🎧 Perfect albums

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

On Hemispheric Views 110, Jason asked:

Pick in your mind a perfect album. And I think it’s mostly open to interpretation, but I’m kind of thinking an album that you would say you could just start from beginning, let it run all the way through, without skipping songs, without moving around, just front to back and just sit there and do nothing else and just listen to that whole album.

What would that album be?

An important, though fraught, question.

I completely agree with Andrew that OK Computer and Dark Side of the Moon both belong on the list. After that, there’s great opportunity to overthink this. Instead, I’m going with albums that were significant to me and, so, came to mind quickly.

The Joshua Tree by U2 (1987)

Violator by Depeche Mode (1990)

Ten by Pearl Jam (1991)

Us by Peter Gabriel (1992)

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails (1994)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco (2001)

Give up by The Postal Service (2003)

Funeral by Arcade Fire (2004)

For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver (2007)

I also find it interesting that nothing comes to mind from the last 20 years. Is that because no one makes perfect albums anymore? Seems unlikely. More likely that our musical tastes get set when we’re younger and that I rarely listen to an actual album anymore. I can change this.