10 Classic Albums - Same Artist - Who Dunnit?

This said, David Bowie is a personal hero of mine :-)

Some might add "Exile....." (personally I hate it). But that still doesn't make it 10.

Paul Weller the solo artist has made 5 albums, I think, and I wouldn't call any of them "classic" apart from possibly "Wild Wood". Style Council were never even remotely close to a classic album, and The Jam never really made more than three (their 78-80 trilogy). So not 10 classics, no.

Trespass
Nursery Cryme
Foxtrot
Selling England By The Pound
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
A Trick Of The Tail
Wind And Wuthering
And Then There Were Three
Duke
Abacab

(I am not quite convinced myself whether "Abacab" belongs in there though)

Even for those you'd think it would be easy

NY

Tonight's the Night
On the Beach
Rust Never Sleeps
After The Gold Rush
Zuma
Ragged Glory
Live rust
Everyone Knows
Freedom (MANY would argue!)
Something From the 80s? / Harvest / Comes a Time ???

Dylan is a little easier, basically cuz there are so many to choose from.

As for Dylan, has he really made 10 classic albums? I am not too certain myself.

The problem here is that Some Girls and Tattoo You bloooow

=/

The Basement Tapes
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Love and Theft
Bringing it All Back Home
John Wesley Harding
Live 1966 (Electric half)
Blood on the Tracks
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Nashville Skyline
The Basement Tapes
Blood on the Tracks
Desire
Time out of Mind
Love and Theft
Live 1966 (The "Royal Albert Hall bootleg")

I could probably pick a different ten, too.

woot woot get it

11 if you count Slates, 12 if you count Light User ...

"Birth of the Cool"
"Round About Midnight"
"Bags' Groove"
"Cookin'"
"Walkin'"
"Porgy and Bess"
"Milestones"
"Kind of Blue"
"Sketches of Spain"
"Four and More"
"E.S.P."
"Miles Smiles"
"Nefertiti"
"Sorceror"
"Filles de Kilimanjaro"
"In A Silent Way"
"Bitches Brew"
"A Tribute to Jack Johnson"
"On the Corner"
"Agharta" and/or "Pangaa"

There are probably several classical composers who can lay claim to 20 classic album length works though....

Disintegration
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Pornography
Faith
The Top
Head On The Door
Seventeen Seconds
Boys Don't Cry
Wish
Japanese Whispers (technically a comp I know, but repackaged as an album)

Bloodflowers is pretty good too, but not sure if it can be called classic yet.

Head On The Door
Wild Mood Swings
Wish
Faith
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Japanese Whispers
Disintegration
The Top
Three Imaginary Boys/Boys Don't Cry
17 Seconds

Maggot Brain
Funkadelic
Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
America Eats its Young
Cosmic Slop
Let's Take it to the Stage
Standing on the Verge of Getting it On
Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
Hardcore Jollies
One Nation Under a Groove
Uncle Jam Wants You
The Electric Spanking of War Babies

hah - that's 12.

freak out!
absolutely free
lumpy gravy
we're only in it for the money
uncle meat
hot rats
burnt weeny sandwich
weasels ripped my flesh
200 motels
the grand wazoo

A Hard Day's Night
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper
Abbey Road

If that's the five you were pointing to, then OK. But most people would add the somewhat more patchy "The Beatles" as well.

That's 13, right there. Haven't even included, say, "Blue Train" or "Om." (Pls. note also that there are quite a few live albums here; with Coltrane, varying the repertoire was not the point.)

Surfer Girl
All summer Long
Today
Pet Sounds
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
Friends
Sunflower
Surf's Up
Love You

A pretty darn good run of 10 in a row, but you'd probably want to substitute a couple of these to get the ten classic ones, he's made around 40.

-- Dirty Mind
-- 1999
-- Purple Rain
-- Sign 'o the Times
-- Small Club

the following albums which are, in my opinion, also classics...

-- Controversy
-- Around the World in a Day
-- Parade
-- The B-Sides (others seem to be using greatest hits collections, this one surely counts)
-- Crystal Ball (ditto)

WTF.

That's seventeen; I'm told that "The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus", "Reincarnation Of A Lovebird" and "Mingus At Carnegie Hall" are equally good and that would make it twenty - but I've haven't got those. Yet.

Symphony No. 40
Jupiter Symphony
Piano Concerto #21
Piano Concerto #23
Clarinet Concerto
Figaro's Wedding
Cosi Fan Tutte
Don Giovanni
The Magic Flute
Requiem

.... and....

10. Chips From The Chocolate Fireball!

Bowie - I could be persuaded 6 or 7 but NOT Aladdin Sane or TMTSTW. Not that they're terrible, but they're NOT indispensible.

XTC - 1 maybe (Go2)

My love for New Order knows no bounds but only Movement, Low-Life, Technique and Get Ready are *essential*.

Roxy - 5 maybe. (The first two and the last two definitely, and I will hear arguments for Country Life.)

The Stones 3 - Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Exile

Magazine have 3 (first 3). The Fall? - 3 also Dragnet, Witch Trials and Hex. The Beach Boys possibly 5 (Pet Sounds - even though *I* never want to hear it again, I think other people should, Surf's Up, Sunflower, Holland and Carl and The Passions)

Of course the idea of which albums an individual "must own" is also inextricably linked with that individual's concept of exactly how many albums they "must own" in total....

Naturally I am not prepared to divulge precisely how many there are that I believe I would personally be unable to survive without, for fear that it may be used as a basis with which to question my already slender grip on reality.

Nevertheless I'm afraid I must also point out that the Doc's stance on this is completely indefensible anyway:

I love Magazine passionately but "Secondhand Daylight" is quite clearly not essential!

"Real Life" and "The Correct Use Of Soap" are obviously - and so is "Jerky Versions Of The Dream" of course - but "Secondhand Daylight" I think I could probably manage without in a genuinely dire emergency.

If only, Geeta! Actually it's best that there's only one. All artists should only be allowed to make one album, I reckon.

"Must Own" is not relative Stewart, it's an absolute and doesn't take into account how many recds you might already own.

B-b-but - Secondhand Daylight - slagged at the time (prog!), a bit lumpy sounding maybe, but bloody hell it's magnificent! Feed The Enemy, Back To Nature, I Wanted Your Heart, Rhythm Of Cruelty, Believe That I Understand, The Thin Air, Permafrost!! These are all colossal. Devoto still raging, still going down kicking and screaming before finally realising the game's up with the existential bliss of 'Soap'. Great, great records.

Tom Waits has at least ten albums I'd consider classics -
1. Rain Dogs
2. Nighthawks at the Diner
3. Frank's Wild Years
4. Closing Time
5. Bone Machine
6. The Heart of Saturday Night
7. Small Change
8. Blue Valentine
9. Big Time
10.Swordfishtrombones

Well clearly the entire concept of "taking into account how many records you already own" in any respect at all is absolutely preposterous!

Curiously enough 'though, I do seem to have to keep explaining this to my partner as she seems to be having problems grasping it!

As regards "Secondhand Daylight".... I'm not sure; you certainly put up a convincing argument.... I'll tell you what: if you add Give Me Everything, I Love You You Big Dummy and TV Baby as bonus tracks then I'll let it through.

You're including "Big Time" but omitting "Foreign Affairs" (essential for I Never Talk To Strangers and Burma Shave alone!) and even "Heartattack And Vine"?

What on earth were you thinking?

I don't actually dislike it Doc.

I remember being incredibly disappointed by it when it first came out 'though - and I still don't think it's in the same league as Real Life or The Correct Use Of Soap.

More specifically: http://www.beefheart.com/zine/004/devoto2.htm

Fragments of a Rainy Season
Paris 1919
Fear
Sabotage/Live
Dance Music
Slow Dazzle
Words For The Dying
Honi Soit
Helen of Troy
Artificial Intelligence

I'm not at all familiar with his other albums (the only other thing of his I've got is the "Seducing Down The Door" comp.) but I reckon "Hobo Sapiens" is wonderful - and it's making me want to explore the rest of his back catalogue further....

I was thinking I'd probably start with either "Paris 1919" or "The Island Years", what do you reckon?

(cough)

Das Hoheleid Salomos
Tantric Songs
Einsjäger und Siebenjäger
Letze Tage - Letze Nächte
In den Gärten Pharaos
Affenstunde
Aguirre
Coeur de Verre
Fitzcarraldo
Cobra Verde

In den Gärten des Pharaos
Hosianna Mantra
Seligpreisung
Einsjäger und Siebenjäger
Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte
Herz aus Glas
Bruder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts
Der Nacht der Seele
Sei still wisse ICH BIN
Agape-Agape

If so, I think the number of artists who've made five records that "deserve to be owned" is FAR bigger than the number who've made five "essential" ones!

For example, I might try to argue that The Damned have made four "essential" albums (DDD, MGE, Black Album, Strawberries).

I wouldn't even attempt to describe any of the others in those terms - but that doesn't mean that "Grave Disorder", "Phantasmagoria", "Anything" and even "Music For Pleasure" don't deserve a little space on my shelves and in my heart.

"I'm Alright Jack & The Beanstalk" / "Not Of This Earth" probably doesn't - but then it really is a complete crock of shit.

I'd say the SY lps which count as classics are:

Daydream Nation
Sister
Evol
Dirty
Washing Machine
Murray Street
Confusion Is Sex

Goo, Bad Moon Rising, NYC Ghosts And Flowers, Experimental Jet Set and A Thousand Leaves are good albums, but leave something to be desired. The same goes for some of the records in the SYR series (I'm a big fan of the first two volumes) and Ciccone Youth to a lesser degree.

_____________________________________________________________________

*I said I couldn't get into it much elsewhere, but for the sake of argument, yes, it's classic

'My Aim is True'
'This Years Model'
'Armed Forces'
'Get Happy!!'
'Punch the Clock'
'King of America'
'Blood & Chocolate'
'Spike'
'Brutal Youth'
'Painted From Memory'

(yr results may blah blah bleagh)

Geir: "No popular music act has ever made 20 classic albums. And I think Miles is the only possible jazz act you could mention as well.

There are probably several classical composers who can lay claim to 20 classic album length works though...."

I've got 31 by Fela Kuti. Weed out the 11 weakest and you've got yourself yer 20 classics.

Yeah, but Fela has the advantage that A) his albums are usually very short, and B) most of them sound the same. I agree that they are still very good, but it's not that difficult to come up with good albums if you've found the perfect pattern and keep on repeating it again and again.

Anyway, I think this is pretty unbeatable 10:

Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Purple Rain
Sign 'O' the Times
Lovesexy
Graffiti Bridge
Love Symbol
Emancipation

Yet just two or five or ten Fela albums weren't enough when I knew there were more out there just as great. They're all different enough when you note the progression from 1969 to 1989. I still say he's got 20 classics.

Rolling Stones Now!
12 X 5
Aftermath
Between the Buttons
Flowers
Beggars B
Let It Bleed
Exile
Black & Blue
Some Girls
Tattoo You

Rock n Roll Station
Salt Marie Celeste
Homotopy to Marie
Soliloquy for Lilith
Thunder Perfect Mind
What Can I Turn to Stereo
Merzbild Schwet
To the Quiet Men From A Tiny Girl
Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table
Creakiness

Who Can I turn to Stereo, sorry! hungover

Johnny Cash with His Hot & Blue Guitar
The Fabulous Johnny Cash
Now, There Was a Song
Ride That Train
Bitter Tears
Sings Ballads of the True West
At Folsom Prison
At San Quentin
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash
American Recordings

Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive
Mama Tried
Sing Me Back Home
Same Train, Different Time
Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World
Hag
Someday We'll Look Back
Back the Barrooms
Big City

Singer of Sad Songs
The Taker/Tulsa
Lonesome, Ornry & Mean
Honky Tonk Heroes
This Time
The Ramblin' Man
Dreaming My Dreams
Wanted! The Outlaws
Waylon Live
Ol' Waylon

Pretty sure the Supper Furries will pull this off. They have b/w 6-9 at this point, depending on who you ask (7, imo).

The first three New Pornographers records. Then I hope they create seven more classic albums after this last non-classic one.

if Scott Walker were just a smidge more prolific he'd own this thread...

Perhaps stretching the definition a bit but everybody else is...

Dangerous Charms
Acropolis Now!
Conundrum
The Good Times Are Killing Me
The Messerschmitt Pilot's Severed Hand
Heavens To Murgatroyd
In Tweed We Trust
1914
Knights Of The Baskervilles
Bosztik Haze

another classic malkmus or two and he's there

Over
A Black Box
The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage
Nadir's Big Chance
In Camera
The Future Now
Sitting Targets
Roaring Forties
Patience
X My Heart

A Trick of the Tail
And Then There Were Three
Wind and Wuthering
Foxtrot
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Selling England by the Pound
Trespass
Nursery Cryme

Gah, can only make eight.

Geir, you made up the 10 with Duke and Abacab, but I couldn't do that.

Depending on how generous you want to be, Robyn Hitchcock might qualify. Being brutally honest, though, I only get:

Black Snake Diamond Role
I Often Dream of Trains
Fegmania
Element of Light
Eye
Respect (total underrated classic, btw)

Add in a Soft Boys album or two and you're at 7 or 8. Maybe I'm missing something. I might put Queen Elvis in there on a good day.

Add Underwater Moonlight and Invisible Hitchcock (yes, it's a compilation of outtakes and the like but it is as cohesive as anything else he's done). I'd probably put Robyn Sings - his album of Dylan covers - in too; end with Gotta Let This Hen Out. Not a strong ten, really.

He has ten cds worth of classic songs, they're just scattered over 20-something albums.

Control
The Mystery Of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery Of Death
Forbidden Songs Of The Dying West
Fairy Tales For Hard Men
Defending Ancient Springs
Night Lilies
Creatures Of Light And Darkness
Shining Brother, Shining Sister
Elegy For Johnny Cash
Lovers At The Gun Club

Speak & Spell
Construction Time Again
Some Great Reward
Black Celebration
Music for the Masses
101
Violator
Songs of Faith and Devotion
Playing the Angel
Sounds of the Universe

Of Skins and Heart
The Blurred Crusade
Heyday
Starfish
Gold Afternoon Fix
Priest = Aura
Sometime Anywhere
Forget Yourself
Uninvited, Like the Clouds
Untitled #23

Half Man Half Biscuit have had 6 stone-cold classic LPs in a row leading up to this point, can't vouch for the first four in their entireties (due to not having heard these entireties) but I'm willing to propose their nomination.

foreign keys
blue corpse
you walk alone
lost cause
put my dream on this planet
worthless recluse
on the way
twelfth apostle
telegraph melts
interstellar discussion

I think Herbie Hancock can pull it off with 20 classic albums:

Takin' Off
My Point of View
Empyrean Isles
Maiden Voyage
Speak Like a Child
Fat Albert Rotunda
Mwandishi
Crossings
Sextant
Head Hunters
Thrust
Flood
Sunlight
V.S.O.P.
Mr. Hands
Future Shock
Perfect Machine
The New Standard
Future 2 Future
River: The Joni Letters

Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Master of Reality
Volume IV
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Sabotage
Born Again
Mob Rules
Heaven & Hell
Dehumanizer

Rocka Rolla
Sad Wings of Destiny
Sin After sin
Stained Class
Killing Machine
British Steel
Screaming For Vengeance
Defenders of the Faith
Painkiller
Angel of Retribution

Rush
Fly By Night
Caress of Steel
2112
Farewell to Kings
Hemispheres
Permanent Waves
Moving Pictures
Signals
Grace Under Pressure

Vikingr Veldi
Frost
Eld
Blodhemn
Mardraum
Monumension
Below the Lights
Isa
Ruun
Vertebrae

^ dope post

Three Imaginary Boys
Seventeen Seconds
Faith
Pornography
The Top
The Head on the Door
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Disintegration
Wish
Bloodflowers

Go ahead, laugh, but --

Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished
Danse Manatee
Campfire Songs
Here Comes the Indian
Sung Tongs
Young Prayer
Feels
Person Pitch
Strawberry Jam
Merriweather Post Pavilion

You're All I Need (w/Tammi Terrell)
Moods of Marvin Gaye
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
M.P.G.
What's Goin' On
Let's Get It On
Marvin Gaye Live!
I Want You
Here, My Dear
Midnight Love

The Paul Simon Songbook
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Bookends
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Paul Simon
There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Still Crazy After All These Years
Hearts and Bones
Graceland
The Rhythm of the Saints

The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Return of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
Alladin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Lodger
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

hahaha - geir OTM! but no go on bowie's dudly post-1980 output.

The Impressions 63
Keep On Pushing 64
This Is My Country 68
The Young Mods' Forgotten Story 69
Curtis 70
Roots 71
Superfly 72
Back To The World 73
Sweet Exorcist 74
There's No Place Like America Today 75

Adge Cutler & The Wurzels Family Album 1967
Cutler Of The West 1968
Carry On Cutler 1969
Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee 1974
The Wurzels Are Scrumptious 1975
The Combine Harvester 1976
Golden Delicious 1977
Give Me England 1977
I'll Never Get A Scrumpy Here 1978
I Am A Cider Drinker 1979
Never Mind The Bullocks 2002
A Taste Of The West 2004

The Impressions 63
Keep On Pushing 64
This Is My Country 68
The Young Mods' Forgotten Story 69
Curtis 70
Roots 71
Superfly 72
Back To The World 73
Sweet Exorcist 74
There's No Place Like America Today 75

Technically these aren't by the same artist though. And I think it's a stretch to call Sweet Exorcist "classic".

* Spinal Tap Sings "(Listen to the) Flower People" and Other Favourites (1967)
* We Are All Flower People (1968)
* The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody (1969)
* Brainhammer (1970)
* Nerve Damage (1971)
* Blood to Let (1972)
* Intravenus de Milo (1974)
* The Sun Never Sweats (1975)
* Bent for the Rent (1976)
* Tap Dancing (1976)
* Rock 'n' Roll Creation (referred to as The Gospel According to Spinal Tap in the film) (1977)
* Shark Sandwich (1980)
* Smell the Glove (1982)

And I didn't even include the two live albums Silent but Deadly and Jap Habit; more evidence of the power of this classic band.

I don't know why I'm even bothering on this very Pollard-unfriendly board but here goes:

King Shit and the Golden Boys (A comp that feels like an album to me)
Propeller
Vampire on Titus
Bee Thousand
Alien Lanes
Under the Bushes, Under the Stars
Not in My Airforce
Waved Out
Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department
Isolation Drills

Nothing I would consider classic since '01 though there are a bunch of great songs scattered among the million albums he's put out since GBV disbanded.

i'm like the biggest gbv/pollard fan but even i wouldn't call anything except the mid-90s ones classic albums

if mouse on mars had a couple more albums out though...

I take exception to somebody calling ILM Polack-Unfriendly

Who is Pollack?

Pres Keyes had it right to go with the big country artists... just left off Willie Nelson. Willie has put out a gazillion discs - that always helps to meet the quantity hurdle. Plus he absolutely killed during the 70s. He just about gets there with on that decade's output alone.

And Then I Wrote (1962)
Willie Nelson & Family (1971)
Yesterday's Wine (1971)
Shotgun Willie (1972)
Phases and Stages (1974)
Red Headed Stranger (1975)
The Troublemaker (1976)
To Lefty from Willie (1977)
Stardust (1978)
Honeysuckle Rose (1980)

And what the hell, I'll give Sir Mac a go:

McCartney
Ram
Red Rose Speedway (Yes, this is classic to me, obviously I'm not talking canonical classics here)
Band on the Run
Venus and Mars
Back to the Egg
McCartney II (I may be stretching it with this one as I have a hard time with those bluesy jams on the first side)
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

Ok, that's all I'm wiling to concede, couldn't quite make it to ten. And I really like Tug of War and Flowers in the Dirt and Flaming Pie and Driving Rain but even I'm having trouble calling them classics. Either way, an immensely more interesting and varied career than the other ex-Beatles combined, even if you make 1980 the cut-off point.

# 1967: Louvaçao
# 1968: Gilberto Gil (with Os Mutantes)
# 1969: Gilberto Gil (Cérebro Eletrônico)
# 1971: Gilberto Gil (Nêga)
# 1972: Expresso 2222
# 1974: Gilberto Gil Ao Vivo
# 1974: Gil & Jorge
# 1975: Refazenda
# 1977: Refavela
# 1981: Luar
# 1984: Raça Humana
# 1987: O Eterna Deus Mu Dança
# 1994: Acoustic
# 1994: Tropicalia 2 (w/Caetano Veloso)
# 1998: O Sol de Oslo
# 2000: Eu, Tu, Eles
# 2002: Kaya N'Gan Daya
# 2006: Gil Luminoso
# 2008: Banda Larga Cordel

More than 40 albums, these are the ones that are either universally acclaimed or that I think should be. GOTTA be at least 10 in there that most people could agree on.

here come the warm jets
taking tiger mountain (by strategy)
another green world
discreet music
before and after science
ambient 1: music for airports
my life in the bush of ghosts
ambient 4: on land
apollo: atmospheres and soundtracks
another day on earth

if you haven't come around yet to another day on earth, there are plenty of other albums of his a case can be made for

Probably no one.

Jackie Leven is a *very* acquired taste, Fruitless; at least half of those ten are sprawling messes. Maybe if you subbed in the first three Doll by Doll albums, where at least he had Jo Shaw for an editor.

I'll give Sinatra a try.

In The Wee Small Hours
Songs for Swingin' Lovers
A Swingin' Affair
Come Fly With Me
Only The Lonely
Where Are You
Sinatra-Basie
Come Dance With Me
September of My Years
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Dear ρεμπετις ( I think I'm pronouncing it correctly), how right you are about Jackie Leven! I am especially flabbergasted and not very engaged by much of the latest three albums. But I hold firmly that 'Shining Brother Shining Sister' is one of his very best. As for Doll By Doll, the third album is by far my favorite, although the first two seem to get what little attention is now paid to that group.

xpost- Great to see Tap finally getting their due Cavematt, but we all know Shark Sandwich is no classic...

Clouds
Ladies of the Canyon
Blue
For the Roses
Court and Spark
Miles of Aisles
The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Heijira
Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Mingus

Shit sandwich.

Mr. Hood
Bl_ck B_st_rds
Operation: Doomsday!
Take Me To Your Leader
Vaudeville Villain
MMM... Food
Madvillainy
The Mouse And The Mask (or it could have been a classic album. wonder if anyone ever made a version that cut the cartoon crap out?)
Born Like This

If only the second Viktor Vaughn record wasn't butters, it'd be 10.

Bands that I thought dunnit, but they didn't dunnit:

Kinks
Fleetwood Mac

how the fuck could you think fleetwood mac had done this

f u louis

actually, yeah, but they're not that far off

Yeah I was thinking Iron Maiden for sure, but, nope.

xpost. Fleetwood Mac have a rock-solid five, and I don't even like the blues all that much. Anyone who does would probably give them more. Count live albums and it gets really close.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
A Saucerful of Secrets
More (Soundtrack)
Ummagumma
Atom Heart Mother
Meddle
Obscured by Clouds
The Dark Side of the Moon
Wish You Were Here
Animals

^Kinda silly to rate More or Atom Heart over the Wall!

Atom Heart Mother is my second favorite Floyd record! And More has "Cymbaline" & "The Nile Song."

I think I'm just so tired of The Wall that I can't listen to it anymore.

'In the Wee Small Hours'
'Songs for Swingin' Sellers' er . . . 'Lovers'
'A Swingin' Affair!'
'Only the Lonely'
'Come Fly With Me'
'Where Are You?'
'No One Cares'
'Sinatra & Strings'
'September of My Years'
'Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim'

cosign - it probably helped that he had an amzing, rotating "team" behind him (nelson riddle, count basie, and the best songwriters in the industry all vying to get one of their songs on a bestseller of his)

Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Purple Rain
Sign 'O' the Times
Lovesexy
Graffiti Bridge
Love Symbol
Emancipation

sorry, but lovesexy ad 2-3 great songs and a bunch of rather annoying filler, grafitti bridge was the same but with a double frikkin album's worth of filler etc

that's the thing about this 10 classic albums thing - it's only a handful of the greats who can really even come up with 5 albums with start-to-finish great songs (the starting point of my personal definition of a classic album anyway), heck even the beatles first 5 albums, though they contained many many great songs, were at least half filler...

though i guess you could still call them classics. still, graffiti bridge?

Samba Esquema Novo
O Bidú: Silêncio no Brooklin
Jorge Ben
Forca Bruta
Negro e lindo
Ben
Ogum Xangô (with Gilberto Gil)
A tabua da esmeralda
Solta o Pavao
Africa Brasil

kiddies, once upon a time Geir said that the Beatles hadn't made 10 classic albums....

Mr. Hood
Bl_ck B_st_rds
Operation: Doomsday!
Take Me To Your Leader
Vaudeville Villain
MMM... Food
Madvillainy
The Mouse And The Mask (or it could have been a classic album. wonder if anyone ever made a version that cut the cartoon crap out?)
Born Like This

If only the second Viktor Vaughn record wasn't butters, it'd be 10.

I think counting both solo and group albums together doesn't make much sense. It's like saying The Beatles had 10 classic albums if you count in the best solo albums made by individual members.

foreign keys
blue corpse
you walk alone
lost cause
put my dream on this planet
worthless recluse
on the way
twelfth apostle
telegraph melts
interstellar discussion

― ian, Sunday, 6 September 2009 01:11 (Yesterday)

I'd argue about what should be in it - I'd make room for Ready For The House for starters, probably replacing Lost Cause? I Threw You Away instead of Interstellar Discussion? - but he was the first artist I thought of.

Duke Ellington definitely did this.

Mingus at the Bohemia
Pithecanthropus Erectus
The Clown
Tijuana Moods
Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
Blues & Roots
Mingus Ah Um
Mingus Dynasty
Pre-Bird
Mingus at Antibes
Oh Yeah
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
The Great Concert of Charles Mingus
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Let My Children Hear Music
Changes One
Changes Two

So who's that lot by then?

Shit, actually I think the Kinks might be close:

Kink Kontroversy
Face to Face
Something Else
Village Green
Great Lost Kinks Album (Finally heard this and it's gorgeous, no one could touch R. Davies around 66-68)
Arthur
Lola Vs. Powerman
Muswell Hillbillies

Okay, that's all I got but Kinda Kinks would definitely count if you include the bonus tracks and I'm sure someone on this board would rep for something post-Muswell.

I have the Picture Book boxset and sometimes I think the first two-thirds of it is the best music ever. So many incredible singles, b-sides, album tracks, etc. I mean This is Where I Belong, I'm Not Like Everybody Else, Big Black Smoke are b-sides for chrissakes!

Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?
Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush
I'm Just The Other Woman
The Human Breakdown Of Absurdity
I Died Today
The Makers Of Smooth Music
The Beat Of The Traps
The Now Sounds Of Today
Music Of America
Songs For The Christmas Season

Eisbär already did this one, but here's my tweaked version.

Freak Out!
Lumpy Gravy
We're Only In It for the Money
Uncle Meat
Ahead of Their Time
Hot Rats
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Grand Wazoo
Roxy & Elsewhere
YCDTOSA v.2 (Helsinki concert)
Läther
Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar
Yellow Shark

Yeah but them KMD albums are like 80% Zev Luv X anyway, so I was treating it like Madvillainy. Plus, if collaborations with different people don't count then Prince or Coltrane having different people in their band nullifies them. And KMD only split up because Subroc died, if he kept the name (ala BDP) then it wouldn't be a thing.

Can't Buy A Thrill
Countdown to Ecstasy
Pretzel Logic
Katy Lied
The Royal Scam
Aja
Gaucho
Two Against Nature
Everything Must Go

... one more and we're there

Almost close:

Caetano Veloso (1968)
Caetano Veloso (1969)
Caetano Veloso (1971)
Transa (1972)
Joia (1975)
Muito (1978)
Cinema Transcendental (1979)
Estrangeiro (1989)
Livro (1997)
Zii e Zie (2009)

Personally I think only his 3 self titled albums and Transa are truly essential but the rest are definitely worth owning. He also did some heavy contribution on Gal Costa's excellent debut so we might count that one as well.

Go ahead, laugh, but --

Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished
Danse Manatee
Campfire Songs
Here Comes the Indian
Sung Tongs
Young Prayer
Feels
Person Pitch
Strawberry Jam
Merriweather Post Pavilion

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― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor)

Too soon I'd say. Two of them are solo albums and every album done before 'here comes the indian' is frankly midways.