Albums that should be heard straight through?

All this talk of Dark Side of the Moon, which is fantastic, but Wish You Were Here is just as good, if not better in one sitting.

Also, not one album but Rush's Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-1: Book II really should be listened to together. Last song of A Farewell to Kings and the first song of Hemispheres.

 

Big +1 to many of the recommendations in this thread! Nothing better than listening through an entire album and coming out the other end. There is something great in hearing an entire album through, especially when it's intended that way by the artist. Here's some music that has stood the test of time for me.

John Frusciante - The Empyrean
I think this is the best concept album from John Frusciante, and IMO better than all RHCP albums:

Electric Light Orchestra - Time
This album was one of the very first I ever heard on a portable tape player (thanks to my father!), Ticket to the Moon is one of my favourite songs of all time.

Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene
This, I call it "smoking a doobie in outer space," but it's also known as musique concrete... thanks to that old tape player once again!

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
This one here stirs something pretty deep. When all the other kids in middle school were listening to Soulja Boy (yeah, I'm young) I was time travelling to BoC.

Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
Corollary to the above, this is special. I can't say for sure that I've heard anything more extra-terrestrial sounding to date.

Liquid Stranger - Cryogenic Encounters
This I am not sure is strictly intended to be listened through in one sitting. It starts off with some bass-driven psydub, and gets more ambient after the first few tracks. I always listen to it straight through, and it never gets old. This lives in my top five without a doubt.

Edit: (spelling, lmao)

 

I trust you've heard "ISDN" and "Dead Cities"? The latter, especially, is quite something.

 

Dire Straits - On Every Street

 

Man you know what, I really need to give Dead Cities another listen, it's been way too long and I don't think I've properly absorbed the vibe of it. Added it to my queue.

Edit: one more... another all-time fave:

The Orb - UFOrb

 

Michel Camilo - Rendezvous

I’ve been listening for 25 years and every time it amazes me how musically advanced those guys are.
Anthony Jackson on bass, and unfortunately he cannot play anymore due to a stroke a couple of years ago. He is one of the most influential bassists of all times, recorded with almost everyone. And he is the inventor of the 6 string bass.
Horacio Hernandez on drums.

A must listen to anyone who loves music.

 

Mars Volta - Francis the Mute

Opeth - Ghost Reveries

Kamasi Washington- Harmony of Difference

The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta

The Buggles - The Age of Plastic

 

Phaeleh - Afterglo 0.01

This is an unreleased mix album mostly featuring tracks from Phaeleh's "Fallen Light," which is a release I have been enjoying since around 2010. It still sounds fresh after many years or replaying. "Mantra," is a tune that I've been using since I started the hobby (usually to test systems for bass control, and the response of certain frequencies).



Coil - Musick to Listen to in the Dark Vol 1

I've heard this like, five times since I got it. Do yourself a fave and listen to it in the dark...

 

Yeah, I used to lie on my back on the bed, eyes closed, headphones in, listen to UF Orb end-to-end from my old Technics portable CD player. It only really unfolded fully for me at that point. I'd been taught meditation a few years earlier, and it felt like a similar altered mindstate.

It's one of my very favourite albums- the original issue, the remaster isn't quite so beguiling somehow. I also love Adventures too- but similar comments apply regarding the remaster.

Actually, if we're talking about that golden-almost-Cambrian explosion of electronic music in the 90s, it'd be a sin not to mention:


..which remains one of the finest bits of techno in existence, to this day.

 

The Doors, from their first album to their last one. Do it sober. When you are done you will feel different. Also your perception of music changes. Bands like Gorillaz start to make sense.



If you want a challenging listen that really surprises you: Miles Davis. Listen sober and stay quiet. This album opens your mind for what is possible in Jazz, Fusion and Funk. Use flat sounding speakers or headphones.

 

Lots of interesting suggestions here. Keep em coming. I'm making a list and going to spend some time searching for some of these. I'll throw in a couple more - Pink Floyd has been mentioned many times but one of my all time faves is Roger Waters solo album Amused to Death. If you like Floyd you are sure to appreciate that. It flows well, end to end.

Also Supertramp - Crime of the Century. One of the classics from when I was growing up.

 

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral


Cocteau Twins - Victorialand


Brian Eno and Harold Budd - The Pearl

 

I was a big psychedelic and prog head in my teenage years. So these shouldn't be too surprising.

Pink Floyd, DSOTM - IMHO their best ever. The 2nd disc of Pulse is a pretty good rendition of same. Wish You Were Here and The Wall, sure, but they leave me in a headspace I'd rather not wallow in.

Gentle Giant, In A Glass House and The Power And The Glory.

Frank Zappa... several choices here: Absolutely Free, We're Only In It For The Money, Just Another Band From L.A., the Joe's Garage trilogy, You Are What You Is, Thing-Fish for starters.

Someone mentioned Miles Davis above, I think Kind of Blue needs to be heard in order.

The sequencing on Wynton Marsalis's debut album is pretty good.

I can probably think of a bunch more from the '70s and '80s given time.

[ETA:] The Who's live rendition of Tommy from Live At Leeds. I think that's disc 2?

 

King Krule's "The Ooz"

 

Rush - 2112
The Who - Quadrophenia
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Moodswings - Moodfood
Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun
Sigur Ros - ( )

...to be continued...

 

Not very audiophile, but I fell in love with Weezer's "Ok Human" album. Every song was so relatable, and each one flows into the other so nicely

Also Blues Traveler's "Live from the Fall", which similarly has each song flow one into the other. In fact, I heard the artist at first didn't want track titles at all as they really wanted to encourage listening to the whole performance in one go.

edit: also "Fall of a Rebel Angel" by Enigma. The entire album is a story about a man's struggle to find himself. Each track has an accompanying explanation of what is happening to the main character (you) as you travel through a place called "circle eight". This album really is great, it feels like the music equivalent of having a psychedelic trip.

 

Perhaps I'm just old, and (or) the kind of guy that naturally progressed from western classical to "progressive" rock (and then psychedelic stuff) and the Indian classical, but...

Every album, unless it is one of those bargain collection of snippets like best-of stuff, should be listened to from beginning to end.

 

OK boomer, (from another).

 

I completely agree.

When I was young, all albums were made with the artists expecting the album to be listened to from beginning to end. Somewhere along the way, we started making mix tapes with our favorite songs from various albums. When music downloads because a reality, we would buy songs we liked often not buying the album the songs came from.

I didn't realize how "hit-based" my listening habits had become until I decided it was time to build up a nice 2 channel system based on digital music. Instead of using iTunes tracks, I started listening to full albums again and soon realized how much great music to which I had stopped listening. Artist's I had stopped listening to because I was tired of their "hits" became exciting again.

Now I rarely don't listen to full albums and rarely listen to compilations. Of course, I hardly listen to any pop music newer than 1990....I don't know albums from the download era have the same built-in flow.

 

<cough>

You didn’t see The Wall live, now did you?

<cough>

Jes’ sayin’