I have been listening to old WMMR podcasts to counter the homesickness since moving to Boulder.  I started thinking about this article while listening to Preston and Steve’s show from April 3, 2006.  They discussed the “perfect” album – an album that is the quintissential example of a band’s style and can be listened to from beginning to end.  It doesn’t have a song that you skip – no black sheep to be found.  These are the albums I’ve determined to be perfect, beginning to end.  Feel free to post your own in the comments!

1) REM – Automatic for the People

Not only is my favorite REM song on here (“Nightswimming”), but it holds two of the band’s biggest radio hits – “Man on the Moon” and “Everybody Hurts.”  Say what you will about REM, but this is a quintissential album, before they became an ambient three-piece (and somewhat irrelevant to rock music) and after their time of bizarre lyrics and hit-or-miss songwriting.  It’s poppy, definitely produced in the mid-90s, but doesn’t sound cheesy when I listen to it now.  And it’s one of the only albums that makes me cry like a baby when the mood is right.

2) Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

Let me get the obvious out of the way – Pink Floyd does make concept albums.  I almost put “The Wall” on here instead, but there are random, weird tracks that I get the urge to flip through, but generally don’t because I’m too stoned to reach my iPod.  DSOTM is also short, sweet, and to the point at 10 songs.  The songs run into each other, making it criminal to put it on “shuffle.”  The album is positively glorious, crescendoing with two unlikely radio hits, “Brain Damage” into “Eclipse.”  It’s also my mom’s favorite album; she played it for me before I left for college, a car-ride for which I am forever grateful.

3) Radiohead – OK Computer

I have loved each Radiohead album for its own reasons, following their evolution from rock band to ambient computer superheroes.  But this album, for all its melancholy and techno influence, transcended its own boundaries to reach music lovers of all genres.  A far cry from their previous release, The Bends (which makes it into the runners-up), the album begins the band’s foray into ambient, electronic music.  It’s even in progression, with complex lyrics, some even sung (?) by a computer.  But it works, somehow, enough for me to listen to it repeatedly.

4) The Arcade Fire – Funeral

Taking a cue from Pink Floyd’s DSOTM, the songs blend seamlessly into each other, seranading the listener with a perfect blend of melancholy and jubilation in 10 short songs.  Oddly enough, if any song doesn’t fit on either album, it’s the fourth one (“Money” and “Neighborhood #3,” respectively).  The band blends melancholy with jubilation without sacrificing continuity – if you’re incredulous, listen to “Wake Up.”  Now.

5) Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head

Love or hate Chris Martin, but this album kicks my self-loathing ass, beginning to end.  Not one song I don’t like (and it even includes one sampled by 50 Cent).

My head feels like it’s about to explode… I haven’t even touched Zeppelin or many of the classic bands I love.  I’m going to end it here, but not without some runners up.  What’s on your path in the quest of the perfect album?

Runners up:

Peter Gabriel – So

Hate “This is the Picture.”  Sorry – it’s a little over-the-top for me.

REM – Out of Time

Fucking “Shiny Happy People.”  And a little immature to be a classic album.

Radiohead – The Bends

Simply because I couldn’t put two Radiohead albums up there, and because it’s rather uneven (songs like “Just” and “The Bends” don’t fit with “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”).

David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

I don’t like “Hang Onto Yourself.”  That’s about it.

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