Rare Perfect Albums

Once in a while I find another "rare perfect album," a CD that is perfect in every way (songwriting, musicianship, production), wonderful from beginning to end (no songs that must be skipped), and timeless (I can listen to it over and over again without it ever losing its magic).

I've decided to post my list of "rare perfect albums," partly so I can look back at it eventually in shock and horror, but also as my small part of promoting brilliance. Please note: compilations, singles, and live albums do not count!

• Natacha Atlas, "Halim" (1997) - Natacha can be pretty much hit or miss, but this album is more focussed than the rest. Dark, with fewer western influences, covering moments of ecstacy and agony, always somewhat ambiguous and distant.
  
• Adrian Belew, "Mr. Music Head" (1989) - He's a brilliant musician but he needs to relax and enjoy life more. When he does, he writes songs like the ones on this album: all different, all unique, most of them joyous. He still gets a bit goofy now and then, but never enough to screw it all up.
  
• Kate Bush, "The Dreaming" (1982) - An evil album, Kate's first moment of total control over the production desk. Every song is about longing and loss, many of them are about violence and death. She screams, grunts, and impersonates a donkey. A commercial flop (surprise!) but definitely a fan favourite.
  
• Dana International, "Maganona" (1996) - Oh, you've just GOT to hear it! Dana is at her absolute wackiest, and Ofer Nissim's programming and production sound as good as they'll ever sound: complex, surprising, soaring. An album that could best be described as "frolicsome," but with some sharper songs as well ("Yesh bo Esh," "Cinquemilla").
• Thomas Dolby, "The Golden Age of Wireless" (1982) - An album that little kids in farm schools can cry to. Full of hooks from the sublime ("Airwaves") to the spooky ("Windpower") to the ridiculous ("She Blinded Me With Science"), this is solid. The perfect marriage of fat analog synths and acoustic instruments.
  
• Elton John, "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" (1975) - Before the days of his thoughtless pop schlock, Elton John and Bernie Taupin made really challenging albums. This is a particularly weird one, lots of high-falutin' concept stuff, with that great '70s "big drum" sound.
• Electric Light Orchestra, "Time" (1981) - Maligned by fans as the point when ELO ditched their orchestra and embraced their keyboards (and one of Jeff Lynn's least favourites as well), I just love love LOVE it! The buzzy keyboards, power drums, vocoders, overpowering production, catchy songs!
• The Fall, "The Infotainment Scan" (1993) - A concept album about the "look-back bores," full of "techno shit" and the sound of "machines falling apart," this is a solid, dense, perfectly-crafted album...in that totally shambolic Fall way. "A Past Gone Mad" is the highlight and brings it all to conclusion.
  
• Klaatu, "Hope" (1977) - Another concept album, this one by Torontonians "we are not actually the Beatles" Klaatu. Prog rock meets George Harrison, a civilization is destroyed, finishing with the title track, one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.
• Jane Siberry, "The Walking" (1987) - A strange woman gets famous and embarks on a VERY strange album, using state-of-the-art digital editing to create long songs that always threaten to fall apart...but never do. The album doesn't sell and the record label is angry. This is similar to Kate Bush's "The Dreaming," a very personal vision that is recorded in an uncompromising way. Sad and angry. Beautiful. Forgotten.
  
• Talk Talk, "The Colour of Spring" (1986) - Their transitional album as they began to eschew pop music and move more into jazzy improvisation. So you've got the best of both worlds here: catchy hooks AND wild instrumentals. Tim Friese-Greene's production is deep and crisp and even. Vocalist Mark Hollis sounds like he really means it.
  
• Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here" (1975) - First off: great cover art. Secondly: long, noodly, plaintive songs showcasing the talents of all four members, not to mention the rocker "Have a Cigar" and the analog synth wet dream of "Welcome to the Machine." I used to stare at this one and listen for hours and hours.
• Mike Oldfield, "Ommadawn" (1975) - Oldfield's third album, combining the "rock" of the first with the "orchestra" of the second, then adding an African drum influence. Everything gels together perfectly in two long songs, ending with the beautifully hippy-dippy "On Horseback" ("Big brown beastie, big brown face / I'd rather be with you than flying through space") that, instead of bringing the whole album down, elevates it to final greatness.
  
• Stan Ridgway, "The Big Heat" (1986) - Ridgway left Wall of Voodoo and came out with this ecclecitc monster, full of film noir stylings and quirky instrumentation. A collection of producers help, not hinder, the songs.
  
• Poe, "Haunted" (2000) - Without a doubt my favourite one on this list. A collection of meticulously recorded and produced pop songs, with an added layer of tribute to her father, and ANOTHER layer of references to her brother's book "House of Leaves." So you've got a lot of influences here, but that can't disguise her impeccable taste in melody and her willingness to do something totally unexpected. She is the perfect songwriter.
  
• Whale, "We Care" (1995) - They DIDN'T care -- they were already famous and they were just fooling around -- and that's what makes his album so GOOD. They're just having fun, and it doesn't hurt that the musicianship is top-notch and that Cia Soro has a "certain something" to her voice. Try "That's Where It's At" for an example of a song that should have been huge...but wasn't.