PERFECT: Uncertain Principles has a very useful definition of the “perfect album”: “A really great album is a collection of songs that all work together, and add up to something more than the sum of the individual tunes– mediocre songs should be lifted up in the context of a really great album, and sound better than they would on their own. It’s also crucial that none of the songs be actively bad or annoying.”

I might like individual songs from other bands or albums more (hello, New Wave one-hit wonders, my adored companions…), but there’s something so satisfying about a band whose worldview and basic attitude is so unified that it can sustain an entire great album. So here’s my (extremely personal) list of Perfect Albums; you get get UP’s at the link above, and several other folks’ in his comments section.

In the order in which they spring to mind (and I’m including compilations, live albums and whatnot, because, uh, because I am):

The Smiths, Rank. I know Morrissey sounds like he’s trying to swallow a hive of honeybees, but this is a fantastic live album. Brings out the growl behind the gloomy bounce. The Smiths Peel Session also rocks, but has only four songs, none of which are “Rusholme Ruffians” or “Vicar in a Tutu,” so no dice. If live albums are excluded I’d name The Smiths, but although I love every song on that album, if you listen to them all together portions are much too slow and Mike Judge’s boring drumming eventually begins to bother you (by which I mean, me) a lot. The Queen Is Dead is also a runner-up, now that I like “Frankly, Mr. Shankly”; but it’s a bit too poppy for me and just not as intense as plain old The Smiths or flawed-but-terrific Meat Is Murder.

The Slits, Peel Session. If live recordings are out, Cut. Freaky, shattered girl-punk. Runner-up: Return of the Giant Slits, which is a reggae-fied heatwave, but with only two standout individual songs (the one that goes “Am I looking for love,” which has an excellent noir-ish bassline, and the one that goes “This heat is hotter than the sun,” which pretty much defines DC summertime for me).

Patti Smith, Horses. There’s nothing bad on this album, I don’t think. Wow.

Huggy Bear, Taking the Rough with the Smooch. Crashing, half-coherent juvenile delinquent album. Runner-up: Our Troubled Youth, which is fun but slightly less distinctive and which I’ve only seen as the B-side to the gets-old-fast Bikini Kill album Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Cat Power, Myra Lee. Spare, high-lonesome voice plus creepy oblique imagery plus occasional rock-outs = terrific album. “Wealthy Man” and “Ice Water” (which I think is on this album???) are some of the saddest, countrified, rip-your-heart-out songs I know. When she sings, “All the lies aside, I believe I am the luckiest person alive,” you want to just crawl into a whiskey bottle and never, ever come out. Good stuff.

Violent Femmes, The Violent Femmes and Why Do Birds Sing?. “Blister in the Sun” is my least favorite song from TVF, which should tell you something. WDBS? doesn’t have too many songs that stand out by themselves, but the angry, fun sum is greater than the parts.

Fugees, The Score. Again, the better-known songs (the covers of “Killing Me Softly” and “No Woman No Cry”) don’t do nearly as much for me as the rest of the album. Swinging; good mix of rough and smooth. Runner-up who may soon take the top spot: Wyclef Jean, The Carnival. This is growing on me as an album rather than a few great tracks (“Apocalypse,” “Year of the Dragon,” “Sang Fezi”). Just terrific sampling, lyrics, swing, rock, Haitian infusion… all marred by the super-annoying between-songs shtik that was a lot less annoying on The Score.

X-Ray Spex, Germfree Adolescents. OK, not as great as some of the other albums here, but that fantastic scraping wail, weird sax, day-glo lyrics, and general I-don’t-care-what-anybody-thinks-ness of this album make it another perfect summertime pick.

The Sex Pistols, God Save the Queen. You, uh, really get the sense of where they’re coming from. Snarly. And has “Submission” as well as the more famous songs.

Velvet Underground, VU and Nico. Whoa, how did I forget this until now? Probably the “perfect album” with the widest variety of styles or sensations. How gritty New Yorker plus strung-out Valkyrie plus wig-out violin add up to a coherent album is beyond me, but there it is.

The Raincoats, The Raincoats. Harsh, matter-of-fact breakup album with off-kilter vocals that sometimes seem dissociated but sometimes seem like the girl next door. Runner-up: Odyshape, quieter and wavier album with boring B-side.

The Doors, The Doors. Admit it, you love this one too. Runner-up: Waiting for the Sun.

Exceptions and caveats: Blondie, Best of Blondie. Contains “Rapture,” a song with some of the dumbest lyrics ever, and is a best-of album, but gives such a strong sense of “place” or consistent vision, and is so much fun, that I had to at least give it a shout-out.

Jane Hohenberger, Lickety Split. She comes so close!!! The ultimate outerspace breakup album, ranging from the pure eeriness of “Tooth Fairy” (“She’s the tooth fairy/Come to kill me”–no, I promise, she makes it work…) to the mad-as-hell “Redemption Song” (“Even the garbage is better off than me!… Wish I were a tin can, then someone could redeem me”), but ruined as a “Perfect Album” by random passages of boring noise. Some of the random noise is really cool; most of it just sounds like she was trying to fill space. Too artsy for its own good. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it… if you can ever find a copy. (I think even this site doesn’t have it.)

Nirvana, Nevermind. The A-side is perfect, the B-side scattershot.

Trying Too Hard And Thus Failing to Make a Perfect Album:

Nation of Ulysses, Plays Pretty for Baby. Much fun, screechy squawky punk weirdness, ultimately too much pretentious revolution/”the kids” rhetoric, plus all the songs kind of sound the same. Like eating too much Kool-Aid powder. The Make*Up (some of the same people) then did Destination: Love–Live!, which is vaguely churchy-sounding, significantly more pretentious, and generally too much of a muchness, but when taken in small doses it’s more fun than PPFB.