the finished product.

[Caleb]

@Caleb - Tori Amos (I like some TA too, I'd say Little Earthquakes, maybe). I think I'm a bit like your brother. I can appreciate the process independent of the finished product.

Yeah - Little Earthquakes is probably my favourite although I don't like Me and a Gun much. I've just reacquainted myself with Under The Pink after a long time no listen period and I'm remember how lovely most of the songs there are, but there's a couple that don't quite excite me as much.

I do like Scarlet's Walk too, but not all songs have really hit the perfect mark yet. Given that there are 18 songs though it's a bit of ask for them all to be brilliant. Anyway.....just an excuse to talk Tori for a bit.

Caleb

[mn]

Precious Things is probably my fave on Little Earthquakes. Makes the hair on my neck stand up every time. Powerful as hell. In fact I'm gonna listen to it now.

[Lunch Money]

I'm with you guys. I've been listening to Under the Pink and Little Earthquakes a bunch these past couple days. 90% great, but a few misses. I could go the rest of my life without hearing "Me and a Gun" again and I'd be happy.

Greg

[mn]

I have to add these guys, too. They're my favorite band the last 6 months or so: The New Pornographers. Two albums, Mass Romantic and The Electric Version. I would say The Electric Version is great beginning to end. Also just got the solo album by the singer A.C. Newmancalled The Slow Wonder and it's pretty kickin' too.

I'm also quite fond of The Twilight Singers because I was a huge Afghan Whigs fan. Saw AW several times, and saw TTS last year.

[BONES]

Actually I liked their 80s era (I know, I know)
The only song I recognise on Reproduction is a version of Being Boiled which I really didn't like.
So maybe they had very distinct eras that I was never across.

Yes they did. The're playing with us at Wave-Gotik Treffen. Being Boiled was one side of their first single, the other being Circus of Death, both of which were recorded on a two-track reel-to-reel in someone's front room in Sheffield. It was a famous old Sony thing with an erase head that could be disabled so you could keep overdubbing stuff. The only problem was that if you fluffed one take you had to start all over again. Have you seen the cover-art for Reproduction? It shoudl give you a clue as to their earlier phase. Here's the biggest versiom I could find.

[soulata]

around 400 albums here.

Dzihan& Kamien - Gran Riserva
Beatles - Revolver
Fionna Apple - the pawn... (long title)
Meshell Ndegeocello - Planet Lullabyes

[Guckli]

Sly and Robbie - A Dub Experience

Definitely one of those I forgot

[Peel]

It's not an entirely straightforward question if, like me, you favour the quaint idea that an album should be taken as a whole, and not just a collection of songs.
Of course this is more true of some albums than others; at one extreme you have albums that are literally one long song, or albums that where the songs form a "suite" of some kind (The Wall, A Love Supreme, any symphony...).
On such albums, and even on some others with non-interrelated songs, it can feel almost criminal to skip around tracks or to hit stop before the album has finished playing.
I used to feel quite strongly that all albums should try to confrom to this aesthetic. My deepest disdain was reserved for those who considered themselves big fans of artist X, yet ONLY OWNED THEIR "GREATEST HITS" ALBUM!* I still feel that this is the ideal; the best album is not "your 10 best songs," but the 10 songs that make the best album. It's the album-as-a-collection-of-singles mentality that's largely to blame for CDs that sound like 2 hit singles & 8 filler tracks, which in turn fuels listeners' disappointment with albums & demand for singles, in a vicious circle. Nowadays, though, I accept that there's a place for the "collection of singles"-type album.

blah blah blah. Anyway, to get back to the real question, several albums come immediately to mind:

My Bloody Valentine -- Loveless, and perhaps Isn't Anything
Leonard Cohen -- Songs
Flying Saucer Attack -- a few albums, most notably their self-titled one
Cowboy Junkies -- Trinity Session
Ride -- Nowhere
Spiritualized -- Lazer Guided Melodies
Daniel Lanois -- For the Beauty of Wynona
Moonshake -- The Sound your Eyes can Follow
Slowdive -- Souvlaki

Of course, that's only considering the rock/pop genre and discarding those longsong/suite/concept/symphony - type albums.

Two of my very favourite artists, Neil Young & Sonic Youth, will probably never get any albums into my top-50 (well, maybe Evol...)



* (I also hated it when people only knew their favourite songs by their track numbers -- "what're your favourite songs on X? "I like 3, 5 & 7!", or those who claimed to love album X but didn't know song Y because "oh, that must be on side B; I never listen to side B.")

[wrench45us]

'Singles Going Steady' Buzzcocks

album or collection?

my point was missed earlier -- i generally do think 1st albums are best -- simply for the gestation period as mentioned.
ex. 'Singles Going Steady'
Aphex Twin 'Collected Ambient Works 19?? - etc

[soulata]

one more

Stravinsky - Le sacre du printemps.



k

[smp]

I agree totally with BONES and Funkybot. Out of the 100s of CDs I have bought, I actually would find it easier to count the ones where I don't like every track.

What's wrong with you people? Don't you exercise any kind of quality control when you buy CDs?

I think it might depend alot upon what kind of music listener you are. My brother has probably over 1000 CDs and there would be a large percentage that he would say he loved every song, but I've also noticed that he listens to music in a very different way to how I listen to it. He's very analytical and his love of songs quite often comes from his automatic dissection and appreciation. He loves Tool due to their musical and rythmic cleverness. I don't mind them but they come across a little too much like noise to me.

This is how I listen to music as well, although I only discovered that I did this a few years ago. In fact, I love Tool for the exact same reason.

I think many people treat music as a commodity to be consumed and then forgotten (a musical version of plague locusts maybe). I personally see music as art, to be appreciated and treasured.

-s
(rambling again)

[mn]

My Bloody Valentine -- Loveless, and perhaps Isn't Anything

MBV. Originally I did an alphabetic list like BONES' and Loveless was on there, but I trimmed the list down and forgot it.
I saw them on that tour, one band I was definitely glad I saw. Check out the Swirlies if you haven't heard them, they're close at times.

Sonic Youth, will probably never get any albums into my top-50 (well, maybe Evol...)

Love SY also. Saw them on the Daydream Nation tour. EVOL is a great LP.

Stravinsky - Le sacre du printemps

Believe it or not that was on my list too. I've loved Stravinsky ever since I first heard this in college.