"Perfect" albums

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

'Mouth Sounds' by Neil Cicierega

Endorsed.

Anyway, I'll probably say Different Class and This Is Hardcore by Pulp; OK Computer and In Rainbows by Radiohead; Rubycon by Tangerine Dream; Time n Place by Kero Kero Bonito; Setting Sons by The Jam; Loveless by My Bloody Valentine; the White Album and Revolver by The Beatles; Aquemini by Outkast; the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That's a smattering though, I could probably list a good few more.

[Vega]

Drake - Thank Me Later   
Drake - Take Care
Drake - Nothing Was the Same   
Drake - Views
Drake - Scorpion

[Badger]

Geez, what a sad, sad listing.

Here you go. 23 minutes of pure musical perfection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vggLO93fTg

Meh. Not bad I guess.

[MT Treasurer]

Thriller comes close, yeah.

[SWE]

The Front Bottoms by The Front Bottoms
Puppy Love by Mom Jeans

[pops]

The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
The Wall - Pink Floyd
The Final Cut - Pink Floyd
OK Computer - Radiohead
Origin of Symmetry - Muse
A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park
...And Justice for All - Metallica
Hot Fuss - The Killers
Sam's Town - The Killers
Aim & Ignite - fun.
Is This the Life we Really Want? - Roger Waters
Demon Days - Gorillaz
Parachutes - Coldplay

All albums where I can't skip a single song.

[Meclazine for Israel]

..And Justice for All - Metallica

Great choice. Completely original sound with very little bass.

The Black album is also a great one as well considering the style change.

[DINGO Joe]

Some off the top of my head

Rolling Stones--Exile on Main Street
Who-Who's Next
The-Band--The Band
Velvet Underground-VU and Nico
Husker Du--New Day Rising
REM--Murmur-Reckoning-Automatic for the People
Lyle Lovett--Pontiac
Steve Earle--Guitar Town
Nick Lowe--Jesus of Cool
Matthew Sweet--Girlfriend
Nirvana--Nevermind
Bettie Serveert--Palomine

I'm sure there have been others since 1991 but there probably a psychological reason that what you hear from age 13-23 seems more important than anything after.

[Wells]

Beyoncé - Lemonade
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

There are more but these stand out of course.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

flawless albums:

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
Radiohead - The Bends
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
Nujabes - Ristorante Mixtape (mixtape, not an album, I don't care)

other albums that don't have a bad moment but somehow just aren't quite as good as the above:

Yes - Close to the Edge
Bob Dylan & The Band - The Basement Tapes (also not an album, also don't care)
Old 97s - Too Far to Care (<- my favorite album of all time)
Built to Spill - Keep it Like a Secret
Parquet Courts - Human Performance

albums that are flawless except for maybe 1 - 2 songs

Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Grateful Dead - Grateful Dead (skull and roses)
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Kyle Craft - Full Circle Nightmare

[Badger]

..And Justice for All - Metallica

Great choice. Completely original sound with very little bass.

The Black album is also a great one as well considering the style change.

Meh, for as many good songs as it has, it's still overrated due to the tremendous amount of filler on it. About 5 out of 12 songs. Granted the 7 others are incredible, but when about a third of the album is purely worth skipping, it doesn't near qualify as a "perfect" album". 

[Badger]

Let's see.

Led Zep 2 and 4, also arguably 1.

Pink Ployd: Dark Side, WYWH, and (underrated choice) Meddle

Son Volt: Trace. I could (and have) listen to that album weekly for months at a time.

Yes: Four consecutive albums--The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Tales from Topographic Oceans

Hot take: The Beatles never had what could be considered "a perfect album" from the studio due to filler. That even includes (GASP!) Sgt. Pepper's.

Second Hot take: I don't care about those who say it's awful, cheating, whatever to exclude compilation/best of albums. So with that, I offer you the Beatles 1962-65 ("The Red Album") and 1966-69 ("The Blue Album").

Soundgarden Badmotorfinger (even better than Superunknown).

Pearl Jam: Ten (close, but arguable).

Nirvana: Nevermind

Others I'll think of later....

[Very Legal & Very Cool]

Drake - Thank Me Later   
Drake - Take Care
Drake - Nothing Was the Same   
Drake - Views
Drake - Scorpion

Drake - If You're Reading This, It's Too Late

Drake featuring Drake

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

You know, the new embedding feature is pretty good for this thread.

Anyway here's a very obvious pick (hope the playlist works!)

[dead0man]

you guys understand that "perfect" is very VERY different than "my favorite", right?  "perfect" means no non-good songs.  There are two perfect albums and I think they've both been mentioned.

AC/DC - Back in Black
The Who - Who's Next

And to go on with Badger's hot take.

Hot take: The Beatles never had what could be considered "a perfect album" from the studio due to filler. That even includes (GASP!) Sgt. Pepper's.

this is true, but it's also true for Nirvana, Aerosmith, RHCP, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, LZ, Rolling Stones, all of whom I love.  Sure, there aren't a lot of misses on the first 6 LZ records, but there are misses on everyone....ok, maybe not LZ 1 and 2.  I'm going to post this and go listen to LZ1 again. 
Side One
1.   "Good Times Bad Times"
2.   "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"
3.   "You Shook Me"
4.   "Dazed and Confused"   
Side two
1.   "Your Time Is Gonna Come"
2.   "Black Mountain Side" (instrumental)
3.   "Communication Breakdown"   
4.   "I Can't Quit You Baby"
5.   "How Many More Times"

That's good eatin'.

[Skunk]

"Gold: Greatest Hits" by ABBA
"Emotion" by Carly Rae Jepsen
"The Family Jewels" by Marina and the Diamonds

Since this thread is being bumped, add "Golden Hour" by Kacey Musgraves to this.

[MasterJedi]

"Rust in Peace" by Megadeth

[Santander]

2019 update.

If you are talking truly, transcendentally perfect, there can only be two:

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground & Nico

The following are still life-changing and don't have any bad songs, but are not quite up there with the previous two:

John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Van Morrison - Moondance
Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

Exile on Main St. is a tour de force, but is hurt by being perhaps a bit too long, imo. The Band is another one I would consider borderline perfect. Imagine if "The Weight" was on the same album as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"... but that's why we have The Last Waltz.

[DINGO Joe]

While "Go Your Own Way" is Fleetwood Mac's best song, Tusk is their best (perfect) album pretty much for the same reasons that Exile on Main Street is the best (perfect) Stones album.

Albums were greater than their individual parts.  I kind of wonder in this day and technological age if any artists still obsess over the track order anymore as so little music is listened to that way.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall by Pink Floyd. I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan but these are their two albums where I love every song on the album and can listen to every song on at nearly any time, regardless of my mood.

Honestly, as for other bands, I'm either not interested in enough of their albums or can think of any other albums that come close to these two. I listen to music, but I don't always feel an urge to go deep into an artist's album and listen to every one of their songs.

[Badger]

Let's see.

Led Zep 2 and 4, also arguably 1.

Pink Ployd: Dark Side, WYWH, and (underrated choice) Meddle

Son Volt: Trace. I could (and have) listen to that album weekly for months at a time.

Yes: Four consecutive albums--The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Tales from Topographic Oceans

Hot take: The Beatles never had what could be considered "a perfect album" from the studio due to filler. That even includes (GASP!) Sgt. Pepper's.

Second Hot take: I don't care about those who say it's awful, cheating, whatever to exclude compilation/best of albums. So with that, I offer you the Beatles 1962-65 ("The Red Album") and 1966-69 ("The Blue Album").

Soundgarden Badmotorfinger (even better than Superunknown).

Pearl Jam: Ten (close, but arguable).

Nirvana: Nevermind

Others I'll think of later....

Later....

Time Out by Dave Brubeck Quartet

Nevermind the Bullocks, Sex Pistols (a maligned choice, I know)

Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady

And yeah, despite the MASSIVE radio overplay it gets, I agree with Deadman re: AC/DC Back in Black.

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

Smashing Pumpkins, Gish, Siamese Dream arguably

(BRTD TRIGGER WARNING): Kanye West, The College Dropout

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

you guys understand that "perfect" is very VERY different than "my favorite", right?  "perfect" means no non-good songs.

You ever heard the Cap'n Jazz LP? I'd like to nominate it since I refuse to believe that the one track which is not not good but actually HORRIBLE (Bluegrassish) doesn't exist. I even removed it from my playlist for the album on my computer.

Like seriously what were they thinking with this?

[Badger]

While "Go Your Own Way" is Fleetwood Mac's best song, Tusk is their best (perfect) album pretty much for the same reasons that Exile on Main Street is the best (perfect) Stones album.

Albums were greater than their individual parts.  I kind of wonder in this day and technological age if any artists still obsess over the track order anymore as so little music is listened to that way.

Personally, I feel the Christy McVie ballads, Songbird, and Oh, Daddy keep Rumours from perfection.

[junior chįmp]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Illmatic - Nas
Radiohead - OK Computer
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Nirvana - Nevermind
Van Morrison - Atral Weeks
Is This It - The Strokes
Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave
Muse - Origin Of Symmetry
Green Day - American Idiot, Dookie, Kerplunk, 1039 Smoothed Slapply Hours
Childish Gambino - “Awaken, My Love!”
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me - Brand New
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Boston - Boston
Daft Punk - Discovery, Random Access Memories
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
Energy - Operation Ivy
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
Jimmy Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Coldplay - Viva la Viva or Death and All His Friends
The Eminem Show and Marshall Mathers LP
Elton John - Goodbye Yellowbrick Road
Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Funeral - Arcade Fire
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run, Born In The USA
Led Zepplin - 2, 3 & 4, Physical Graffitti
Simon and Garfunkle - Sounds Of Silence
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street
Divjli Andjeli - Divlji Anđeli
Clash - London Calling
David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
Paul Simon - Graceland
Prince - Controversy, Purple Rain
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Carole King - Tapestry
Madonna - Madonna
Pearl Jam - Ten
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Dire Straights - Brothers in Arms
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

Prob more but out of ideas...

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

Some newer ones I haven't seen mentioned:

Billie Ellish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!
Tyler, the Creator - Igor
Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby (but maybe I'm just biased since I'm a big fan of hers)