Michelle’s Perfect 10 Albums

This is my (regularly updated) list of album I consider to be perfect; I cannot think of a single moment where these albums misstep or could be improved. They are the highest achievements of (mostly western, broadly “popular”) music as an art form. With very few exceptions, this list does not include any classical composers or people whose musical achievements are generally created piece by piece as opposed to album by album. In alphabetical order:

  • Animal Collective- Feels
  • The Beach Boys- SMiLE
  • Bernard Parmegiani- De Natura Sonorum
  • Black Flag- My War
  • Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy- I See A Darkness
  • Booka Shade- Movements
  • Burial- Untrue
  • Califone- Heron King Blues
  • Captain Beefheart- Trout Mask Replica
  • cLOUDDEAD- cLOUDDEAD
  • Codeine- Frigid Stars
  • Company Flow- Funcrusher Plus
  • Converge- Jane Doe
  • Daniel Johnston- 1990
  • Darkthrone- Transilvanian Hunger
  • Deathpile- G.R.
  • Derek Bailey- Ballads
  • Destroyer- City of Daughters
  • Destroyer- Streethawk: A Seduction
  • Discharge- Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing
  • Discordance Axis- The Inalienable Dreamless
  • The Dismemberment Plan- Emergency & I
  • DJ Sprinkles- Midtown 120 Blues
  • El-P- Fantastic Damage
  • Elvis Costello- Armed Forces
  • Eric B. & Rakim- Paid In Full
  • Evan Parker- Conic Sections
  • The Flaming Lips- Clouds Taste Metallic
  • Flipper- Generic
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
  • Graham Lambkin- Salmon Run
  • The Hold Steady- Separation Sunday
  • I Hate Myself- 10 Songs
  • J Dilla- Donuts
  • Joanna Newsom- The Milk-Eyed Mender
  • John Coltrane- Interstellar Space
  • John Coltrane- A Love Supreme
  • John Coltrane- My Favorite Things
  • John Coltrane- The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
  • Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen- Junglinge/Kontakte
  • KMD- Mr. Hood
  • Kraftwerk- Trans-Europe Express
  • Lead Belly- The Definitive Lead Belly
  • Lead Belly- Last Sessions
  • Leonard Cohen- New Skin For the Old Ceremony
  • Leonard Cohen- Songs of Love and Hate
  • Lisa Germano- Geek the Girl
  • Low- I Could Live In Hope
  • Luomo- Vocalcity
  • Madonna- The Immaculate Collection
  • Madvillain- Madvillainy
  • The Magnetic Fields- 69 Love Songs
  • Man Man- Six Demon Bag
  • Massive Attack- Mezzanine
  • Maurizio Bianchi- Symphony for a Genocide
  • The Mekons- Fear and Whiskey
  • Michael Jackson- Thriller
  • The Microphones- The Glow Pt. 2
  • The Microphones- Mount Eerie
  • Miles Davis- In A Silent Way
  • Miles Davis- On the Corner
  • Miles Davis- A Tribute to Jack Johnson
  • Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West
  • Mogwai- Young Team
  • Napalm Death- Scum
  • Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
  • Neutral MIlk Hotel- On Avery Island
  • New Order- Power Corruption & Lies
  • Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Tender Prey
  • The Orb- The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
  • Oval- 94 Diskont
  • Palace Brothers- There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You
  • Palace Music- Viva Last Blues
  • Paul Simon- Graceland
  • Peter Brötzmann- Machine Gun
  • PJ Harvey- Rid of Me
  • Prince- Sign ‘O’ the Times
  • The Protomen- Act II: The Father of Death
  • Prurient- Pleasure Ground
  • Prurient- Shipwrecker’s Diary
  • Radiohead- Kid A
  • The Red Krayola- The Parable of Arable Land
  • Robert Johnson- The Complete Recordings
  • Royal Trux- Twin Infinitives
  • Scott Walker- The Drift
  • Sleep- Sleep’s Holy Mountain
  • Slint- Spiderland
  • Sly & the Family Stone- There’s a Riot Goin’ On
  • Swans- Public Castration Is A Good Idea
  • The Thermals- The Body the Blood the Machine
  • They Might Be Giants- Lincoln
  • Third Ear Band- Third Ear Band
  • Tim Hecker- Haunt Me Haunt Me Do It Again
  • Tom Waits- Bone Machine
  • Tom Waits- Rain Dogs
  • Tricky- Maxinquaye
  • Various Artists- To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings From Istanbul
  • Weakling- Dead As Dreams
  • Why?- Alopecia
  • Wilco- Summerteeth
  • William Basinski- The Disintegration Loops (Vols 1-4)
  • Wire- Pink Flag
  • The Wrens- The Meadowlands
  • Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
  • Xiu Xiu- Fabulous Muscles
  • Xiu Xiu- A Promise

That’s just over 100 records, and considering my collection is massive (5,129 albums as of this writing), this is a very select group (approximately 2% of my collection if my math is correct). 

Tags: lists