I'd like to modify my earlier post and say that Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga by Wardruna is definitely 100%. It's less music though than it is psychoactive drug/spiritual...something.

Classic, Grammy winning EP!

Charlie Brown OST

Bob Dylan - Blood on the tracks / Oh Mercy / Blonde on Blonde
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis Bold as Love
Nils Frahm - Felt
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

Tool - 10000 Days & Lateralus

Both are awesome albums.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
Easily Jimi's best album. His most experimental, his most eclectic, surely his trippiest, and perhaps his most resonant. Every song on this album rocks (even the simple-minded Crosstown Traffic), and it contains a few jaw-dropping, mind-shattering masterpieces. The linear flow of "Rainy Day, Dream Away", "1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)", "Moon, Turn the Tides...Gently, Gently Away" and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming" gives me chills whenever I submerge myself into listening to this album. 1983 alone makes this album invaluable, but everything surrounding it is perfect in its own little psych-pop way. The hard groove of Long Hot Summer Night is infectious, and Little Miss Strange fills my mind with so many colors I can't help but stop and trip every time I hear it. And let's not forget the fucking Voodoo Chile 15-minute jam. Tasty.

Harry Belafonte - Belafonte
This album is so captivating for the same reasons Electric Ladyland is - it's eclectic, resonant and experimental (for the 1950s). You've got Belafonte laying down some dark, dark, heavy shit here - 'Take My Mother Home' is one of the few songs to legitimately frighten me. 'Sylvie' is such a catchy yet moving song that it's found a very warm place in my heart. The whole album is fun to listen to - it switches up it's color pallet so much it is almost like watching a cartoon. And the players on this album are great! Millard Thomas jamming on the acoustic, the morose and ornate vocal charts of the Norman Luboff choir, and of course Harry Belafonte's strong, rich and flexible voice. At this point in his career until about the mid sixties, Belafonte sang with a conviction that you hardly ever heard or hear.

I posted some stuff earlier in the thread but came back to add Weezer "Blue Album"

I loved this album when it came out and couldn't get enough of it... probably listened to it hundreds of times and I still know it front to back but I hadn't listened to it in years until a couple weeks ago when my drummer said something about them and we sat in his car after practice and listened to the album. The first thing that really hit me was just how heavy this album is... that guitar tone is ridiculous... like "heavier than a lot of metal" heavy... which is something I never noticed in my youth, I'd kill someone for that guitar tone. Each song is unique but still unified in their sound and insanely catchy. The only reason I wouldn't give it 100% is the last song "Only In Dreams" feels really tacked on... had the album simply ended with "Holiday" there would be no percentage worthy of the perfection that the album would be.

"In the Garage" was pretty much the anthem for my adolescence.

Another one I'd definitely give 100% is Decendents - Milo Goes to College. The genuine feeling of the lyrics and delivery makes you feel like Milo wrote those songs just for you. Spotless execution delivering blistering punk wrapped in the sorrow of genuine emotion and dripping with the venom only a misunderstood youth searching for an outlet can fully appreciate. This is the album that made me want to play bass guitar.

That album is absolutely fantastic, but I would like to submit that Weezer is so fucking terrible these days that they have retroactively ruined their debut.

Only if you recognize the existence of anything past Pinkerton I choose to live in a world where that was their last album.

And honestly I can't think of a band who put out albums I really liked that then put out anything later that made me disown their early works out of spite. Good album is a good album, some bands just suck after a while... I'm just glad they put out what they did before they started sucking. Ironically enough I am listening to Master of Puppets as I type this.

Kent - Kent
Kent - Isola
Kent - Hagnesta Hill
Kent - Du Och Jag Döden
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
to name a few.

I wouldn't give 100%(I rarely do even to metal albums) but I absolutely adore Rammstein and System Of A Down.

^ Agree on the 100% bit, but I'd give high ratings to the Our Lady Peace albums - Clumsy and Gravity. Now these are purely personal choices and I used to listen to them a lot back in the day.

I'm a prog head, so my list would look like this...

The Lamb Lies Down o Broadway - Genesis
Selling England by the Pound - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Trespass - Genesis
Lizard - King Crimson
Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
Beat - King Crimson
Octopus - Gentle Giant
Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes
Relayer - Yes
Camel - Camel
Mirage - Camel
Moonmadness - Camel
Future Days - Can
Faust - Faust
Space Shanty - Khan
Deloused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
Bedlam in Goliath - The Mars Volta
In the Land of Grey and Pink - Caravan
First Utterance - Comus
Caress of Steel - Rush
Hemispheres - Rush
Grace Under Pressure - Rush
Godbluff - Van der Graaf Generator
H to He, Who Am the Only One - Van der Graaf Generator
The Weirding - Astra
KA - Magma
Animals - Pink Floyd

That's all I can think of at the moment... all of these are 5 stars for me.

Caress of Steel and Grace Under Pressure but not 2112?

A Day To Remember - Homesick
Burial - Kindred
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black Earth
Furries in a Blender - Violet Kingdom
Veil of Maya - [id]
Diagnose: Lebensgefahr - Transformalin
Diabolique - The Black Flower

I love 2112 but the tracks: "Lessons" and "Tears" bring the album down a bit for me. So I can't honestly rate it 100%.

Glad I'm not the only one here who loves this album. I've been listening to tons of pop punk/easycore lately; way more than I've been listening to metal, and this album is one of my favorites. See also-Four Year Strongs "Rise Or Die Tryibg". Not a 100% album but pretty damn good.

As for albums that get a 100%, Blink 182's Enema Of The State has quickly become one of my favorite albums, and really can't think of a flaw in it. Pretty much the perfect pop album.

Some more albums I would give 100%:
Gza/genius- liquid swords
Big star- #1 record, radio city, third
The residents- duck stab
Robyn hitchcock- eye
Wire- pink flag, chairs missing, 154
Spacemen 3- the perfect prescription
Mission of burma- signals calls and marches, Vs.
Robert wyatt- rock bottom
Public image ltd- second edition
Husker du- zen arcade
The meters- Rejuvenation
Wu tang clan- 36 chambers
Nas- illmatic
Rain Parade- Emergency 3rd Rail Power Trip, Explosions In The Glass Palace
Fripp & Eno- No pussyfooting, Evening Star
Yatha Sidhra- A Meditation Mass
Godspeed You Black Emperor!- Infinity symbol, Lift yr skinny fists, slow riot for new zero kanada

The Angelic Process - Sigh EP
Bark Psychosis - Hex
Castevet - Summer Fences
Eluvium - Similes
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Goldmund - All Will Prosper
Hammock - Chasing After Shadows...Living With the Ghosts
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Jakob - Solace
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Pessoa - Do You Have Great Strength?
Prizzy Prizzy Please - S/T
The Sorely Trying Days - Survival Mode
St Germain - Tourist
Step Dads - holdtight/letgo
Washed Out - Life of Leisure
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - S/T

In giving these albums 100%, I am not attempting to judge objectively. These are albums I have grown up with and have become a part of me, so their perfect scores are largely based on personal meaning. Musically some are less impressive than others, but I still enjoy every single song each time I listen. Some of the albums (Prizzy Prizzy Please, Survival Mode) can't be found online because they're from smaller bands from Indiana who have broken up, but a few songs are still on their old myspace pages.

Boo! Hiss! I like ADTR and Homesick is probably overall their best album, but it's way too fucking samey to get really high marks from me. The first five songs are great but pretty similar to one another, and then the next seven are even more similar and it just gets tiring by the end. What Separates Me from You is definitely a worse album with less standout songs but at least there are more than four ideas on it, and for that I appreciate it slightly more. That said, when I saw them at Riot Fest, they had pretty much the best setlist they could have played (I wouldn't have changed more than two songs), and they played half of Homesick, so I guess that means something. The real moral of the story is that they played "Heartless" and then the vocalist crowd surfed in a giant inflatable hamster ball.

I just like it because it has a lot of really catchy and heavy moments for me, attributes of which draw me into music more.

What Separates Me from You was alright, probably my least favorite album (Homesick [#1], For Those Who Have Heart [#2], And Their Name Was Treason [#3])



Heh, they did that at the concert I was at last year in March

I'm pretty generous with my 100%s. I decided to revise my list:

Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Granted, there are only two songs on this album - but both of them are masterpieces. This album is a musical Rorschach test of the most hypnotic variety. I hear a lot of things on this album: a further reach into what will become ambient music, the birth of trip-hop, the perfect album for a late night alone, the perfect album to turn sadness into a profound learning experience. This album finds chaos in the beauty of solitude, and silence. The use of space and breath on this album is magnificent - not since John Bonham's drumbeats has silence played such an integral role into the sound achieved.

Leonard Bernstein - Nocturne: Music for Quiet Listening

If anyone here is a fan of Romantic-era classical music, and especially the more melancholic, I strongly suggest you pick up this album. A sadly forgotten masterpiece, this is Bernstein conducting (I believe) the NYSO in a program of night music: this is the stuff of hushed strings, misty bassoons and oboes. The sound of birds before the sun comes up. What a gorgeous album. Stirring renditions of absolutely classics, and some oddities.

Jethro Tull - Minstrel In the Gallery
Easily Jethro Tull's best album. Perhaps their proggiest, perhaps their heaviest, perhaps their softest. The core of this album is the dynamics and how dependent they are on each other to create a combined impact. Every song here is a perfectly crafted gem - Ian Anderson makes most other songwriters look downright lazy. Even the forty second "Grace" has a special place for me.

Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
One of the most unique albums to be released during my lifetime thus far. Musically it is an intoxicating blend of John Barry's James Bond scores, Danny Elfman orchestration, Portishead's morose trip-hop backbone, and the most erotic sounding female voice ever. Anything and everything is thrown into the mix, albeit tastefully: acoustic guitars, kazoos, circuit-bending, etc. One of the most haunting, relaxing and addicting albums I have ever listened to.

Vladimir Horowitz - Horowitz Plays Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin is my favorite classical composer, and perhaps one of the most under appreciated and overlooked Romanticists. Horowitz had met the man, studied under him, and so his recitations of Scriabin's piano literature are perhaps the most accurate and harrowing we have access too - that is unless someone uncovers a Rachmaninoff recording (or piano roll) of his Scriabin recitals. This album is divine, with infinite replayability (it will take at least ten to get a fundamental grip on the music).

Harry Belafonte - In My Quiet Room
The perfect album for a quiet Sunday, enjoying a book and a smoke to yourself. A warm friend of an album.

Their proggiest? A Passion Play.
Their heaviest? 80s -> stuff
Their softest? Heavy Horses.

Nevertheless, it's a masterpiece and it's great to see it get some praise it indeed deserves. I think the title track could do with some more variation, as the verses are a bit too repetitive. Also, I don't see the point of "Grace". It's not bad, it just seems a bit redundant (I guess it's meant to be some kind of bitter wake-up song ). In "Broadsword and the Beast", the short outro actually worked and is one of the highlights of the mentioned album.

Have you heard the bonus track of Minstrel in the Gallery? I don't mean the worthless live ones, but "Summerday Sands", "March the Mad Scientist" and "Pan Dance". The last one especially is a great addition to the album. A beautiful instrumental.

I think Minstrel sounds like their proggriest because to me it actually sounds progressive, musically, and not just wanky - like A Passion Play. A Passion Play sounds like Emerson, Lake and Palmer with more acoustic guitars and less organ. Minstrel sounds like nothing before or since - the defining quality, to me, of "progressive" music.

Their 80s stuff doesn't sound nearly as heavy as the title track, to me! The distortion may have been beefier, but the double-bass madness mixed with the weird, atonal riffs on the title track for me always sound heavier than any of their too-poppy 80s stuff.

Heavy Horses makes for wonderful listening, it's got some pretty epic stuff - Weathercock should be covered by Blind Guardian. There are some mean riffs on Heavy Horses, but is can also be rather proggy - I'm not to sure I'd call it their softest, though it does have beautiful moments ("Moths").

Minstrel, to me, is the band's crowning achievement. Their most unique sounding, well-written, dynamic and concise album. They weren't trying too hard (Thick As a Brick), they weren't watering down (Stormwatch - which is a great album nonetheless), and they weren't succumbing to the synthy shite of the 80s like a lot of great prog bands (Broadsword and the Beast onwards, until about Crest of a Knave when they started to get decent again).

And yes- I've heard those bonus tracks. I love them, especially Pan Dance and March the Mad Scientist. The live excerpts were useless, though. But the remaster sounds a lot better than both my vinyl and the original CD release so I'd definitely suggest picking it up to anyone that happens to read this. It's nice to meet another Minstrel fan on the board. A lot of people who like Tull don't seem to be too fond of Minstrel. It's always regarded as a good album, but dammit I think it a masterpiece.

Baker St. Muse is one of the few non-classical pieces of music that is over 12 minutes long and manages to be interesting and lisnteable the whole way through.

Well, to me, Passion Play isn't wanking, altho it's quite possibly the hardest Tull album to get into, but after lots of listens, everything falls into place. I wouldn't call it ELP-esque (which wouldn't be that bad, tho), not at all. It's much deeper and not NEARLY as show-offing. And, saying that on TAAB they "tried too hard" makes me feel really sad, it being my favourite non-metal album ever. But yeah, opinions, opinions, etc.

Also don't see anything wrong in JT's synth-period. I understand, that to some fans it was too crushing to hear so down-to-earth and "rural" band change their sound that radically, but I think the "it" is still there. I especially love BatB, which would probably make it to my TOP6 JT albums list. Such beautiful melodies, organic sounds(even though the 80s sound is present!) and deep atmosphere. Then again, Crest of the Knave is easily the weakest Tull album, with a few good songs in it.

I've always thought that Minstrel is quite liked among Jethro Tull fans. To me, it sounds like an upgraded version of Aqualung at times. Hard rock parts are more powerful, ballads more profound, and it has the obligatory prog epic. Which, yes, is very well constructed. Somehow, Baker St. Muse reminds me of Sherlock Holmes TV-series (Jeremy Brett starring).


EDIT: Oh, and by saying 80s -> in the "heaviest album" part, I meant Rock Island and onwards. Apparently Rock Island was released in 89, so I guess I was being a BIT too vague. Oh well.

Interesting, I'll have to really give APP another listen. I've tried, hard, to get into it - but I just can't. I'll give it another spin tonight. What, in your opinion, makes it great? Maybe my mind/ears aren't open to something going on.

I'd agree with saying that Minstrel is an updated Aqualung. Aqualung is a classic; Minstrel is the masterpiece. I'm grateful Minstrel didn't have the clunky electric guitar tone that Aqualung did. "My God" would be one of my favorite songs by them if it weren't for that damn guitar tone. It sounds like an evil duck.

You really don't like Crest of a Knave? I always thought it was one of the most fun Tull albums. Do you like Stormwatch? I think that one is really underrated. It's got some great stuff on it. It's also probably their darkest album, next to A Passion Play.

Jethro Tull is usually a playful band. They have lots of serious stuff too, but usually, as you know, Anderson usually composes tongue-in-cheek, and that is one aspect that makes the band so unique and wonderful. A Passion Play does have those moments, but not much of them. The album is dark and interesting journey to the afterlife which doesn't include your typical melodies or predictable structure. But most of all, the album seems to have everything in it: it has mournful piano moments, twisted prog parts, dark and bombastic theatricality, dreamy and haunting ambient pieces, joyful acoustic moments, a nice dose of rock 'n' roll... I couldn't possibly figure what it would need more (it does even include the interlude ancient passion plays used to have!). It is, at the same time, very profound, devilish, beautiful and airy. I'd recommend you to read the lyrics (yes, I know it's a worn phrase) while listening to the album, because they really are part of it. It's kinda hard to say what is "the" thing in Passion Play, but I hope I made you realise at least something. To be honest, it took me like 10 spins to totally appreciate APP. Needless to say, it was worth it.

It's probably easier to say it's a pretentious melange and go listen to Thick As A Brick, but that wouldn't really serve APP right...

Crest of a Knave sounds a bit feeble. So does Anderson's voice. It seems like that he wasn't ready to admit that his vocal skills had reduced. I like tracks like the first 3, Budapest and Mountain Men, but songs like The Waking Edge and Part of the Machine (yes, I'm aware that it's a bonus track) are just too bland. And that's not something I often say when speaking of Jethro Tull. Also, I'm not quite sure what the album is trying to be...

I love Stormwatch, and I'm astonished at the dirt it gets. It has so many beautiful and dark moments, but it still has a nice dose of the lightness of Heavy Horses in it. A couple of weaker songs in it, but those don't matter. Also, King Henry's Madrigal is one of their best bonus tracks! Suits their style seamlessly.

I never understood the dirt Stormwatch got, either. It's not as ambitious as some of their other albums, but it has some damned fine songwriting chops. Even the more radio-friendly songs on that album kick ass: "Something's On The Move" is a great, great song. And yes, King Henry's Madrigal is one of my favorite Tull tunes as well. Anything that finds them indulging in the more Medieval aspect of their sound catches my fancy.

How do you feel about Songs from the Wood? That's a great album, as well. Very proggy, very energetic, very colorful. It reminds me of a less bleak Heavy Horses style album.

One cannot call him/herself a Tull fan if one doesn't like Songs from the Wood. It's kinda funny, that while I don't really find any flaws in it (not even the guitar... hmm... experimenting in "Pibroch"), I wouldn't still give it a perfect score. Guess it still would need something, but it's really hard to saw what. It has those mentioned medieval moments (especially on Velvet Green!), downright joyful songs (who the hell doesn't smile when he/she hears the title track or Cup of Wonder?) and the right amount of seriousness (Fire at Midnight is one of the most beautiful songs ever). Not a single weak song, except for the bonus track, which fortunately doesn't count. I mean, who an earth would like to hear Beltane after the beauty and harmony of Fire at Midnight?

My favourite of the folk trilogy is still Heavy Horses. The album moves me in an almost unnatural way. Bonus tracks included.

Agree on all points re: Songs from the Wood. Jack in the Green, Velvet Green are my favorite tracks.

Heavy Horses is my 2nd favorite Tull album. What would you say your favorite tunes are off that album? Weathercock is a masterpiece; Ian Anderson could teach a thing or two to most metal bands about writing a song that sounds epic without trying to goddamn hard. Moths brings a tear to my eye, Acres Wild is absolutely phenomenal - and The Mouse Police Never Sleep still scares the fuck off of me.

Favourite tunes eh... Kinda hard to say. If I had to choose, it would probably be Weathercock, but a lot of tracks come right behind, like Moths, One Brown Mouse and Broadway Bazaar (funny thing, bonus tracks. You can choose whether they belong to the album or not). But there ain't a single lackluster on Heavy Horses, that's for sure. A beautiful and honest interpretation of country life, which is always a mesmerizing experience. Yes, tears are also hard to avoid on the way; Ian has a great sense of melody and simple, but effective way of composing songs. I think this is my 3rd favourite album of JT, it's having a hard fight against A Passion Play.

Mouse Police scares you? This I don't understand. The lyrics might be dark, but the music is far from being scary. The song kinda reminds me of upcoming winter, but is still warm. Lukewarm, at least.

It's the ending that does it, casts the whole song in an eerie light for me...

The Protomen - Act II: The Father of Death



This has to be my favourite album all-together from the 2000s so far, all genres included. While there are a few select albums from the 2000s reaching into the godly 95-98% zone, none but this makes the cut for a full 100%. It might be either that my taste sucks or that people don't know about this band, but either way - I am pretty surprised no one namedropped this album so far, reading the whole thread to this point.

At any rate, released in 2009, this album has been in constant rotation for at least once per a few weeks for me ever since hearing it for the first time upon release. As one might guess from the band's name (assuming one is familiar with games in general), it is based on the Mega Man -series of games, as are the concepts behind the band's songs and albums. This might seem nerdy and ridiculous, which it probably is in a good way - but the story on The Father of Death is really excellent and really flows well with the songcraft and the mood, even if you weren't a Mega Man -nerd. This being a concept album - or rather, a rock opera - it is of utmost importance to focus on the story as well, as the songs revolve around the story. You can read a brief summary on Wikipedia, but if you are to listen to the album, just have the lyric sheet open for each song - it fills you in on the story..

So what could potentially be better than an excellently crafted rock opera with a Mega Man -inspired story? Not much, really. The vocal performances are absolutely brilliant, and this being a rock opera, the vocals - whether lead-, backing- or choir-vocals - are naturally a driving force of the album, as all kinds of vocalizations are more pronounced on an album such as this as opposed to a "normal album" - kind of like how musicals are obviously vocal-fronted in a narrative way. But of course, being a 100% album, it is instrumentally obviously impressive as well. Lots of bombastic and/or catchy keys, dramatic and sorrowful soundscapes, upbeat songs, pumping basslines, kind of proggy vibes in the longer songs, interludes - depending on the song; everything is pulled off so that it perfectly fits with the image that the lyrics and the story will give an impression of. It is just simply hard to describe this album without hearing it - but the songwriting is so passionate and awe-inspiring that I still get the chills whenever I listen to this album, and trust me, it's been over 200 spins. Hard not to recommend to people who like Queen and any good stuff in the same ilk. Simply a colossal album, I hope they will release Act III soon...!

Sample song off the album: The Protomen - Keep Quiet

Tool-Lateralus

Beautiful music, in my opinion. Very very well done.

I'm not entirely sure if I would give this a 100% personally, but it does have some very cool songs on it. I will have to give the album another spin soon, as it's been a while since I last listened to it.

Black Country Communion (Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Derek SHerinian, Joe Bonamassa) and their new album Afterglow. Really good old school hard rock!! One of my favorite albums of any genre this year.

YES! Genesis had to be my all time favorite band when I was in early high school. Still is. I think I found it when my dad suggested it to me. I just fixated on it, can't imagine how many times I listened to those albums. The first song I ever heard by them was nursery crime. I didn't really know much other music then, besides what I sifted through in my parent's iPods. All I knew was that genesis was something really, really, really incredible.

I've only got a few, but I'll share 'em here:

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

I know people generally like their darker and more morose Treasure by just a hair, but for me, the combination of the otherworldly atmospheres created through the guitarwork of Robin Guthrie and the voice of God herself, Liz Fraser seem to culminate at their most consistent peak here. Anytime I decide to let myself go and relax, this album (as well as most any of their work from Treasure onwards) can change my general being to that of unconditional love and transcendent joy. I'm not kidding.

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

The fact that is album was made as a joke to all of those who suddenly started calling them prog with Aqualung is still pretty damn astounding to this day for me. It also doesn't hurt that the song is fucking incredible from beginning to end and keeps me interested throughout.

King Crimson - Red

This album follows much the same formula as their iconic debut, and while I find In the Court to be a stunning album in its own right, this is a bit closer to my personal tastes. Also, the improv track Providence, is much more concise and works better than Moonchild ever did for me.

And oh yeah, Starless.

Wait, how does Red follow the same formula as their debut? If I had to pick one 70s Crimson album that sounded the least like In the Court it would probably be Red. Not only in the sound but in the structure of the album, etc. Everything. Red is a totally different beast. In the Wake of Poseidon gets a lot of shit for following that debut formula, though. Even though it is a beastly album.

I also don't get how Providence is more concise than Moonchild. Providence is just madness. Moonchild is a great song with some loopy improv at the end.

Starless is their best song though, dammit. What a masterpiece.

AFI - Black Sails in the Sunset (truly amazing this one is, it's a shame about what happened to the band)
AFI - The Art of Drowning
Blaqk Audio - CexCells
Minor Threat - Complete Discography (definitely buy this one, in the US it should be priced at $10. That's for ALL the music the band produced.)
Black Flag - Damaged

There's more that deserver 100%, those are the ones I can think of from the top of my head.