Immaculate

Like I don't have anything better to do in the middle of a workday. I am listening to my new satellite radio, on a station called "Fred" that plays early Alternative Rock and I got to thinking about an old tradition among my friends and me. We are pretty much all either musicians or lovers of good music, guitars, stereo equipment. Personally, even though I play guitar some, am more an audiophile than a musician. I was thinking about my list of "Immaculate Albums". This list is very hard to get on and has been around for over 20 years.

The Criteria is as follows. The album must have a strong enough concept to withstand the test of time. Meaning not all the albums on the list are old, but in another 20 years we will still be listening to it. Most of the music on the list however is considered classic at this point. Next, every song on the album must be consistent with the over all work as a whole. In other words each song is great and fits in well with what the artist intended for the entire work. The album should be one of those that you pop in the player and listen to, not skipping through the songs you don't like. My Immaculate albums do not have any clinkers.

Some Albums I would like to put on the list have small flaws, a clinker or an afterthought that some producer put on the record but doesn't fit well into the context of the rest of the work.

The list is totally subjective, I am the arbiter and judge on this list, it is totally mine. However; I would love to hear your list of Immaculate albums. Send them along, and we can all be judge and jury.

There is no "number one" on this list, as all of them could be number one at any given time. It is just a list of albums that have, at least in my ears, a place as essential and perfect in every way.

Here we go.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
The Afghan Whigs - Black Love
The Cure - Disintegration
Led Zeppelin - Presence
Robin Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Perspex Island
Pure Prairie League - Bustin Out
Neil Young - Harvest
Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
Radio Head - The Bends
Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Beck - Odelay
The Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
The Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues
Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
The Cars - Candy O
Johnny Cash - American 2
The Doors - L.A. Woman
Echo and the Bunnymen - Flowers
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Parliament Funkadelic - Greatest Hits
Morrissey - Bona Drag
Nazareth - Hair of the Dog
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Kenny Wayne Shepard - Live on
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Couldn't Stand the Weather
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
James Taylor - James Taylor
ZZ Top - Tejas
Crosby Still Nash and Young - Deja Vu
Meat Puppets - Too High to Die
Johnny Cash - Live from Folsom Prison
REM - Murmer
Foo Fighters - Nothing Left to Lose
Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia

I am sure I forgot something, but I can always add to it later. Hope you enjoyed my short list of immaculate albums. Now that I have wasted an hour of my workday, I need to put my nose back to the grindstone, while I fire up Itunes and enjoy some of this music.