25 Perfect Albums in My Book

Hey all! I am really alive!

The Summer of 2021 has been, if nothing else, very busy. We started off the summer running as our younger son’s wife gave birth to a healthy 8-pound baby boy. Unfortunately, it was a very scary delivery for his wife, so she had us on pins and needles for a day or so. And, to end the summer, our granddaughter was exposed to COVID-19 by a selfish unvaccinated preschool teacher when we discovered the teacher had tested positive for the virus. Currently, we are awaiting our granddaughter’s COVID test result.

 

In between, we had a menagerie of events to fill anyone’s summer calendar. With five summer birthdays, 1 anniversary and 2 family vacations, it was busy. And while we were filling the hot, humid days with fun, my body decided it was time for me to suffer through some chemical imbalances that will periodically pop up as complications to my chronic pain individually. But in typical Keller fashion, all of them decided to pop up at the same time. Fortunately, I am getting better at recognizing the individual signs of potential problems. It’s just hell when several of these things happen simultaneously. It’s taken a couple of months, but I believe we have all of them identified and are changing things up a bit. In other words, I think I’m on the road to recovery but am still weak and tired.

 

And, on top of all of that, I’ve had to deal with my step-father’s losing battle with Alzheimer’s. Unfortunately, he has never mended a relationship with any of his three biological sons to the point that would see at least one of them to take on responsibility for their father as he aged. Since he had been such a strong caregiver to my mom during her own battle with dementia, I felt that I should honor her by taking on the responsibility with whom I honestly had little of a relationship/ Regardless, I am now the man’s Power of Attorney, which means that we just made the decision to place him in an assisted living situation about 45 minutes away.

Needless to say, the summer has been busy, topped off with a splash of stress and poured over the rocks of my failing body. All of this makes for more of a volatile mix rather than a smooth yet sophisticated spice drink in a tumbler. And, maybe, that’s just the process of growing old. Who knows?

 

So, when I could squeeze in a little time, I would do some rock music research, although the topics seemed to run dry for me after a few minutes of Googling. One day I was digging through my album collection, just getting reacquainted to my 12-inch vinyl collection. As I was perusing, I began to make a mental list of my favorite albums. Often, I would chose an album that critics over the years have discarded, such the sublime power pop classic Get The Knack by those now-classic one-hit wonders The Knack or The Style Council’s first full-length long player, known as My Ever Changing Moods here in the States.

Instead, I began to write albums that I believed to be perfect, meaning every song is an absolute classic, making the album itself rise above all of those albums which have reached iconic status. Most albums by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones will this category. Therefore, I believe I have 25 albums in my personal collection whose songs are perfect from beginning to end and all points in between. Remember this is the humble opinion of one person. Check it out!

1. Queen – A Night at the Opera (Elektra, 1975)

Best Song: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

2. The Beatles – Abbey Road (Apple, 1969)

Best Song: “Something”

3. Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction (Geffen, 1987)

Best Song: “Sweet Child o’ Mine”

4. E.M. – Automatic for the People (Warner Bros., 1992)

Best Song: “Everybody Hurts”

5. AC/DC – Back in Black (Atlantic, 1980)

Best Song: “You Shook Me All Night

6. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run (Columbia, 1975)

Best Song: “Thunder Road”

7. The Cure – Disintegration (1989)

Best Song: “Pictures of You”

8. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

Best Song: “Bennie and the Jets”

9. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Best Song: “Like a Rolling Stone”

10. Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Best Song: “You Oughta Know”

11. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

Best Song: “Stairway to Heaven”

12. The Clash – London Calling (1979)

Best Song: “Lost in the Supermarket”

13. Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)

Best Song: “Tom Sawyer”

14. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Best Song: “Runaway”

15. Nirvana – Nevermind (1991)

Best Song: “Smells like Teen Spirit”

16. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (1966)

Best Song: “God Only Knows”

17. Prince & the Revolution – Purple Rain (1984)

Best Song: “Purple Rain”

18. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (2013)

Best Song: “Get Lucky”

19. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)

Best Song: “The Chain”

20. The Rolling Stones – Some Girls (1978)

Best Song: “Miss You”

21. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

Best Song: “Sir Duke”

22. Carole King – Tapestry (1971)

Best Song: “So Far Away”

23. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Best Song: “Time”

24. Van Halen – Van Halen (1978)

Best Song: “Eruption”

25. The Who – Who’s Next (1971)

Best Song: “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

So, what do you think? Peace.