"Perfect" albums

[Alben Barkley]

In some cases, these aren't necessarily my favorite albums by these artists (though there is a strong correlation), as some have higher highs that outweigh the lower lows for me. But these I consider consistently very high quality all the way through.

No live albums or compilations counted. I also didn't bother with jazz or classical for this. (List would get a lot longer with jazz, and classical doesn't really have "albums" anyway.) List is far from exhaustive, just a few favorites.

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks

Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run and Nebraska

The Clash: London Calling

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours

Jay-Z: The Blueprint and 4:44

Johnny Cash: American Recordings and The Man Comes Around

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d. city and To Pimp a Butterfly

Led Zeppelin: I, IV, and Houses of the Holy

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

Lou Reed: The Blue Mask and New York

Michael Jackson: Thriller

Nas: Illmatic

Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps

Nirvana: Nevermind

The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready to Die

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here and Animals

Pixies: Doolittle

Prince: Purple Rain

R.E.M.: Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, and Automatic for the People

The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat, and The Velvet Underground

Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes

Weezer: The Blue Album and Pinkerton

The Who: Who's Next

Willie Nelson: Stardust

No Beatles albums because I hate George's psychedelic sitar crap which ruins both Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, otherwise their two closest albums to perfection. Revolver is also marred by the presence of "Yellow Submarine." Pull that and "Love You To" off (better yet, replace them with "Paperback Writer" and "Rain") and it's a perfect record. For  Sgt. Pepper, all you have to do is remove George's slog that drags down the album right in the middle, "Within You Without You," and replace it with both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," and NOW you have a true contender for greatest album of all-time. (Yes, I'd even leave "When I'm 64" on there; I have a soft spot for that song because my mom used to sing it all the time when I was young.) As it is, I actually like The White Album better than both overall, but it's definitely less consistent. "Revolution 9" alone would disqualify it from this list!