What constitutes an amazing album for you?

Question

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Is it more important that an album have all amazing individual songs, or is it more important that an album flow well as a whole?

What are your credentials for a perfect album?

Is constitues the right word? Grr...... I'm terrible with words....

Dani G: Actually, I think some schizophrenic song orders sometimes do work... but the album probably should have a theme of insanity....

Tara H: Wow, that was simple... maybe I should start thinking that way.....

Toodeemo : I always say encourage "ranting on". Graceland is amazing.

Darth Maul: Very true, but how many bands can really do that? Not many, those who can are truely gems.

Chronon: Very ture, but it should be one that builds anticipation. A conclusion song is also very important, you can ruin an album with a bad conclusion. Really good exapmles of good conclusions would be Floyd's Eclipse in Dark Side and Radiohead's Street Spirit for the Bends.

Dan C: Wow, that might have been the first time I saw the Sonics mentioned on Answers.

conie: LOL, I guess you can't go wrong with that!

Answer 1

Naturally, you look for good musicians, great song writing, great harmonies, great sound quality and mixing...all of the common elements you might expect. But with that as a given,
I think all perfect albums have one other thing in common. The songs have some kind of continuity and they are in the perfect order. That's not to say they have to sound the same or even be the same genre. It's just a quality you find and you know it when you hear it. That's something the Beatles did perfectly.

There is nothing worse than an album that has a great first side, then is filled with stinkers the band needed to finish the record. The Eagles did that all the time. Hotel California was great until you flipped it over. Just about all their albums were like that.

Here are some albums I think were great examples.

Sgt. Peppers, The White Album and Abbey Road are examples. If you moved one of the songs around, added one, deleted one, the albums would lose something. But the songs are placed in the perfect order and they just seem to "fit" together.

Another perfect one in my book is The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty." Perfection again. Like them or not, if you listen to this a couple of times, you intuitively know what's coming next. Because it just HAS to.

Steeley Dan's Ajia is another. No fillers. No "12th" song written by a buddy who needs a break. Just continuity from the first note to the last.

Paul Simon's "Graceland" is stunning. A tremendous blend of African rhythms, instruments and harmonies and what I consider to be Paul Simon's greatest song writing. "Hearts and Bones" is possibly his greatest song. The transition from song to song is smooth and logical. Again, perfect structure.

But the mother of all perfect albums has GOT to be "Tommy" by The Who. Sure, it's a freaking opera telling a story so the songs have to follow the plot. But the music that does that fits together so logically without diminishment. Just amazing stuff. OH, and let's not forget "Who's Next!"


Anyway, that's how I see it. Sorry for the rant. There are many more. I'm sure you all have some too!!!

This is a GREAT question by the way!!! Should see some pretty interesting answers.

EDIT:

Dark Side and Close to the Edge. VERY NICE CALLS!!!

Answer 2

Ooh, that's a hard one. I guess it would really come down to individual songs. The perfect example is Arcade Fire, as their first album was mostly amazing standout singles that just blew your mind. Their second album worked as an album far better, because it just flowed a lot better. However, I love their first much more than their second, in the end.

Still, with some albums, such as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, listening to the album in order is such an amazing experience, even if some songs like Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell don't work while you listen to them not in the middle of the album, the album itself is still great.

But if you think about it, if the Beatles had released an album that the track listing was

1: I Am the Walrus
2: Across the Universe
3: Helter Skelter
4: With a Little Help From My Friends
5: Strawberry Fields Forever
6: Hello, Goodbye
7: Elanor Rigby
8: Penny Lane
9: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
10: While My Guitar Gently Weeps
11: Come Together
12: A Day In the Life

It would certainly be better than Sgt Pepper's, right? I mean, even if it doesn't have the great concept, it would be much more fun and exciting to listen to through and through.

Oh yeah, and in accordance to the person below me, I just HATE it when the first half of the album totally outshines the second half. I can only name two albums right now where the second half is better than the first, and that's Achtung Baby by U2 and CexCells by Blaqk Audio. I'm sure I'd appreciate the albums A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, The Crane Wife by the Decemberists, and 9 by Damien Rice even more if the first 5 songs weren't also the five best songs. And I love all of those albums.

I especially don't like it when the first song is the best song. I mean, with the best song out of the way before you really get into the album, what's there to help you keep listening? The aforementioned Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is an example of what to do. Do You Realize? totally helps the album regain the momentum it somewhat lost in the last couple songs. If that song was first, the album might just be a little boring.

Wow, I have a lot to say on this subject!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I know what you mean with the conclusion. I say, save the grandest, most powerful song for last. It'll leave the listener like "whoa". I love Eclipse, though.

I think that the first song should have a great buildup. Start soft, build up. It really gets you anticipated. Fortunately, more and more bands are adopting this strategy. Some great examples would be The Crane Wife 3 by the Decemberists and Marching Bands of Manhatten by Death Cab For Cutie.

Answer 3

For an album to be great, I don't think that every song has to be a classic, although at least a few really amazing, standout tracks are a must.

And the flow of the album is definitely an important factor. I feel an amazing album should strike a balance between variety and incongruity, in the sense that the songs shouldn't all sound the same, but neither should they veer wildly from one genre to another. There has to be an overriding sound that defines the band too, so that regardless of the sound of the song, you should be able to identify the band immediately.

Two examples of albums I really love, but where not all the songs stand up on their own are "Come On Feel the Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens and "New Magnetic Wonder" by The Apples In Stereo. Both have quite a few short songs (under a minute or so) that really add to the overall effect of the album, but wouldn't really work on their own.

Answer 4

Flow between songs don't really matter to me. Sometimes it's nice if the album starts with a bang (The Slider for example opens real quick and in your face with the excellent "Metal Guru", and Ramones opens strongly with the rave up "Blitzkrieg Bop") and has a good closer (for the aforementioned albums "Main Man" winds down the energy on the Slider, and "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World" doesn't wind down the energy in any way but still feels like it has some kind of closure, a mission accomplished feeling). But then let's look at some more of my favorites that don't flow at all and still beat the hell out of better organized albums:

Group Sex by the Circle Jerks is just BANGBANGBANG done. And it loses none of it's power for it.

Can't Stand The Rezillos by the Rezillos starts out with a classic and just turns out another 12 classics and ends without any particular organization apparent.

Here Are The Sonics could be said to have a starter with "The Witch" but it ends with the super energetic "Good Golly Miss Molly" which leaves you ready for more and it's an indisputable classic.

Well to be honest, re-examining my albums has revealed that some work on the structure of the album is done a lot more than I realized. So I'm stealing some of your idea and asking my own question with a similar theme. Hah!

And to clarify, what's important to me is that it's loaded with classsic songs I'll love for a long time whether they come in order or not. Partly because like mentioned above I usually listen on shuffle anyways, and really I'm not as interested in a theme or organization. I just like the sound of each individual song, "Live Fast Die Young" by the Circle Jerks will be a great song forever no matter what it comes before or is played after.

Edit: Well it's a shame the Sonics don't get more mention. It's where half the garage rock revival bands get their main influence from. One of my favorite bands, they could show a few of today's kids how to make some noise theright way. And I love all the quotes about how they were the dirtiest, grittiest, nastiest band in town:
"We were a wild, dirty, kickass band." - Bob Bennett
"We were nasty. Everything you've heard people say about us is true." - Larry Parypa

Rock 'n' roll in spades. This is the first time somebody's noticed me say anything about them. You just earned some cool points.

Answer 5

I try not to be too analytical when deciding what's good. If we're talking a 70's hard rock or progressive rock 'Concept Album', then a nice mix of heavy electric, then some acoustic, or a mixed bag of tricks showcasing the bands flexibility as writers and musicians makes me happy. It's also nice when there's some sort of identifiable segue from one passage to the next, but not necessary.
I think it really comes down to the type of music for me anyway. That's why I've always preferred obscure 70's hard rock and progressive bands. Listening to music (albums) by groups of that nature are as interesting to me as reading a good novel. A few twists and turns here and there, and sometimes the less predictable the better.
I don't listen to these types of albums for the songs. For me the entire album is an experience, and must flow well as a whole. A fairly mainstream band from the late 60's early 70's called 'Spirit' is a perfect example of this, on their album 'The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus'.

I love all sorts of other types of music also, and when it comes time to spin some good ol' classic rock n roll, thrash, metal or punk, well pretty much every song usually follows a similar theme, or style. And from the outset of the album I know what to expect throughout it's duration. Not too many surprises happening there. So for that sort of music, flowing well as a whole isn't really all that important. Sometimes the individual songs do it for me.

With blues, R&B, jazz, jazz fusion, funk, etc, well I guess both ideals/philosophies can apply, depending on the album.

So yeah, I'd definitely say that the type of music will play a determining factor on how I interpret or grade something.

weird fishy - I'm also a Beatles fan, and Let it Be has always been one of my favorites! I feel as an album it's very cohesive, and flows perfectly well as a whole. Don't over think something that's already perfect. I think you must be looking for a greatest hits album...Haaa! Dig It!

Answer 6

It helps if you like most of the songs on an album. What makes an amazing album for me is that each song has a different feeling to it. Not being able to tell the difference between two songs is no good.
If an album has all of the songs at a high energy level being expressive and passionate, then the artists has succeeded.

How often you will go back and listen to the album also makes it amazing. If it's something you can listen to in any kind of mood and you can really feel it, then it's worth getting.

Answer 7

I'm going to try to keep this simple!

For me, an *amazing* album is one where I love every song ~ where I wouldn't even consider skiping past one sometimes.
The album should have a great intro and outro track, the songs should have a flow to them, but each song also needs to be able to 'stand alone'.

The one album I can think of that *absolutely* delivers that for me is {as Squishy already said ;) } :~

Fleetwood Mac ~ Rumours

For those who don't know, it runs :~

Second Hand News
Dreams
Never Going Back Again
Don't Stop
Go Your Own Way
Songbird
The Chain
You Make Loving Fun
I Don't Want To Know
Oh Daddy
Gold Dust Woman

However, the re-issue it now includes 'Silver Springs' inserted between 'Songbird' and 'The Chain'. Personally, I'd have put it after 'Go Your Own Way'. My real issue with it, other than placement, is that I far prefer the longer 6:07 outtake version on the bonus disc ~ the energy of it sits much better with the rest of the album.

Answer 8

the beatles put together the best albums:
starting with Let it Be which I think of as having the creativity of abbey road, only put in a more fun environment. And i just say that because of the talking in between playing
like when paul says "elmore james has nothing on this" and "thanks mom" at the end of Get Back...and there are more examples
and then the entire album is centered around the title track, truely like a plotline with the rise, climax, and fall
Two Of Us, Dig A Pony, Across The Universe, and I Me Mine, go together well with a nice, singular mood slurred across all four songs
then there is Let It Be with what I refer to as two buffer tracks surrounding it which kind of put Let It Be on a pedestal and say "look at this, this song is so great we couldn't introduce it or follow it with traditional songs, it just wouldn't be fair to those tracks"
then there is a slight lull with I've Got a Feeling and One After 909. nothing special but whatever
then the close with The Long And Winding Road, For You Blue, and Get Back. It's like the beatles had three songs that would provide a perfect ending, and it killed them a little having to pick one as the last song
In addition to all that, the album is just full of hits:
Let It Be...10/10
Two of Us...9/10
Get Back...9/10
Across the Universe...8/10
The Long and Winding Road...8/10
For You Blue...8/10
I Me Mine...7/10
and of course, any beatles song that is a 7/10 translates to a 1 billion/10 for any other band

then there is Abbey Road:
the famous end medley which includes Golden Slumbers
beautiful songs like Something and Here Comes The Sun
and fun songs like Come Together, Octopus's Garden, and Maxwell's Silver Hammer

and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band:
the first track is easily one of the best openers ever (next to Everything In Its Right Place)
and the rest is made to sound like a live show from some alter ego band
ranked number 1 by rolling stones magazine

Answer 9

My personal credentials for a perfect album are simple: If I can listen to every song on the album, then it's absolutely perfect. And I unfortunately can probably count on two hands at the most, the number of albums I've heard that I would consider perfect, but just to name a few from different eras:
The Beatles' Yellow Submarine
Led Zeppelin's IV
Pink Floyd's Animals and The Wall
Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (one of my personal all time faves)
Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory
....ok so a few more than few :)

Answer 10

- 8/10 at least songs are really amazing.
- There is at least one song on the album that kinda hypnotizes/mesmorizes or something you.
- They actually have nice pictures of the band in the cd, with a set of lyrics. (Yes, I really do care about this lol)
- Yes, the album should flow well.
- Not every song should sound the same.
- Songs are not too long, but not too short. Nothing over 5 minuites, but nothing under 2.