60 Albums Perfect From Start To Finish – Chosen By You

NME writers wrote about the albums they believe are perfect from start to finish earlier this week before asking you for your suggestions. The response was phenomenal. Thousands of you sent in your perfect albums from all over the world. We’ve picked out 60, starting with The Golden Age, ‘WOODKID’. “If you haven’t heard it.. You really are missing out,” claims Ricky Harvey via Facebook.

Weezer, ‘Pinkerton’ “It’s their darkest album,” says Kansas Gibler via Facebook, “and it’s full of melancholic but extremely listenable tunes.”

The Strokes, ‘Is This It’
Teguh Wicaksono @teguhwicaksono goes for the NY band’s debut. “The album marked an era and kick-started the phrase ‘modern rock’.”

The Libertines, ‘Up The Bracket’
“It’s perfect from start to finish,” says Steve Smith, Nottingham @1steve17979

The Jam, ‘All Mod Cons’
Curtis Murray spoke up for this one : “Sounds like it was recorded yesterday…Weller was 19 – 20 years old when he wrote these songs! Frightening!”

The Decemberists , ‘The Hazards of Love’.
“It’s a story, beautifully told with lyrical imagery,” says Kate Cribbes Mitchell via Facebook. “It’s just wonderful.”

On Facebook, Damien Berube recommended Steely Dan, ‘Aja’. “Steely Dan just happen to be excellent songwriters, and the songs paired with brilliant musicians, like Steve Gadd’s drumming on ‘I Got The News’ make the album top notch on my list.”

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ Velvet Rebel @velvet_rebel puts it simply: “Perfect from start to finish.”

PJ Harvey, ‘Let England Shake’
“Every track is as poignant and moving as the last. It leaves you desperate for more,” writes Alex Norris @AlexSNorris.

Nine Inch Nails, ‘Pretty Hate Machine’
“Every song is perfect. They have never been able to reproduce this magic!” So says Curtis Murray via Facebook.

Muse, ‘Origin of Symmetry’ is Hannah Serafina Crawford Leighton’s choice via Facebook. “Just listen to it. It’s a journey!”

Metallica, ‘Master of Puppets’
“This album has not been topped in the metal genre,” declares Mr Fancy @situationiste.

Lea-Ann Suthern on Facebook goes for Mark Lanegan, ‘Whiskey for the Holy Ghost’, “an album I could listen to over and over again!”

Kanye West, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’
“His finest hour, masterfully produced and hypnotic from start to finish,” says NME reader Karl Blakesley @Karlosb14

Jeff Buckley, ‘Grace’ “It captures every emotion” for Thom McGuiness @Guinnessss.

Howler, ‘America Give Up’
This one from Luke Halls via Facebook: “All of the tracks on that album are simply fantastic, there’s not a moment where you think you’d want to take a break! Not a single bad track on it either!”

Gary Numan ,‘The Pleasure Principle’
Here’s Joey Slocombe on Facebook: “If I’m honest one of the rare few albums where every song is a 9 or a 10, 99 per cent of most albums usually have at least one song that is a stinker.”

DJ Shadow, ‘Endtroducing’
“Everything else sounds slightly rubbish after listening to it!” Adrian Till @AdrianTill is not wrong!

Bruce Springsteen, ‘Born To Run’
“Every song was reduced to perfection by Springsteen and The E Street Band captured the magic and heartbreak of an American summer’s night. The album, consisting of only eight songs is also proof that bigger is not better.” From Carcassonne Withers via Facebook.

Bombay Bicycle Club, ‘Flaws’ “is stunning, every song is so beautiful,” says Emily Fry via Facebook.

Arcade Fire, ‘The Suburbs’
The perfect blend of melancholy and rebelliousness with the most contagious dancing vibes!” tweets Ella @estefindie.

There’s a shout for Arcade Fire’s classic debut from François Cattelin via Facebook: “‘Funeral’ from Arcade Fire is one of the latest LPs you can listen from start to finish.” The Canadian band are pretty good at all killer, no filler.

Kings of Leon, ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’
“Their best album, ‘Milk’ is incredible along with every other song!” Ryan Tosh @RyanTosh ain’t wrong.

Oasis, ‘(What’s the Story?) Morning Glory’ “is the best album of the last 30 years hands down!” according to Glen Hunter @bigteam_bigcup.

Unkle, ‘War Stories’
Here’s Iamsix, @iamsix2008: “It remained out of sight but it was just perfection everywhere.”

U2, ‘Achtung Baby’
Here’s Ross Williams, @Ross_Williams79: “It was heavy on radio-friendly singles and some of their more defining album tracks were brilliant!”

The Strokes, ‘Comedown Machine’
Tobit Rubio @trobits goes for the Strokes’ latest album, describing it as “Weirdly connected songs punched by atomic musical melodies from space.”

The Stone Roses, ‘The Stone Roses’
“You can’t leave out their debut album,” writes Danny Figueroa @dannyfigueroa from New York. “It’s perfectly sequenced, with no weak tracks.”

Manics, ‘The Holy Bible’
Nathan, Norfolk, @NCFCNathan_Luiz says this classic is “lyrically and musically sublime from start to finish.”

Rolling Stones, ‘Exile on Main Street’
Tim Bowen @tlbnffc is pretty keen on this Stones classic. “I have listened to it start to finish thousands of times and it just gets better!” he explains.

Radiohead, ‘In Rainbows’ “It starts with ‘15 Step’ – a chilled but catchy intro track. The whole album is complete melodic bliss,” says Stefan Thornton @Stefan_Thornton.

QOTSA, ‘Like Clockwork’
“Its absolute perfection,” says Angela Wishart, Aberdeen, @angelaw1, “amazing song writing and performed brilliantly! An all-time classic!”

Peter Tosh, ‘Legalize It’
Dan Cairns @genkigonzo puts his vote on this classic, saying, “it’s reggae that never gets old from start to finish.”

Nickleback, ‘Silver Side Up’
“It’s a bit obvious maybe but a modern classic,” says 28 Boulevard @28Boulevard.

Sex Pistols, ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’
Ben Henderson @BennyHennyTweet goes back to the old school, writing “back-to-back killer tracks!”

Nas, ‘Illmatic’
Harriet Chandler, Hampshire, @harriet_rose86 thinks “this is a perfect example of NY hip-hop, he’s never to top this album!”

Finelines, ‘My Vitriol’
From Mexico, Diego Figueroa @halofive goes for this “great masterpiece”. “Even the interludes contribute to the album in a special way,” he adds.

Marilyn Manson, ‘Mechanical Animals’ is the choice for Matt Stow, Newcastle, @stowball. “It has a brilliant change of direction, lyrics and imagery.”

Kasabian, ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’
Gavin McWilliam @Gaveeee goes for Kasabian’s third album, saying “it goes from strong to strong and it’s all synced so the album runs smoothly.”

Public Enemy, ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back’
“Great hip-hop album!” says Mr Fancy @situationiste.

The National, ‘High Violet’
“It’s a masterpiece, achingly beautiful from start to finish.” Alec Holt @holmeezz plays Music Journalist Bingo.

Fleetwood Mac, ‘Rumours’
“An unforgettable album!” says Andrew Watson @Poet_or_a_fool.

Arctic Monkeys, ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’
“It’s a full throttle, head-on experience from start to finish and it’s over before it’s started,” writes Joe Carratt @KingCarratt.

The Pixies, ‘Doolittle’
Emma Gill @MsEmmaGill brings it back to a stone cold classic: “Still a brilliant listen 24 years on, I never get bored of it!”

Depeche Mode, ‘Music for the Masses’
“Name another band who could sell out the Rose Bowl without a guitar player,” writes Timothy Lenk, @tlenk2.

Oasis, ‘Definitely Maybe’ “It needs to make the list,” explains Matt Rogers @Mattthetwat, “Even considering the joke song ‘Digsy’s Dinner’”. He goes on to make this claim: “It’s better than any song nowadays.”

De La Soul, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’
“It’s a true hip hop album to help change the game,” writes Alex Roskell @alexroskell.

Biffy Clyro, ‘Blackened Sky’
Diego Bonavida @elabacabu finds this record “quite inspiring and one of the best debut albums ever.”

Arctic Monkeys, ‘Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not’ “The best debut album ever made in my opinion.” That opinion belongs to Michael Louth @Louthdog.

Guns ‘n’ Roses, ‘Appetite For Destruction’
Andy Bob @kingandybob keeps it simple: “it’s just fucking brilliant”.

Alt-J, ‘An Awesome Wave’
“It doesn’t need a reason,” reckons Callum Sheppard, Nutbourne, @RuaidhriPadraig.

AC/DC, ‘Back In Black’
Ben Clarkson @BenGClarkson dips into the vaults. “One of the all-time biggest albums, just pure shameless rock the whole way through,” he says.

David Bowie, ‘Low’
“Every song was an experiment but, somehow seems to be there for a reason.” A beautiful explanation from Kyle Kay @OldSouthKyle.

Foals, ‘Total Life Forever’
“You connect emotionally to each song, especially to the monumental ‘Spanish Sahara’”, says Bernardo Abreu @Bernardo_PA with one of many suggestions for the Oxfordshire band.

Foals, ‘Antidotes’
“It’s different, clever and massively underrated,” Ana Almeida @DakkyMonster.

Nirvana, ‘Nevermind’
Joe Balano @Joe_Balano tells it straight: “There’s a song for every mood on that album, plus one of the greatest ever frontmen at his peak”.

The Cure, ‘Disintegration’
“Absolutely necessary for modern times. Into the darkness always a little light,” waxes Rents Garcia @rents7.

The Divine Comedy, “Promenade”
“The sound of waves, Audrey Hepburn’s voice, the summerhouse… Too many reasons!” Pascal Pogam @ppogam can’t choose one.

Van Morrison, ‘Astral Weeks’
“There’s not one bad track on it and it’s like nothing else ever made,” tweets Mick Corr @mickcorr2.

The suggestions from NME writers included Bon Iver, ‘Bon Iver’; At The Drive-In – ‘Relationship Of Command’; Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, ‘Murder Ballads’; Janet Jackson – ‘The Velvet Rope’ and, of course, Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.