QUESTION OF THE WEEK: NAME ONE ALBUM THAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER PERFECT OR CLOSE TO PERFECT? MEANING ALL KILLER, NO FILLER, NO “GREATEST HITS” RECORDS ALLOWED

I realize this is a difficult question, so I will allow for some honorable mentions. However, your first choice, must be your top choice. The genre must be Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal, only.

For me, off the top of my head:

Top choice: Judas Priest–Screaming For Vengeance

Some honorable mentions: Def Leppard–Pyromania, Lynch Mob–Wicked Sensation, (Bon years) AC/DC–Highway To Hell/(Brian years) Back In Black, Van Halen–Van Halen Tesla–Mechanical Resonance, Ozzy Osbourne–Diary Of A Madman.

63 Responses

    1. Chad,

      I saw the Bad Company/Damn Yankees tour twice, it was quite good.

      Also, I agree Holy Water is a quality album, although I must confess, I have not listened to it, in awhile. Thank you, for reminding me.

    2. Good call on the Holy Water, I’ll have to revisit that album.
      I remember NOT being disappointed despite no Paul Rodgers.
      Paul Rodgers… greatest Rock vocalist of all time! (subject for QOTW?)

  2. Great topic and responses: Here are a number I like:

    Ace Frehley – Ace Frehley 78 solo
    The Cars – the Cars
    The Eagles – Hotel California
    Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair
    Yes – Close to the Edge
    Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
    u2 – Joshua Tree
    AC/DC – Back in Black
    Billy Joel – 52nd Street
    Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
    Counting Crows – August and Everything After
    Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    Led Zeppelin – IV
    Train – Drops of Jupiter
    Third Eye Blind – Third Eye Blind

  3. There are soooo many great albums to consider. I could sit here all day listing them. But I’m pretty busy this week, so I will go with this one for now: Alter Bridge – Fortress

  4. To add to what I consider perfect albums, here are my “honorable mentions”:

    Van Halen -1st album
    Boston -1st album
    Metallica – Master of Puppets
    Exodus – Bonded By Blood
    Iron Maiden- Killers
    KI$$ – Alive!
    Judas Priest – Unleashed in the East

    Yeah, I have a couple of “live” albums on my list. Not sure if they are candidates for “perfect” albums for this question posed by Dana, but both of those albums are perfect” to me. And KI$$ “Alive!” is my favorite album of all time, so…

  5. Hi Dana!

    I will “try” to keep this short as you and I could talk Priest for hours. I’m new to this forum and don’t want to bore/piss off the regulars (LOL) talking about one band as there are so many other great ones.

    Yes I was at the British Steel 30th Anniversary show. Was at a small outdoor venue in downtown Cleveland, I was about 25 rows back from the stage. Absolutely one of my favorite shows ever! I watch videos all the time on you tube from the show they recorded in Florida. Victim of Changes is one of my absolute favorite live tracks. KK’s solo is killer!!! It sucks you can’t find it on Spotify tho. Hearing side 2 of the album live is a moment I will never forget as I wasn’t sure it would ever happen..

    Yes Point of Entry is not SFV or Steel. But still one that deserves more recognition in the public eye. Desert Plains on the Live Vengenance 82 tour is one of my favorite tracks. And when they played Solar Angels live last week, the hair on my arms literally stood up when the intro kicked in LOL. I hope you will be able to see this tour with Alice Cooper as at 74 years old, Halford can still deliver!! I tell my buddy all the time I’m waiting for his voice to falter, but it hasn’t!! Being real here, we are not going to see much more of this band live. But I will catch every show, every tour they have left in them until the final curtain comes down permanently 🙁

    Outside of Blood Red Skies, Ram it Down is forgotten as well IMO..Hard as Iron REALLY needs to be played live!!

    When I first got into Priest, my buddy made me 2 cassettes. SVG & British Steel was one. The other was High & Dry & Pyromania as I knew nothing about Def Leppard as well outside of Photograph being played on the radio. Within about 3 months I wore out the cassettes from playing them so much!!! LOL

    What is your take on Rocka Rolla?? Im a HUGE fan of it!! The whole album is so raw as they were trying to find their footing in the direction they wanted to go..The Winter suite, One For The Road, Never Satisfied, and Run of the Mill is a favorite of mine all time..so haunting and a reach for the time it came out. Have you heard the 50th Anniversary version of it? Tom Allom brought out the originality of it and it is so cool to hear the actual recording of it.

    1. Scott,

      I loved reading your comment!

      I have Rocka Rolla on cassette, somewhere, and I cannot recall the last time I listened to it? However, I do really love Never Satisfied, great song. The leap, that Judas Priest took from Rock Rolla to Sad Wings, is quite amazing. Priest is one of those bands, who were always evolving and changing, their sound.

      The only two albums, that I would consider possible companion pieces, would be Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith. Even with that, there is a progression on Defenders, as it sounds like they were beginning to use some electronica (a hint at Turbo perhaps?), where Screaming was a straight up, kick ass rock album.

      As for Def Leppard, those early albums, are just amazing…and still ARE!

Leave a Reply